# Negril.com Message Board Forums > Negril Message Board >  40 years later

## Piggymon

My how time flies when one is having fun. I remember the first time I heard about Negril. It was 1971. I was with my college buddy, Bobby, and we had escaped the cold Pittsburgh winter and were hanging out on the beach in Key Biscayne's Crandon Park. We were having a great time, but there was a guy on the beach who was telling some girls near us about the terrific time he had in Negril. He said that you just flew into Montego Bay and then took a taxi along the beach road to Negril where there was 7 miles of white sand beach. He said that the accommodations in cottages were cheap and people were friendly.

We were staying at Coconut Grove at the time at the house of a relative of Bobby's and we did not have much money, but it sounded like fun. We went to a Travel Agency in the Grove and bought two cheap tickets on Air Jamaica to Mobay. I remember that this was in the days before age discrimination, so we were able to buy youth tickets that were cheaper than regular tickets. My memory is a little fuzzy, but it seems like the tickets were only $90 round trip. Of course minimum wage the minimum wage back in those days was $1.60 per hour, so $90 was still some good money. 

Loved the rum drinks on the plane down to the Island and the free rum punch in the airport before we cleared customs and immigration. It was the first time either of us had been outside of the country, except for going to Canada, so the clearing customs and having our bags searched new, but relatively painless.

We caught a minibus that was headed to Negril and were soon out of the jumble and hurly-burly of Montego Bay and on our way. We were delighted and entranced by occasional glimpses of the turquoise sea through the verdant foliage. We were in a great mood and were only slightly put off by some of the hard stares by some people along the road in the small towns on the way to Negril.

The driver went directly to Miss Ruby's Tip-Top cottages in Red Ground since we had no idea where we wanted to go. We were a little dubious until we learned that a room was only going to cost us $2.00 per day. Back then, a dollar US was only worth $0.88 JA, but still, $2.00 was fine for a nice clean room with two beds.

It did not take long before a local guy asked us if we wanted to buy some ganga, which of course we did. He rummaged around in the bush for a while looking for something and eventually came up with a smoking device called a chalice. It was an empty coconut shell with a length of rubber hose with about an inch protruding stuck in top and another 12" length of the same hose stuck in about 45 degrees from the top. Into the short hose on top he stuck a limestone chillum, well packed with some local bud. A few hits of the chalice and the sale was made. After making the sale, the teenager gave the chalice a heave back in the bush, presumably so that the police would not find it.

I did not smoke, but Bobby did. Sharing squares with the locals was a great way to get to know them and it was not long before we were friends with Mrs. Ruby's son Eddie and a little guy known as Presidente.  Presidente also appreciated a drink of rum now and then. We loved the beach, eating curried goat at the Wharf Club, and drinking rum and cokes at the Yacht Club. When there was water pressure, we took showers under cold water only in the public outdoor shower behind Tip-Top cottages. 

The highlight of the entire stay was a party organize by Erica. Everyone staying at the Tip-top cottages kicked in some ganga and some money and did some work helping to make the ganga cake and get the ice, soft drinks, and rum ready. Erica got a little local band to play at the party, three musicians, a banjo player, a guitar player, and El Presidente on the bass or rhumba box. Of course all three also sang and there were volunteers using rattles, shakers, and percussion sticks.

The moon was full, the music was as intoxicating as the rum and ganga, and the girls were beautiful as they swayed and stepped to the beat.

After having such a great time on our first visit, we knew that we were going to be returning to Negril often.

That first trip I walked the entire length of the beach to the island and there was very little the beach back in the day. There was the Sands Beach Club with thatched huts and hammocks. Further on down, there was a guy who had a nice private house right on the beach. He also had a Jaguar and a Cabin Cruiser was often anchored  a hundred yard or so off the shore from the house. The last place on the beach before I got to the island was the Sundowner Hotel. This was obviously a high dollar hotel that was way out of my budget.











Swimming out to the island, there was very little on it except a couple of old fish traps. With a mask, fins, and a snorkel, I saw beautiful coral reefs only a few feet from the surface. I also saw a couple of sea snakes and a very large barracuda that seemed interested, but not afraid, of me.

I saw indications that there was going to be some building done on the area near the island and eventually that is where they built Hedonism. There was not much going on toward the Cliffs when I was first visiting Negril. The Yacht Club was just about the limits of what there was down that road as far as I knew. It was a couple years later that Rick's Caf became the in spot to catch the sunset.

Erica and Miss Ruby were always great to Bobby and I. I wonder if anyone on this board can tell me what happened to the people I knew back in the day?

What happened to El Presidente? I heard that Miss Ruby's son Eddy was pushed through a window during a scuffle and bled to death from a cut behind his knee.

What became of Erica? I know that she married a white American, Steve, and had a son with him, named Jason, if I recall correctly. Used to buy balloons in Miami and bring them to Jason to play with. Can anyone on the site tell me what happened to Steve and Jason?

In any case, I am glad that I found this forum and I am able to read that so many people are still enjoying visiting Jamaica and having vacations that they will remember more than forty years later with fondness.

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## rjonsun

Similar stories from Jim and I back in 1972 except we stayed at Porter's Cottage.  The local kids took us down into the cave behind Porters, but only Predidente would take us down to the water in a sub cave.  He died a number of years ago.  His nephew Leonard took me down to the water about 2 years ago.  Here is that trip report.
/http://www.negril.com/discus/messages/196641/276001.html

The links in the original story no longer work.  Maybe Rob can bring back some of those old forgotten posts.

