Jim Sargent Builds Life into Hawi Town
By Hadley Catalano
It is not easy being Jim Sargent, but it is rewarding. Sitting behind a large wooden desk in the office of his real estate mortgage business, Sargent could, at any one time, be discussing window trim, scheduling children’s movie nights, booking community meetings, or researching styles of historical plantation doors.
Generally speaking, this mortgage broker resembles a one-man band, performing as a restoration activist, re-establishing the historical nature of sleepy Hawi town, enlivening the main street and providing a gathering place for the close-knit Kohala community to congregate and share in common interests and activities.
The multitasking, multifaceted Sargent relocated to Hawi from the Bay Area a little more than six years ago with his former wife before the birth of their son. After having become familiar with the island’s northern community during previous visits (Sargent’s wife was raised in Hawi) and feeling a strong bond with the region, he soon established himself as an active resident of the small town.
“As my business was slowing down, I quickly got involved with community projects,” Sargent recalled of his first year on the island. His business, Guarantee Mortgage, currently operates in Kohala with its base still in San Francisco. “ I instantly had a connection with the community through the long-term residents.”
Culturally, Sargent said, he had traveled extensively and had always been attracted to the historical and aesthetic aspects of the former sugar plantation town, despite the community’s continuous historical struggle with financial solidity, tourism and overall sustainability.
“After the fall of the sugar industry, the town was in decline up until the late 1990s, when the resorts started hiring and the tourists returned,” said Sargent, who describes himself as a blunt businessman with a big heart. “There was a regeneration of Kohala initiated with restoration by Jim and Joan Channon with Bamboo (Restaurant), Tom Quinlan et al with the historical Nambu building (1898) and John Adams with his store fronts; it rejuvenated the town.”
Having always been historically oriented and veering towards the culturally sound, Sargent felt motivated and responsible to maintain the visual and structural authenticity of the town’s façade after inheriting in 1998 the old Plantation House located on the town’s main street. Even before permanently moving, he took it upon himself to begin what would turn out to be a two-year restoration of the house. Following the original design of the six-bed, five-bath plantation home, he researched the style and modeled it after its original design by acquiring door frames from salvage shops in California, mimicking window patterns and restoring tapered columns, among other details.
“The Hind family was thrilled that someone had taken the house and restored it,” said Sargent of descendants of the original family owners who had built the two-story, white wooden home in 1889. It is now listed on the state and national registers of historical places.
A few years after settling in, Sargent began his second restoration project when he purchased the Kohala Village Inn in 2004, motivated to provide the town and visitors with a “nice place to stay.”
Refurbishing the rooms, stripping the carpet, reestablishing the hardwood floors, adding vaulted ceilings, and landscaping the parking lot with a line of tall palm trees, he set to work reestablishing the authenticity of the original inn.
A year later, the entrepreneur took on another challenge, refurbishing the large, open wooden structure sitting abandoned behind the inn. His vision was to utilize the space as a gathering place, a community center of sorts, giving residents a venue to hold meetings, gather and socialize.
“The renovated barn now hosts local events, fundraisers, speakers and meetings,” explained the community activist about the venue he has dubbed The Barn.
Through his encouragement a local committee has been formed, headed by Olga Nichols and Eddie Pollock, that operates events at The Barn as a sponsored project of the North Kohala Community Resource Center.
“Among the current weekly users are Sustainable Kohala, Roots Skate Park, the Friday night movie theater, Tai Chi classes and a Jujitsu club, and recently there was a children’s play held on consecutive Saturdays,” he listed, explaining that other community events are hosted at the space as well, including local weddings, birthdays and educational classes in recycling and composting.
As if that weren’t enough projects for Sargent, it was in April of 2006 when Sargent decided that Hawi needed a “restaurant for people to go and hang out and be entertained.”
Once again the research began into the history of what eventually would be re-named as it was originally in 1951 Luke’s Place. For the businessman, the restoration of the restaurant and servitude to the community became the focal point. The local-style, multi-roomed restaurant gives patrons dining room or patio seating options, an upstairs outdoor bar or downstairs tiki bar. The open design and new second floor complements the tiled bathrooms, deep red wall and matching cloth napkins, bamboo paneling, exposed wooden beams, palm-frond-inspired ceiling fans and for Sargent the toughest decision, the redesign of the building’s front.
“As an historical person and with no photo to go on, it was a hard decision,” says the restaurant owner. He added a new rock wall and front to Luke’s Place in an effort to beautify the entrance, he recalled before excitedly launching into a description of the nightly entertainment the large venue offers.
“Azure McCall sings blues, Hot Lava performs,” he said, noting that there is also an art gallery space inside featuring local artists. “There is a jazz trio on Thursdays, the Salsa Latinos, a place to dance on Saturday nights and late night karaoke.”
It was during the construction of the restaurant that the Earthquake of 2006 rocked North Kohala. His personal building crew was laying foundation at the restaurant when the cry for help came from the residents.
“Every home was damaged in North Kohala, foundations had failed and many elderly people needed help fixing their homes.”
Sargent and his crew stopped work on the restaurant and traveled around the community helping to secure homes so that they wouldn’t collapse. Soon his office transformed into the headquarters of what become the North Kohala Earthquake Relief Fund, a organized group that helped repair homes and get money for residents in need.
“It was very rewarding. I got to know people well,” recalled the activist. “It was a huge gift by being appreciated. I made nice connections with the community; I was able to give back.”
In the years following, Sargent continued his involvement with the Kohala Merchants Association, volunteering with the County Fair and helping coach youth soccer. He also helped in the re-establishment of the Kohala Mountain News in 2007. Lacking a means to communicate community news and information, the start-up organization revived the dormant paper into a 16-page monthly ‘must-read’ delivered free directly to the post office boxes of all North Kohala residents.
Sargent is proud of his community and feels his contributions are a means to gathering this diverse group together to move towards common goals.
“We’re doing well here. People are getting together, participating in the community,” he said, noting that there are more renovation projects in the works and plans to incorporate an afterschool program at The Barn. “There’s integration and sustainability. The newcomers are adding to the community as opposed to detracting.”
North Kohala community members would agree.
“He (Sargent) has chosen a path to serve the local community… He runs at least four major enterprises at the moment and manages to be an attentive father and still center himself in other key community activities,” explained social architect and Hawi resident Jim Channon. “Jim has anchored a supper club for the local movers and shakers in town. I find the ethnic mix at Luke’s is near perfect across the board. Having an upbeat and varied dance venue every Saturday night is such a blessing for people. His Barn space has been the savior for a wide range of community activities, from kids’ plays to sustainable Kohala meetings and the movie house…He probably takes audience with more people who want something than anyone in town. God bless him and his largesse.” ❖
