I flew from Austin to Maui on August 9, 2008, and stayed in the area of Lahaina that was destroyed by fire on August 8th and 9th this year. I'm posting some photos here that I didn't use in my earlier posts. The first is of the inside of the Lahaina public library, which was next door to the Pioneer Inn (across Papelekane St.), both of which were between Front Street and the harbor/sea wall in the banyan tree area.
The old part of Lahaina was mainly residential and didn't have a lot of overnight accommodations for the tourists who came to the shops, bars, and restaurants. In fact, the Pioneer Inn, with 34 rooms, was the only hotel in that immediate area, which is a designated Historic District. An 18-room B&B called The Plantation Inn also didn't survive the fire, but a large, not-too-fancy hotel nearby called the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort did survive the fire. There are bigger, fancier hotels on other parts of Maui, of course. Here's another Pioneer Inn site: Pioneer Inn History.
A non-flash photo of the view outside the windows in the little room I stayed in at the hostel near the prison wall area that my friend Pat Calkins was the manager of during 2008, followed by a skewed-angle photo of the same view, sort of, with one of the Hawaiian shirts Pat gave me hanging next to my little sleeping loft. The old historic part of Lahaina is (was) not at all upscale. The little bell tower outside the window is (was) on a small Catholic church:
Current reports say the 150-year-old banyan tree may have survived the fire, which I guess means its roots may have survived to eventually produce another tree.
Beginning of my journal of the trip. Other journal entries posted Aug. 11, 13, and 15, 2013. (try the Flipcard setting after clicking on blog archive and then 2013).
Photos added Sept 3, 2023:
Another photo I took of the banyan tree,This door led to some of the rooms in the cheaply-constructed hostel-type accommodations I stayed in. Notice there's not a door handle on the door. Typical.