Regards,

Bob

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## rjonsun

http://www.negril.com/discus/message...41/276001.html
Maybe this will work

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## lane

I to went to Negril the 1st time in mid 70's air fare from Miami was $96 round trip exchange rate $2.10j for $1.00us Gas over $5.00j for a liter.
Rooms at George's across from Tensing Pen about $6.00j Fish Sandwich at Miss Mary's at the roundabout $1.00j and countless soon come mon Red Stripe $2.00j.
Nights were black dark, and much more.
I have photo from 82 I can post.

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## Piggymon

Thank you, Bob for the link and the pictures and story. Also for telling me about what happened to President, a very nice guy without a mean bone in his body. I never went into that cave, although I remember President talking about it and asking me if I wanted to go visit it. I have never been one to want to go into caves.

The only cave that I was in did not have a name, although from reading this board a bit, I suspect that it is what is now called Pirate's Cave. There was a spot on the cliffs, not too far down the road past the Yacht Club, where one could jump into the water and then to get back up on the cliff, you had to swim into the cave and work your way up until you came out a small hole on the surface.

I was only in that cave twice. I am afraid of heights and do not like to be around things like the edge of the cliffs. But I was over checking the site out and decided to go ahead and jump off to see what it was like. I found that there was plenty of water where one landed so it was safe in that way and that it was not difficult to climb out of the cave.

On my second attempt I threw caution to the wind and went for the most extreme swan dive that I manage, throwing myself up and out with my arms back, just like I had seen the cliff divers of Acapulco do on Television. It worked out well because I had plenty of time to bring my arms in front of my head and I hit the water almost perfectly perpendicular to the water's surface. Thinking about it afterwards, I thought that if I had done a more modest dive, aiming for the surface of the water, instead of jumping up and out, I would have probably over rotated and slammed at least my legs if not my back on the water. It was just the joy of being in Jamaica and the beauty of the spot that gave me the courage to do that dive. I never tried it again and when I checked it out later, I wondered what had gotten into me to try to do such a thing.

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## Piggymon

> I to went to Negril the 1st time in mid 70's air fare from Miami was $96 round trip exchange rate $2.10j for $1.00us Gas over $5.00j for a liter.
> Rooms at George's across from Tensing Pen about $6.00j Fish Sandwich at Miss Mary's at the roundabout $1.00j and countless soon come mon Red Stripe $2.00j.
> Nights were black dark, and much more.
> I have photo from 82 I can post.


Was the exchange rate the official exchange rate or the black market rate? When I first went to Negril, there was no black market in currency, but after a while, probably because the government was messing with the money and exchange rate, there was booming business in money exchanging.

Please post your photo from '82.

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## rjonsun

I'm still cliff diving!  I posted a photo a few days ago.  http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...l-diving-at-61

Regards,

Bob

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## Piggymon

> I'm still cliff diving!  I posted a photo a few days ago.  http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...l-diving-at-61
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bob


By the livin' Gawd that made you, 
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

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## poolguywindsor

Love the stories from back in the day, on thge island.

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## Face Down

Awesome read...thanks!

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## captaind

We must have run into each other at one time or another. I kept boats at Sands when Hans was still alive and later with Elenore after he died.

The big house was "Our Pastime". When they died Nord Weary inherited it. He sold it and started the villa of the same name he has now in another location.

I'm in Negril now but I'd love to swap stories. We were just stopped up in Red Ground with some boardies after a visit to the yard. 

The Negril the visitors of today know started right there.

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## HuskerJohn

Thanks Piggymon!  Oh how I wish I would have found Jamaica back in those days!  I'm can still enjoy Negril at my age but to be down there in my twenties would have been something else!

And rjonsun.....I read your cave trip again.  :Smile: 

Good Stuff!!

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## Nick

I stayed at Mrs. Rubys in 69 and 70.  The flight from Miami was $56. round trip and the exchange rate was .80 to $1. US.
The Reef was spectacular back then.  I enjoyed seeing the Conch Shell hill in the beach photo. That is something that we don't see much of any more. You are spot on about Mrs. Ruby.  She was like a mom to so many of us young travelers.

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## lisapat

Hard to believe this was a few years before americans en masse had even heard of Bob Marley and the Wailers, much less Chris Blackwell, I wonder if folks even knew what "reggae" was back then....Calypso, I'm sure...guess James Bond and Harry Belafonte were all folks could relate to the island then

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## Rambo

our first was in mid 80's and a store like Best Buy had 2 Bob Marley Cassettes, and this is Rockford, Il I'm referring to...ask most people, the reply was who?

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## Piggymon

> We must have run into each other at one time or another. I kept boats at Sands when Hans was still alive and later with Elenore after he died.
> 
> The big house was "Our Pastime". When they died Nord Weary inherited it. He sold it and started the villa of the same name he has now in another location.
> 
> I'm in Negril now but I'd love to swap stories. We were just stopped up in Red Ground with some boardies after a visit to the yard. 
> 
> The Negril the visitors of today know started right there.


Hans and Eleanor, I had forgotten their names. It seems like there was a sign in the Sands that notified everyone that Eleanor was the "Brown Butch of the Beach"."

"Our Pastime" That's right! Wow, that was a heck of a place. Pretty much all by itself. Very big and nice, without being ostentatious, gaudy, or out of place.

Thank you, Captain D.


I read in this forum that there was talk of Paul and Linda McCartney visiting Negril. On one of my many  walks from one end of Long Island to the other and back, I ran across the McCartney family on the beach. I had heard that they were in town. Wanting to respect their privacy, I gave them a nod and kept on trucking. But Linda called me over and we had a nice little chat. Paul was going to go water skiing and I managed to get myself in the background of the picture. The kids were beautiful. I had a great photo of a sweet little blond girl and one of Linda vamping for a photo, but I have managed to lose or misplace them.





Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Do you know what became of Steve Sharp and Erica and their son?

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## Piggymon

> I stayed at Mrs. Rubys in 69 and 70.  The flight from Miami was $56. round trip and the exchange rate was .80 to $1. US.
> The Reef was spectacular back then.  I enjoyed seeing the Conch Shell hill in the beach photo. That is something that we don't see much of any more. You are spot on about Mrs. Ruby.  She was like a mom to so many of us young travelers.


Wow, Nick, I am a Johnny Come Lately compared to you. I remember being woke up by Bosco or A'Bosco, an older guy who had a house next door to Tip Top Cottages. Later he moved down toward the Roundabout and had a little bit of ground and grew ganga there. It was really early, with the roosters perched in the trees on Mrs. Ruby's yard crowing. I was in bed with a girl I had met the night before. 

When I got out of bed to go visit Bosco, she moaned a little and tried to grab me, but I kept going.

I went over and sat on the stoop with Bosco and his buddies and tried to match them hit for hit on the chalice. Bosco made a bigger cloud of smoke come out of nostrils, but I held mine longer and let that ganga work its magic.

The girl was mad at me when I got back, but she was soon ecstatic as we engaged in some early morning, ganga enhanced love making.

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## garysteph1018

Piggymon this is the stuff books are made of! Your first set of pics, the one of the little girl, made me smile... I'm guessing she & I would be ab the same age... wonder where she is now  :Smile:  I so enjoy the back in the day stories & oh how I wish I could have some of my own. These stories make me so jealous, but at the same time they make me adore JA even more!

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## original spanky

message to piggymon anfd rjsun. would love to chit chat to you guys about my second favorite subject(wife and kids first) will be heading down in feb for what i am calling my 40 and counting Negril tour. first year 1974 and would still be staying in red ground if they had't torn down the place i stayed at the old pal cottages  just a bit down the road from grandma porters.Mosely  family  . you might remember  uncle Dan , Ms. Pernell and Dalton all who have passed. Patrick is the patriarch now.

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## Nick

Piggymon.  That Chalice brings back some memories.  When I first reached Mrs. Rubies after taking de bus from Montego, My friend and traveling buddy Pete the Freak went out looking for revolutionaries and returned with these Rasta guys.  well it was dark and with no electricity then on Red Ground we lit a hurricane lamp, a mosquito coil and the Rasta guys broke out the chalice.  There seemed to be a competition to see who could make the largest cloud and then inhale it.  Thank God there were no cars back then because I ended up earning my nick name for that reach, "The guy who slept in the road all night long" Oh and BTW that Photo of Paul is priceless.  You might want to send him a copy.  I wish I would have brought a camera back then, but when you are young you never figgure that things will change.

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## JamericanNC

What became of Erica? I know that she married a white American, Steve, and had a son with him, named Jason, if I recall correctly. Used to buy balloons in Miami and bring them to Jason to play with. Can anyone on the site tell me what happened to Steve and Jason?


Piggymon, any idea how old Jason might be now?  I believe I might know him.

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## original spanky

paul mccartney- we heard they were at the sundowner when we were there in 74. Piggymon think that was when u saw them ?

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## Piggymon

> message to piggymon anfd rjsun. would love to chit chat to you guys about my second favorite subject(wife and kids first) will be heading down in feb for what i am calling my 40 and counting Negril tour. first year 1974 and would still be staying in red ground if they had't torn down the place i stayed at the old pal cottages just a bit down the road from grandma porters.Mosely family . you might remember uncle Dan , Ms. Pernell and Dalton all who have passed. Patrick is the patriarch now.



Uncle Dan, was he the one who owned the donkey? The braying of the donkey, along with the crowing of the roosters, mooing of Knockie's milk cow, the thump of bass from the dancehall, and the snarl of motorbikes made a lovely background music.

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## Piggymon

1974 sounds about right, OS. I had been going to Negril for a while, actually every chance I could get, but the beach was still mostly wild and unclaimed.

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon, any idea how old Jason might be now? I believe I might know him.


I would guess that Jason was born in 1976 or 1977. That would make him 37 or 38 or so. Steve's last name was Sharp, although I am not sure how he spelled it, so that should be Jason's name too, since they were married.

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon this is the stuff books are made of! Your first set of pics, the one of the little girl, made me smile... I'm guessing she & I would be ab the same age... wonder where she is now  I so enjoy the back in the day stories & oh how I wish I could have some of my own. These stories make me so jealous, but at the same time they make me adore JA even more!


That was one cute little girl. She was not too sure about me. I loved the bit of the dirty look that she was giving me. Her slightly older brother was very friendly.

If you like stories about back in the day, reading this forum and doing some searching, I found that a guy who posts on this forum wrote a book about what Negril was like back in the day. Of course it is a novel and so it has a bit of The Boxcar Kids or Robinson Crusoe flavor to it, but there is a still a lot of good information and it captures the spirit of the times very well. I downloaded it from Lulu for $10 and read it that same afternoon in one sitting.

*Island Odyssey: Ghetto Flowers in Paradise*

By Francis Oliver Lynn 
http://www.lulu.com/shop/francis-oli...-20592072.html

Perhaps you would like to download a copy and read about the good old days in Negril.

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## lane

This may ring a few bells 1982

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## drummerboy13

OMG!!!  You, Piggymon, are now of "rockstar/hero" status to me.  You swam and hung out on the beach with A BEATLE!!!  My favorite one too!!  That must have been amazing...to get to talk to them as real people instead of the babylon type setting.  Big ups to you!!!  Your pic made my day!!!

