Pbs hawaiʻi classics | a visit to the islands of lanaʻi and molokaʻi | season 2

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(Waves crashing) NARRATOR 01:02 There are two islands in Hawaii set aside from the crush of contemporary life, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi. Life is different here in real and subtle ways. Some would
call it slower, others would call it perfect. The tall sea cliffs of Lānaʻi have been a formidable greeting to ocean travelers since the mists of early time. It is a hard land. (Ocean waves
crashing) Here, Kamehameha I built a fishing village for his pleasure. Today, this place of worship is the solitary witness to a time past. Although accessible from neighboring Maui, Lānaʻi
was left alone by the ancient Hawaiians. Strong were the legends of ghosts inhabiting the island, it was not a place for man. Today, the wind still whips through the mysterious rock
formations evoking stories from Irene Perry, who grew up not far from here. 02:25 Now we will live down to Keōmuku, we had come up sometimes to get groceries and so my sisters, brothers, and
we all come up on horseback and ride through here and spend the day at the city. And then, the evening would leave about 2 o'clock or so and drive home, err ride home. And then when we
get to this area here, we would just let the horses go, we just hold the pummel and just let the horse take care of everything. And we'd just ride down because they told us that this
little place was when you come up with food and everything like, things like that. You would, they would call and that scared us so when we'd get here we'd run. NARRATOR 03:12 She
tells the story of Kaululāʻau. 03:16 They say that there was, this was a devil island. We all, that's why that king sent his son over to get rid of the I mean, he was naughty and all so
they said put him to Lānaʻi and let him stay there and if we got rid of all the devils, you know, then he could build a fire and then you know that he's okay. And so when he did get
all the this, what you call it, devils or whatever, then he did and he got all of them killed and so he built the fire and father sent for him and he went back to Maui. NARRATOR 03:58 The
edges of Lānaʻi may be rough, but the heartland is rich. Owned and operated by Castle and Cooke since 1961, Lānaʻi is a company island producing the company product, pineapples for Dole. The
lives of many are centered here in the fields. 04:29 Our planters are very special people and as you can tell from looking at them, it's really backbreaking work. And to be doing this
for a period of many years, requires some sort of dedication or they, they come from the Philippines as you may know. And they come from different types of lives. They find - you know, we
have easier jobs - but they find planting as being their niche. So for our plantation, we're really grateful that these guys are here to do this very hard work. On average we call 100%
planting as being able to plant 6,000 plants. Many of them are planting 10,000, 12,000 plants per day. We are beginning a process of developing the island, but we have been the mainstay on
this island for many, many years since the 1920s. A large percentage of our residents work for Dole. And we're continuing to be very optimistic that they'll continue to give us the
kind of Dole quality we've been known. It's been difficult to lure young people back to Lānaʻi because the main industry’s pineapple. As you can tell people go off to college and
they study different things that you don't find, rarely, jobs rarely available to them here. So it's been very difficult to bring young people back. Primarily, I moved back because
I wanted to raise my children in an atmosphere like this. I remember what it was like in my days and I wanted to share that with my children. I think basically the oneness of the family.
We're family and community is important. The value of hard work and how difficult it is to earn money, why education is important and hopefully you know my children can find it here for
them this is what I thought I learned when I was young. (Singing) Pūnāwai ‘ili‘ili nehe i ke kai lā Wai‘olu ‘auana i ka ulu hala Halakau ‘o Ka‘iwa i luna lilo lā Ne‘e mai ‘o Ahiki i ke
kualono Ho‘olono Ka‘ōhao i kēia mele lā O ku‘u ‘āina nani ke waiho nei Ho‘olono Ka‘ōhao i kēia mele lā O ku‘u ‘āina nani ke waiho nei Lānaʻi is so cool and so nice, so quiet. I like it here.
