Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Āhinahina

Although the Hawaiian name for this plant is not historically known, it is often referred to today as ‘Āhinahina, Hinahina or Hinahina Ewa. The reason for these names primarily has to do with their color. In Hawaii, many plants that are silvery in color are called hinahina or have the word hinahina in its name. (Hui Ku Maoli Ola)

Āhinahina (very gray) is the product of evolution in island isolation. Several million years ago, a California tarweed seed traveled 2,000 miles across the Pacific to Hawaii.

This single species evolved into the “silversword alliance,” a group of more than 30 species endemic to Hawai‘i that range from scraggly shrubs to ground-clinging cushions. (NPCA)

It is a distinctive, globe-shaped rosette plant, with a dense covering of silver hairs. (FWS)  We commonly call this plant the Silversword (due to their long, slender leaves and a silver-white color).

After 10 to 30 years of rosette growth, thousands of aromatic flowers erupt from a human-sized stalk and are pollinated by native Hylaeus bees. After the silversword has finished flowering, it will die (silverswords only flower once in a lifetime). (NPS)

Some of the notable āhinahina are named for the mountains where they are found: Haleakalā Silverswords, Mauna Loa Silverswords, and Mauna Loa Silverswords.

Haleakalā Silverswords from Maui has larger flowers than the form on the island of Hawaiʻi. These plants were formerly abundant, but earlier in the century they faced the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, goat grazing, and insect infestations.

Hotter temperatures and lower rainfall presents a new threat to these charismatic plants. Researchers with the University of Hawai‘i are actively working with park staff to evaluate the effects of drought conditions on Silverswords, and preserve these unique plants for generations to come. (NPS)

Haleakalā Silverswords live only in a 2,500-acre area at the top of the Haleakalā volcano, a moonscape pocked by cinder cones. They have developed an adaptation to cope with this harsh environment: The fleshy leaves are coated with tiny silvery hairs to break the wind, prevent drying and collect cloud moisture. (NCPA)

Mauna Kea Silverswords produce pink to wine-red flowers is rare and only found in the alpine regions of Mauna Kea. The harsh and challenging conditions of Mauna Kea volcano have forced the Silverswords to adapt to the environment in unique ways, similar to Mauna Loa Silverswords.

Leaves are covered with a dense layer of tiny hairs that help reflect sunlight and insulate the plant against cold temperatures. Sadly, impacts of climate change, and foraging invasive animals have put Silverswords in danger.

There are no records of the extent or density of the Mauna Kea silversword population prior to the introduction of ungulates to the island of Hawai’i in 1793 and 1794.

The Mauna Kea Silversword may have already been in decline due to browsing by feral ungulates by the time the silversword was first collected by James Macrae in 1825. Macrae noted in his diary that he found the remains of dead sheep near the summit of Mauna Kea on the same day that he encountered the silversword. (Mauna Kea Silversword Recovery Plan)

The Mauna Kea Silversword is distinguished from the Haleakalā Silversword by a high frequency of branching; taller, thinner flowerings; green bracts subtending flower heads; and fewer ray florets. (Mauna Kea Silversword Recovery Plan)

Mauna Loa Silverswords are perhaps lesser known than its Haleakalā and Mauna Kea cousins. The Kaʻū silversword is one of two forms of the Mauna Loa silversword that grow exclusively on Mauna Loa volcano.

The other, the Waiākea silversword, is rarer and found in wet bog habitat. Like its cousins, the Kaʻū form is in the sunflower family and blooms once by sending forth a dramatic stalk of small fragrant sunflower-like blossoms from its center.

These blooming stalks can reach nine feet in height. The plant dies after its towering display, but releases thousands of seeds to continue its legacy.  (NPS)

The Mauna Kea Silversword probably only occurred on Mauna Kea. However, there are some historical and recent suggestions that a similar taxon may have occurred on Hualālai and on Mauna Loa.

The Mauna Kea Silverswords was first collected by James Macrae in 1825. Macrae’s specimens were sent to Augustin-Pyramus DeCandolle in Geneva.  Later, David Douglas collected the Mauna Kea silversword in 1834 and sent specimens to WJ Hooker at Kew Gardens.