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## Craig123

> This may ring a few bells 1982


I'm not sure but that looks like what's now known as "the chinamon store" next to Burger King without the bars on the windows and doors. If we could only turn back time.

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## Piggymon

> This may ring a few bells 1982


Oh yes, I remember that place. That is where we would buy our Appleton Rum. That Overproof stuff was wicked. I remember at least one tourist dying from drinking that in a drinking contest. The winner of the contest, or at least the one who did not die, told me about that night.

Remember how the Wharf Club across the street had a picture of JFK behind the bar? That always seemed a little strange that he was held in such high regard by Jamaicans. 

The Wharf Club had a circular cental section that was elevated a bit, so that you had a good view of the whole place while eating your curried chicken or curried goat and rice. They used to butcher the goats out back in the morning.

They also sold chunks of smoked fish from a little glass case on the bar. I lived for a week on a chunk of fish and a red stripe a day when I ran out of money but did not want to leave.

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## lane

Good you wanted Rum I do not remember any of the other shelfs  have much on them.
I remember the juke box and the Al Green tunes playing when we stopped in for a Dragon Stout on the way to the beach.
Here a few more Bell Ringers.



Negril's beach always had a surprise waiting for you.  From Topless to White Socks and Shoes to a Smugglers Boat.

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## Bob_27

1979... i believe. the round about?

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## Bob_27

1979 again, our first visit. stayed on the clifts at samsara. returned 20 years later and could not believe what it had become.

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## captaind

> Good you wanted Rum I do not remember any of the other shelfs  have much on them.
> I remember the juke box and the Al Green tunes playing when we stopped in for a Dragon Stout on the way to the beach.
> Here a few more Bell Ringers.
> 
> 
> Negril's beach always had a surprise waiting for you.  From Topless to White Socks and Shoes to a Smugglers Boat.


*Here a picture of me driving the Brigantine you see on the horizon. Interesting stories about that ship.*

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## lane

Bob, I do believe the photo with the guy in the white shirt on is going to Mrs. Browns. You don't have a Photo of the little old lady that sat under the tree below the new construction up on the hill at the roundabout who cooked Banana Fritter on a 1 burner stove.
Would love to hear the story about the sailboat, are the brown squares on the side patches over holes?  That is what it looked like from the beach.  I will post a photo of who I thought was the Captain.

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## Lady Jane

Loving all these old pix. Keep them coming please

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## pine tree john

hey captaind  , do you know this capt. D?  1977 in front of Miss Doris .  Great pictures all.

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## BCBud

I definately  remember Capt Dennis - the first time I ever saw him he was playing the piano at Alfreds one afternoon and entertaining some local kids with his magic tricks.  That would have been in the early 80's.  
Unfortunately, he liked the rum a way too much and that was his downfall.   I also remember fishing him out of the ocean late one night on our way home from the Fisherman's Club and putting him on to a beach lounger chair to sober up.  While I can't recall the details, he was supposedly involved in the sinking of a boat off the shore of Negril (and he used to get very upset whenever it was brought up.

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## original spanky

bob,  had a house fire bout 16 years back so most of my pics gone. anyway i can ask you to send to me . would print and save.first visit 74
thanks

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## lane

I have more photo but would like to enlarge them but do not know how to go about that the are on a flash stick and what you see is how they down load.
I have a good photo of Captain Dennis at the road side bar.
I think someone out there has a good picture and some history on the little boy with the straw hat on sitting at the front of the grocery.

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## choptop

Early '70's here also, went with some buds from work. Stayed at Yellow Bird, don't remember a lot but the ladies on the beach late at night. lol Things were simpler and cheaper way back then.

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## lane

Here is a photo of Captain Dennis who I alway belonged with the sail boat off the beach.

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## Bob_27

> Bob, I do believe the photo with the guy in the white shirt on is going to Mrs. Browns. You don't have a Photo of the little old lady that sat under the tree below the new construction up on the hill at the roundabout who cooked Banana Fritter on a 1 burner stove.
> Would love to hear the story about the sailboat, are the brown squares on the side patches over holes?  That is what it looked like from the beach.  I will post a photo of who I thought was the Captain.


ah yes, mrs brown's... we brought ingredients from her and made the wonderful tea. also brought her key ingredient and she made us great cakes... or at least that's what i think i remember, ha. missed the banana fritters, i bet they were great. i seem remember living on fruit and juice from roadside stand just up the hill from where we stayed, and every night, ate grilled snapper and lobsters outdoors at picnic tables in someones yard. was 3 dives around in 79?

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## Bob_27

> bob,  had a house fire bout 16 years back so most of my pics gone. anyway i can ask you to send to me . would print and save.first visit 74
> thanks


i think you can right click (or control click) and hold on a pix and it will allow you to save to your desktop. see if that works...

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## lane

The young kid with the brown hat in the photo was the mushroom man the month I was there and we would get a pint milk carton full of fresh rooms early in the morning from him for $10j and walk to the beach and enjoy them with a Dragon Stout and watch and walk the beach.  Then walk back up to the West End, that was a good day.

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## Piggymon

> Good you wanted Rum I do not remember any of the other shelfs  have much on them.
> I remember the juke box and the Al Green tunes playing when we stopped in for a Dragon Stout on the way to the beach.
> 
> Negril's beach always had a surprise waiting for you.  From Topless to White Socks and Shoes to a Smugglers Boat.


Yes, you could buy rum and cigarettes and not much else. I did not smoke but my buddy did. You could also buy cloth bandages, which I needed because of all the coral cuts I would get from going after lobsters. I was amazed at how well those band aids would stick in the heat and humidity. They were a lot better than the band aids sold back then in the US.

