An Island unto Itself *

The legends of the demigod Maui span the south and central Pacific from Hawaii to Samoa to New Zealand and extend back at least 1500 years. The stories vary with each island group but he is revered as a hero who raised islands from the ocean, lassoed the sun to slow it down, and discovered the secret of fire. In the more recent versions, Maui lived in a place called Hana on the island now named after him.

According to one legend he caught the islands of Hawaii on a fishing trip with his magic fishing hook. The story goes that he and his brothers hooked the bottom of the ocean and pulled it to the surface, but when they quit paddling their canoe to look back at the land they caught, it split apart into separate islands.

Maui was later persuaded by his grandmother to slow the sun down, so she could grow more food and dry her tapa cloth. Maui agreed to help, so he stood on the summit of Mount Haleakala and lassoed the sun’s ray legs and broke them off one by one, threatening to kill the sun if he didn’t slow down. The sun obliged.

It is said that Hana’s scenic beauty was first discovered by Maui, whose favorite scene was watching the gray misty rain roll off the ocean and sprinkle Hana Bay with rainbows. When Maui’s daughter was born he named her after his favorite view,”Noenoe Ua Kea O Hana,” which means the misty, light rain of Hana.

Noenoe loved the ocean and spent a lot of her time there. One day she met a young man named Ka’uiki, an adopted son of the Menehunes or little people, said to be the first inhabitants of Hawaii. He was protected by the Menehunes because they thought of him as a gift from Kanaloa, the sea god. As their eyes met, Ka’uiki and Noenoe fell instantly in love. They both knew they could never have a future together because Ka’uiki would one day have to return to the sea.

Noe-noe pleaded with her father to use his magical powers to keep them together forever. Maui knew he would lose his daughter, but was torn by the pain in Noenoe’s eyes.

He reluctantly turned Ka’uiki into a high hill overlooking Hana bay and Noenoe into the misty rain, her name sake. Maui knew he could always watch Noenoe with a smile, knowing his daughter would live happily ever after.

To this day the Noenoe Ua Kea O Hana can be seen coming off the ocean to gently surround and embrace Ka’uiki Hill.

Hana is a place of unparalleled natural beauty. Located on the remote east end of the island of Maui, it is often called “the last Hawaiian place.” Until the middle of the 20th century it was difficult to reach by land. Its remoteness has saved it from the rampant development of the rest of Hawaii. Hana truly is like an island unto itself.

Downtown Paia

Originally a gravel road, the Hana Highway provided the first vehicle access to the town by land. Trails to Hana from “the west side” have existed since ancient times, but none would qualify as roads. In 1926 the territorial government shipped in a gang of prisoners and turned the barely passable foot trails into a 68 mile long muddy road. Later it was improved to a cinder-paved road.

When I first drove to Hana in 1988 it was undergoing a major renovation but most of it consisted of more potholes than pavement. In fact in the late 80s I recall stretches that were miles long where there was no original blacktop left - just patch upon patch.

For the driver, the Hana Highway is 40 miles of sharp curves and hairpin turns, 617 of them to be exact, plus 59 bridges, 46 of which are one lane wide. For the passenger, especially if you drive the highway in a convertible, it is an overwhelming sensory experience. You quickly realize that you are now in the kingdom of the plants, as one visitor described it. There are more gorgeous romantic waterfalls than you can count, plus the occasional rainbow.

When it rains the rock walls spring leaks and water flows out over the pavement. The plants grow so quickly that it’s a constant battle to keep them from retaking the road.

In 1988 I set out from the Kahului airport and drove into the small town of Paia fifteen minutes later. Paia looks like a town out of the old west and is now a popular tourist destination filled with art galleries, restaurants and surfers. After Paia the road starts to narrow. Soon you enter the forest and the road twists and turns so much that you feel the need to slow to about 20 miles per hour. The locals fly past you and you find yourself pulling off the road frequently to let them go by. After half an hour of narrow winding road, you see an ominous sign: “road narrows.” It was at about that point in 1989, after a massive downpour, a small section of one lane of the road had simply disappeared. Not quite believing it, I slowed down and rolled down the window to look over the edge which was just a few feet away. There was nothing but a concrete road barrier between me and a 100 foot drop to the ocean.

A mile or two further down the road is another ominous sign: “road narrows.”

An hour later you begin to wonder if the road will ever end. Normally when I go to Maui, if I arrive late in the day, I stay over on the west side and then drive to Hana the next day. A few years ago I foolishly thought that after all these years I could handle driving the Highway at night. Big mistake. I realized my mistake at about mile marker 12 when it got really dark. Had I taken my anti-motion sickness pill it might have gone better. I drove on slowly and made frequent stops. When it got really bad and I pulled over, with my head hanging out the open car door, some guys in a truck came by, slowed and asked if I was ok. It was dark and they couldn’t see my shade of green. I lied and said I was ok, then thanked them and waved them on. Eventually I reached civilization but learned a hard lesson about motion sickness and night-time mountain driving. I attribute my adverse reaction to having grown up on a prairie.