In 1852, Asa Gray described the Haleakala Silversword as endemic to the island of Maui. The similarity in vegetative features between Mauna Kea Silversword and the Haleakalā Silversword has led several authors to consider these taxa as the same species.  (Mauna Kea Silversword Recovery Plan)

In 1875, world traveler Isabella Bird, in Haleakalā, stated, “Soon after noon we began to descend; and in a hollow of the mountain, not far from the ragged edge of the crater, then filled up with billows of cloud …”

“… we came upon what we were searching for; not, however, one or two, but thousands of silverswords, their cold, frosted silver gleam making the hill-side look like winter or moonlight.” (Bird, Six Months)

Alexander noted in his Ascent of Mauna Kea, in 1892, “We crossed a shallow crater just east of a conspicuous peak called “Ka lepe a moa”, or cock’s comb, and began to ascend the mountain proper. After climbing a steep ridge through loose scoria and sand, the party halted for lunch at an elevation of 10,500 feet.”

“The upper limit of the māmane tree is not far from 10,000 feet. … The beautiful Silver Sword (Argyroxiphium), once so abundant is nearly extinct, except in the most rugged and inaccessible localities.”  (Alexander, PCA, Sep 14, 1892)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Summertime

In a lot of respects, with or without kids, school vacation schedules seem to set how we operate our lives.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Americans used the word vacation the way the English do, the time when teachers and students vacate the school premises and go off on their own.  (Siegel; NPR)

Summer … Memorial Day to Labor Day, right?  Well, maybe before, but why?

A first thought is the historic reason for the season of summer vacations is so kids can go work on the family farm.  There are a number of reasons summer vacation came about, but the farming calendar isn’t one of them.

There used to be two basic school schedules – one for urban areas and the other for rural communities.

In the past, urban schools ran year-round. For example, in 1842 New York City schools were in class for 248 days. Rural schools took the spring off to plant, and the autumn off to harvest. (The summer actually isn’t the busiest time in agriculture.)

Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America.

Rural schools typically had two terms: a winter term and a summer one, with spring and fall available for children to help with planting and harvesting. The school terms in rural schools were relatively short: 2-3 months each.  (Taylor)

In addition, in rural areas, the summer term was considered “weak.” The summer term in rural neighborhoods tended to be taught by young girls in their mid- to late-teens. On the other hand, schoolmasters, generally older males, taught the winter terms. Because of this, the summer terms were seen as academically weaker.  (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

It’s hot in the summer. The school buildings of the 19th-century weren’t air-conditioned. Heat during the summer months would often become unbearable.    (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

In 1841, Boston schools operated for 244-days while Philadelphia implemented a 251-day calendar. In the beginning of the 19th-century, large cities commonly had long school years, ranging from 251 to 260 days.  During this time, many of these rural schools were only open about 6-months out of the year.  (Pedersen)

In the 1840s, however, educational reformers like Horace Mann moved to merge the two calendars out of concern that rural schooling was insufficient and then-current medical theory and concerns over student health in the urban setting.

“(A) most pernicious influence on character and habits … not infrequently is health itself destroyed by over-stimulating the mind.”  (Mann)

This concern over health seemed to have two parts.  As noted above, there was the concern that over-study would lead to ill-health, both mental and physical; the other concern was that schoolhouses were unhealthy in the summer (heat, ventilation, etc.)  (Taylor)

Attendance became another problem.  The city elite could afford to periodically leave town for cooler climates.  School officials, battling absenteeism, saw little advantage in opening schools on summer days or on holidays when many students wouldn’t show up. Pressure to standardize the school calendar across cities often led campuses to “the lowest common denominator” – less school.    (Mathews; LA Times)

In the second half of the 19th-century, school reformers who wanted to standardize the school year found themselves wanting to lengthen the rural school year and to shorten the urban school year, ultimately ending up by the early 20th-century with the modern school year of about 180 days.  (Taylor)

Summer emerged as the obvious time for a break: it offered a break for teachers, generally fit with the farming needs and alleviated physicians’ concerns that packing students into sweltering classrooms that would promote the spread of disease.  (Time)

While it’s clear historically that 3-month layoff from school was not based on farming needs – for most of the country – in Hawaiʻi there was a farm-based reason for the break from studies, at least from 1932 to 1969.