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## Geosizmic

Great pics and stories. Proof that memory loss is not such a concern after all. My trips began on Feb 6 82.By then there were roads and electricity so by then any old hands will tell you that the goldrush was over. We still managed to have lots of fun though.This old table will stay with me forever. Miss Lena's 82'

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## Shelly

I first went in 1972 and stayed in Redground at James Palmer's - he was the guy that would sell shells on the beach.  We paid $300 for a six month stay, promising we would have our friends come to Jamaica & they would stay in some of the other bedrooms.  The woman who cleaned the place was named Berna and some of our neighbors were Carlton and Robin.  I do remember Presidente, Miss May, the great Heinz family where some of our friends lived.  We eventually moved out of Redground and into a house a little bit before the Yacht Club, called Premium Cottages, owned by Eric Reynolds.
   Somebody mentioned Dalton, he and Hillman were best friends, Hillman died also.  My friends and I mostly hung out at The Sands (long!) walk from where we stayed, also at Tee-Water.  Remember the West Indian Sugar company building?  It was really a lovely building.  
   The cave someone asked about was called Joseph's Cave back then.  Someone also mentioned that they thought it was strange that a picture of President Kennedy was in the Wharf Club.  Historically, because of the Cuban Missle Crisis, he was greatly admired by Jamaicans after that.  If you do a google search of Jamaica and the Cuban Missle crisis, you will understand.  
   There was really hardly ever any traffic on the beach road or west end road, only very occassionally would a car come by, I do remember the blue Ice Truck though, and you could catch a ride on it by hanging on the back bumper.  I only remember two places to get food - The Wharf Club and the Yacht Club, which was too expensive when you stayed long term.  I loved the conch soup at the Wharf Club!  There were two phones in Negril, one at the Sundowner and one just outside of the Yacht Club.  And so many fisherman coming in near Tee-Water with so many fish that they would sell right on the beach.
   I also remember getting my feet stained by the red soil of Redground after a rainstorm.

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## HuskerJohn

Thanks Shelly.  I love all these stories from long ago.

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## lane

Shelly, I remember walking to the pay phone across from the Yacht Club to make the call to Air Jamaica to let them know what flight you would be showing up for which was a must or you may not have a seat.  So the line was sometimes long and or the coin box on the phone was full and you could not make your call and you just had to walk back the next day.
Here is some traffic for you, one thing you did not worry to much about was getting hit by a car, you could hear it coming a ways off and just watch it go by.



My first trip in mid 73 not electricity up on the West End but the water was in a small pipe running on top of the ground a long the road a each yard got a water faucet, it the pressure was up you could get a cold shower.  You can see in the photo's the road going up to the West End still was not much in 1982.

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## Lady Jane

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these old pics.More please

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## Shelly

Actually, I just realized that my first trip to Jamaica was exactly 40 years ago today, January 2nd, 1972.  We arrived when it was dark and were driven right up to Redground where some friends of our friends were staying.  This place was just behind where the Red Dragon is now.  It was uncomfortable for my friend and I because there were about 14 guys staying there so we moved about 7 houses up the hill to James Palmers cottage.  Our Jamaican friend Berna told us that James Palmer was the first Jamaican to rent out rooms in his house.  This was in a pretty densely population area of Redground, and we couldn't believe how fast the Jamaican people talked and couldn't believe they were speaking English, the fast patois was undecipherable to us.  The next morning we asked someone for directions to the beach, walked down the hill and across the bridge and down a little path to the beach.  I couldn't believe my eyes, the turquoise water, the white sand, and palm trees, tons and tons of them as far up the beach as we could see.  Thousands and thousands of palm trees were cut down to build all of the hotels.  The first place we came to after passing the West Indian Sugar Company building was T-Water, a two story motel type of place.

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## TizzyATX

oh man i'm hooked on these stories and pics.  So cool to see what Negril looked like then compared to now.  What a special place in time, and how blessed y'all must feel to have experienced it.

I'll be checking back on this thread for sure

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## garysteph1018

It really is a great thread! The stories are spectacular.

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## Lady Jane

Great visuals Shelly. Punta Cana still has some tall palm/coconut that you don't often see anymore. In fact, I was quite surprised there was still some left in PC, Dominican

----------


## Piggymon

> Actually, I just realized that my first trip to Jamaica was exactly 40 years ago today, January 2nd, 1972.  . . .  The next morning we asked someone for directions to the beach, walked down the hill and across the bridge and down a little path to the beach.  I couldn't believe my eyes, the turquoise water, the white sand, and palm trees, tons and tons of them as far up the beach as we could see.  Thousands and thousands of palm trees were cut down to build all of the hotels.  The first place we came to after passing the West Indian Sugar Company building was T-Water, a two story motel type of place.


Shelly, I sure do remember that little path from the bridge down to the beach. The West Indian Sugar Company building was real old school colonial style. I remember that one evening there was a party at the building. I am not sure how the porch was able to hold the people standing, walking on, and dancing on it that evening. I also remember T-Water. It seems to me that in addition to the hotel, it also had a little bar where you could at least get a Red Stripe and perhaps a Rum and Coke.

----------


## Piggymon

> I first went in 1972 and stayed in Redground at James Palmer's - he was the guy that would sell shells on the beach.


Shelly, loved your stories and it does remind me of some great times in Negril. Who knew 40 years could go by so quickly?

I was reading this forum and saw and saved a picture of the guy who I always saw selling shells on the beach.
I did not realize that he lived in Red Ground. Since he was always on the beach, I thought he lived on the beach.

Is this James?

----------


## Original Juls

MORE!!  PICS !!  PLEASE!!  This year marks 25 for me...be down in a month..wish I had the time to get out some of our pics..someday after retirement i guess!

