I have an 80's Nishiki beach cruiser that came with rather generic wheels, steel rims, plain spokes, and a Shimano clone rear hub.
The original wheels are okay but the rear hub was more trouble than it was worth. I swapped in an older Bendix Red Band II hub about 5 years ago.
The plan is also to build it a better set of wheels, and for that I'm looking for a pair of older mountain bike rims, with DT stainless spokes and the Bendix hub.
I thought about Worksman rims but they are both heavy and expensive for what they are. Their heaviest rim, looks more like a motorcycle wheel.