Paia is a unique and very fun little town located on the coast about ten minutess east of the Kahului Airport. This tiny town which extends about two blocks in each direction from its major stoplight intersection at the junction of the Hana Hwy and Baldwin Avenue is today a town filled with many storefronts, restaurants and curiosities. Its early days were quite different however. In the 1880's the Paia Sugar Mill was created a short distance from the current Paia Town. The mill was built there to service the vast sugar cane fields which surrounded it for miles. Enormous physical labor was necessary in those days to run an operation such as this and immigrants primarily from Asia were lured to Paia in search of a better life. The Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and numerous other races that converged here were put up in plantation camps. So numerous were the peoples who came here to work in the fields that the population at the turn of the century was on its way to burgeoning to over ten-thousand people. The town of Paia in those days was simply there to provide for the needs of the people working the camps and the biggest outlet in town was the Paia Store which was established in 1896.
Visitors Strolling Baldwin Avenue in Paia
Paia has come a long way since the building of its first store. The town itself has gone through some serious changes since those days. The population shifted drastically in the 1950's as most of the sugar workers left the plantation to live in residences in the newer and more modern city of Kahului. The population was reduced to a mere 1500 people. In the 1930's Paia was devastated by a huge fire and then it was leveled again in 1946 when it was taken-out by a huge tidal wave that was generated from an earthquake in the islands off the coast of Alaska. The town was rebuilt each time and the last rebuilding has lasted to present time. In the 1970's and early 80's Paia became the Mecca for wandering children from the "Age of Aquarius" and hippies took the place of the sugar workers. With the advent of a new technology in surfboard design the windsurfing board was developed in the 1970's and new aficionados of this active ocean sport discovered that the waves and consistent winds of Hookipa Beach just outside Paia were just about the best to be found anywhere in the world. In addition to hippies the town now became filled with wealthy European and North American windsurfers who came here for months at a time to ride the amazing surf.
There are lots of great restaurants on Paia
The Plantation town of Paia gave way to a new type of town that beckoned to tourists and visitors from all around the world. Trendy clothing stores, art shops, fabulous restaurants and fun and exciting stores of every dimension had their hand in retooling the look and feel of the town. The look of a chic and artsy town with vibrant and joyful colors became the order of the day. Today you will find these shops and restaurants awaiting your arrival in Paia Town and it could be accurately stated that Paia is one of the most fun and interesting towns that you will find in all of Hawaii.
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