A Brief History... WAIPIO TREEHOUSE     In 1974, when Linda Beech was in graduate school in California, a National Geographic reporter doing an article on the Big Island came to Waipio Valley and photographed the structure. Since then, the Treehouse has been featured in numerous newspapers, magazines, radio stations and 6 T.V. channels.     If you would like a down-loadable pdf copy of the latest, most complete article about the Treehouse in Hana Hou magazine, Click Here Courtesy and © Dawn Lundquist For large and small reprints of this oil painting please contact the artist at www.dawnlundquist.com A Bonsai Treehouse     "When my TV series Aoi Me no Tokyo Nikki (Blue Eyes Tokyo Diary) was the second most watched television show in Japan, in the 1950s and early 60s (shown here before it went to color). Once, a passionate collector of bonsai myself, I went to the Imperial Bonsai Garden outside Tokyo with my Nadeshikokai group (which always included Princess Higashikuni, the elder sister of the present Emperor of Japan).     In Japan where I lived for 20 years I had fallen in love with the art of miniaturization, the use of small spaces, of simplification, and the careful attention to details. How grand, I thought, it would be to have a perfect little house in a tree (Daddy had never made me one) with a huge waterfall and many acres. In Tokyo I'd been able to design and build a house featuring a small waterfall, a bridge, and a small pool with koi. In the Imperial Bonsai Gardens A Book Called "Kimo".     When I was four-years-old in Honolulu, my mother read me a beautiful, art deco book about a thinly-disguised Waipio Valley. I decided then that someday I would live there. But when I reached my 20s I went instead to Japan, where my contacts still continue.     The story of "Kimo" tells of a young boy sent from Honolulu to live in a remote Hawaiian valley 50 miles north of Hilo where the ancient customs were still meticulously followed.     When my sons Kimo and Paki (whom I learned later had both been so knicknamed by the influence of the forgotten book) each respectively turned 2, I registered them at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island in order to maintain my ties to the state where my family had lived for nearly 80 years.     When Kimo had graduated from HPA and one year of college with straight A's, my husband and I rewarded him with a trip to the "old country" of Japan where he had spent his childhood. Upon returning, he announced that he was quitting college to become a farmer. I bribed him with a compromise: I'd buy him land to farm if he would return to college after a year. Of course, I was drawn, as always, to Waipio Valley. Walking up the valley along the picturesque river road, hung with waterfalls, we fell into step with an old Filipino man. When asked about available land he said, "the only land I know of is Papala waterfall over there." My heart leaped. When we tracked down the owner and he had taken me to it (Kimo was in school) my expectations were exceded. My feet were magnetized to the ground. "This is a perfect sanctuary," I thought.     And, for many people, so it has been. Looking through the treasures of a Berkely used book store while I was a graduate student, my eye was riveted by a copy of "Kimo". It fell open to a page with a heading "When Kimo Encounters Paki". My memory came together like pieces of a puzzle; the similarities between the story and my experiences in Waipio fit perfectly, as well as the aura of a place of refuge and magic.   For 2,000 years this emerald valley has been a most sacred spot. Hawaiian monarchs have kept alive the traditions at 6 temples, parts of which are still standing here. No complete sites of archaeological remains have yet been made, although there have been numerous attempts to do so. When I bought my property the last structure had been a grass hut. In 1941 the first car, a modle-T Ford, was brought into the valley in parts and reassembled here. More than seven decades after people had them elswhere. Time as well seems to have been slowed and the hill into the valley brings people into another dimension. Monkey Pod planted by Mark Twain. Courtesy of pahoahi. Click here In a Monkey Pod Tree     The Treehouse is built in a Monkey Pod Tree, which is the largest member of the legume family. The branches of the Monkey Pod radiate out in a continuing arc, in an effort to complete a full 360º circle. The massive root systems mirror that which is above, and has lead to the trees’ well- deserved reputation for being able to onipa'a (stand firm) and hold the earth in tidal waves and floods.     Additionally, its roots, like all legumes, are nitrogen fixating, and, in the rain, the tree closes its leaves like a Prayer plant, which helps create a micro-climate suitable for under-story plantings, and has earned the the tree the additional name, of being the "Rain Tree".     The name ‘Monkey Pod’ is based on an early misunderstanding. There aren't any monkeys in Hawaii, and the word the Hawaiians were trying to say for the name of the tree was not “monkey,” but "make", a word which means “dead” or “kill,” because the wood is so extremely dense, hard and durable, it was used for making war clubs and tools, traits which also caused it to some- times be called the "furniture tree."     However, by any name, whatever you call them, as Mark Twain noted so wryly, the only real monkeys from Hawaii are in Washington.     The Treehouse was built by Steven Old- father and Eric Johnson who are better known for being excellent boat builders, and they did an outstanding job. The Treehouse is built on stainless steel pins and it is just as level now as it was when it was built in 1973. The tree was then estimated to be 175-yrs old, which means that it is now in its second century.     In Japanese design the tokonoma is a focus point worthy of meditation. At home, the tokonoma will have a scroll, a painting, or an ikebana (flower arrangement) that changes with the seasons. Guests are traditionally seated facing the tokonoma, i.e. the best seat in the house, and the four corners of the Treehouse have been constructed to all have views that honor this ideal.     There are two other Monkey Pod trees on the property with spectacular views of the waterfall that are ideal for building tree- houses. All three trees could be neatly tri- agulated with connecting aerial walkways. Under Construction in 1973 The Treehouse rests on stainless steel pins. Diamonds in the rough. Kimo-Chan     "About 12 years after we built the place, my son, Kimo, thought we should rent the Treehouse so that visitors could have a place to stay in Waipio and he could live down here full time, and share his love of the valley and its magical plants.     "The centerfold in People magazine really put us on the map. Sadly, Kimo didn't get to see his dream come true. But, judging from what people have written, the valley's meant as much to our visitors as it did to him" Linda Beach in Home Movie by Sundance award-winning director, Chris Smith, 2002. Linda Beech, Tree Hugger Dr. Linda Beach built the Treehouse in 1972 after being a TV star in Japan and the director of the Big Island Mental Health Association. "I had no idea how many people loved tree houses or would want to visit. Apparently, some part of us never quite came down from the trees." If you would like to read a review or see more about life in the Tree- house in Chris Smith's Home Movie, Click Here.