Why the Crazy Puamana Building Numbers? Just Believe Me, You Need This Map

Download this Puamana map before you come!

Before you come to Puamana, Maui, you will want to save this map because the 60 building numbers make absolutely no sense. You drive down Pualei Drive, passing building numbers 23, 7, 10, 5 then 80… hmmm. 43 is oceanfront, 41 is back behind the mauka pool.

Don’t worry, I’ve lived in Puamana full-time for 18 years, and I still go blank when someone asks me for directions.

The sequence of units within the buildings aren’t logical either — some go left to right as you are looking at the front doors, some go the other way. Here are the Puamana building numbers, not in order on the property, any pattern? 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31, 35, 38, 40, 41, 43, 46, 48, 52, 55, 57, 58, 62, 64, 71, 74, 80, 87, 97, 100, 105, 111, 128, 129, 139, 145, 150, 153, 160, 161, 167, 175, 176, 177, 185, 192, 205, 216, 225, 226, 240, 254, 272

A while back, I polled the Puamana Facebook page to see if anyone knew the history behind the whacky numbers — you will be amused to read the diverse answers (below).

Puamana — If you go straight North on Pualei drive, it turns into Front Street …

So what is the logic behind the Puamana building numbers? According to the Facebook poll, the answer is…

ZL: The Number is 42

ES: If you look at the Puamana building numbers in groups, the teens, twenties, thirties, hundreds, two hundred etc., you will see concentric development, like an onion, with the clubhouse at the center. The few buildings that don’t fit this general pattern were probably squeezed in later. The first digits (the 5 in 15 or 4 in 24) are arbitrary and probably chosen by different boards at the time the section was built out. 5, 7, and 9 would have been built first, and so on.

AS: Puamana was built in 1969 = Lots of “magic potions” in Maui at that time, maybe everyone was dazed and confused …?! That’s my vote.

SC: Think it was government housing when it was built- there’s your answer!

DG: I spoke to a close family friend who managed the property for the late 1960s through to the 1980s. As she remembers it, there was another numbering system for the first 2 construction phases then it was all changed to the current numbering when construction started on the 3rd phase. No reason given but she vividly remembers how hard it was to learn the new building numbers… so the mystery continues …

JH: I lived there for a few years in the ‘80s and never could figure out the “system”.

LZ: Each Puamana “street” has its own unique numbers. Pualei Drive has even numbers makai and odd numbers mauka. Each street that branches off Pualei follows the normal odd/even sequence using unique numbers. The #71, #175, #225 & #205 use Front street addresses. Take a map of Puamana and stare at it for minimum 1 hour and you’ll see the pattern.

JB: I understand the numbering was in order of the build dates. Why there are skipped numbers I don’t know.

SM: I always wondered about that. Thought I was the only one.

TM: Get over it!! Just enjoy the PLACE MAUI NO KA NUMBER – ALOHA

PM: Supposedly the Puamana buildings were numbered based on order of construction.

IM: I’ve always wondered that

CL: Of course!

MR: Someone said the locals did it to pay back the haoles for taking their land and building along the shoreline.

SB: ….it’s a long standing argument. My feeling is that it takes two to tango….. someone had to agree to sell so that someone could buy …  it’s the flower power, man!

DF: Pretty sure they did it so we were still wondering in 2022 …

JC:Who cares! Puamana is fabulous and that’s all that matters…just go with it!

Download this Puamana map before you come!

Thank you for reading… By Anna Severson, your Puamana resident real estate broker, homeowner, and full-time Puamana resident for the past 18 years. We bought our place, 167-3 Pualei Drive, the year Zoe was born and this year she’s heading off to UCSB! Feel free to contact me for more details on Puamana properties for sale. Mahalo!