June 18, 2007
About: where I live
I’ve been having some trouble with my computer lately. Today someone suggested that my toolbars might be a contributing factor, so I removed several of them. The problem was finally isolated elsewhere, so I reintstalled my Google. “Do you want to add Google Earth to your toolbar?” Well, of course I do! I love Google Earth! It’s one of my favorite toys. It’s pretty useful, too, so I thought I’d let it show you my community.
The large void in the northeast corner of the picture is just a small piece of the Lualualei Naval Reservation. Part of it was once called Lualualei Naval Magazine, but the entrance marker was taken down a few years ago. They used to store munitions there. The big blob is the cement quarry. I’ve never actually seen it up close, but the sound of heavy equipment is a low and steady hum that most of us don’t notice anymore, except occasionally in the very quiet hours around sunrise. The other noise that comes from there is political. Some folks would like to turn it into a landfill. Our coast is already home to most of the landfills on the island, and we’ve raised quite a rucus about another being considered.
The rows of long, narrow buildings to the west of the quarry are egg farms. You can see some more of them just southeast of the quarry, too, but some of those are pig farms. We notice them on “Kona wind” days when the trades die down and the aroma of … stuff … becomes overly apparent. That’s usully only a few days each year. The eggs from my local market are very fresh, so I suppose it’s a pretty good trade-off. You can see some crop farming, too, but most of the farming on the coast is well north of us.
The vacant, almost-rectangular lot just southwest of the quarry is “the government acreage” that I’ve blogged about a few times. There are dozens of brush fires there each year. The lot is soon to be home to a transitional housing center that will help some of our homeless nieghbors adapt to “normal life” again so they will be ready for the proposed affordable housing community that will be built nearby. Both projects are to be constructed on a few acres at the extreme north end of the lot.
I live in Palm Grove (such a very un-Hawaiian name!) It’s a narrow community of sixty-five homes sandwiched between “the lot” and Maili Stream. It was constructed in the early seventies. The homes to the west and north of us are mostly from the fifties I think, with some older homes scattered here and there. Most of the pre-WWII housing in Maili was demolished long ago. The well-ordered community to the immediate south of “the lot” is a newer subdivision, with new phases still being constructed and sold. The face on Ape Mountain is not visible from above. He’s at the makai (towards the ocean) end of the mountain at the bottom of the picture.
Maili Beach Park fronts that long stretch of beach where Maili meets the Pacific. It’s where we relax over the weekend, but only a few months ago it was end-to-end homeless encampments. At the northern end of the beach is a sea wall, where Mailiilii Channel enters the ocean and the fishing is almost always good. North of that, out of this picture, is Waianae, which gives its name to the entire coast. Maili doesn’t have much commerce, so Waianae, just a few miles from my home, is where most of our local shopping occurs. The best beach on the island (imho, but I’m not alone in that judgement) is in Makaha, just beyond Waianae. To our south is Nanakuli, which I drive through as I’m returning home from off of the coast.
I found some interesting information about Maili appended to my map. I’m going to share that with you tomorrow.
Technorati Tags: Google Earth, Hawaii, life in Hawaii, Maili, Waianae Coast
Posted by skeet @ 11:38 pm • Hawaii, Society & culture
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June 19th, 2007 at 10:44 am, Whim Says:
That is really cool Skeet! Thanks for sharing.
June 19th, 2007 at 12:38 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo to you, Whim! I thought some folks might like the perspective on things/places I’ve written about.
June 20th, 2007 at 6:10 pm, Jackie Says:
Very very cool!!! I love Hawaii. We’ve been to Maui twice. Just so very lovely.
Jackie