On my first trip, after a two hour drive, at about mile marker 28, the terrain opened up and I could see the Hana coast. It was twilight and I made it to the house just as it got dark. Even then I knew this was a great find.

I’ve stayed at vacation rentals all over the islands but this one was special. The humid air carried the scent of mangoes, guava, passion fruit and papayas. There were more varieties of ginger and bird of paradise than I knew existed. The full moon turned the landscape into a magical place. At sunset it is not uncommon for a squall to come in from the ocean and drench the land. It’s so quiet that you can hear the approaching line of rain from a quarter of a mile away as it lands on the dense foliage. As the rain approaches the birds go silent then resume their calls as it lets up. Late at night I woke up to a faint periodic rushing sound. It took a while but I finally realized that it was the sound of the waves crashing into the rocky shore down by the airport - a mile away.

In 1963 Pan Am vice president Sam Pryor retired to a 100 acre estate south of Hana. He chose Hana not as an escape from the media but because he was concerned about the possibility of nuclear war and chose Hana as his shelter. Often described as the man who made Pan Am a success, he became acquainted with presidents and kings during his career. Lyndon Johnson wrote letters to Hana from the White House addressed only to “Mr. Sam.” Once King Leopold of Belgium came to visit him in Hana. While Pryor grilled steaks, the king asked if he could help, so Mary Pryor put him to work setting the table.

Pryor and Charles Lindbergh were good friends, having known each other at Pan Am for many years. Pryor encouraged Lindbergh to visit him, so on a trip back from the Philippines he stopped by, and instantly fell in love with Hana. Pryor sold him five acres on the ocean and in 1968 Lindbergh and his wife Anne built a small chalet.

Lindbergh spent his last years exploring the area around Hana. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he made all the plans for his funeral service and burial. In August, 1974, he was laid to rest in the cemetery next to the Ho’o-mau Congregational Church near Kipahulu, a few miles south of Hana town.

It wasn’t long after Lindbergh’s death that the seekers started to arrive. Often, it seems, they were not even sure what or whom they were seeking. One day a carload stopped Mary Pryor and asked, “Do you know where the Wright Brothers are buried?” The number of cars and seekers doubled the first year after his death, and doubled again the following year. Soon over 400 people a day were asking park rangers at the seven pools where the grave was located.

The road to the church is now unmarked and somewhat difficult to find. This was done on purpose to discourage the seekers. My first visit to the cemetery was in 2012 and I found it only with the help of Google Earth.

Beyond Hana the road is often only one lane wide and sometimes barely that. Past Hamoa Beach it twists and turns along the rugged coastline. Just off shore is the tiny A’lau island - looking unbelievably picturesque.

On a clear day you can see the Big Island and the peak of Mauna Kea some 70 miles away. The views are stunning. As you cross more sturdy but ancient one lane stone bridges you will see another famous sign warning of the “Baby Pigs Crossing.”

Homes dot the coastline all the way to ‘Ohe’o Gulch, also known as the Seven Pools. Sometimes they are referred to as the Seven Sacred Pools, although this bit of hype was dreamed up by an ad agency working on a campaign for the Hotel Hana Maui, or so it is said.

Once when I was in a shopping mall in Honolulu, I stopped for lunch at the food court and started up a conversation with a woman who worked at one of the stores. She vaguely knew of the Hana area and had no doubt heard of the Seven Pools, but got the adjective wrong when she asked about the - “Seven Deadly Pools.” Perhaps this is not what the ad agency had in mind.

Crossing one more bridge, you enter Haleakala State Park. The series of pools is fed from streams that originate high up on the slopes of Halaeakala. The Pipiwai trail leads from the highway two miles inland and several hundred feet in elevation to the 400 foot tall Waimoku falls. Along this trail is an other-worldy bamboo forest.

As you walk through the forest, humidity approaches 100% but the canopy of bamboo keeps the floor of the forest cool and almost clammy. Many visitors hike up the trail for a swim in the upper pools. This can be exhilarating or very dangerous depending on the time of year. During the rainy season, torrents of water can flood the pools and sweep unwary swimmers right over the falls.

I once hiked in on a side trail to a beautiful pool, but encountered signs warning: don’t swim here, you don’t want to die. It was not the rainy season but I took my photos and retreated as quickly as I could. That trail is now closed.

On this untouched part of the Hana coast, little has changed for centuries. One can get a feel for what pre-contact Hawaii must have been like.

