What
we know today as Paia, the busy little surf town on Maui's north
shore,
was at first called Lower Paia. The original Paia, built and
owned as a plantation town by HC&S Sugar, was located a mile
up Baldwin Avenue.
In
its heyday, Paia was the largest city on Maui with a hopsital,
cinema and a population exceeding 10,000. (A photo mural of
Paia plantation town can be seen at the Alexander & Baldwin
Sugar Museum in Puunene.)
Around
1896, independant merchants built Lower Paia along the coast
to compete with the company stores further up from the beach.
When the plantation era came to an end in the 1950s, most of
Upper Paia was torn down.
Only
the sugar mill itself, a few sidewalks and some administrative
buildings remain of the company town; the houses and stores
are now gone. But, Lower Paia has grown and flourished since
then, and is a today bustling mix of tourists, surfers, and
local-oriented stores and restaurants.