A Pilgrmage 8/30/2007
Regards from London

PEOPLE IN PARADISE: when I made my usual pilgrimage to your shop and bought my third set of shirts, you let my daughter try on one of your hats. I promised to send you the pictures. As you can see I am wearing one of my favourite shirts from 1994, but I think I am eclipsed by my beautiful daughter! Hope it's not too long before I can get back to Hawai'i and Newt again ...

SHOW BIZ 10/12/2006
Shaft... John Shaft... The ultimate in suave movie detectives

PEOPLE IN PARADISE: Richard Roundtree, still remembered for "Shaft," picked up a Montecristi Panama hat, planter's style, from Robert Dewes, a sales associate at Newt in the Village ...

SHOW BIZ 8/11/2005
It took a double-take before realizing it was 007

PEOPLE IN PARADISE: That was actor Pierce Brosnan shopping at Jim Tomasi's Newt at the Royal shop at the Royal Hawaiian hotel, trying on and purchasing a Montecristi Panama hat. "I didn't recognize him at first and was instructing him about the way to wear a hat, how to handle the hat, proportions of a hat that would suit him," said Tomasi. "Then I really looked at him when I put this hat on him ... and realized, oh my gosh, this is 007 in my shop." Keely Shaye Smith, Brosnan's wife, was patiently waiting. Brosnan agreed to pose for a photo with his purchase, something Tomasi generally does. For the record, according to Tomasi, "Brosnan has a larger than ordinary size head (7fi"), which, of course, fits his larger-than-life persona."...

LIGHTS, CAMERA ACTION:manager of the Newt store at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (where they sell these famed hats) wasn't too surprised one day when he received a call from Warren Beatty who asked for a size 8 Fedora. Jim sent two to the film star. Beatty picked out the least expensive. Only $450 bucks...

It's the 1927 Royal Hawaiian hotel, the pink palace, as it's known. I slide Baby onto my finger and walk over, but before I even hit the lobby I discover Newt, a hotel shop that looks as if it has been around since the 1920's. In the window there's something called a Dorothy Lamour sarong; inside are what seem like hundreds of panama hats. It turns out that the place opened less than two decades ago, but the effect is deliberate...

It struck me that Hawai'i's economy would benefit substantially if men started wearing Panama hats again. Look what happened when aloha shirts caught on. Let us, therefore, take a another look at Panama hats... starting with Newt at the Royal...

At the shop, Newt at the Royal, located on the grounds of the elegant Royal Hawaiian Hotel, we met hatter extraordinaire Jim Tomasi. Tomasi knows all there is about the fine straw hats known as Panama's that are really from Ecuador. ...

Although currently unavailable, perhaps one of our most popular Aloha Shirts was the Fern Aloha Shirt. With its soft understated tropical pattern, Hawaiian styling evocative of the 1940s, suggesting simple ferns moving in the trade winds... its popularity depleted our stock... a favorite among many people in public and private life.