Walk down Mamane Street, the heart of Honokaa Town, and step back into
the late 19th and early 20th century. Honokaa's single-wall, wooden
plantation-era buildings are as much a symbol of Hawaii to local people
as Diamond Head is to tourists. The commercial buildings have their
emblematic false fronts and totan (corrugated iron) cladding. They
contained, and still contain, mom-and-pop businesses that were founded
upon personal relationships, required the labor of whole families, and
provided for the education of the next generation. The small size of the
town encouraged cross-pollination of peoples. Sugar workers, paniolos
(cowboys), coffee farmers, and homesteaders all came to Honokaa.