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During my husband’s family reunions, “El Vigía” is often mentioned: A patriarch of sorts, El Vigía is a vigilant presence looking after several generations of the family in their hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Idyllic, sentimental tales about dearly departed El Vigía are told through misty eyes. Yet, El Vigía is not a long-lost family member. El Vigía (translation: “the lookout”) was the family home, as deeply beloved and mourned as the ancestors who once inhabited it.
Built in 1921 in Santurce, then considered the rural outskirts of San Juan, El Vigía stood on a sizable parcel between Loíza and McLeary streets. My husband’s great-grandfather, Rafael Carrión, built the original one-story structure to serve as a gathering spot in the “countryside” for his large extended family. He loved the peaceful setting so much he eventually made El Vigía his primary residence, adding a second floor and enough bedrooms to accommodate his wife and eight children. The larger El Vigía continued as party central for the Carrión clan, with a giant great room, formal and informal dining rooms, and a kitchen, where giant pots of rice and beans were always simmering. It was the centerpiece for holidays and lazy Sunday afternoons, where family members would sit on the surrounding second-floor balconies to take in the view: emerald mountains rising to the south; the topaz ocean stretching to the north. Salty breezes drifted in from the beach just one block away. Lush gardens cradled the house, trees abundant with breadfruit, mangoes, lime, and flame-colored poinciana flowers. Red hibiscus, blue jasmines, and yellow-gold African daisies added to the tropical palette.
As the Carrión family grew, so did the property, becoming a compound where four generations would go on to live. My husband, Ronnie, remembers the soothing mint-green exterior of El Vigía contrasting with the clay-tiled roof as he spent hours tricycling through vine-covered archways of the gardens. By that time, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Santurce was anything but the outskirts, as San Juan’s population boomed and occupied its outliers. Yet El Vigía remained steadfast on Loíza…