Two of those immigrants were the brothers Shoichi and Saburo Hasegawa. In 1910, they opened their store on the Hana Highway at the southern edge of Hāna town. The same year, Toshimasa Hasegawa, the first son of Shoichi and Kiku was born. Nine years later, Shoichi and his family returned to Japan while Saburo remained with the store. In 1926, Saburo went to Japan to meet with 15 year old Toshimasa and persuaded him to come back to Hana to help run the store and attend Hana School. Around 1932 Saburo convinced Shizuko Hirose and her parents to have Shizuko travel to Hana to marry Toshimasa. She was 18 years old and had to have had a taste for adventure to make her way by ship to the jungles of East Maui. Their first son Harry was born in 1934. In 1933, Saburo and his family returned to Japan leaving Toshimasa in sole control of the business.

The business grew and Hana survived the end of the plantation era and the 1946 Tsunami that killed 14, left another 550 homeless, and demolished 77 homes and other buildings. Tourism became a mainstay of the local economy.

In 1958 Toshimasa built a more modern Hasegawa General Store at the same location. Three years later, Harry, who had graduated from the Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, and the University of Colorado in Boulder, returned to Hana to help run the store. A year later Nita Nebrija and Harry were married. In 1963, Neil Hasegawa was born, soon to be followed by Susan and Kelly. Harry assumed control of the store in 1964.

In 1961 Paul Weston wrote the song “The Hasegawa General Store.” The song became popular when it was sung by Pua Almeida on the radio show “Hawaii Calls.” Other artists that have sung it through the years are: Hilo Hattie, Ed Kenney, Haunani Kahalewai, Arthur Godfrey, Jack Demello & his Orchestra, and more recently Jim Nabors and Carol Burnett, as well as local musicians, George Paoa, Jessie Nakaoka & The Hoopii Brothers. The song put the store and sleepy Hana town on the map.

As the song lyrics say, “As you walk through the doorway what a great surprise. There’s a wonderful variety of merchandise.”

When you enter the Hasegawa General Store, it looks like “organized confusion,” as Harry once said. These days you’ll find everything from local produce to plumbing supplies, bags of poi to t-shirts and hats. Memory cards for your camera, postcards, books and sunscreen.

There’s always something interesting to discover at the Hasegawa General Store.

I have to mention the poi. Near the cash register is a box filled with bags of poi. Poi is a Hawaiian staple made from mashed taro root. It has a wallpaper paste-like texture and is purple. Because of its texture, the plastic bags are as irresistible as silly putty. Therefore there’s a sign above the box that says “please do not play with the poi.”

Unfortunately, in 1990, tragedy struck with the simultaneous burning of the Hana Gas Station and the Hasegawa General Store with the latter totally destroyed.

The fire was investigated as a case of arson. In a Los Angeles Times story about the fire, Hana resident Henry Kahulu, who managed the gas station said, "It couldn’t have been a local fellow. If Hana people don’t like you, they look the other way when they see you. They wouldn’t do anything malicious like this."

The fire came at a time when Hana was at risk for resort development. Developers wanted to put in a golf course. Apart from the addition of the 97 room Hotel Hana Maui and the end of the plantation era, not much had changed in Hana. The loss of the Hasegawa General Store, regardless of the cause, looked to many residents like a bad omen. In February 1991, the Hasegawa Service Station reopened at the original site and a small shop provided photo developing services, movie rentals, and a few items for sale but the full store was not operational.

Fortunately, owners of the Hana Ranch offered the use of the former Hana Ranch Theater as a substitute location for Hasegawa’s. The Theater had closed in 1979. And until fairly recently, posters announcing the movie “The Wiz” were still on display on the old building. Things don’t change very fast in Hana.

By August 1991, after extensive renovation, the Store resumed full operation. Neil and Harry have plans to build a new store on the site of the original. Planning has been underway for almost a decade. In Hana things take time, plus there were various permit and construction issues to deal with. The new store will include a deli and Laundromat. In a recent article in the Honolulu Advertiser Neil said, "People were coming to me and saying, ‘You know what? There are a lot of people who do their laundry on the other side of the island. They don’t have a washer or dryer, so on one day, they would take all of their clothes, do their laundry, do their shopping and come home.”

Keep in mind that the trek from Hana to “the other side” as the residents call it, is a 60 mile drive and takes about two hours each way. Plus gas typically costs about $5 or $6 per gallon on Maui. For many residents, the trip to the other side is a necessary weekly event. However as gas prices go up, people are looking for ways to do more of their business in Hana, which represents an opportunity for Neil and other business owners.

The Hasegawa General Store was selected as the 2003 Neighborhood Retail Business of the Year by the Retail Merchants of Hawai’i. In 2007, they won the “Maui Family Business of the Year” and in 2010 they were selected as the County of Maui “Family Business of the Year”. Having celebrated its 100th year of serving the Hana community in 2010, it is the oldest family owned business in Hana and one of the very few surviving family owned businesses on Maui.

Now I’ll answer the question that is probably on your mind: will I ever move to Hana? The thought has certainly crossed my mind many times. In the mid-1980s before I discovered Hana I considered moving to the Big Island, but decided it was too far away from my family. But for now I’ll keep on dreaming of Hawaii and looking forward to my next visit to Hana.