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As your Island Air flight banks left and descends closer and closer to the Lanai Airport, there seem to be endless stretches of green pasture on either side of the airplane. The island looks big from this angle, contrary to the fact we all know that Lanai is the smallest of the populated Hawaiian islands.
But among all that greenery are faint outlines of the biggest change on Lanai in the past 20 years.
Most of the world knows there are no more acres and acres of pineapple. Most of the world also knows about the two world-class resorts with their golf courses and other amenities.
But those are just the big, outward changes on this small island.
One small island icon that has been preserved, however, is the historic Hotel Lana’i in Lanai City.
The hotel is tiny: only 10 rooms built in 1923 by Dole for its visiting plantation managers and agronomists. But thanks to the present owners, it not only has been preserved, but enhanced with more than $1 million in improvements over several years.
When Mary Charles, her husband, Tom Kiely, and Mary’s relative Mike Charles (the genial general manager) acquired the lease for the property from an individual owner, they made a conscious decision to take the hotel back to its roots in the 1920s and 1930s.
None of the single-wall, board and batten walls were moved and no additions were made, so the building has been preserved intact. Even the old-style double-hung windows (which can be opened) were kept as was the hardware like the old-fashioned doorknobs and locks. How often have you been in a hotel lately where you get into your room with a brass key instead of some little slab of plastic?
What has changed was what Mike Charles called the "darkness inside the place." He said they sanded the dark floors and found beautiful fir and oak floors. They painted the walls white. And in the rooms, they cleaned out all the tired furnishings and draperies and replaced them with handsome Hawaii-themed decor.
In keeping with the historic nature of the hotel, they kept television sets out of the guest rooms along with telephones. There is no air conditioning, either: Cooling, if needed in cool Lanai, is by efficient ceiling fans. The rooms are not carpeted except for a sprinkling of lauhala mats here and there.
In other words, this is the real Hawaii of old.
Read what guest Dorian said of the Hotel Lana’i:
"I like the wood everywhere. Wood is warmth in my view. In this hotel you don’t see all the plastic and metal you see everywhere else in our over-commercialized world. This hotel is its own thing. It’s not part of our ‘geared-up’ culture.
"The big windows remind me of home. They draw your eyes to the gardens outside — to your surroundings. With no TV, you’re not drawn to a black box. This place is a true escape."
Another pleasing quality of the hotel is its food service. It starts with a healthy continental breakfast every day. Dinner entrees — served Tuesday through Sunday — are varied and delicious and come from the fabled recipes of Bev Gannon at Hali’imaile General Store on Maui.
There are endless stories about Lanai and its friendly, casual lifestyle. Mike Charles told of a classic.
Apparently one night a group of 12 guests came into his hotel bar and they all wanted mojitos, which require grinding up mint as an essential ingredient. Charles searched everywhere but found no mint.
So he excused himself and dashed out of the hotel and across the street to Richard’s Market. There, Issac told Charles the store had no mint, either.
Charles slowed his pace as he made his way back to the hotel, trying mightily to figure out how to satisfy his guests with no mint. Just as he re-entered the bar there was a tap on his shoulder. It was Issac’s friend, who handed Charles a brown paper bag filled with mint from his yard.
That’s Lanai. That’s the kind of extra service Mike and his executive helper, Michelle, provide their guests — at times, with help from their friends.
Keep Hawaii Hawaii is a monthly column on island architecture and urban planning. Robert M. Fox, president of Fox Hawaii Inc., studied architecture in California and Japan. He was one of the founders of the Historic Hawai’i Foundation in 1974. David Cheever, owner of David Cheever Market- ing, has served on the boards of the Historic Hawai’i Foundation and the Hawaii Architectural Found-ation. Send comments to keephawaiihawaii@staradvertiser.com.
CORRECTION: An incorrect image of the Hotel Lanai was used in an earlier version of this story and in the Sunday paper.
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