Blow the kazoos, bang the drums and sound the sirens — Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour is coming back to Hawai'i.

The popular family restaurant chain that established a stronghold in the Islands during the 1970s before teetering on extinction by 1990 is returning with all its bells and whistles, candy store and birthday sundaes delivered with fanfare.

Honolulu-based trolley operator E Noa Corp. recently acquired a statewide license to open Farrell's restaurants, and plans to open its first in May at Windward Mall. More could follow.

"It will bring back the fond memories," said Maki Kuroda, E Noa president, who described the planned Farrell's as a mix of the old Farrell's with some modern updates.

"It's not going to be the original '60s or '70s Farrell's, but we're going to keep all the good stuff like Green Rivers (sodas), the Zoo (massive sundae) and the uniforms (vests and straw hats). It's going to be fun."

Kuroda said other original elements will include many menu items such as burgers and Reuben sandwiches, a candy store and the noisy delivery of birthday sundaes.

The planned Hawai'i Farrell's could become the third location nationally for what had been a chain with roughly 130 restaurants at its peak before ownership changes and modifications to the Farrell's concept caused most of the stores to close.

Hawai'i was an exceptional market for Farrell's in its heyday, with some of the best sales in the chain.

With eight locations, Hawai'i had the second-highest number of Farrell's restaurants, according to longtime Farrell's manager Roger Baker, whose Web site happyitis.biz is dedicated to Farrell's.

Known in part for its birthday parties and Gay Nineties fun atmosphere, Farrell's left lasting impressions on plenty of kama'aina like Brenda Hirano, who recalls going to Farrell's at Ala Moana Center as an intermediate school student from 'Ewa.

"They really are coming back? That's so fun," she said. "We had our birthday parties there a long time ago, and they used to run around with the tray of ice cream and make lots of noise."

Farrell's was co-founded in 1963 by Robert Farrell in Oregon. He modeled the restaurant after a 1905 ice cream parlor, according to Baker's history.

Donald R. Clarke opened the first Hawai'i Farrell's franchise in 1970 at Kahala Mall.

Seven other locations followed, including restaurants in Waikiki and on Maui and Kaua'i.

Marriott Corp. bought the Farrell's corporation in 1972 and roughly doubled the size of the chain. But in a 1980 Advertiser interview, Farrell said that the company grew too fast and got away from its original theme, which hurt business.

An investment group bought Farrell's in 1982 and tried to improve the suffering popularity by making more changes, but the plan didn't work. Marriott resumed ownership, and nearly all Farrell's restaurants had closed by 1990.

In 1996, California firm Kirin Group bought the rights to Farrell's and today operates two locations. E Noa acquired its license from Kirin and recently signed a lease with Windward Mall.

The Windward Mall Farrell's is planned to have 125 seats and take the space previously occupied by McDonald's, which left the mall in February.

"I'm really excited about it because I grew up with Farrell's, and now I have kids, and my kids can go there and experience that Farrell's excitement," said mall marketing manager Kim Person.

Kuroda of E Noa said she hopes to open at least one more Farrell's restaurant on O'ahu, and perhaps another on Maui.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.