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Hy Hunter - a memorial...

I decided to compose 2 vignettes of my memories of Hy Hunter, "the Earthworm King," real estate investor-speculator, and at times partners with Howard Hughes, John Wayne, and also the Shah of Iran…  

Both of these vignettes are from my first introduction to Hy, and both took place on the same day i first met him in person, around 1989 or 1990…   

After hearing of his passing, I have heard his voice in my mind on a number of occasions recently, telling me things, urging me on… 

What did the eulogy say about the Earthworm King?     I will surely miss him… 
I was in LA on the day of his funeral, when I was re-routed on my way back from Florida to Hawaii.   A week later, I was watching The History Channel, and they had a show about the history of cemeteries, including a tour and the history of Forest Lawn, where he was buried… a nice place…

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy these 2 short vignettes.   As you may know, my own father was also named Hy, and I’m also from New England…

Vignette #1

I first met Hy in person, when he came to look at 300 acres raw land I had listed for sale on the Big Island of Hawaii, as well as a few other properties.    When he arrived at the Hilo airport, accompanied by his wife Giese, he reminded me of a flamboyant Santa Claus – a big jolly guy, with reddish rosey-colored cheeks, thick white hair, wearing an over-sized aloha shirt, and with rings on every finger… 

When he went to the auto rental counter, the lady there wanted to know where he got the largest ring he was wearing, with a huge green stone of jade or emerald.  “Oh, this ring was a gift from the Sultan of Brunei”  Hy chimed humbly in response.   At the airport, Hy pulled out a thick wad of paper money… it looked like all hundred-dollar bills.  He said to me:  “Oh this is nothing... Look what I’ve got in my briefcase.”   He then proceeded to open his briefcase, and to my astonishment, it was packed full with $100 bills, all neatly arranged in little bundles.  He told me he had exactly $1 million in that briefcase, and also told me he usually carried 2 or 3 times that amount with him in cash. 

So we took off in a convertible Wrangler Jeep, with the top down, and drove up the Hamakua coast about 20 or 30 miles, and then turned up a cane road for several miles, before turning left on another dirt road.   We drove down the dirt road for some distance, passing a few homes here and there, while looking out at the spectacular ocean view.   Finally, we arrived at the edge of the property for sale.  I pointed out to him where it began and the approximate dimensions.   He stepped out of the Wrangler Jeep to take a better look.   A stream crossed the roadway there.   I decided this was far enough to drive, on account of the stream, but Hy wanted to have a closer look.   

So the three of us got out of the Jeep, and walking on high-ground (on slippery rocks), we managed to get across the stream.   After about another 100 yards, we came to the front gate of the property, where there was a driveway up into the interior.  We set off hiking uphill.  After about 15 minutes of strenuous hiking uphill, Giese decided to take a rest… Hy told Giese to wait there, and that he and I would continue hiking uphill...  After another 15 minutes of walking, we didn’t see anybody, and weren’t sure we here we were, but off in the distance across the gully or ravine (where a river went through), we could see another residence or two.   Hy asked me to hike down the ravine, cross the river, and hike up again, and get some sense of direction from the neighbors…  So like an obedient soldier, I took off, down the ravine, across the river, and back up again… 

When I got to the nearest home, there was no one there, so I set off to the next residence, some distance away.   At both places I yelled out loudly:  “Hello!!  Is anybody home??  Hello!! Hello?? Is anybody home??”   But no one was there, so about 45 minutes later, I finally returned to where I left Hy, who was sitting there under a tree in the shade.… Then he and I continued to hike up the main driveway, for about another half-mile, until we came to a dead-end narrow isthmus, surrounded by deep canyons on 3 sides, actually a scary place, especially if you have vertigo…  So we turned around and headed back, downhill.   About 15 minutes later, we came up Giese, who had been there by herself for over an hour, and about 15 minutes later, we were back at the Wrangler Jeep.   

Altogether, we were gone from the Jeep about 2 hours!!   So what was the first thing I noticed?   Hy’s briefcase (with the million dollars in cash) was sitting on the back seat of the open convertible (for about 2 hours!!)   At this point, Hy wanted to eat lunch.   So we drove 30 miles back to Hilo, and Hy was the first one to get out of the car, and with Giese proceeded to enter the restaurant, but again left his briefcase in the open Jeep.   So I decided to put the top on the Jeep, roll up the windows and lock the doors.   As I was doing this, Hy yelled to ask me what was taking me so long.  I said, “Your briefcase…”  He yelled back:  “Don’t worry about it!!  No one’s gonna steal it.”

