Nickname: The Pineapple Isle | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | North Pacific Ocean |
Coordinates | 20°49′30″N 156°55′12″W / 20.82500°N 156.92000°W |
Area | 140.5 sq mi (364 km2) |
Area rank | 6th largest Hawaiian Island |
Highest elevation | 3,366 ft (1026 m) |
Highest point | Lānaʻihale |
Administration | |
United States | |
State | Hawaiʻi |
County | Maui County |
Owner(s) | Larry Ellison 98% State of Hawaii 2% |
Symbols | |
Flower | Kaunaʻoa (Cuscuta sandwichiana) |
Color | ʻĀlani (orange) |
Largest settlement | Lanai City |
Demographics | |
Population | 3,367 (2020)[1] |
Pop. density | 23/sq mi (8.9/km2) |
Ethnic groups | Hawaiian |
Additional information | |
Time zone |
Lanai (Hawaiian: Lānaʻi, Hawaiian: [laːˈnɐʔi, naːˈnɐʔi], /ləˈnaɪ, lɑːˈnɑːi/ lə-NY, lah-NAH-ee,[2] also US: /lɑːˈnaɪ, ləˈnɑːi/ lah-NY, lə-NAH-ee,[3][4]) is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain.[5] It is colloquially known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation.[6] The island's only settlement of note is the small town of Lanai City. The island is 98% owned by Larry Ellison, cofounder and chairman of Oracle Corporation;[7] the remaining 2% is owned by the state of Hawaii or individual homeowners.[8][9]
Lanai is a roughly apostrophe-shaped island with a width of 18 miles (29 km) in the longest direction. The land area is 140.5 square miles (364 km2), making it the 43rd largest island in the United States.[10] It is separated from the island of Molokaʻi by the Kalohi Channel to the north, and from Maui by the Auʻau Channel to the east. The United States Census Bureau defines Lanai as Census Tract 316 of Maui County. Its total population rose to 3,367 as of the 2020 United States census,[1] up from 3,193 as of the 2000 census[11] and 3,131 as of the 2010 census.[12][13] As visible via satellite imagery, many of the island's landmarks are accessible only by dirt roads that require a four-wheel drive vehicle due to the lack of paved roadways.
There is one school, Lanai High and Elementary School, serving the entire island from kindergarten through 12th grade. There is also one hospital, Lanai Community Hospital, with 24 beds, and a community health center providing primary care, dental, behavioral health and selected specialty services in Lanai City.[14][15] There are no traffic lights on the island.
At a public meeting on Lanai last year, an Ellison representative explained that his boss wasn't drawn to the island by the potential for profits but by the potential for a great accomplishment — the satisfaction one day of having made the place work. For Ellison, it seemed, Lanai was less like an investment than like a classic car, up on blocks in the middle of the Pacific, that he had become obsessed with restoring. He wants to transform it into a premier tourist destination and what he has called "the first economically viable, 100 percent green community": an innovative, self-sufficient dreamscape of renewable energy, electric cars and sustainable agriculture.