LAIE

town, Honolulu county, on Laie Bay, northeastern Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S. The land was acquired by Mormon missionaries in 1864 and settled by a colony of Hawaiian Mormons. The impressive white Laie Temple, where the highest rites of the Mormon church can be performed, was built (1919) on the site of an ancient Hawaiian city of refuge (a sanctuary for the pursued). The Polynesian Cultural Center, a project of the Mormon church, is Laie's main tourist attraction. Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus (formerly the Church College of Hawaii ) is also there. The nearby Waiapuka Pool is known in Hawaiian literature as the refuge of the beautiful Princess Laieikawai (Leaf in the Water), dedicated to the Sun God and guarded from her father, who had vowed to kill her. Pop. (1990) 5,577.