MAUI - Farewell, Lovely Banyan

[jeezifonly]

Lahaina On Fire

Many of us have visited Maui, the Valley Isle, and if you know locals, you may want to check in, though communications may be down.

Check your favorite resource for news for updates. 

Heartbreaking loss to the state and native communities. 

 

 

[+ azdr0710]

many know that Lahaina has been probably the most popular single tourist destination on Maui for decades......most or all of the historic center of town has burned......at least six people have died.....this fire only started yesterday afternoon and assessment and evaluation will take weeks......colossal blow to Hawaii and Maui.....

posted an hour ago:

 

[+ keroscenefire]

I was in Maui in January visiting my uncle who has a place there (fortunately undamaged). Very sad to hear about Lahaina. It's a very pretty town with lots of beautiful older buildings. Hope things can be restored as best as they can. So hard to hear there were some deaths. It sounds like the fire moved incredibly fast. Thinking of my Maui friends tonight for sure. 

[+ azdr0710]

late reports are suggesting the famous 150 year-old banyan tree burned and efforts are underway to see if it can be salvaged or parts saved in some way

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan_tree_in_Lahaina

 

[Luv2play]

I was in Hawaii decades ago with my new boyfriend. It was sort of our honeymoon. We spent 3 nights in Maui at Ka'anapali Beach and drove into Lahanai for lunch at Hamburger Mary's where we met a couple we knew from Europe. We also met another gay couple on the beach where we were staying from Ottawa. It was such a small world in 1984. 

The banyan tree I remember was near our hotel in Waikiki. At the Royal Hawaiian Hotel I believe. It was very famous from some radio program from the 1930's. Under the banyan tree.

I'm sorry to hear of this tragedy. It was such a nice paradise.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Luv2play

[MscleLovr]

Very sad news.
 

Thanks to @jeezifonly for starting this thread. I have fond and loving memories of Maui as it was. I met one boyfriend there (we actually met on the beach) and years later I took another boyfriend there on a vacation and we were invited on a wild boar hunt by some locals. 
 

I’ve read in the news yesterday that Lahaina has burnt to the ground. I know many of the buildings were on the National Historic Register, but is it realistic to think that they will be rebuilt in the same way? 
 

I don’t know how the insurance settlements and the NHR requirements will interact (let alone how many may be uninsured)?

[+ Italiano]

Terrible...

[CuriousByNature]

Woke up today to hear the death toll is now 36 people.  Horribly tragic.  I have visited Lahaina a number of times - such a nice place, and I'm left wondering how many of the people I encountered in shops and restaurants over the years are now homeless, or worse.  So very sad.

[mike carey]

The loss of life and the destruction of the former royal capital of the Kingdom of Hawai'i are devastating. It was only on Thursday evening here that the number of deaths was revised up to 36, straight from the appalling enough six that had been in the news all day. In this country we know only too well the horror of high double- and triple-figure death tolls from fires. I know our hearts go out to the people of Maui today.

[jeezifonly]

The spirit of Maui will prevail. But big developers and Hospitality  Behemoths will vie to be OverLord of the Resurrection

Native people and other local residents will need money for the legal battle to keep ownership and profits in the community. 

May 2023. Our last sunset of the trip. At right, Cheeseburger in Paradise 😭

[Luv2play]

The scope of this tragedy is still unfolding as news reports are being updated. I don't think the term holocaust in terms of the destruction to Lahanai is an exageration. This is going to take years to recover from and even then some will not get back the life they had before. 

These destructive wildfires are going to have to be anticipated and steps taken to avert them in the future. There are lessons to be learned if we want to take the effort to do so. 

[+ bashful]

Been going to Maui since the 80s.  Just terrible.

[+ sync]

I just saw a tv report of how the fire was swept out into the harbor igniting numerous boats, prompting some observers to say the water was on fire.  The scope and speed of this horror is biblical-like.

 

[MikeBiDude]

The famous Banyan in happier times. I heard another news report last night that there was some hope in saving this iconic tree. I have many, many memories here.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvyDIaDpro3/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[marylander1940]

On 8/9/2023 at 7:16 PM, keroscenefire said:

I was in Maui in January visiting my uncle who has a place there (fortunately undamaged). Very sad to hear about Lahaina. It's a very pretty town with lots of beautiful older buildings. Hope things can be restored as best as they can. So hard to hear there were some deaths. It sounds like the fire moved incredibly fast. Thinking of my Maui friends tonight for sure. 

