THE STATE OF ALOHA
Whenever I find myself on the west side with time to spare, I try to stop in at a spot just outside of Lahaina town. I always found it a little eerie. There’s Puupiha Cemetery on one side with its solemn rectangular headstones jutting out of the sand. On the other side lies the idyllic and pristine grounds of the Lahaina Jodo Mission and the massive statue of Buddha facing the ocean achieving nirvana as the West Maui Mountains tower behind him.
Before the Buddha and the cemetery — even before the paved road and parking lot — there was a fishpond here known as Alamihi. It was next to the flowing waters of Kahoma Stream and a grove of breadfruit trees. It was the spot where Kamehameha came to Maui in the 18th century with the intention to invade and take over. He battled a local chief, who defended Maui. Warriors on both sides died among the breadfruit trees.
Of course, Kamehameha went on in the early 1800s to unite the islands into a single kingdom. He established a dynasty. By the 1840s Lahaina had become the home of Kamehameha III, the monarch who established a written constitution and adopted Western-style land ownership to the islands. Kamehameha III claimed most of the area as crown lands. A parcel, however, was held by none other than Lahainaluna’s scholar David Malo, who built a house near the fishpond. His house stood next to the last breadfruit tree in the area.
Over the years — as governments went from kingdom to unlawful republic to territory and state — the fishpond shrank. The government took control of the crown lands and Malo’s home was built over. Sugar companies took an interest in the beach and access to the ocean. In 1922, the territorial government built a roadway cutting the pond in half and a wharf and pier extended into the water. The decaying remnants of the pier at Mala Wharf are still there.
Old pictures of Mala Wharf reveal the pier in something akin to an art-deco style with simple and elegant columns of concrete sticking out of the ocean. The sides of the pier are adorned with low railings and walls with diamondshaped pukas jutting out into the waters between Maui and Lanai. Rail lines extended down the pier. Passenger ships could not directly anchor at Mala Wharf so smaller boats would ferry passengers to the landing at the end of the pier.
The United States Navy got in on the action and would frequently use the wharf and pier. Photographs from the years leading up to the Second World War show the American warships dotting the waters off of Mala Wharf. Sailors walk along the concrete pier waiting to get into Lahaina town, just a mile away.
This was the golden age for Mala Wharf. In the decades that followed, the pier was largely forgotten. Airplanes brought in supplies and people to Maui. Roads to Lahaina improved, making harbors on the west side less important than the large ports at Kahului and even Maalaea. The pier fell into disuse and decline.
By the 1970s it was in bad shape and started to fall apart. Still, locals used it to go fishing and kids would jump into the clear waters below. When Hurricane Iniki ran through the islands in 1992, it battered the pier before it went to slam into Kauai. That left the pier a total mess.
Nowadays most of the walkway on the pier is gone. The concrete columns stick out of the water and only a few of the diamond-shaped puka railings are still there. Steel rebar juts out of the aging concrete. Local kids still swim up to the pier to jump off and play in the ocean — although it’s extremely dangerous.
Below the surface the pier has become a haven for marine life. Reef fish, corals, turtles and sharks dart around the undersea columns. It attracts tourists for scuba and snorkel trips.
Too many for some. Last year, a group of concerned citizens challenged the Department of Land and Natural Resources for failing to regulate the tour companies that dive and snorkel around Mala Wharf. Many anticipate a ruling this summer for more guidance.
And despite the bustling activity and the ongoing litigation, I still find the place calming. The decayed pier looks ghostly at dusk or in the early morning. Fishermen congregate at the water’s edge. Homeless folks sit in their cars. This is our oasis in the middle of Lahaina town. ■ Ben Lowenthal is a trial and appellate lawyer, currently with the Office of the Public Defender, who grew up on Maui. His email is 808stateofaloha@gmail.com.