----------


## lane

Lets move on up to Rick's 1982, not the crowds of now, but more of a Zoo.
Just Hanging out before Sundown.
Attachment 21362
The Opening Act the Juggler from Miami, notice the Top Hat for tips.
His run at Rick's was short for he got hauled off to the Negril Jail Trailer for working with out a permit.
We saw him hanging out the bared window asking for a Red Strip, he got 3 days in the lock up.
Attachment 21363
Something never change at Rick's
Attachment 21364

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## Lady Jane

Boohoo lane, we can't see them.  :Frown:

----------


## lane

Click on them.

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## TizzyATX

Still doesnt work

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## Nick

That is Mr. Palmer in that photo.  He spoke in a real high pitch voice and would ask if you would "Look at my beautiful shells"
He had two houses for rent in Red Ground, and I stayed there a few times between 72 and 75.  It was very dark at night.  Few lights at all besides a few hurricane lamps.  I can remember listening in the dark to unseen people talking and singing quietly as they walked along the lane.  I did get robbed there one night.  Sleeping with my shorts on a hook and the window open, I was awaken by Mr. Palmer's Voice shouting "Help help, someone has been robbed".  That night, someone used a long stick to reach through the window and snag my shorts with wallet.  Those same shorts and wallet were laying on the ground behind my cottage.  Thankfully, I had been using travelers checks and they were still there.  two or three Jamaican dollars were missing.  The girl who worked for Mr. Palmer suspected her brother of the crime and gave him a scowl as he happened by to ask me if I would be interested in trading him for some German Marks.  Evidently he was a known thief and banks and businesses would not deal with him.  
There was little electricity back then.  A hot water shower could be obtained by using garden hoses on the roof of the cottage.  Ganja was found in just about every container on the property from old paint cans under the sink to a feed sack full on the roof.  One night I discovered the young woman who worked for Mr. Palmer taking a sip of cool water from an ice tray in Palmer s Refrigerator.  Not enough juice to actually freeze the water but enough to cool it down, and cool water was a luxury.  I kept quiet about my find and shared it with her, unknown to her.
There was no trash back then.  Everything was recycled in some way or simply used up.  Chickens ate just about anything that got away from the dogs.  Food scraps, bones, mango seeds, all used up. Fatties rolled with stripped butcher paper or smoked through a bottle neck with a stone dropped in the bottom.  I had rented a car in MoBay and visited many relatives all over the Western End of the Island.  I was the driver.  It was great. So many little out of the way places in the hills that one could Never find again.  Bringing some fish, trading for some fruit, it was fun.

----------


## lane

Nick, I was robber on my 1st trip in 73 much the same way, shorts on the floor with my money cash in the pockets, got up the next morning and my short were not on the floor looked out the open window and their they were in the yard.  That was about the 2nd or 3rd night so Daisy gave me my money back for the cottage of a $70 for the 9 days and told us we could eat any of the fruit from the yard, she made sure we did not go very hungary.
I learned that a guy named Gladstone had been the robber and the police killed him a few years lated and throw him off the cliffs, he lived next door.  I remember Daisy telling us not to make friends,  i did not understand that them everyone was so great.  Gladstone would stop by everyday a have a smoke he said he was on holiday too.
The nights, the smell of the coils and lamps burning and the dogs barking and people talking, then the sound of a small plane coming in to land on a road some where near late at night for a pick up and the buzz of the mosquitos around your head that sound like a jet plane.
Then I would start at daybreak going the other way.  It was the start of a new day ahead.  This is what I loved about Negril.

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## HuskerJohn

Wow!   Good stuff lane!!

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## Piggymon

> That is Mr. Palmer in that photo.  He spoke in a real high pitch voice and would ask if you would "Look at my beautiful shells"
> He had two houses for rent in Red Ground, and I stayed there a few times between 72 and 75.


And he was very proud of the those shells because he wanted top dollar for them!

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## JamericanNC

> I would guess that Jason was born in 1976 or 1977. That would make him 37 or 38 or so. Steve's last name was Sharp, although I am not sure how he spelled it, so that should be Jason's name too, since they were married.


Just got back from JA yesterday and was able to confirm that the Jason I know is the same one you are referring to.  He is still in Negril.  If you ask for him at Juicy J's, someone will most likely know where to find him.  Sadly, his mother has passed away.  Not sure about his father.

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## original spanky

great thread 33 days till 40th year.
also my 40 th year coming up. i am greatly enjoying the stories so i will add one.
Dalton was a good friend up in red ground but when he got  on crack or whatever was going around then he was not himself. we stayed with his mom Ms. Pernell and it seemed like every year at least once we would get into somekind of argument.
this one year he was in rare form and one night someone came to my window and pried open the window. the person said . give me all your money or i'll shoot the lady..  i figured it was Dalton so said Dalton get the hell out of here.. the person said. it is not Dalton.   later that trip the family tied him up to his bed to keep him out of trouble.

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## Piggymon

Thanks for your help, JamericanNC. I appreciate your going to the trouble to check this out for me. I am so sorry to learn that his mother has passed away. She was the sweetest, most helpful person. I remember her making me some great breakfasts - fried plantains, aikee, eggs, and some of that wonderful Blue Mountain coffee with sweetened condensed milk. May God Bless her and may she rest in peace.

I would bring toys with me for Jason when I came to visit. He was such a cute kid. He loved the Million Dollar Man, back when there were very few TV shows available in JA. Jason could make the sounds and act in slow motion like he was the Million Dollar Man.

