PASSERSBY are unlikely to do a double take when they walk past the Macuja residence in Heroes Hills Subdivision--located right behind the former Pantranco bus terminal at the corner of Quezon Avenue and Roosevelt Street in Quezon City.

From the inside, however, the place looks anything but unassuming. There are five houses in the sprawling 4,000-sq m compound which has a swimming pool right in the middle.

During a recent visit to the place she called home for 32 years, prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde told the Inquirer that there have been many renovations over the years to their old house.

Much has also changed about the city of her youth, she added.

“Quezon City was a fairly quiet residential area back in the mid-'80s. There was not much traffic then,” said the artistic director of Ballet Manila.

“What I miss most about the city is the fact that it used to take me only 20 minutes to commute from our house in Quezon City to the CCP [Cultural Center of the Philippines] Main Theater,” she added. “It took me around the same time to get to Makati. Now I have to allot an hour, maybe more, to get from one part of the city to the other--and that's by private car.”

Home sweet home

Until she got married at the age of 32 to businessman Fred Elizalde, Macuja lived in Heroes' Hill--save for the four years she spent in Russia as a scholar of the USSR Ministry of Culture and after joining the Academy of Russian Ballet.

Her parents, Cesar and Susan, still live in the compound, along with eldest son Joly and his family. Gia, Macuja's younger sister, has moved to London with her family while Jerry, another brother, died in 1984.

“Nice and peaceful” is how Macuja described her old neighborhood. As far as she can recall, there were only a few instances when the peace was disturbed: When their wall was knocked down by a Pantranco bus and several fires that alarmed residents in the area.

Since then, she noted, there have been a lot of changes, especially on Quezon Avenue. Apart from the mushrooming of business establishments, traffic in the area has been rerouted many times over. The rise in crime cases has also become a concern, with her family seeing the need to hire a security guard to watch over their compound.

The Heroes Hills of old had many distinguished residents, according to Macuja's mom, Susan. They included former Sen. Jovito Salonga, Quezon City Rep. Vincent “Bingbong” Crisologo, the late television host Joe Quirino, journalist Armando Malay and his family, including son-in-law Rep. Satur Ocampo and his wife Bobbie Malay, economist Winnie Monsod, contractor F. F. Cruz and painter Jose Joya.

Heroes Hills--which got its name because all the streets in the area were named after World War II heroes--was also home to two language schools, the Alliance Francaise, where Macuja took French lessons and its neighbor, the Christian Language Study Center, where the dancer met Americans who swam in their pool on Sundays. Cabrini School, where she and her brother Joly went for kindergarten classes, was also located in the subdivision.

“I miss my family most when I think of my old home--how we used to gather around for coffee or read the newspapers every morning, talking to my parents, memories of home-cooked meals and family dinners,” said Macuja.

She counted her visits to Alemar's Bookstore and Bookmark on Quezon Avenue as among her fondest memories of life in Quezon City. “Alemar's was within walking distance from our house,” she said of the bookstore that has since closed shop. The building it used to occupy is now the office of Phoenix Publishing and Central Books. “Our allowances were spent on books. My family really loved reading, we still do. I had a whole collection of Nancy Drew books. My brother had Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins.”

Macuja also has fond recollections of her student days at St. Theresa's College on D. Tuazon Street, where she was a consistent honor student in grade school and was salutatorian in high school. She still gets to visit the school once in a while when she's invited to give inspirational talks to students.

On weekends, she and her family watched movies at the Circle and Delta Theaters on Quezon Avenue before going to the Magnolia Plant on Aurora Boulevard for ice cream. The ice cream plant is still there but the theaters have been transformed into worship venues for religious groups.

Sunday treat

“We would hear Mass at Sto. Domingo Church, then eat out in a nearby restaurant--Gohan House (Quezon Avenue) and Kowloon House (on West Avenue) stand out as favorites--and then proceed to Magnolia for ice cream,” she recalled, noting her excitement over the “huge black and white ice cream concoction with cream topping.”

Sto. Domingo Church, on the other hand, brings to her mind Fr. Sonny Ramirez and how he used to chide young girls who would giggle in the middle of his sermon during Mass. He was also very particular about giving Holy Communion, excluding girls who wore jeans.

She recalled how her parents would treat her and her siblings to “Disney on Ice,” an ice skating show at the Araneta Coliseum on Christmas. The family would cap their day by watching the moving diorama display at the COD Department Store.

Macuja admitted that she had mixed emotions when she had to leave her family and move to her husband's house on Donada Street in Pasay City.

“I knew it would eventually happen,” she said, “In fact, even when I was single, I was thinking of moving out and having my own place. But I never really got around to doing it until I got married. I was excited at embarking on a new journey. It helped that I was moving only to Pasay City so I could go to Quezon City anytime I wanted to.”

“I still get to visit my old home quite often,” added Macuja who brings her kids Michelle, 10, and Manuel, 8, along at least once a month. “I see my parents and older brother often, too. However, I miss my sister and her family who live in London. And of course, I miss all my friends from the old days who now live in different cities around the world and have families to take care of. It's hard to get together--even if the intention is there.”

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