It happened in Kona.

By the 1890s, the large Kona coffee plantations were broken into smaller (5+/- acres) family farms.  By 1915, tenant farmers, largely of Japanese descent, were cultivating most of the coffee. Many hours were spent cleaning and weeding the land, pruning the trees, harvesting the crop, pulping the berries and drying them for the mills.

These were truly family farms.  “At that time, we used to work until dark. You see, no matter how young you were, you have to work. Before going to school, we pick one basket of coffee, then go to school. We come home from school and we pick another basket.” (Tsuruyo Kimura; hawaii-edu)

Konawaena was the regional school; it was first established as an elementary school, about 1875.  By 1917, they were pushing to get a Kona high school (at the time, Hilo High, established in 1905, was the only high school on the island.)

In 1920, the Territory acquired land for a new school and in 1921, the new Konawaena accommodated students up to the 9th-grade; classes through the senior year were added by the 1924-25 school year.

Konawaena means “the Center of Kona,” and it lived up to its name.  “Everything possible has been done to make the community feel that the school belongs to them. A Kona Baseball League has been organized and all league games are played on the school diamond” (Crawford, 1933; HABS)

The Kona area was observed as being “different socially from the rest of the Islands” (Crawford, 1933; HABS.)  Coffee farming was the main reason for the difference. This labor-intensive crop thrived best in the steep lava slopes of the Kona districts.

“The labor problem is one that will have to be seriously considered.  As coffee culture increases, the need of a greater supply of labor will be strongly felt, particularly at picking time. A large force is then needed for three or four months, after which, if coffee alone is cultivated, there is need only of a small part of the force required for picking.”  (Thrum)

These labor and  land factors meant a non-industrial, small-farm type of agriculture, very different from the industrial trends in the growing sugar and pineapple plantations that developed in other areas of the Islands.

The school went beyond recreational activities to accommodate the surrounding community.

In 1932, the school’s ‘summer’ vacation was shifted from the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day (June-July-August) to August-September-October, “to meet the needs of the community, whose chief crop is coffee and most of which ripens during the fall months.” (Ka Wena o Kona 1936; HABS)

In 1935, the legislature recognized the ‘Konawaena Coffee Vacation Plan’ and passed legislation such that “The teachers of the Kona District … shall be paid, under such conditions as the Department of Public Instruction (now DOE) may require, their monthly accruing salaries during the months of September and October of each year during which such plan is in operation.”    (Session Laws, 1935)

This “coffee harvest” school schedule and the “coffee vacation” lasted until 1969 (Honolulu Star Bulletin 1969; HABS.)

And now, in Hawaiʻi and across the country, there are varying arrangements for school schedules and vacations.  Some areas have lost the 3-month layover; but most are trending with a total 180 to 200-days of instruction, with various schedules in arranging the breaks.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lānai Ranch

Lānai’s formal ranching period ran from approximately 1854 to 1951 – longer than the cultivation of pineapple on the island. The ranch headquarters, situated about one mile away from what is now the city was at a place known as Kō‘ele.

Prior to 1923 and the arrival of James Dole, the Kō‘ele headquarters of the Lānai Ranch was the closest thing to a town in the uplands of Lānai. The only other historic “city” or village was situated on the windward shore of Lānai, at Keomuku – which had originally been built as the center of operations for the Maunalei Sugar Company (1898 to 1901). (Kepa Maly)

Walter Murray Gibson and other followers of the Mormon Church started a settlement on land they had purchased. Shortly thereafter, Gibson was excommunicated for allegedly misusing church funds; the settlement failed and the Mormons left the island.

