Paia is this cool little town in Hana highway between Baldwin Beach and Hookipa Beach. Once a large and busy sugar plantation town, the mill and the residential camps that surrounded it are gone. Now Paia bustles with botiques, coffee stores, art shops, health food stores and other shops. The place is also filled with casual eateries which is a great feed stop on your way to Hana.
Several weeks ago, the Maui Tweeps had our Maui Tweet Up at Anthony’s Coffee in Paia. I took the kids with me and decided to explore the town after our meet-up. At that time I was reminded of how much I love this little town. I like the feel of it. It’s quite fun to stroll around and look at the little different shops with their unique merchandise. 
This place is unique. And the good thing about it now is that there is a public parking place near the shops. It used to be so hard to find parking, but with the new public parking facility, it was a breeze.
Today I lovingly convinced my husband for us to drive to the North Shore so I can “scope” the leg 4 of Hana Relay which is what I am going to run on September 12th. I also convinced him to stop by Paia and eat lunch Paia Fish House.
There are so much to share about this cool little town where many Hippies still hang out. When I came home and googled “Paia Town”, I was please to see that it actually has it’s own website. So, for more information about Paia, go to Paiamaui.com
This is a photo of MauiTweetup at Anthony’s Coffee in Paia:
@lamourwedding, @TwMediaNet, @raatz, @grevels, @peterliu47, @jalove
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I highly suggest you check out the Paia Town website. Actually, I highly suggest you come to Maui and visit this unique place 🙂 Hey, @ShielaS and her son ate at this place when they were here 🙂 Aloha!
Thank yuo for the post! Growing up I used to go to my grandma’s in Lower Paia every summer. Take a bath in the furo, hear the temple gong at night and hear the horn from the sugar mill early in the morning. My grandpa had a service station on the makai side of Hana Hwy. All the hippies knew him as “Kobe” – he kind of let them camp out in the back of the station. Back then there was Paia Mercantile which was a general store. There used to be this burger joint called Wimpy’s and a grocery store – I think it was called “Nakatsura’s”. All these places are gone now. Back then you could just walk through people’s yard to get down to the beach and they would wave to you. I remember that long stretch of white sand at Baldwin beach park. Ahhh the good ol’ days.
I live on Nantucket island – other side of usa
But in my youth!-1972 my sister and I were 2 of those “hippies” that kobi was so kind to!
We lived in a house he owned near Charle p woofers
We paid 10$ a week
We would go to the gas station and sit on old come crates and “talk story” with kobi
I have some great old photos from then at least a few of him
His squinty full face smile -his blue jean coveralls
Such a kind man
Great memories
Help to his grand daughter!
Very kool*
Hello to his grand daughter and we sat on coke crates!
(Darn spelling on iPad!!)
ohh yes, the good ol’ days. Great memories you have there. Thank you Mark for sharing them with us 🙂
I wish I could have attended that tweetup! Thanks for posting pictures so I can see what I missed. When is the next one?
Nice post about Paia, it sure is a fun place.
Good luck in the Hana relay! Aloha.
Aloha Liza,
Love this post, and certainly checking out that Paia website. My photo collection from our Maui trips has a bit of a hole in it when it comes to the upcountry, and that’s something I hope to fix soon.
With the 3 free days we have on our next trip (in 2 weeks), we’re certainly spending a day near Paia. We have our eyes on Baldwin Beach, and some of the local shops, too.
This post is certainly a great place to start.
– Kris
.-= Kris´s last blog ..Flickr Group: Road to Hana =-.
I love visiting quaint old towns that Paia. The shop and the tweet up look like lots of fun. And, the food looks delicious!
.-= Tara R.´s last blog ..Weekly Winners ~ hidden gems =-.
Awesome Tweet Up!!
.-= Secret Agent Mama´s last blog ..Weekly Winners {Around the House Edition} =-.
Looks like a lovely place to visit. Mmmm… good food too!
Hi Liza,
Love your Paia town post. I too love Paia. As we drove though there yesterday on our way to check out the views from Ho`okipa lookout I was reminded, how adorable, old-fashioned, and country Paia still is. I used to live there in 1973. It was a much slower time.
Some day we can talk story about that.
Aloha,
Beautiful Sunday
Liza, In repsonse to Markfromhawaii, I remember MR. Kobayashi’s gas station. He used to sit out front in overalls.He taught us how to bake breadfruit cut in half and placed upside down on a baking sheet! Once cooked for about an hour we put butter and brown sugar. Unreal!
We used to buy kerosene for our lanterns from him.
Love Paia town especially the Paia Fish Market. Great eats and so much fun to walk the streets of the town and check out all of the cool shops and stores. Great blog post!
I love Pa’ia! My girlfriend just bought some beads at the little bead shop right as you enter town from the South. We got a bite to eat at Flatbread and were really impressed with their beer selection. Paia is a must visit!