Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DREAM CITY
Not many island visitors spend time in residential Kahului. A sprawl of suburban
homes and a maze of intertwined streets, it is a place where even longtime island
locals can sometimes get turned around on the back roads. This aging, funky, dated,
and low-key venue doesn't end up on many postcards. Rows of cement block homes
house multigenerational families. Property values are on the lower end of the is-
land's inflated real estate market.
This hasn't always been the case. Kahului existed for 60 years as a community of
plantation camps. With the onset of World War II, many field laborers either joined
the military or took jobs in the shipyards or manufacturing. After the war, prosper-
ity swept across the nation. Young soldiers came home and settled down, starting
families, and bought homes. It was the height of the American Dream.
But in the 1940s, Kahului didn't have any homes. Everything was owned by the
sugar plantation. In 1948, the Alexander and Baldwin sugar plantation realized this
opportunity, building 4,000 homes on plantation land. The quarter-acre lots would
be sold fee simple giving plantation workers the chance to be homeowners. Seiz-
ing upon the national mood, the development was to be called Dream City. In 1950
Kahului became one of the first master planned towns west of the Rocky Mountains.
Home prices ranged $6,000-9,000.
Today many of these homes are still owned by the original families, although
after 60 years a number are in need of a paint job and a face-lift. Even though res-
idential Kahului might not look like much now, it was once a place where dreams
came true.
The best thing about visiting this museum, however, is the sense of appreciation you
gain for the legions of fieldworkers who continue to toil beneath the midday sun. There
aren't too many museums where the culture you read about inside still largely persists just
outside the museum walls.
Ka'ahumanu Church
On South High Street at the turnoff for 'Iao Valley, it's fitting that Maui's oldest existing
stone church is named after Queen Ka'ahumanu. This rock-willed woman is the Saint
Peter of Hawai'i, upon whom Christianity in the islands was built. She was
the
most im-