Gibson remained and consolidated the 26,000 acres of land he controlled to form Lānai Sheep Ranch, headquartered in Palawai. By 1867, Gibson’s ranch consisted of 10,000 sheep and 18,000 goats.

By 1875, despite protests by Lānai; residents, Gibson controlled 90 percent of Lānai; lands either in fee simple or long-term leases, for ranching and farming operations. After Gibson’s death in 1888, the ranch was turned over to his daughter and son-in-law, Talula and Frederick Hayselden.

The ranch, headquartered in Kō‘ele, had grown to number 40,000 sheep, 3,000 Angora goats, 600 horses and 200 head of cattle. Lands making up Lānai Ranch included the former Gibson lands, government-owned land, and some ahupua‘as owned by Honolulu financier WG Irwin.

Despite attempts to increase the ranch’s efficiency and profitability, the Hayseldens lost money. Therefore, in 1898, the Hayseldens established Maunalei Sugar Company.  Plagued by financial problems, Hayselden closed the plantation in 1901.

The Gibson estate went into receivership, with financiers WH Pain and Paul Neuman assuming two-thirds of the debt and the remaining land and assets. Charles and Louisa Gay, of the wealthy Gay and Robinson family of Kauai and Ni‘ihau, purchased the properties held by Pain and Neuman in 1902.

By 1907, Gay owned virtually the entire island.  The Gay family moved to Lānai in late 1902. The family business is primarily ranching, but with a transition from sheep to cattle.

Between 1902 and 1910, the years of his tenure as landowner and manager, Gay brought up plantation homes for ranch hands from Keomuku to Kō‘ele, laid pipelines, dug reservoirs and wells, erected windmills and fences, installed a water-pumping system in Maunalei Gulch, and began experimental farming.

Gay, who lived in the ranch manager’s home in Ko’ele, also maintained a residence near the beach at Keomuku. He used some of the defunct sugar company’s facilities at Keomuku – such as the brackish-water wells, windmills, and the Kahalepalaoa Landing – to maintain some ranch operations manned by a few employees.

Gay also built a school in Palawai for his own children and that of ranch employees, and a church in Keomuku for use by his family and nearby residents.  Although Gay achieved some measure of success after his improvements, he had difficulty turning a profit. He subsequently sold all but 600 acres of his lands in 1910 to a hui of businessmen.

William G Irwin (and his wife), Robert W Shingle and Cecil Brown formed the “Lānai Ranch Company,” which later became the “Lānai Company.”  At the time of this sale, the ranch consisted of 22,500 sheep, 250 head of cattle, and 150 horses.

Gay remained on Lānai and, on his 600 acres, farmed corn, watermelons, pineapples and other crops, raised pigs, and built a home in Lalakoa, an area adjacent to present-day Lānai City. He also continued to use his Keomuku home.

In 1911, Lānai Ranch Company hired New Zealander George Munro as ranch manager. Munro, who previously worked at Molokai Ranch, found that because there had been little subdividing of pastureland, the sheep were roaming the island almost at will and the goats had become wild.

Munro, who had a knowledge of and interest in botany, planted hundreds of Norfolk Island pine trees throughout the island to catch fog drip to increase the ground water supply. Also during this time, Lānai Ranch Company began shifting its emphasis from sheep to cattle in order to supply a growing market for beef.

In 1917, Lānai Ranch Company sold the island to Frank and Harry Baldwin of Maui, who continue the cattle ranching operation under the title of “Lānai Ranch.”

Munro, who was to stay on as ranch manager until 1935, continued the shift from sheep to cattle, and reduced the goat population. With the improved water supply, the emphasis on cattle, and the decimation of goats which destroyed grazing lands, Lānai Ranch began making a profit.

In 1922, despite this relative prosperity, the Baldwins sold the island to James D Dole of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. This began the large-scale pineapple cultivation on Lānai which was to permanently alter the island’s landscape and social fabric while at the same time signaling the decline of Lānai Ranch as the island’s dominant commercial activity.

James Dole and associates planned and started the construction of Lānai City, Kaumālapa‘u Harbor (to ship pineapples and supplies), the plantation fields, and infrastructure needed for development of the plantation.

