Uncle Larry
What do the 3,000 plus locals who live in Lanai think about their “Uncle Larry,” as he’s been nicknamed?
Everyone willing to go on the record was either sanguine or flat-out enthusiastic about what he’s done to the resort and for the island—new investments in infrastructure range from the small (like trimming problematic trees) to the necessary (a new water filtration system) to the marquee (a resort-quality, Olympic-sized public pool). There’s even a new state-of-the-art movie which all the islanders claim is the best in the Hawaii.
The few potential dissenting voices—including a woman at the tiny airport who ominously said “do your research” when it became clear she was talking to a reporter—wouldn’t allow themselves to be interviewed.
Mike Carroll, who has owned a Lanai City gallery off the main square for over a decade, is a believer. “It’s the economic engine that keeps this island going,” he says. Times were lean when it was shut for renovations, but now there’s a new hope for the future.
And what of the new clientele who are paying at a minimum $1,075 a night for rooms at the resort? “We’re starting to see more original paintings finding homes and that’s great. We’re very encouraged with what we’re seeing,” says a smiling Carroll.
The island’s been in private hands since the 1870s, first Mormon missionaries, then ranchers, and finally Dole to grow pineapples. Industrialist David Murdock bought Castle & Cooke (Dole’s holding company that owned the island), and decided to create the two resorts in the 1990s which still stand. As Carroll pointed out, “had the resorts not been built we would be in real economic trouble,” but it took Ellison to rescue them.
Jenna Majkus, owner of a clothing and gift boutique down the square called The Local Gentry, agrees, “Immediately from Ellison buying the resort and island, our infrastructure was getting much needed investment which was a great improvement from the island’s previous owner, David Murdock.”
These ‘city’ residents— there are no stoplights in town or anywhere on the island — eagerly await the reopening of the 101-room Lodge at Keole. Nowhere near the beach, the second of Ellison’s Four Seasons resorts is nestled in the heart of the island’s former ranching operations just to the east of town.
Its very un-Hawaiian dormered plantation-style house resembles more a woodsy National Park lodge than tropical paradise and draws guests accordingly. Indeed, a wood burning fireplace in the main building which is the state’s largest (and one of 10 fireplaces at the lodge). As of publishing, the plan is to reopen that The Lodge at Keole at the end of 2016, in time for Christmas.