Hau'ula

snapshots of hau'ula

The ridge of pine trees that casts a long shadow over Hau'ula sets it apart from the other villages on the Northshore. Right before the Mormontown of Lai'e, Hau'ula is what some would call a castaway, or throwaway community. In a close reading of the politics of the Northshore, the capitalistic enterprise of La'ie (which includes BYU-Hawai'i and the Polynesian Cultural Center) dominates the three sister villages which line this end of the Ko'olau mountain range: Hau'ula, La'ie and Kahuku. La'ie is a space in the Mormon collective imagination, one of particular meaning-making for LDS people in the Pacific, but also for Euro-American LDS from the continental US.

White kids from the continent come to school here at BYU-H to get an education. Some come to surf, and enjoy the land of music and flowers, like my mother in 1962.

Life stories can begin in a number of time-space crossings. I guess you could say mine began at the star-crossed meeting of two lovers who both enrolled at the Church College of Hawai'i (now BYU-H). La'ie and the campus of BYU-H holds memories for my parents, who met and courted between the meticulously manicured lawns and soft beach breezes of girls Hale 3 and boys Hale 5. For me, La'ie is a place where the speed limit drops to 25 from 35, where only McDonalds and Chevron are open on Sundays, and where no alcoholic beverages are sold.

I'm certainly not a local by any means, not by a long shot. I'm one who passes through. But I do feel rooted in some way to Hau'ula, where the pine trees on Ma'akua Gulch Ridge always cast a striking silhouette against an often sea-grey clouded sky.

The weather differs in marked ways between Hau'ula and La'ie. The Ma'akua Gulch is like a suction cup that calls clouds from the sea up its narrow cleavage, and often these clouds carry wetness that falls as they prepare to journey up the Mountains which are a green majestic core at the center of O'ahu. While Hau'ula is marked by this sea-grey cloudiness and precipitation, a mile down the road, as one approaches La'ie, right before one gets to the PCC, the sun bursts forth and shines more days than in Hau'ula. Those LDS builders who foresaw the tourist boon that has become Hawai'i really picked the spot.