![]() Kaniela Ing, a former state legislator and Native Hawaiian organizer, said several buildings in town traced the story of Hawaii’s industrial and capitalist development, evolving from the era of the Hawaiian kingdom to the sugar and pineapple plantations and finally, in more recent years, tourism and luxury hotels. “The sunset looks fake every time I see it.”įor some Kānaka Maoli, as many Native Hawaiians call themselves, Lahaina was particularly notable as the place where Kamehameha the Great, the monarch who united all the Hawaiian islands, established his kingdom’s seat at the dawn of the 19th century. “You’re sitting there, and you see the islands in front of you and the water, and the whales are jumping, and even as a local, I’m like ‘Bro, is this real?’” he said. He recalls fondly nights spent with his family feasting on fresh-caught fish and working alongside laborers from around the world in the nearby pineapple fields. ![]() Kaina, the tattoo artist, said he never took for granted the town’s stunning sunsets, temperate climes and pristine beaches. “To me, Front Street is better than Waikiki,” he said. Hedani said the fabled beach areas on Oahu that Hawaii is best known for held nothing on Lahaina. Yes, many of Lahaina’s old wooden storefronts had gone from housing fish markets to high-end tourist spots like Tommy Bahama and Cheeseburger in Paradise, but the town maintained its charms. “To locals, it’s a very touristy spot, but we embraced it,” said Jared Hedani, 37, a grant specialist of Japanese-Filipino ancestry and who has lived on Maui nearly his whole life. In the wake of the fire on Thursday, the sense of loss - of history, of community, of friends and family - was coming achingly into focus for many of those who had long lived there. “I walked down Front Street,” she said, “and decided this was my place.” She said her mind was made up when she set out on foot around the town, once known as a vacation spot for Mark Twain and as a gathering point for whalers, now featuring art galleries and restaurants. Morrison, 75, from Berkeley, Calif., happened upon the town while sailing around the Hawaiian islands in 1975. Unlike others in Lahaina whose families in the area stretch back generations, Ms. Baldwin, a missionary and physician, had used to vaccinate much of Maui against smallpox. Dwight Baldwin had shipped all the way from their East Coast home in the 1830s when he took over the compound, their son’s antique shell collection and the medical instruments that Dr. The home contained the wooden rocking chairs that the family of the Rev. Ephraim Spaulding, a missionary from Massachusetts who prized its proximity to the waters where whaling ships once anchored. The losses in Lahaina from the fire now include the historic Baldwin Home, which houses the restoration foundation’s main office and was considered the oldest house still standing on the island of Maui. It was part of Lahaina’s daily life for well over a century,” she said. “But it was also where we would hold our Rotary meetings before the fire. “The Pioneer Inn was the place where crusty old sailor types used to hang out,” said Theo Morrison, the executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which manages more than a dozen historic sites in the town. Freeland’s grandson, figures among the architectural gems obliterated by the wildfire that swept through Lahaina, wiping out not just buildings but sites imbued with historical and cultural significance to many people in Hawaii. The hotel became the linchpin of a modest business empire that eventually included a saloon, a liquor wholesale operation and movie houses in plantation camps. It caused all sorts of chaos-but it was a great party,” Taylor concluded.Situated in the heart of Lahaina, the 34-room Pioneer Inn was a piece of history built in 1901 by George Alan Freeland, a British adventurer who followed his star to Maui and started a family with a Native Hawaiian woman. We got him so drunk that eventually he went upstairs and threw a wobbler in his suite. ‘Ooh, you are lovely boys,’ he screeched, loving every minute of it. We decided it would be a laugh to get him drunk and we were slinging the drinks down him. “This was before Elton became teetotal, so he was still a steaming party animal we went up to see him at his hotel and spent the afternoon getting blasted on martinis. “There were lots of celebrities around in Cannes and one day we discovered that Elton John was in town, filming the video for his song ‘I’m Still Standing,'” Taylor wrote. The video was filmed in France, where John ran into the members of Duran Duran while filming.įormer Duran Duran member, Andy Taylor, recounted his chance encounter with the glam rockstar in his book Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran. In addition to the song itself, Elton John created a music video for “I’m Still Standing” that reached somewhat of a mythological standing.
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