If Dresden is back to what it used to be so can Lahaina!

Plenty of billionaire's own property in Maui time for them to help the community!

Edited August 11, 2023 by marylander1940

[CuriousByNature]

6 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

If Dresden is back to what it used to be so can Lahaina!

Plenty of billionaire's own property in Maui time for them to help the community!

That's a good perspective.  I was amazed to see how authentic most of Dresden looks and it was hard to believe most of it was flattened during WWII.  It took decades for it to be rebuilt, but unlike Maui, much of Dresden's rebuilding required time consuming and costly stonework.  And it took years to clear the heavy rubble before reconstruction could begin, as well as having to deal with all the other post-war recovery matters under the communist leadership of East Germany at the time.

[Luv2play]

Dresden and other parts of East Germany, which were communist, tended to rebuild by restoring the old look. In western Germany, which was heavily subsidized by the US through the Marshall Plan, the approach was to go modern. You see it in Berlin where it is striking between the two parts of the city, east and west.

I doubt very much that Lahanai will be rebuilt restoring the old look. The moneyed interests will want to maximize their investments and "new" sells.

[MikeBiDude]

1 hour ago, marylander1940 said:

Plenty of billionaire's own property in Maui time for them to help the community!

See below:

3 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

I doubt very much that Lahanai will be rebuilt restoring the old look. The moneyed interests will want to maximize their investments and "new" sells

👆🏻sadly and likely, this 😔

[marylander1940]

4 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

Dresden and other parts of East Germany, which were communist, tended to rebuild by restoring the old look. In western Germany, which was heavily subsidized by the US through the Marshall Plan, the approach was to go modern. You see it in Berlin where it is striking between the two parts of the city, east and west.

I doubt very much that Lahanai will be rebuilt restoring the old look. The moneyed interests will want to maximize their investments and "new" sells.

iIn a historical town that used to be the old capital city of the Kingdom of Hawaii "new" won't sell, tourist only will only go back there because of history.

[marylander1940]

1 minute ago, MikeBiDude said:

See below:

👆🏻sadly and likely, this 😔

I disagree. Time will tell. 

[MikeBiDude]

2 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

I disagree. Time will tell. 

Undoubtedly there will be a token tip of that to old Lahaina. A museum maybe?

You only need to drive a couple miles north west to Kaanapali and Kapalua to see the future, and where visitors already stay. Not to mention current government building codes affecting new construction.

[marylander1940]

2 minutes ago, MikeBiDude said:

Undoubtedly there will be a token tip of that to old Lahaina. A museum maybe?

You only need to drive a couple miles north west to Kaanapali and Kapalua to see the future, and where visitors already stay. Not to mention current government building codes affecting new construction.

The French Quarter was preserved and hotels except a few exceptions were placed on the other side of Canal Street. This ain't 1950 or 1970. It will be rebuilt and preserved with big hotels nearby but not right there

🤞

[Becket]

Now they are saying the Banyan Tree survived. Also, there is an historic church which was surrounded by fire but, amazingly, did not catch on fire. Love Maui, so very sad, sad, sad.

[MikeBiDude]

7 minutes ago, Becket said:

Now they are saying the Banyan Tree survived. Also, there is an historic church which was surrounded by fire but, amazingly, did not catch on fire. Love Maui, so very sad, sad, sad.

I saw (what I was hoping was) Maria Lanakila church still standing. Some googling proved it true. Always amazing in these calamities how one building stays standing while buildings next door are devastated. 

 

 

[mike carey]

Some fires have a fire-front that takes all before it but often (here at least) the damage is done by ember showers that blow tens or hundreds of metres, or even kilometres from the fire and set completely random buildings ablaze and destroy them. You can see half the houses in an area destroyed, with no apparent reason why one was burnt and one or both of its neighbours were not. It must be heart breaking to see your house gone when others survived at random. You would have a feeling of 'Why me' that you would be spared if the whole neighbourhood were gone. It's nice that that church offered a brief moment of joy in an increasingly grim situation in Lahaina.