NARRATOR 08:11 2,000 people live here in Lānaʻi City. There's no traffic light, no movie theater, no bowling alley, nor disco. Two large hotels are being built by the company. But for
now there's only one place to eat after dark and that's about all. 08:28 Nothing else I guess, just stay home and enjoy your TV. NARRATOR 08:38 The tall Norfolk pines graced the
skies of Lānaʻi City. George C. Munro, manager of the Lānaʻi Ranch Company, imported thousands of trees from New Zealand at the beginning of the century. In the city park, residents take a
break from their work. Matthew Mano sings a song he and his grandmother wrote capturing the unique charms of their island. (Singing) 09:09 Lānaʻi is covered with pine fields Such a beauty
from the air No tall buildings to crowd us 09:24 Such a life, no one can comepare White sand beaches, rocky shores, kiawe trees Everyone knows, everyone knows 09:50 Slow and easy our lives
go With no rushes or no crowds 10:05 At night there's hardly any cars The only traffic is our stars White sand beaches, rocky shores Kiawe trees, everyone knows, everyone knows 10:39
The tallest things are our pine trees And all the people who live here Lānaʻi you’ve been so good for me 11:01 Beautiful Lānaʻi I hope you stay free. White sand beaches, rocky shores Kiawe
trees, everyone knows, everyone knows, everyone knows NARRATOR 11:33 The handful of stores stock groceries, garments and gadgets. Fashion styles reflect lifestyles. Basics like jeans and
work shirts are easy to find. But if your size or sense of style is uncommon, then you shop elsewhere. 11:49 So we really don't need much of everything except like shirts and T-shirts
and all that. But I guess when they want to dress up they get it from Honolulu, they usually go to Honolulu or Maui and get something nice. Woman: I'm going on first row, the second
row, now today I’m gonna start the third row. Did tutu come back from Honolulu? When she comes home then we get together again. NARRATOR 12:16 But do shop early. The stores close at noon for
lunch. The tourists are coming to Lānaʻi, drawn by its quaintness and Hulopoʻe beach, a classic in white sands and gentle surf. And when the visitor arrives, most likely, he is treated to a
hula by Elaine Kaopuiki’s dance troupe, Nā Hula O Laʻi Kealoha, on the lawns of the Hotel Lanai. (Singing) Ke kihāpai pua ulumāhiehie I laila au la ʻike i ka nani O nā pua ʻala a he nui
wale Elaine Kaopuiki: Coming from Lānaʻi, I have no other influences so it's great, you know. So that's the only style I know -one style – and I hope to keep it. My girls always
encourage me Auntie don't change your style of dancing. (Singing) Nā ʻiʻiwi ma ka pōlena I ka ʻono i ka wai o nā pua O Moanikeʻala i ka uluwehiwehi Mahalo iā ʻoe e ka hoa aloha Hoʻokipa
e nā malihini Eia kō lei poina ʻole ʻO Leimakani, Leionaona Haʻina ʻia mai ana ka puana Moanikeʻala i ka uluwehiwehi Hea aku mākou e ō mai ʻoe Kimo o ka uka ʻiuʻiu he inoa NARRATOR 15:25
When traveling to the east end of Molokaʻi, one notices the road gets narrower and narrower as it hugs the coast. Zennie Sawyer travels it daily to go to work in an environment that is the
material for dreams of city office workers. She and her partner Jill Francis, craft clothes and bags for their company Haku Creations. They work out of Jill's home. (Door creaks open)
Zennie: Hi Jill. Jill: Good morning Zen. See how nice the ocean is? Beautiful! Yeah, nice day to be outside. Any tea on? Jill: I'm going to make some just a moment here. Zennie:
I'm gonna start on that screen. I got to finish it so we can get our printing done. Jill: All right, great. Zennie: Got any ideas about what we should do with the pareos? Jill: we have
some T shirts to do also. So perhaps we can figure out the colors and do the pareos and the t-shirts at the same time. Zennie: Okay, sounds good. NARRATOR 17:06 Their skills neatly divided
the work is then he designs the patterns using symbols drawn from her experiences living on Molokaʻi and from her faith. Zennie: The lauaʻe that I did here, I have an attachment to it
because several years ago, a kupuna, an elderly old Hawaiian lady told me that the lauaʻe represented the backbone of God. And that really stood out to me, the lauaʻe became real special to
me ever since then. So it's things like that things that I have a personal attachment to that I like do my designs. Someone will say, why don't you do this or why don't you do
that, but if it doesn't mean anything to me, I can't get into it Jill: I've been sewing ever since I can remember, actually must be since at least I was 12 years old. I was
taught by my mother and my sister. And we have a line of seamstresses in the family and I've always sewn as a hobby. So an opportunity to work with Zennie to do that was just right in
my line. (Sewing machine whirs) Jill: I was born in Gary, Indiana, and always was drawn towards warmer weather. So when I was able to leave home after graduating from high school, I started
moving westward. When I first moved here, I knew no one besides the two people that I came with. It didn't bother me, I simply liked the idea of coming to this beautiful place. And as
I've lived here for 10 years I've grown to know so many people. I never feel lonely, I do not feel isolated in any way. Jill: We started out with just some canvas tent liner
material that someone had given us. And we cleaned that up, printed and sold a few things and that's how we began our whole capital. Zennie We're very fortunate and not having,
