For generations, the banyan tree along Lahaina town's historic Front Street served as a gathering place, its leafy branches unfurling majestically to give shade from the Hawaiian sun. By most accounts, the sprawling tree was the heart of the oceanside community.
'Initially it was fear, like scared for our family, and then, just sad. Sad to see everything that we know gone,' Rocklin resident Beau Figueiroa said.