Sitting on the porch of Steve and Erica's house on top of Red Ground, one could see over the tops of trees the ocean in the distance. Steve would fire up a spliff of some excellent herb of de earth and crank up his huge set of speakers and Bob Marley would croon:

Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
Oh, ma ...................
Oh, ma ...................
Oh, ma children are cryin'.
Oh, children, weep no more!
Oh, ma sycamore tree, saw the freedom tree.
All you ... have spoke:
Oh, children, weep no more;
Weep no more: children, weep no more!

At that point, everything was most definitely Irie Mon!

----------


## Piggymon

> great thread 33 days till 40th year.
> also my 40 th year coming up. i am greatly enjoying the stories so i will add one.
> Dalton was a good friend up in red ground but when he got on crack or whatever was going around then he was not himself. we stayed with his mom Ms. Pernell and it seemed like every year at least once we would get into somekind of argument.
> this one year he was in rare form and one night someone came to my window and pried open the window. the person said . give me all your money or i'll shoot the lady.. i figured it was Dalton so said Dalton get the hell out of here.. the person said. it is not Dalton. later that trip the family tied him up to his bed to keep him out of trouble.


Sounds like something that my buddy and I did on our first trip. We were walking along the road in Red Ground in a dark area, and someone stepped out the darkness and demanded our money. Neither one of us even broke stride, one of just said "forget it" and we kept walking. The would be robber faded back into the darkness.

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## JamericanNC

> I would bring toys with me for Jason when I came to visit. He was such a cute kid. He loved the Million Dollar Man, back when there were very few TV shows available in JA. Jason could make the sounds and act in slow motion like he was the Million Dollar Man.


 :Smile:   I'll be sure to call him Million Dollar Man when I return in two weeks!

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## Guirigay

What an incredible thread. Thanks everybody!

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## rasta ronnie

Starting going to jamaica in 1996.  My only regret is that I did not start going sooner.  Love the older photos of how things used to be.  Someday my photos will represent "how things used to be".

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## Piggymon

> I'll be sure to call him Million Dollar Man when I return in two weeks!


Do it! He was good at making the sound effects as he moved in slow motion too. Remember, it is the Six Million Dollar man, not just the Million Dollar Man

http://hark.com/clips/lklqfsflfc-six...in-slow-motion

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## Piggymon

When the right time come

*Mighty Diamonds -Right Time (Live)*

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11...c#.UPNp3R1EE40





The little girl would not hold still for the photo, so on his own her older brother held her steady so that I could take the picture. Hard to believe that the little girl is over 40 now and could be a grandmother.

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## captaind

*I've posted these before but as we're showing beautiful pickney. Here's our daughter 35 years ago and now.*

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## Lady Jane

She is so beautiful Cap

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## original spanky

piggymon.. you still got the hair?

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## poolguywindsor

I was wondering the same thing? lol

----------


## Shelly

Little more...  where Rick's Cafe is used to be a Doctor's vacation home (not doctor's office) - he and his wife were 'off island' much of the time.  Where the bar is at Rick's Cafe there used to be a swimming pool, we could sometimes sneak in via one of the workers there and take a swim.  I think it must have been around 1973 or 1974 when Rick bought the place.  Back in those times the place "to watch the sunset" was Awee Maway Village, which some of you might know as the Pickled Parrot.  There was another place about 3/4 of a mile past the Lighthouse called Sunset Point, owned by a German man Norman.  There was a jutty of land sticking out and people would walk there and watch the sunset.
   Nick, I was robbed at James Palmer's house the same way, the thieves would use fishing poles and hooks to grab stuff through the windows, that were basically slats that could be moved, no screens back then.  As you faced two of the houses owned by James Palmer, I stayed in the house to the right, first room on the left.  One time I remember Negril at Christmas time got more crowded that it ever had been before (again 1973 or 1974 times).  I went next door where the kitchen was and couldn't get the door open - James Palmer had rented out floor space to about five guys.
    Another time at his place, two Asian guys from Canada came and stayed there and had a rented car.  That worked out great for us because we would ride all over Westmoreland and Hanover with them.  One very windy night, someone came and took the ENTIRE engine of the car out!  We moved out of Redground shortly after that, we also  had food stolen one time we had gone to Sav shopping for a Thanksgiving Day feast to cook next door where we could use the kitchen.  Oh! and in those times your ride be most likely be in an old van, and the owner would set a concrete block on each side, with a board going across to sit on, there would be 3-4 rows.  
  Wherever you were situated in Negril,  you could buy anything you wanted.  A Rasta man named Everall had a little maroon truck, with fruit, vegetables, fish, chicken, rice, peas, as well as ganja which he kept under his hubcap.  He would come once or twice a week, and also sold to the majority of the small amount of restaurants and little shops.  You could also order from him and tell  him what kind of fish you wanted him to bring to you the next time he came.  You could buy large 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot blocks of ice and most people didn't have a refridgerator, delivered by the blue ice truck.  We were lucky, we had a decent kerosene operated refridgerator and a decent gas stove.  No electricity though, we used those Home Sweet Home lanterns, and I can't even remember where we bought the oil for them.  
   A girl named Chastity originally lived on the property where Home Sweet Home is now, and it had the same name.  She had a one or two room treehouse type of structure, with the base of the tree being a large rock column.
   Someone else in this thread posted that they stayed in "Daisy's house" -- I also rented from a "Miss Daisy" who lived across from where Ten Sing Pen is now.  The original Pee Wee started a restaurant to the left of her house, and there was a little A-frame house back there that I rented.  That house got really really hot, especially during the summertime.
  We used to hand out at Rutland Point, which is the tip of the point near to Booby Key.  There used to be a large blue and white abandoned boat, a good sized boat (and turned a little bit on it's side) - a fisherman lived in it.  I think it might have been around 1976 when they started to build Hedonism.  That was the start of the bigger A/I's.  
  I remember the woman who lived at Our Past Time, she had an impressive car like an old Bentley or something and would have her driver bring her to the Yacht Club (like at 11 a.m.) or so where she would get her first drink of the day.  She had black glasses with diamonds on the side.  I can't believe I can no longer remember her name ? maybe Elvira Revson ? or something like that?
   And whoever made the comment on James Palmer's voice !! so true ! he had a very strange voice.  He told me he had met several movie stars on the beach in the mid 1960's:  Suzanne Pleshette and I think Marilyn Monroe.  I can't even begin to imagine what the beach was in the 1960's!

