Pāhoa

Pāhoa is the commercial center of lower Puna — about a thousand people live in the town itself, but it serves a much larger surrounding community of about twenty-five thousand. Park along the main street in marked stalls; the side streets are narrow and residential. The kava bars and farmers markets are local-focused; tip cash. The wooden boardwalk along the main street is original and fragile; do not skateboard or bike on it. Many of the people you see in town lived in Leilani Estates or Kapoho before 2018, or in Kalapana before 1990; do not ask about it unless they bring it up.