As I noted in my last post, Lahaina has gone through a number of transformations just in the last 200 years.  I want to contribute my analysis on the gradual (but predictable) shift from plantation support/services center (Pioneer Mill 1850-1960); to tourism services/entertainment center 1960+); to the tourism services residential community of 2023.

Typical of all the plantation centers in Hawai’I, the geographical layout of the plantation was centered around two main elements: the mill (the sugar/money generator) and the mill offices (management).  Radiating out from this were the residential satellites of the plantation, in a very visually and spatially defined pattern-the most visible element being the residences of the owners/managers, second that of supervisors/lunas/technical staff, lastly (in all ways) the residences of the field work force.  While not unique to Hawai’I, it’s important to remember that Hawai’I came late to the ‘plantation game’, and as such tended to be very standardized in both layout and production.  The Lahaina mills were almost the only partial exception in that Lahaina (and Lahainaluna School) already existed, so Pioneer Mill and related facilities were pushed away from the town center.  Lahaina’s function during the sugar plantation period was that of support and services to the surrounding community, though more for the elites (managers/supervisors) as they had available cash, in contrast to the field work force (many of whom were essentially penniless).

As the sugar plantations closed many of the satellite communities shrank or disappeared, as the work force either left by choice (elites) or in a continuing struggle to make ends meet (field work force), dramatically expanding the service sector work force.  This was one motivator for the development of enclave tourism (Kaanapali especially) in the 1960+ period, as sugar became replaced with tourists: plantation mills with hotels/resorts; cane fields with golf courses; sugar production with activities and entertainment, all fueled by the cheap labor of the former field work force.  So the work force moved from sugar harvesting to tourism-based service sector jobs.  But the rapid explosion of the tourism enclaves quickly expanded demands beyond the existing potential work force and as a result a new migrant service-sector population moved in, many initially temporary.  This was detailed specifically for Maui in Bryan Farrell’s Hawaii, the Legend That Sells (1982), that predicted almost all the socio-economic issues plaguing Hawaii today.  It is telling that you rarely see the work cited nor his analysis examined, as it was highly critical of the dependence of tourism as our single industry and even more so about the State of Hawaii’s dependence on the tourism growth model (think DBEDT and HTA here).  This has recently been illustrated by the State and Maui County reopening of tourism ahead of the initial plans due to the economic dependency on this industry. 

Lahaina’s position had become that of a service-sector work force community to service the needs of both surrounding resorts (Kaanapali, Kapalua, Napili…) and the ‘gentlemen farmer’ enclaves that have taken over the same space formerly occupied by plantation communities and in many cases developed by the successors to the plantations (who still control much of the water in West Maui), further compressing the low-income service labor force into Lahaina.  In many cases as rentals, as they have no ability to afford the high costs of housing on Maui-a factor Farrell noted over 40 years ago.  Any re-envisioning of Lahaina post-fire is going to have to examine this reality in all its unattractive detail, something the State and Counties have been loath to do.  The tension currently rising on Maui over the future of Lahaina is reflective of all of the islands, but the choices made (especially at the State and County levels) will affect all of us in Hawai’i Nei.

I have a very long summation of Farrell’s analysis which I will post-with apologies, but his work is impossible to find in print and I see no attempt to provide e-book versions.  I would just note that when he wrote the work Maui was looking potentially at 2m visitors/year and the concerns about their impact-prior to the fire Maui was looking at possibly 3m+ visitors/year, so his analysis is even more relevant given the growth and increased dependence on this industry.