Vignette #2 

I remember Hy kept trying to buy another property I had listed for sale.   He made the exact same offer to buy it, several times every year, for about 7 years in a row…  It was a 13-acre oceanfront property on Beach Road, with a decrepit old shack at the top of the hill, owned by an old Hawaiian man whose family had inherited the property back in the 1800’s in the Great Mahele, through a land grant from the King of Hawaii.   The property had NEVER been sold in the history of Hawaii, and Hy liked it as much as anything he found anywhere in Hawaii.   (He saw it in 1989 or 1990, before he lost his eyesight).   The property had about 500 coconut palms around the perimeter, about 50-75 feet tall, and the whole perimeter of the property was bordered by a thick rock wall that was about 200 years old.  It had a lawn like a golf course, and the approach to the property was along a dirt road, through a picturesque canopy of trees, for about a mile.   There was a pasture on the ocean next to it, another pasture next to that, and another pasture across the road.   Altogether, on the 5-mile long coastal dirt road, there were no other homes!!    The owner (70 yrs old) was the youngest child in a family of 6 children, with 5 older sisters.   He inherited the property, but in the 1970’s, more than 100 relatives challenged his ownership in court.   The family had never received a deed to the property, and the old Hawaiian man had no legal documents that could prove he was the owner.   Anyhow, after a 5-year trial, he was awarded ownership through “adverse possession.”  (i.e., like squatter’s rights).   But now it was for sale.   The old Hawaiian man would boast proudly:  “It’s ALL MINE!!! … ALL MINE!!!”  Although he had never seen more than about $10,000 dollars in his life, and although he was born and raised there, and had lived there all his life (with no electricity, no running water, no phone, and no TV), and in a decrepit house that was literally caving in on him (it had been built with hand tools in the 1930’s), he was asking $3.9 million…

When we drove up, in the same Wrangler Jeep, the old man was so impressed with the Jeep, he could hardly stop talking about what a nice vehicle it was, and that he wished he owned one too, and where we got it, etc...

So I introduced the 2 of them, and Hy spent about an hour walking the premises, all over the very scenic property.   Hy told him he wanted to buy it, and said he would pay him exactly $1.5 million in cash, in 90-days.   The old man agreed.   Hy asked me to write up a 1-page contract right there on the spot, which I did.   Hy told the old man that if he signed the agreement that day, Hy would give him $100,000 cash deposit, and the next day (as a bonus) the old man could go to any auto dealer in Hawaii, and buy himself any brand-new 4-wheeel drive he wanted, the price didn’t matter!!!    Hy began to count out the $100,000 deposit in $100 bills, on the hood of the Jeep, in front of the old man… Suddenly, the old man told Hy to put the money away.   He said he wanted to show the offer to his lawyer before he signed anything.   Several days later, he decided the offer was too low.  Since he wanted to net $2 million, that’s why the asking price was over $3 million.

Later, the price was lowered to $3.6 million… Hy still offered  $1.5 million…  Later it was lowered to $3 million.  Hy still offered  $1.5 million.   Then it was lowered to $2.5 million.  But Hy wouldn’t budge from his offer price of $1.5 million.  Finally, years later, the price was lowered to $1.5 million, but now Hy offered only $750,000.   Finally, several years later, the asking price was lowered to $700,000 but Hy now offered only $400,000.   Meanwhile, that same year, I bought 84 acres kitty-corner to the old man, where I lived for about 10 years…  I also purchased another 365 acres [with a mile of oceanfront] just down the road, but in 1998 I ended up in bankruptcy and foreclosure. 

So in 1998, after 2 bankruptcies and 2 foreclosures, I was facing eviction, as well as auto repossession.  I had no money, no savings, no inheritance, and a wife and 5 children.   I thought what Hy Hunter would do in this situation.  So I decided to make an offer to purchase the same property, for $300,000 cash (I had been offered a loan of this amount).   The old Hawaiian man wouldn’t take $300,000 cash, but after several weeks of negotiation, he finally agreed to sell it to me for $700,000 with only $1,000 down and $1,000 a month for 3 years, and with no interest, then a balloon.

Within a month, using no money of my own, I bought and sold 2 properties, more than $1 million combined, with no money spent on either property, and resold both of them, for about $100,000 profit, which saved my ass!!!   All this thanks to Hy’s inspiration…

I was the first one in the history of Hawaii ever to purchase this property, and I bought and sold it without spending a penny from my own pocket!!!   Again, thanks to Hy’s inspiration…  (Hy was also my father’s name, by the way)…

I later learned that the old Hawaiian man had been trying to sell his property for 31 years, since 1967 (until I bought it in 1998), and all he ever wanted was to sell the property and realize the cash, and spend it.   What was he going to do with all that money?   He told me he planned to take the money to Las Vegas and gamble with it!!!

The end of the story is this:   in the end, the old guy got nothing, because after I bought the property, his relatives went to court, and declared him legally incompetent to control his own assets, and now they are the legal guardian over all his possessions.   For him, the dream of Las Vegas is over… (and the poor old guy has no children either!!!)

He should have sold it to Hy in 1990!!!