Stories

Walking through the small town of Pauwela in Maui, I noticed an old tractor sitting idle. This retired machine had found a renewed purpose as a rusted garden for new life. Plants of all sorts had been arranged on each part of the sleeping beast. The contrast between past triumph and new-found life was evident. The true symbol that life and death are inherently intertwined.

With the sun setting over the distant Pu’u Kukui peak, I played around with the various angles to capture this elegant ensemble through my lens. As I stood there, adjusting my views, looking for the angle that would paint the best picture, a man stood watch. Feeling his presence, I turned to him and extended a polite greeting. Small talk ensued about the origin of the tractor to which Brian told me it had been abandoned many years ago by his neighbor and left there to collect rust. He had garnished the decaying tractor with plants to give his garden a more appeasing view of the surrounding lots. I felt a sense of surprise in his voice as I stated my fascination for this abandoned machine, as if regardless of the number of plants, all Brian could see was the rust that polluted his garden's view.

The surprising detail of his narration was not about the tractor’s origin, but about the lot it occupied. Little did I know that the abandoned patch of cement which served as the foundation for this unintended piece of art had a rich backstory. Two columns stood tall, accompanying the tractor’s elegance. To my great surprise, Brian told me these columns used to bare the weight of a gas station’s canopy back in the 1950s. His stories painted this vacated lot as the true Times Square of Pauwela where people gathered as a hustling, bustling, but most importantly lively community. Every week, the residents of Pauwela would crowd around a brightly lit screen inside the multi-purpose station as kids would parade down the streets, hitting pots and pans to announce the latest Kabuki projection. Even the likes of Roy Rogers had graced this gas station with his Western Spaghetti presence, crowded by men, women, and kids looking to catch the slightest glimpse of the Hollywood star. His narration went on and on as he told tales about the past life of this once animated village, now a shadow of its former glory.

I left that conversation feeling like I had been offered a free journey into a world that only a few had stepped into; full of life, joy, and surprises.