having to have a lot of money up front because of that free material that came our way and just little by little it built and we were able to buy from yardage go to bolts of material to
gallons of paint and just kept rolling from there. NARRATOR 20:18 Zennie was born in Honolulu but lived most of her adolescence away from the islands. She returned to Hawaiʻi for college
where she met her husband Richard. After 10 years of life in Honolulu, the Sawyers wanted to change. They found it in Molokaʻi. Zennie: In ‘76, visited the valley of Pelekunu on a Labor Day
weekend. My husband fell in love with it and decided that was where he wanted to live. NARRATOR 20:44 The family moved into the remote valley on the north shore of Molokaʻi and stayed for
six years. Three more children were born and they finally moved out to educate their family. (Blowdryer blows) Zennie: We both have the freedom to still live our own individual lives, to
meet our own individual needs, and yet put in time to have this business which has become successful. Not successful in the sense that we're making lots of money, but successful in that
we enjoy doing it, we enjoy putting in the time into it, and people appreciate our work, and we appreciate people appreciating our work. NARRATOR 21:30 Lauhala in Hawaiian means the leaf of
the hau or pandanus tree. It also means the weaving that uses this leaf. On Molokaʻi, lauhala and Louise Kekahuna are synonymous. Louise Kekahuna: From all appearance, this is a junk tree,
but it gives me good leaves for many years. This is a practically thornless tree, which has only about less than a dozen thorns on leaves. But this tree had come and had gone in its prime
and it's not producing such long leaves. But whatever leaves that are here are very good and very strong. So I keep coming back to this tree. And I've been with this tree from the
time it was in its prime, which is almost 15 to 20 years. Just breaks my heart. I could remember climbing this tree from one branch to another branch to another branch. Of course that was
10-15 years ago. I don't climb trees anymore. But this tree is just beautiful. I have read where even in the burial caves there were lauhala mattings to cover the dead. So you can see
where the Hawaiians used lauhala way, way back. But this young generation don't think it's important, that’s sad. Most lauhala is, is time consuming. The work is time consuming.
You gotta be dedicated to what you're going to do. And if you do too much things like lei, make kukui nut, if have too much different hobbies, you don't tend to put enough time in
what you're doing. I've been with lauhala for 20 years and more and yet I still find I want to learn more. I want to perfect my work more. NARRATOR 23:37 Much of the work in
lauhala goes into the preparation of the leaf. First it has wound into a coil. Louise Kekahuna: This this particular tree is, is old so she doesn't - this is not her her best quality
material but if you learning this is all right. It's material to work with. The longer, the more you weave the more you want better quality. So you start looking or you end up planting
your own tree NARRATOR 24:09 Then the leaf is stripped into uniform widths for weaving. 24:15 On the older people treasure their strippers, and each one has their own kind of strippers. Some
they have a piece of board and they insert old phonograph needles. You remember what's phonograph needles, they insert phonograph needles and they sharp ‘em. And my mother used to make
strippers out of sewing needles, putting ʻem between two pieces of board and wrapping it with string. My mom weaved for a long time, but I did not weave until my children got older. There
was this one incident where my children needed dental work. And we didn't have money. So there was four children. My husband worked on the ranch, Puʻu O Hoku Ranch, and there was a
whole grove of lauhala down the beach. And I got permission and I went to get it. I made the dentist, two huge mats to take care of my children's dental bill. Little did I realize that
out of necessity comes what you're going to do all your life. 25:26 The love for lauhala is, to me, the love for lauhala is very great. It's very I could talk for hours. NARRATOR
25:49 During the day you will find Kimo Paleka at the airport. The people he serves are most likely unaware that this man is one of the better entertainers of Molokaʻi. 26:00 I started right
out of high school. I was entertaining with a rock and roll band at the time. Out of high school I joined the service, got out and played rock and roll music from 9:30 to 3:30 in the
morning NARRATOR 26:16 His mother Eliza Paleka sang as a member of the Molokaʻi Trio. Concerned about her son's devotion to rock and roll she had a heart to heart talk with him. 26:26
Said to me, you know Hawaiian music is slowly disappearing, somehow you know. It’s fading off and I think you should start really thinking of your heritage. After that I didn't care for
rock and roll at all. Ah, I love my island songs. Kimo Paleka: This is one of my favorites, a song called Molokaʻi Lullaby. (Singing) Molokaʻi aloha, aloha I love you, my home In my heart,
there is a song My soul... for my island All through the years, it’s a place very near to my heart. I hear the wind gently calling me back through the ocean I hear the lullaby, I see the
valley of our home Oh sing...the gentle melodies of Molokaʻi May every golden shore shine forever more in the sun May every face be filled with the greatest of heaven Molokaʻi aloha, aloha I
love you my home