[ CARETAKER HOME ]
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Couple with
generations of roots
earns keep at Heeia Kea
As a visitor drives up to the chain-link gate, Jerry Kaluhiwa is using a gas-powered blower to clean up fallen leaves that dot the asphalt driveway and parking lot. Taking care of things in the area known as Heeia Kea Valley Park in Windward Oahu is something that has become a lifelong commitment for Kaluhiwa and his wife, Leialoha, because it's been home to them and generations of their family. But they don't own the property and the surrounding 220 acres -- the city does.
"Our families have labeled us kahu, 'kahu' meaning caretaker," said Leialoha, who is also known as "Rocky."
The Kaluhiwas pay $400 a month on a lease with the city, but officials say they also provide a service that can't be calculated by dollars.
"They keep up and clean the parcel, and they help facilitate and manage site visits when film crews use the area. This is above and beyond taking care of the site," Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said. "It's in our best interest to have someone there who cares about the area and who cares about the parcel, not just for the city, but for future generations."
The city acquired Heeia Kea Valley for $4 million through condemnation in order to keep the land as a nature preserve, according to city officials. The city is developing a master plan for botanical gardens, picnic grounds and open spaces for hiking trails, but it is not expected to be developed for at least another three years.
Heeia Kea Valley is an ili, or subdivision of the larger ahupuaa (mountain-to-sea land designation) of Heeia.
Jerry Kaluhiwa said his family has been farming in Heeia Kea Valley since just after World War II. His father was a stevedore but farmed and fished to help make ends meet for his wife and 14 children.
Rocky Kaluhiwa's family goes back more than 100 years in Heeia ahupuaa with her great-great grandmother Wahinealii Komomua Akona.
Jerry and Rocky, now in their 60s, met when they attended Castle High School, and they have been married for 45 years.
A succession of different owners in the past 40 years have had a multitude of development plans for the valley, leading to the eviction of Jerry Kaluhiwa's family and other farm families, evictions that were protested in the 1970s.
Hawaiian Electric had planned a power plant in the late '60s. Then different developers proposed a golf course and million-dollar homes before the city bought it.
Jerry and Rocky were kept as caretakers off and on by different landowners throughout the years to prevent drug dealers and the homeless from moving in. "I feel it is our kuleana (responsibility) to malama (care for) this area."
They have called police and state conservation officers when they have spotted illegal activity like the coral thefts and a suspected drug lab they stumbled onto.
"Don't pick no milo across the street because I'm going to report you," Rocky said. "I call for everything. Don't dump your rubbish in here, either, because we the guys who clean."
Their "house" is actually an industrial-looking warehouse down Kamehameha Highway from the entrance to Heeia Kea Boat Harbor. The warehouse was once an electric company base yard, Leialoha said. They occupy about 700 square feet, the former office space, of the metal siding building.
They are also keeping watch over an outrigger canoe and the replica of the crashed plane for the television series "Lost," both of which sit in the parking lot. They have a vegetable garden, taro plots and flowers such as pakalana growing.
While the Kaluhiwas are not city employees, the city has seven live-in park caretakers who are. They live at Kalama Beach Park, Hanauma Bay, Waimanalo Bay Beach Park, Kualoa Regional Park, West Loch Shoreline Park, Nuuanu Nursery and Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said their duties depend on what is needed at each site. "For example, at Hoomaluhia the live-in is the horticulturist at the park. (That caretaker) is responsible for protection of the collection. At Hanauma Bay, the person is responsible for ensuring there is no illegal marine activity after hours and also monitoring the sewer system," Costa said.
She said that all the caretakers are required to provide after-hours security, enforce park rules and regulations and do minor cleanup of comfort stations and other facilities after hours and on weekends when regular maintenance crews are gone.
[ HOME ON THE RIDGE ]
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Garden of Eden
is rent-free
However, the property's caretaker
pays his keep in toiling to maintain
the elaborate residence for its owner
At first glance, freelance graphics designer Pat Weaver appears to have found the fabled Garden of Eden along Waialae Nui Ridge.
The property at 2362-D Aha Maka Way features an 8,000-square-foot home that includes a backyard hot tub, a hot tub in the master bathroom, a living-room fireplace, a steam room, an indoor koi pond, spiral staircases, a waterfall and a miniature tropical forest.
And, of course, there's the view.
"At dusk we get a warm light that highlights the trees and the valley," said Weaver. "And if you look out, you can see the city and the water.
"It's breathtaking."
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The best part for Weaver is that as caretaker of the estate, he lives in the house rent-free. While the home's owner and designer, landscaping mogul John Groark of John Groark & Associates, spends most of his time working abroad, Weaver makes sure everything that makes up the $1.5 million property is running smoothly.
But what he saves in rent, he pays for with sweat.
"It's not like a small home where you do a few tasks in one day and you're done," he said. "After a while I realized that everything you need to do will never be done, and there will always be something that needs to be done.
"For me now it's not so much improving as it is maintaining."
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Some of the more unusual features to maintain include a motorized 40-foot glass-roof atrium, which can open, allowing rain to fall on the indoor garden outside the master bedroom.
Then there are the 2,500-square-foot putting green and recreation deck on the roof and a scenic spot complete with several Greek-style columns made from fake marble which sit at the top of the property.
There's also landscaping to do, irrigation systems to unclog and maintenance crews to oversee. Just living there is a job in itself.
"I wake up at sunrise, have breakfast and coffee, and walk around the house to see what needs to be done," Weaver said.
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"You have to balance certain tasks because ... it's easy to get overworked.
"I like to have an easy task and a hard task, so that you spread the work out."
Weaver was in the process of moving out of his old home in Nuuanu last year when some friends told him about Groark and how he was looking for someone to watch his home while he was overseas.
He contacted Groark and spent several weeks working on the property and getting to know the man, who has built waterfall and lagoon features all over the world.
"There has to be a certain chemistry between the owners and myself, one of absolute trust," Weaver said, "because there's a lot more to it than feeding the fish and watering the plants."
