Lana'i - Reacquainting Myself and Richard's Market

When planning our trip back "home", the Missus and I discussed maybe checking out a neighbor island. In my hearts of hearts I was thinking about Lana'i. It had been nearly seven years since we last visited. Since then Larry Ellison had bought the island. And while the rhetoric sounded right; turning the island into an " environmentally friendly, self sustaining, city", I had my doubts. While I don't visit the island very often, I have roots there, my dad is from the island. It turns out my in-laws were quite excited about visiting Lana'i as well. And so we decided to visit.

And while there were some changes; for instance, there's no more $35 unlimited shuttle use; with only 30 miles of paved road on the island, I really didn't think I'd be driving. But heck, I went ahead and looked for a rental car....turns out the only car rental company on the island, Dollar, had shut down. So maybe Lana'i is trying to minimize the carbon footprint? I did manage to track down a guy who rented out jeeps....no, I wasn't going to take my in-laws four-wheeling, but we'd have some freedom to check things out.

In typical Lana'i fashion; I found the jeep in the 72 hour parking, keys and paperwork under the front seat. And we were underway. We got in early, so we dropped our bags off at the Hotel Lana'i (more on that further down) and headed off.

I decided to first drive up Keomuku Road. While we wouldn't be visiting Shipwreck Beach. the Petroglyphs, or the abandoned town of Keomuku, where they took a small fishing village and turned it into a sugar plantation. Story goes, in building the infrastructure for the sugar business they destroyed sacred stones and the Gods got angry; which brought on a plague epidemic and turned all the available fresh water into salt water. It's now abandoned and quite a sight to see. I've been there twice....

We headed up Lanai Avenue, heeding the 15mph speed limit, taking a turn at Keomuku Highway, which leads up to the Lodge at Koele, which is under going some major renovations. I was told it's going to become some kind of "wellness retreat"?

Stopping across the construction; I stopped when I noticed the wonderful pastureland and some ponies.

I'm fairly certain my in-laws had never see this part of Hawai'i; the Cook Pines, the pastures.....the curious and friendly ponies.....

Who walked right on up to us.

This little fellow was especially curious and friendly.

Then it was the slow drive up the road.

Stopping often along the way for photo-ops....

Like the view of Moloka'i and the Shipwreck on Shipwreck Beach.

It was such a lovely day.

On the drive back; I stopped so we could take in the view of Lana'i City.

It was nearly time for lunch. Sadly, I'd read that Lana'i 'Ohana Poke Market and even more regretfully, Canoes Lana'i, which drew from the lineage of the Tanigawa family and S&T Properties, where I had my first hamburger, had closed. I'd read the Richard's Market, which was really run down the last time I saw the place....everyone used to go to Pine Isles, had been renovated, and now had poke.

Oh my goodness....I don't even recognize the place!

Very modern; lots of prepared foods......

And they did poke....so we got us (and the in-laws) poke bowls to share....on brown rice. Large bowl $9.99 and enough for two!

They even threw some kimchi on top for the Missus! The spicy mayo had too much mayo for me; but the limu poke had a good amount of ogo, wasn't too salty, the fish was decent quality. The shoyu poke wasn't drenched in shoyu and was quite good. Like I said, enough for the two of us. For some reason, the nutty brown rice goes pretty well with poke....ok, there; I've said it.

This sure wasn't the Richard's that I remembered! And good lord; the place is open until 10pm these days!

Richard's Market
434 8th St
Lanai City, HI 96763

After lunch, I drove down to Hulopo'e Beach to see the Puupehe - the "Sweetheart Rock", which I've written about before.

While walking up Puu Pehe, I heard one of the "bruddah's" complain about how crowded the beach was because it was a holiday.

It's all relative, right?

These folks were having a grand old time....that's a portable karaoke machine you see on the left.

When it was time to check in, we headed back to the Hotel Lana'i for a break before dinner. The exterior looks the same.....

But the hotel has undergone its first renovation since being built in 1923.

And oh my goodness; from the wood paneling, to the large screen television (remember when we had on the "only television on the property" back in 2012?), to Japanese toilets, to iPad controls.

Sarah, the amazingly friendly and wonderful front desk person was a joy; friendly, warm, I really enjoyed talking to her about old time Lana'i and the recent changes.....

And that cottage we stayed at on our last stay is being renovated. I'm wondering what that'll be like?

And...maybe not so strangely, I felt so relaxed, something that has been escaping me over the last couple of years.

It's the magic of Lana'i I guess.

Comments

[kat]

laid back, love it! so many changes too.

[Alan in Clairemont]

Great post Kirk and excellent pics as usual. I haven't been to Hawaii since the early 80's when I was a little kid....but while there I did get to meet Tom Selleck (really nice guy) as they were filming the crossover episode with Simon and Simon ironically in the suite next to my room at the Ilikai) I also got pulled up on stage with Don Ho during his Hilton Hawaiian Village Show (I have a photo of it if you want a laugh...his white zipper boots are awesome).

[Soo]

Lana'i looks like a great place to visit! I love the looks of the Sweetheart Rock

[Junichi]

Crowded beach indeed! Must be used to having the whole place to himself normally.

[Kirk]

We enjoy Lanai Kat!

That's funny Alan; you got to be part of "Uncle Don's" show. Met Tom Selleck twice; he seemed very nice as did Larry Manetti.

It's a really nice place to relax Soo.

Hi Junichi - Yes, it's quite peaceful during the weekdays.

[RonW]

Ellison bought the Richard's Market. I was there a few years ago renovating the Manele Bay, and Ellison didn't allow individual cars, only company vehicles, due to the traffic it'll cause. So he does think of the island's people. We stayed at the Koele Lodge. It had only two washing machines for 400 people, but high class place. Richard's Market has a sign that let's children eat a vegetable or a fruit for free. There's a pseudo public housing probably paid for by Ellison, why there isn't any homeless on the streets.

[Kirk]

Hey Ron; it's so nice to hear from you. I was quite relieved to see that things were looking so good. Hope you are well. And maybe you'll get the blogging "bug" back one of these days?