August 25, 2007

How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?
Fullerton homeowner dedicates garage to a gulp of beverage history.
By BARBARA GIASONE
The Orange County Register

FULLERTON - Garage christenings are as rare as hoedowns in Maui.

But there was good reason to toast to the rafters at 1321 Frances Ave. on Saturday night.

Homeowner Tom Jones and his buddies "officially" designated his one-car garage a neighborhood landmark where Hawaiian Punch was concocted in 1934.

The fruity drink flowed as Jones and his wife, Joyce, served up Polynesian burgers, island hot dogs and potato salad to commemorate the occasion.

Punch lines added more flavor.

"I remember when my brother decided to imitate Punchy, the little guy in the commercials," neighbor Lisa Croft said. "He'd wind up his arm, and then punch me, leaving me with a black eye."

Karen Kay, raised in a family of 10, recalled her mother stretched the servings by adding orange juice to the special treat.

Stories have circulated for years that Hawaiian Punch was formulated in a converted garage in Fullerton, not in the islands.

Until several years ago, Jones wasn't even sure where A.W. Leo, Tom Yates and Ralph Harrison blended a tropical tasting syrup to add to their Pacific Citrus Products Company, based in Fullerton.

Indeed, the city's 1934 phone book at the public library lists another name at the Frances Avenue address.

Then one day, while Jones was mowing the lawn, a former owner who lived in the stucco home during World War II, stopped by and verified the legendary story.

"I should have paid more attention to what she was saying," Jones said. "That woman has since died, but I now realize there's a piece of history at our address."

Jones, a retired sergeant with the Cal State Fullerton Police, eventually made a cedar plaque marking the invention.

Last week, Betty Hughes, 89, of Anaheim, who is the widow of the first president of Pacific Hawaiian Products, was driven by the residence to verify the story.

"Betty didn't recognize the house because there's a two-story addition," her daughter-in-law, Suanne Casey, said. "But she was familiar with the street."

Newspaper articles in the 1932 and 1954 editions of the Fullerton News Tribune tell the story of A.W. Leo, who arrived in the city in 1931 to realize his grandfather's dream of creating a successful laboratory and business for citrus products.

Genetics must have played a part in Leo's food-chemistry skills.

His uncle, H. T. Leo of Anaheim, pioneered the citrus pectin industry in the United States.

A.W. Leo started the company in a small building at 120 W. Amerige Ave., and soon shipped orange by-products to Europe, the Philippines, Guam and the Hawaiian Islands. A fire in 1950 destroyed the plant, sending punch flowing into the gutters.

By 1954, the company had moved into a new plant at 330 E. Santa Fe Ave. Canning facilities were opened in the Midwest.

Today, Hawaiian Punch is produced by Cadbury Schweppes, which paid Procter & Gamble $203 million in 1999 for all rights to the Fullerton-formulated drink.