​Dole engaged David Root, James Munro, Tokumatsu Murayama, Hawaiian Dredging and others to develop the plantation.  Former pasturelands were cleared and rows upon rows of pineapple were planted.  The first buildings in Lānai City were under construction in 1923.

​During the decade following its purchase, Hawaiian Pine carefully implemented plans to transform Lānai into a pineapple plantation and ultimately made Lānai the world’s largest pineapple plantation.

As pineapple growing and harvesting began in earnest, the first crop was harvested and shipped in 1926 – Munro reduced the cattle herd and turned over ranch acreage to Hawaiian Pineapple Company. By 1927, of Lānai’s 89,600 acres, pineapple operations accounted for 40,000 acres, Lānai Ranch occupied 44,000 acres, and 5,000 acres were taken up by forest reserve.

In 1935, George Munro, Lānai Ranch manager since 1911, retired. He advised that pineapple, not cattle, be given primary consideration on Lānai, and that the ranch be continued only as long as pineapple-growing was not jeopardized.

The ranch continued to decline in the 1940s. By 1950, there were only a few cowboys to herd up the remaining cattle on the island. The ranch officially closed in 1951.

Castle & Cooke, Inc., which in 1961 acquired 100 percent direct ownership of Hawaiian Pineapple Company (in 1985, David H Murdock purchased Castle & Cooke – which includes much of the island of Lānai). In 1987. construction of the two luxury hotels on Lānai started.

In 1992, the final harvest of pineapple on Lānai took place in October. On November 14. 1992, a “Pau Hana” (“end of work”) gathering was held in Dole Park to commemorate the close of the pineapple era on Lānai.

In 2012, Larry Ellison purchased the island of Lānai – approximately 97 percent of the land on island – and engaged in building a sustainable community through the holding company, Pūlama Lānai.  (Lots of information here is from UH Center for Oral History and Lānai Culture & Heritage Center.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Seabury Hall

“I give, devise and bequeath unto the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Hawaiian Islands, its successors and assigns forever, all of my right, title and interest in and to the said property to the said church.”

“It is the desire and intent of both the church and myself that the church shall maintain and operate on the said property a good school …” Katherine [‘Kate’] McGrew Cooper, Last Will and Testament, March 27, 1958.

From the 1950s, during a seven (7) year period of planning and discussion, Kate Cooper, together with then Episcopal Bishop Harry Kennedy and the Rev. Rodger Melrose, Seabury’s founding Chaplain and Headmaster, spent countless hours planning and praying on what Seabury Hall might become. (Seabury)

Whoa, let’s look back …

On the morning that the advertisement for “Maunalei” appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser (November 19, 1944), Mrs Charles B Cooper was sitting on the lanai with a group of friends. One of them tossed the paper to her, saying, “Here is the house that you should buy, Kate.” (Seabury Hall Alumni)

The advertisement read, “Situated at an elevation where it is constantly cool, this five bedroom house designed by Honolulu’s leading architect, is the last word in modem planning, comfort and construction. Set apart, it provides a home designed for peace and quiet living.”

“One looks out toward West Maui and the north shore while toward the south one sees the slopes of Lanai in the distance beyond the south shore. … The grounds, 8.79 acres, are fully landscaped in a manner which does not destroy the mountain beauty of the setting and yet is in keeping with the semi-colonial design of the house.” (Adv, Nov 19, 1944)

“Maunalei” was built in 1929 by Dr William Baldwin, the second son of Emily and Henry Perrine Baldwin. It was designed by Mr. Baldwin’s cousin, Charles W Dickey, one of Hawaii’s most outstanding architects. The contractor was Charles C. Savage.

Following Dr Baldwin’s death, the house was put up for sale to settle his estate. For some time, ‘Kate’ Cooper had been looking for just such a house.  Maunalei did seem to be the perfect answer for her. She purchased the estate (for approximately $109,000) and was settled on Maui by early 1945. She loved Maui and lived here very happily for 18 years.

