Natural History

Silk, Silver Or He Oak
(Grevillea robusta))

The silk oak is a fast - growing tree from Australia that was purposely introduced into the Hawaiian forest as a potential timber resource. (The wood of the tree is similar to oak.) It is a cousin to the exotic bottle-brush proteas, and it eventually becomes a massive tree. They are often seen in large gardens, in parks, as street trees and growing wild in pastureland and in forests.

The tree was introduced about 1880. Over two million silk oaks were planted for timber in Hawaii between 1919 and 1959. While they will grow in dry areas, it does best in the moister, intermediate forest climates. Now naturalized in several forest areas, silk oak is adapted to semiarid as well as moderately moist mountain regions. Generally it grows straight and tall, up to 100 to 120 feet in ideal tall in ideal conditions. Although it is well-established, the trees do not seem to spread too aggressively or form dense stands that exclude other plants. In some dry areas, it will not even reproduce itself. The trees live to be about 60 or 70 years old.

The alternate, fern-like, silver-lined leaves of the silk oak are divided several times. The compound leaves alternate along the stems and are about six to 12 inches long. Each leaf has paired leaflets arranged along a central stem and the individual leaflets are deeply lobed with sharp points.

The feathery flowers, which bloom from April into the fall, are golden to orange fringed clusters of nectar-rich blooms. Japanese "white-eyes," mejiros, small green birds with bright white circles around their eyes and tubular tongues, often flock to these trees. Along the Kula Highway, when both the jacaranda trees and the silk oaks bloom, the combination is breathtaking.

Although the beautifully grained wood of the tree is popular in Australia for flooring and paneling, it never quite developed into an industry here. The wood has been used for furniture and cabinetmaking and as panels in Hawaii. It can also be used for paper pulp or veneer.

The fruits of the silk oak are brown leather-like capsules that split along one side to release winged seeds. The seeds germinate easily.

Creative lei makers have used the silk oak flowers in lei but it must be used carefully. Studies have found that the entire tree (including the sawdust from it) can cause a rash similar to poison ivy in certain sensitive people. In Australia, horses have died after eating parts of the plant. In Western Australia, people who are susceptible have asthma attacks when near these trees. These attacks occur year-round.

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Arts & Culture

Lower Paia Stores And Shops Pt.1

Old-timers still differentiate between Upper Paia (which is now mostly cane fields with remnants of the old sugar plantation camps up above the ruins of the old Paia sugar mill) and Lower Paia, where the modern town has developed around and spread out from a core group of renovated and refurbished old stores lining the Hana Highway and Baldwin Avenue.

The stores in Lower Paia are only half a mile down the road from the Paia Mill and the old site of the plantation-run Paia Store. At one time, the hills above the mill was the place where imported sugar plantation workers lived in plantation-built homes according to plantation-dictated schedules, educated their children in plantation-built schools, were cared for by plantation-paid doctors and medical professionals in a plantation-built hospital, traveled on plantation-built roads or caught a ride on the plantation railroad….well, you get the idea.

The stores in Lower Paia were not located on sugar plantation lands. They did provide the Paia Plantation residents with alternatives to the plantation-run stores during the years when the camps were still alive. Most of the shops in Lower Paia were family-owned and had a minimum of employees who were not relatives.

The stores depended heavily on the plantation residents for their business, however. (After all, sugar plantation workers were the majority of the population.) At least one fish-market owner made the rounds through the camps selling his surplus fish during the early 1930's and mid-1940's.

Some of the stores tried to provide services similar to those of the plantation stores, including taking orders and making deliveries. Most of the storekeepers tried to offer credit to their customers like the plantation-run stores, but without the advantage of a close relationship with the plantation payroll office, collection of the money owed was often a big problem. Few independent storekeepers offered credit after giving it a try. They couldn't afford the bad debts that went uncollected.

The independent stores tended to specialize. They sold groceries, clothing, fish, or drugs and provided goods and services not offered by the company-run stores. However, one independent store, Paia Mercantile, rivaled the plantation-run Paia Store in size and variety of goods. Because the plantation store was a perquisite provided by the company to its workers (in lieu of cash wages), the independent storekeepers had a hard time.

In the early 1900's the Paia merchants sold rice, taro and poi raised in Keanae and vegetables from Kula and from the plantation camp vegetable gardens. They made pies from coconuts that came in from Hana. Kula farmers drove horse-drawn wagons down to Paia to deliver their produce . They usually spent the night before heading back home the next day with purchases from the stores.

Among the early entrepreneurs was the Hew family, who ran Hew's restaurant. Their saimin was justly famous, it was said. Meanwhile, Satoki Ikeda was known for his innovative marketing. He nailed sample clothing up in the windows of his store on Baldwin Avenue as ads to lure people into the store. He posted English- and Japanese-language ads in community bathhouses and peddled clothes in the plantation camps while his wife sewed and worked in the store. Their store eventually grew into a full-service clothing factory and expanded, with branches in Wailuku and in Lahaina.

