Haiku Stairs, long shuttered and widely known as Hawaii’s Stairway to Heaven, are again at the center of a legal and cultural standoff. A new lawsuit filed by Friends of Haiku Stairs challenges the state’s recent permitting reversal and could stop the controversial demolition plan.
The suit accuses Hawaii’s State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) of changing its position to support demolition without public notice, explanation, or review. The plaintiffs argue that this reversal violates state law and undercuts the preservation policies that once supported restoring the 3,922-step structure.
What’s at stake now isn’t just a staircase—it’s whether state agencies can quietly reverse course when a site becomes politically inconvenient.
A reversal that caught everyone off guard.
In 2019, Hawaii’s State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) said Haiku Stairs were worth saving and that demolishing them would require a full environmental and cultural review. Then, this spring, without warning, SHPD reversed course and approved demolition without any of those steps.
According to the new lawsuit, that shift wasn’t just abrupt—it was illegal. The group behind the suit says SHPD offered no public explanation, skipped the required reviews, and quietly cleared the way for the stairs to be torn down.
For its part, the city has already set aside over $3 million and started prep work in April. Fencing and surveillance are up, but the stairs are still standing. And now, because of this legal challenge, it’s unclear whether demolition can legally move forward at all.
This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about what the state did.
Unlike earlier efforts that focused on saving the stairs for their history, views, or visitor appeal, this new lawsuit approaches the issue from an entirely different angle. It doesn’t ask whether the stairs are worth preserving; it asks whether the state followed its rules before deciding to remove them.
The group behind the lawsuit says SHPD never explained why it changed its mind and never gave the public a chance to weigh in. There were no new surveys, no hearings, just a quiet reversal that cleared the way for demolition.
That’s why this challenge might stick where others haven’t. Instead of arguing over emotions or impacts, it spotlights how Hawaii’s agencies make decisions and whether they can legally skip the steps they once said were required.
A trail Hawaii still hasn’t figured out.
The Haiku Stairs have been closed for decades and marked off-limits, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people—many of them visitors—from climbing them every year. Nearby residents have complained about noise, trespassing, and rescue helicopters for just as long.
The city has framed the stairs as a public nuisance: too risky, too expensive to police, too much liability. But every time officials move toward tearing them down, pushback follows.
This new lawsuit doesn’t change the fact that the stairs are still illegal to access. What changes is the storyline about what happens next. What looked like a done deal is now back in what’s starting to feel like permanent limbo.
You’ve seen this before.
A lawsuit in 2023 already briefly stopped the city from moving forward. That one focused on environmental review, and while it didn’t succeed in court, it did put the brakes on demolition for a while and exposed how divided public opinion is.
This time, the legal fight is about whether the state’s historic preservation office can reverse course without explanation and whether that’s just bad policy or something that could unravel protections statewide.
Our June 2024 article on Haiku Stairs covered the city’s $3 million demolition plan and the community response. At that point, preservation advocates had run out of options. Now, not so much.
Still standing, still off-limits.
As of mid-June 2025, demolition hasn’t started. The stairs are fenced, monitored, and still firmly in the city’s crosshairs. But a new lawsuit, filed June 12 in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court (Case No. 1CCV-25-0000966), has thrown the timing into question. The case hasn’t yet appeared in the state’s public court system, but the filing is confirmed.
Access remains illegal. Visitors caught on the stairs can be cited or fined. Rescues are still happening—some of them dangerous, all of them expensive.
Even so, the fascination hasn’t faded. Haiku Stairs still regularly appears on social media and travel forums. Drone clips circle the internet. The trail is closed, but the obsession clearly isn’t.
Still stirring despite fences and fines.
In January, two hikers were arrested after allegedly tearing down a section of the metal railing while climbing the stairs. Honolulu police said charges could include trespassing and theft, and warned more arrests were likely.
It’s not an isolated case. Some have reported that up to 4,000 people still attempt the climb each year, despite the fences, warning signs, and ongoing enforcement. The stairs might be closed on paper, but for many, they remain wide open in imagination—and on Instagram.
What it means for access and accountability.
The stairs are the symbol, but the bigger question is how Hawaii decides what stays and doesn’t. When a state agency can quietly reverse its own policy without notice, it raises questions about who’s making the rules—and who gets left out of the process.
The outcome of this case could reach well beyond Haiku. It may shape what happens the next time beach access is blocked or a trail gets shut down with no explanation. If the court forces SHPD to follow a more transparent process, it could reset how land use decisions are made across the islands.
What happens next at Haiku Stairs.
The lawsuit hasn’t resulted in an injunction for now, but the plaintiffs are seeking one. That means demolition could be stopped again pending a legal review of how SHPD changed its position.
The court will need to decide whether that change was justified and procedurally valid. If not, the stairs could remain in place for the foreseeable future, and the city may be forced to go back to the drawing board yet again.
Either way, the case has made it clear that the fight over Haiku Stairs simply won’t end. It’s just moved into a different arena.
Do you think Hawaii should preserve the Haiku Stairs or allow the demolition to proceed? Let us know your opinion.
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Please remember this when/if you come to the mainland.
The picture at the start of this article is a good example of why the stairs may need to come down. Engaging in reckless and idiotic behavior for a photograph and then, when you injure yourself, calling on public rescue resources and trying to sue the state for not doing enough to keep you out of the dangerous situation because, you know, it is always someone else’s fault when you do something stupid.
Haiku stairs issue reminds me of the short term rental issue. Bad government wants to take away what is not convenient for them. Previously legal items removed illegally. Shame.
IMO Hawaii state hates to spend a dime on anything. Demolition was probably cheaper than restoration. So much for the negative attitude or aloha spirit in backing the cultural spirit, beliefs, sentimental value, of such historical gems. Hawaii IMO really needs to practice what it preaches. IMO Sorry I don’t care for Hypocritical people and don’t care to support such places that endure this practice. Don’t expect tourist’s to respect the culture or wreck cultural artifacts if the state has the same attitude in demolishing such artifacts and history.
I think it needs to be preserved and renovated and made into a commercial enterprise. People seeking adventure will always want to climb the stairs; they can be charged for revenue purposes.
Most definitely the stairs ought to be torn down and the area returned to its natural state, pre-stairs.
In the meantime, trespassers should be prosecuted and fined. The fines should also be increased for disobeying the law. For the idiots who need rescue, the cost of that rescue should be charged to them on top of the trespassing fine.