In 1958, foreseeing a need for a boarding school for girls, Mrs. Cooper bequeathed her estate to the Episcopal Church in Hawaii, and at her death in 1963 Seabury Hall was born. (Seabury Hall Alumni)

(Seabury Hall is named after Rev. Samuel Seabury, the first Episcopal Bishop of the American Church. November 14, 1784, Samuel Seabury was consecrated Bishop in the Church of God. Seabury served the church in Connecticut.)

Founded in 1964 as an Episcopal boarding school for girls, Seabury Hall, in the 1970s the School accepted boys, and in the late-1980s it eliminated the boarding program to focus exclusively on serving Maui. It is now a coeducational independent day school.  (Seabury Hall)

The school is Episcopal in religious affiliation but nonsectarian in its instruction.  (Maunalei was later renamed the Cooper House and houses administrative offices, a reception area, a dining facility, and a chapel.)

“Groundbreaking ceremonies for Seabury Hall’s girIs dormitory, designed by Bruce Cruikshank, will take place tomorrow [February 20, 1964] near Makawao, Maui. Seabury Hall is to open in September as a boarding school for girls and a day school for girls and boys.”

“Its nine acres were a gift from the late Mrs Katherine McGrew Cooper to the Episcopal Church. The new dormitory will have 30 double rooms on two floors, an infirmary and teachers quarters. The Reverend Roger M Melrose, headmaster, will officiate”. (SB, Feb 19, 1964)

“’Seabury Hall is being established to fill a need in Hawaii for a girls’ boarding school,” Bishop Kennedy said. “’We need a school where girls living in a community learn to meet the changing demands of life and education with new and better methods, while maintaining an unswerving emphasis upon standards and ideals of lasting value.” (SB, June 3, 1964)

Beginning in 1993, the school has built a full-size gymnasium, a Middle School building, an Upper School building, parking for school and public events, a library, and most recently a new Arts, Innovation, and Music Center. Extensive playing fields support the PE and athletic programs.

Signature programs at Seabury Hall include an AP Capstone Program in addition to 22 AP courses and 10 Honors courses offered; Engineering and Technology; Hawaiian Studies and Hawaiian language; Community Service Leadership; Winterim Program and experiential learning.

Seabury has little over 500 students (325 in Upper School and just under 200 in Middle School).  It is accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges; Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. (Lots of information here is from Seabury Hall.)

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Club Lanai

Allan Dale Starr Sr was born July 10, 1924 in Carlinville, Illinois, graduated from Northwestern University, was a naval aviator,  and came to Hawai‘i in 1949 and joined the Lund-Heitman agency. (Adv, Apr 4, 1991)

In 1965 he founded the AD Starr Co. Over the years, through growth/mergers the company grew to Hawai‘i’s largest marketing communications firm for nearly two decades.

He acquired a property at Kahalepalaoa on the north east shore of Lānai and used it as a weekend beach cottage. Kahalepalaoa was the former landing area with a long wooden pier built in about 1899 that several motor-driven boats were engaged in providing transportation of people and goods between Lānai and Lāhaina. (Lānai Culture and Heritage Center)

“The Lanai Landing site (formerly known as Halepalaoa Landing, Kahalepalaoa Landing, or Maunalei Sugar Co. Landing) has long been used as a boat harbor.” (BLNR, D-7, 11-10-22)

The pier had deteriorated, and in 1985 Starr received permission and built a new pier “to re-activate the only harbor on the windward coast of Lanai for small craft. The main purpose of restoring the Landing is to provide access to the shoreline and [Starr’s] property for small craft carrying tour groups from Kaanapali and Lahaina, Maui.” (BLNR, LA-1705, 03-08-85)

At that time, four companies operate cruise boats between Lahaina and Mānele Harbor on Lanai’s south coast. The companies offer the boat trip to Lanai and, upon arrival, picnic, swim, and snorkel at Hulopoe Bay. Hulopoe Beach Park is a private park and all facilities are located on property owned by Castle and Cooke.”

