One of the most infamous tourist destinations in all of Hawaii is the Haiku Stairs, a massive and incredibly steep stairway that is also colloquially referred to as the Stairway to Heaven. Despite the ever-growing popularity of the attraction due to social media trends, hiking Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven has been illegal for decades. Many people ignore these laws and decide to hike the stairs anyways. However, this is soon going to come to an end, as the city of Honolulu is making preparations to have the controversial landmark demolished. Join ViewCation as we take a look at why Hawaii’s infamous Stairway to Heaven is being destroyed.
In the days since the landmark’s initial construction during World War II, the Haiku Stairs has become one of Hawaii’s most infamous tourist destinations. Also known as the Stairway to Heaven, the stairway features nearly 4,000 steps going up the incredibly steep Ko’olau Range, a range of mountains that are located in Oahu. The Haiku Stairs initially gained popularity as a tourist attraction due to the insanely spectacular views that hikers are able to catch once they reach the top. At the top of the stairs, one can catch an unprecedented view of Honolulu’s many incredible vistas.
These incredible views, as well as the thrill of the steep hike, were more than enough to make Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven a popular tourist attraction. However, the controversy that has befallen the attraction in recent years due to the dangers of it’s hike have only served to make the attraction more and more popular for thrill-seeking hikers, with the stairs having recently gained somewhat of a cult following on social media. Social media influencers continuously take to the Haiku Stairs and hike the illegal trek in order to take pictures or videos of themselves at the top, and it’s becoming a problem for the city of Honolulu.
The Haiku Stairs is in extreme disrepair, and the steps are considered too dangerous to hike. This is part of the reason why the stairs have come to be known as Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven, besides the fact that the steepness and height of the stairs give off the illusion that one is quite literally hiking into the heights of the afterlife. Illegal hiking of Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven has become such a problem that the city of Honolulu has long since begun imposing a $1000 fine on anyone that is caught trying to hike the stairs.
Even with the imposition of a $1000 fine, the city of Honolulu is having little luck keeping adventure-seeking tourists away from attempting to hike the Stairway to Heaven. In addition to being an incredible liability for the city due to the immense danger associated with the stairs, the popularity of the stairway is also causing problems for the locals around where the stairway is located. In order to trespass onto the illegal area, tourists are forced to sidestep through the property of local homeowners, causing property damage and apparently leaving loads of litter. Understandably, homeowners are upset. This is part of the reason that the city of Honolulu is planning to have the stairs demolished.
With the introduction of this recent plan to demolish the Haiku Stairs, the city of Honolulu is asking to allocate $1 million dollars towards the project. Many Honolulu citizens are balking at the concept, especially considering that Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven could actually bring money into the city of Honolulu if it was converted into a controlled tourist attraction with paid access for visitors. Attempts have been made to make the stairway safe to traverse over the years, with over a million dollars having been spent in the past on the repair of the stairs. Still, the stairs have continuously proved dangerous time and time again, and repair seems to the city like an unforeseeable prospect.
Prior to July of 2020, Hawaii’s Board of Water Supply owned the Haiku Stairs. The Board of Water Supply is the organization that spent over a million dollars on the attempted repair of the stairs before eventually giving up and handing ownership of the land over to the city of Honolulu. The Board of Water Supply had routinely toyed with the idea of opening up Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven as a tourist attraction that visitors could pay to hike up and down. When the land was passed over to the city of Honolulu, the local government continued to toy with this idea. However, they have now decided that such a project isn’t feasible.
With the recent announcement that the city of Honolulu is planning on allocating $1 million to have Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven demolished, many defenders of the iconic landmark have come out of the woodwork to show their support for it’s existence. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! As well, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to be among the first to know when more revealing ViewCation videos are on their way!
Before becoming one of the most controversial and infamous landmarks in all of Hawaii, the Haiku Stairs was once freely open to the public. Access to the stairs was officially made illegal in 1987 for various reasons. The main reason was that the stairs had fallen under increasing disrepair and were beginning to simply prove too dangerous to amateur hikers. In the years since hiking the stairs has been made illegal, the hike has only become even more popular thanks to social media influencers, as well as it’s own controversy.
Trespassers on Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven have become such an issue that nearly 100 trespassers are caught trying to hike the stairs per month. While this means plenty of money in fines for the city of Honolulu, the liability doesn’t make the continued existence of the landmark worth it in the eyes of the city’s accounting team. In addition to the issue of liability, trespassers are also becoming a huge issue for homeowners located around the Haiku Stairs.
Homeowners living in the Haiku neighborhood surrounding the Haiku Stairs have been among the most passionate parties calling for the destruction of the beloved landmark. While many might imagine that these homeowners would be the ones likely to value the historical heritage of the landmark the most, they simply feel that it’s no longer worth it to keep the stairs around due to the dangers and the negative attention. Many of these homeowners have testified before the Honolulu City Council. While the city of Honolulu had previously been interested in possibly attempting to rehabilitate the Haiku Stairs, this testimony has played a large part in convincing them otherwise.
Although the Haiku Stairs is currently proving a major nuisance for the city of Honolulu, they do have an impressive historical legacy. The stairs were first built in 1942. The purpose of the stairs was to allow soldiers access to a top-secret military base that was in use during World War II. That base was the Haiku Radio Station, a Navy tower that was used to transmit important radio signals to ships that were attempting to navigate the Pacific Ocean.
The homeowners advocating the demolition of the Haiku Stairs aren’t the only ones that have come together to try and influence the fate of the infamous landmark. The Friends of Haiku Stairs is an organization put together by advocate Vernon Andsell in an attempt to try and convince the city of Honolulu that the stairs are worth more intact to the city and it’s people than they would be if they were destroyed. Sadly, it seems as if the Friends of Haiku Stairs are losing.
This is not the first time that plans for demolition have been made regarding the Haiku Stairs. Before the Board of Water Supply had transferred the property over to Honolulu, they had advised the city that they thought the stairs should be destroyed. Given the Board of Water Supply had spent years on the infamous stairway, perhaps the city should have listened. However, testimony from those citizens that later formed together to become the Friends of Haiku Stairs convinced the city otherwise for the time being. At that point, nearly 4000 people had provided testimony that the stairs should stay intact, while only a couple hundred advocated for their destruction. Now, it appears the tides have turned.
Those who are looking to hike the Haiku Stairs for themselves can still do so, at least for the time being. While hiking the stairs the traditional way remains illegal, that hasn’t stopped many social media influences from doing it. If any viewers want to follow in these social media influencers footsteps, they should do so fast. However, they should definitely keep in mind the fact that the hike is illegal for a reason, and that the stairs are not at all safe for hikers. As well, trespassers should keep in mind that many nearby homeowners in the Haiku neighborhood surrounding the infamous landmark have made homemade traps in an effort to try and keep trespassers off of their property.
There are apparently legal hikes that will take you up to the old Haiku Radio Station, but these hikes take much longer than the hike straight up the Haiku Stairs, and they do not come with all that dangerous and lethal excitement. After a recent vote by the city of Honolulu, it appears that the Haiku Stairs is going to be demolished sooner rather than later, so anyone looking to visit the landmark better do so fast!
Despite the best wishes of Hawaii’s various governmental organizations, the controversy surrounding the infamous Haiku Stairs has arguably only made the illegal tourist attraction that much more popular. Comment down below to share if you have any experience with Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven, of if you have any interest in trying to hike the infamous landmark before it’s destroyed for good. As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more revealing ViewCation videos are on their way!