Then there was the Nashiwa family bakery, which introduced and popularized bread among the rice-loving camp folks. They invented and shared recipes that required using a lot of bread.

Nobuichi Kobayashi started one of the first Maui auto repair and parts businesses in Paia town in 1914. He was one of the sons of a Japanese family who ran a small inn and raised horses when Paia was a rest stop for people who were traveling to Hana on horseback, and went to Honolulu to learn about how to repair the new-fangled automobiles. He taught many youngsters about car repair and they went on to open their own repair businesses.

Kobayashi's success as a mechanic helped him explore other interests over the years, helping to start businesses that continue to this day. A successful businessman, Kobayashi helped organize both Haleakala Motors and Maui Finance Company. In 1940, he opened a Pepsi-Cola and Nehi soda bottling company, the American Soda and Ice Works, at the back of his Princess Theater, which was across the street from his auto shop. It was one of three theaters in Paia during the 1930's. The other two were the Lower Paia Theater (also known as the Narumaru Theater), which ran Japanese language films, and the plantation-owned Paia Theater in Upper Paia.

The Princess Theater is long-gone, but it went through several reincarnations. The building was a USO during World War II and then a place for servicemen on leave near the end of the war. In 1970, Jim Fuller moved his Charley's Fruit Stand there from Lahaina and it evolved into the now-famous Paia landmark: Charley's Restaurant and the Charley P. Woofer Saloon.

Of all the independently owned stores in Lower Paia, only Paia Mercantile, at the corner of Baldwin Avenue and the Hana Highway, rivaled the plantation-owned Paia Store in size and variety of goods. The store was stockholder-owned and managed in the 1920's by chief stockholder T. Hanzawa. About a dozen employees lived behind the store, each earning a dollar a day. It remained in business until the 1970's and was later subdivided into various retail spaces . . .

Next Month: Fire, Waves, and War!

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Hawaiiana

Lana'i

Now that we've taken the journey through Maui, let's move on to the island of Lana'i!

Lana'i:
Day [of] conquest

Out of eight major Hawaiian islands, Lana'i is the sixth largest and one of four islands in Maui County. The others in the county include Maui, Moloka'i, and Kaho'olawe. One of Lana'i's original nicknames is “The Pineapple Isle.”

Ko'ele:
Dark sugar cane

Lalakoa:
Koa tree branch

Kaumalapau:
unknown

Keomuku:
The shortened sand

Keomuku is now a deserted village that was only inhabited from 1899 – 1901 as part of an effort to form a sugar plantation in the area. In 1903 the Ka Lanakila o Ka Malamalama Church was built and today the church is the last of the intact structures there.

Manele:
Sedan chair

Polihua:
Eggs [in] bosom

Polihua is the longest and widest white sand beach on Lana'i. In the past, it was also the most famous green sea turtle nesting beach in Hawaii. It's name refers to the fact that they would lay their eggs on the beach. This is a good place to watch whales.

Lopa:
Tenant farmer

Kahemano:
School [of] sharks

Occasionally small groups of sharks appear here, and this inspired its name.

Naha:
Bent or curved

Naha is mentioned in one version of the story of Ka'ulula'au, one of the most famous legends of Lana'i. According to this tale, Ka'ulula'au, the son of Kaka'alaneo, a former chief on Maui, was known for playing pranks. As he grew older, his pranks grew progressively worse and finally his parents decided to abandon him on Lana'i. At the time Lana'i was inhabited only by ghosts who killed all human invaders. However, with the help of his guardian spirit, Ka'ulula'au found a cave to secretly sleep in at night while the ghosts hunted for him. Eventually he was able to rid the entire island of all its evil spirits. To communicate his success to the people of Maui, Ka'ulula'au built a huge signal fire on the beach at Naha. According to this legend, that is how Lana'i became safe for human habitation for the first time in history.

Keanapapa:
The flat cave

Ka'ena:
The heat

Awalua:
Double harbor

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: He's very thrifty, a very hard bargainer.
BRADDAH-NICS: Oh, him...he kinda manini, all-a-time playing some kine jiu-fut game.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: Gee, George! Why are you acting so obnoxiously?
BRADDAH-NICS: George...why you all-a-time ete?

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Local Grinds

 Macadamia Nut Mahimahi with Lemon Caper Sauce

Ingredients: 

Mahimahi:

• 4 mahimahi fillets
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• olive oil

 

Lemon Caper Sauce:

• 1 stick of butter
• 3 teaspoon capers, drained and rinsed
• 1 small garlic clove
• 5 teaspoon lemon juice

Procedure:

Mahimahi:

Ground the macadamia nuts until fine. Mix the panko and ground macedamia in a bowl and then spread mixture on a plate. Beat two eggs in a bowl. Take each fillet of mahimahi and dip in the eggs, coating thoroughly, then in the panko and macadamia nut mixture, coating thoroughly. Saute fish in skillet with olive oil. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Lemon Caper Sauce:

In a small skillet, melt butter. Add in the lemon juice, garlic, and capers. Simmer on low heat for about 30 seconds. Drizzle lemon caper sauce over the mahimahi and enjoy!

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