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    This cafe never closed after Lahaina's fires, extending a lifeline of normalcy

    At Java Jazz, locals displaced by the fires can reconnect, share a drink and listen to music. "We felt like, we will continue on with life," the owner says. "We can't just go and throw in the towel."
    by Bill Chappell Aug 29, 2023 5 minutes
    Cori Gross, bartender at Java Jazz, greets residents with bursts of joy to see that they've survived the fires.

    MAUI, Hawaii -- It might seem odd for a restaurant on the edge of a disaster zone to stay open.

    But Java Jazz, a cafe just a few miles from Lahaina's scorched downtown, never shut down after the Aug. 8 catastrophe. While dozens of businesses shuttered, it kept serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, giving a lifeline of normalcy to locals, emergency workers, and tourists who had nowhere else to go.

    "A lot of our customers know that we won't close," the owner, Farzad Azad, said during a recent visit to the cafe. "We'll give everything away, and make sure everybody has something to eat" rather then close, he added.

    But staying open wasn't easy. For a while, there was no power so the chef could only use a gas stove. With no internet, purchases became cash-only. But with only

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