Hollywood Favorite Hawaiian Getaway Maui Faces Tragic Fire – Report From The Heart Of Paradise

The texts were ringing like crazy this morning. “Are you in Maui? Are you okay?” Fortunately, yes just fine but Maui, the second biggest Island in Hawaii, continues to fight massive wildfires that started Tuesday and virtually destroyed the classic town of Lahaina (capital of Hawaii at one time) and a tourist mecca. Flames have reportedly destroyed hundreds of homes and some businesses in a paradise that has long been a favorite getaway , and even home for many entertainment luminaries including Oprah Winfrey, Clint Eastwood, Steven Tyler, Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Kris Kristofferson, Jeff Bezos, and many more. Mick Fleetwood not only lives on the island but has a popular restaurant Fleetwood’s On Front Street that was situated right in the path of where the fire was most fierce in picaresque Lahaina, a city described now as looking instead like a bombed-out war zone.

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I come here every summer and am currently in Maui in Wailea at the Four Seasons, often a favored hotel for industryites. Fortunately it is on the other side of the Island, about 27 miles away from Lahaina and currently in no threat of evacuation, unlike West Maui where unspeakable tragedy – six reported deaths so far – is taking place. We are here in honor this year of our 30th wedding anniversary, returning as we do each year to the islands where we got married in 1993 (that was on the Big Island, also a spot being challenged by these fires flamed by Hurricane Dora which passed 700 miles away but still is responsible for generating devastating winds of 60 MPH or more – no friend of fire). Sadly our friends who flew in from Maui to the Big Island as witnesses for our private morning wedding in 1993 have just become two of many who had to evacuate and are now waiting to hear if their home is even still standing.

It is all kind of strange as Wailea is untouched and still in vacation mode, while just across the ocean you could see massive smoke clouds and orange skies. The mood went from idyllic to horrifying. To put it in movie terms as someone said to me earlier today, “it is like Barbie suddenly turned into Oppenheimer“. West Maui still has no cell service, internet, or power in most areas of it. Last night the Four Seasons lobby, usually pretty chill, was practically overrun by tourists and some locals fleeing the fire in search of rooms. The hotel is now completely full, walkups had the staff scrambling to return after leaving for the day to take care of the sudden demand. The hotel even opened their ballroom for employees affected, as well as other locals needing a place to stay. Quite a scene. I even spotted people sleeping on lounge chairs or couches until hopefully getting a room. No doubt other hotels in Wailea experienced the same influx.

You can always count on the good souls in the entertainment industry to help when it is most needed. One of those is long time Maui resident, agent, manager, producer, and all-around mensch, Shep Gordon, a definite legend who even had a 2014 documentary made about him by Mike Myers called Supermensch. He also co-owns Humble Market Kitchen with famed chef Roy Yamaguchi in Wailea and I hear is busy trying to set up feeding locations. I hear Jose Andres was sending an emergency team to help. Andres, a world famous Spanish chef who was founder of World Central Kitchen, a non-profit devoted to providing meals in areas of natural disasters was in fact he himself the subject of a 2022 documentary directed by Ron Howard, We Feed People.

Reportedly this morning 2000 tourists were at the airport, ready to be transported to Oahu and temporary setup at the Hawaii Convention Center. I know at least one studio exec set to leave this morning, had their flight to L.A. delayed four times, then cancelled, and were hoping to get another flight out. Locals are devastated at the incaluable losses including the sacred 150 year old Banyan Tree in the heart of Lahaina, the wharf, and the Maui Museum with irreplaceable artifacts from Hawaiian history.

This all reminded me of the second trip we made to Hawaii in 1992. We were in Kauai staying at the Princeville on the North Shore. We left just about three days before, as it turned out, disaster struck in the form of Hurricane Iniki which would devastate Kauai and among other places, shut Princeville Hotel down for nearly two years. Then married couple Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and family were among those sheltering in place in the basement. The famed Coco Palms hotel where Elvis Presley made 1961’s Blue Hawaii was also shut down, and still never reopened to this day. Jurassic Park was shooting on Kauai and producer Kathy Kennedy famously was at the airport trying to get everyone out safely before it was too late.

It may be Paradise but island life can sometimes turn into something resembling a real life disaster movie. We are lucky to be out of the center of this one, others aren’t, and so we hope for the best on the long road to recovery ahead,

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