Plush Seating Coming to Popular Maui Beaches for Wait Lines

As the pandemic continues to wither away and Maui's beaches become more and more like normal, people may start to notice some plush furniture near their entrance points.

A billionaire from San Francisco, Noah Algeguard, noticed during a visit last month that, at times, he could not find even a sliver of sand  available to sit on due to ever-growing crowds.

So he decided to do something about it.

"It was a shame to see couples or families standing off a beach just staring at it, waiting for somewhere to plop their towels and chairs," Algeguard said.  "I thought, what the heck, how many beaches can there be on this island? And why can't we have nice beach-waiting facilities?"

So he contacted the County of Maui to inquire how he might go about helping to make his idea a reality.

To start, Algeguard donated 10 sofas, and 10 3-person couches, for the county to place at parks in the order of the properties that host the most people daily per square foot.

One of the sofas was noticed at Charley Young Beach in Kihei on Sunday.

"How cool is this?" asked Meredith K. Jones, of Westlake Village, Calif., while easing back into the sofa. "It's like they think of everything around here!"

Algeguard made his billions renting out vacation condos in the Bay Area and remembered talking with some renters about how hard it was to wait in line to see the sights in the area.

"I heard their voices in my head when I saw those couples and families with nowhere to go on the beach."

The county has yet to give him a list of the next 20 parks for placement of a soft seating apparatus ~ though they hope to get even more pieces of furniture than the number of beaches.

"Hopefully he'll have it in his heart do donate some more for the sad-looking bus stops all over the place, where there is just a little wooden horse to sit on now," said Joanne Pemberton of Maui Bus. "Riders are even dropping off old plastic chairs from their backyards at these stops. They would look much nicer with a plush sofa or couch."