“[A]dditional boats from Lahaina would like to operate trips to Manele, but the space is not available to expand this activity.” (BLNR, LA-1705, 03-08-85)

 “Passengers on the cruise boats would disembark at Halepalaoa Landing to enjoy a picnic lunch, snorkeling, swimming, and other such activities currently offered at Hulopoe Beach Park. These activities would take place [on Starr’s] private property and the public beach area.”  (BLNR, LA-1705, 03-08-85)

Shortly thereafter, Charles Forman, Trustee, and City Cathedral Investments, Inc. took control of the property for use of the Landing and the adjoining beach retreat … Club Lanai was started.  “The concept of this place came from the previous owner, a man named [Allan Starr.]”

Club Lanai was a ‘day use facility’ that would bring in guests from the Island of Maui via two catamarans (65‐foot Ehukai and 70‐feet Kaulana), going over in the mornings and returning midafternoon 7 days a week, 365 days a year

Under the prior Club Lanaʻi operation, each of the boats used had a capacity of 149‐passengers. A stated “capacity” at the facility was apparently 250‐people. On some days, over 200‐guests were brought in for the day use activities, including food (typically lunch) and beverages (there were occasional nighttime activities, as well).

“Club Lanai was an 8-acre beach estate that was a cross between Gilligan’s Island and Club Med. Our guest book was signed by people returning 2 & 3 times during their week stay on Maui because they had so much fun there.”

“What made it that fun was that it was like going to your own private beach estate that was an 8-mile boat crossing from Maui to the seclude side of Lanai.”

“When you arrived there, there was a variety of activities you could do from snorkeling, kayaking, bike riding, volleyball, horseshoes, a history tour, a themed Hawaiian village where … Lanai residents shared the Aloha and history of Hawaii, and other activities that came and went though the years.”

“There was an open bar with all you could drink and an all you can eat lunch buffet that served steak, Mahi Mahi, and chicken. There were hammocks, lounge chairs, and palapas spread throughout the property.”

“It was his personal property and after some time of owning it he wanted to make it into a simple getaway place where people could come for the day. He ran out of money during the building process and put it up for sale as that concept.”

“When my father Charles Forman heard about it, he fell in love with the idea. He and the people that worked for him turned it into the above-mentioned place.” (Steven Forman, YouTube)

“The building sitting back from the coconut encrusted water was the first bar built. … It had 2 bridges going to it. The building that housed the kitchen was built by the previous owner. It was his personal home.”

“The Club used the front half of this building for an employee kitchen and living room/lounge. The back half was built into a commercial kitchen to prepare the meals that were served for the day.”

“The upstairs was used for sleeping quarters. There was always a caretaker living there with other employees and their guest staying from time to time.”

“The barn like building was used for several purposes. The back side housed all the property maintenance equipment and the front side was used as a storage room for products for the store.”

“Other building not mentioned were a serving kitchen, a 2nd bar, a commercial bathroom, and a mock Hawaiian Village designed by the Bishop museum.”  (Steven Forman, YouTube)

“In basic terms the cost of operation would end up always out weighing the income. Insurance was at the same rate as amusement parks, maintenance and dry docks on large boats are costly as well as the maintenance for all the property equipment.”

“State and County taxes as well as State Harbor taxes added a fair share of burden as well. In the end this spread of costs was a hard ship to keep afloat. …”

“[The Property] was sold to some speculators who hung on to it for several years. It sat empty at that time with just caretakers keeping the property up.”

“They eventually sold it Dole Pineapple who wanted to make back into a place where their resort guests could go for the day but the County told them they would have to pave the road if they wanted to put it into operation and that would of been too costly being that that road washes out every year from winter storms.”  (Steven Forman, YouTube)

It then ended up with Pūlama Lanai (of Lanai Resorts (Larry Ellison)), who recently (2022) stated that it is interested in using the former Club Lānai site for day activities for guests staying at Sensei Lānai or the Four Seasons Lānai resorts. The intent of Pūlama Lānai is to bring in guests via boats from Mānele Boat Harbor to the Club site. (BLNR, D-7, 11-10-22)

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