The Chang Fook Building

This building was originally built in the 1920s by the Chang family and operated as a general store. When they started a bakery in the 1930s, the Changs found that their special pastries attracted people from all over Kauaʻi. The entire family helped to produce delicacies such as clover rolls, hearty breads, apple turnovers, small custard pies, flakey coconut pies, and their unique doughnuts. The doughnuts were offered each afternoon to a small but eager crowd which had grown hungrier by the minute as they smelled the aroma of baked goods wafting through the air. People traveled to Kōloa from distant areas of the island to sample the treats. They also enjoyed Chinese manapua and rice cakes as well as Japanese anko manju baked by the Changs.

Part of the space was eventually developed into a restaurant by the Changs and son Walter Ah-Choy Chang, who also cooked up a well-remembered saimin, was often asked to recreate the bakery products. He declined because what he remembered most of all was “too much hard work.”

During World War II, the Chang family operated the restaurant, and then a bar, in the same building. In 1983-1984 this building was carefully rebuilt and enlarged, closely matching the style of the original structure that stood for so many years.