----------


## captaind

> Someone else in this thread posted that they stayed in "Daisy's house" -- I also rented from a "Miss Daisy" who lived across from where Ten Sing Pen is now.  
>   I remember the woman who lived at Our Past Time, she had an impressive car like an old Bentley or something and would have her driver bring her to the Yacht Club (like at 11 a.m.) or so where she would get her first drink of the day.  She had black glasses with diamonds on the side.  I can't believe I can no longer remember her name ? maybe Elvira Revson ? or something like that?


Miss Daisy is now 80 years old and celebrated her birthday at Seastar with her "adopted" son Chris.

Elvira was really something. The first night time I came to visit Negril from Town in '69 I stayed at the house. They were off the Island at the time and one of my crew was a cousin of Nord's

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## pine tree john



----------


## lane

Here is a picture of Franklin Daisy's late husband, a very good person who liked his Over Proof a little to much for Daisy's liking, sometime she would tell us not to get him started, she was the boss from what I remember.

I do not have a photo of Daisy but a few years back someone on the board gave her a walking cane and they post a beautiful picture of her in Church with the new cane I think she is why I could never fall out of love with Negril and especially the cliffs,
she was the mother I never fully knew.
Here is their house and the A Frame was behind it and Yes Shelly It was hot at night you just lay and sweat.

Georgie's little cottage was off to the left close to the road.
Rocky Dell sat to the left of Georgie's and I think this must be about was Sea Star Lane is now.

They Grilled the Best King Fish in Negril.
Here is the old gate to Tin Sing Pen right across the road.

Here is the Rocky Dell crew Pee-Wee, Donald from England Gosno and  I think a Jr. too, with the first red aprons and chef hats we for them went we came, which may have been the first for Negril back in the day.

Side Dining Room

View from the front porch of the A Frame, Daisy's kitchen window and her  Be Loved yard Dogs one was called Bully I do not remember the others name but I think Bully was the pack leader around the fence.

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## VVHT

Any of you Old Timers see the post earlier today about "The Old Pirate's Cave Bar". Someone wanted info from before it was Pirate's Cave.

I believe Sprat was the one that gave Miss Daisy her walker......

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## original spanky

pine tree john question. is that you in the picture?

the fisherman looks like it could be uncle Dan (Mosely). i would get up early and do some overproof with him as the sun was coming up. very often would have a bellyache till i got some food

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## pine tree john

my pictures are from '77 , Thats miss Doris seafront cottage,before treehouse was built.Not really sure who the fisherman is.It might be Basil Grant. You can see the shower off to the side of the backside picture,the other shack was the kichen. Not much water then either. Notice the long neck in the first pic.

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## limeex2

Awesome post. I first went to Negril with my first wife in the 80's. These threads are great and bring back many memories of what is was like back then. i have been back 7-8 times since and wont stop coming back to da rock until someone puts me into the ground. Thank you for sharing, and bringing back the smiles that make me dream of the next time and almost impossible to close the lid on my Macbook.

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## VVHT

Link from the old board back in 2009. You can follow the older posts in this link by clicking on the archive links at the top of the page in the link.

http://www.negril.com/discus/message...41/188793.html

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## all smiles

this thread is absolutely terrific!! 
wish I could've experienced the old Negril
meeting Linda M would've been the icing on the cake!

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## Piggymon

> Miss Daisy is now 80 years old and celebrated her birthday at Seastar with her "adopted" son Chris.
> 
> Elvira was really something. The first night time I came to visit Negril from Town in '69 I stayed at the house. They were off the Island at the time and one of my crew was a cousin of Nord's


That was a beautiful setup that they had at Our Past Time. I do not remember the woman or the Bentley, but I do remember a man who was perhaps in his thirties driving a Jaguar XKE from that house.

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## Piggymon

> Link from the old board back in 2009. You can follow the older posts in this link by clicking on the archive links at the top of the page in the link.
> 
> http://www.negril.com/discus/message...41/188793.html


Thanks for the link!

----------


## Piggymon

> piggymon.. you still got the hair?


It is funny. I am an old fart now, but I still have a full head of thick hair. There is a little gray in it, but not much. But I am a crazy bald head now. I keep my hair short and to keep it short, I have my wife use the clippers on it every week. If I skip a week, it gets long and thick and I know I need a haircut. One thing about keeping the hair real short, I don't have to use a hair dryer or a brush. It is wash and wear.

I had long hair on my first trip to Colombia, but after that first trip to Santa Marta, I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and adopted a shorter hair style.



With the military behind us.



On my way home with my bolsa.

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## Piggymon

> I stayed at Mrs. Rubys in 69 and 70.  The flight from Miami was $56. round trip and the exchange rate was .80 to $1. US.
> The Reef was spectacular back then.  I enjoyed seeing the Conch Shell hill in the beach photo. That is something that we don't see much of any more. You are spot on about Mrs. Ruby.  She was like a mom to so many of us young travelers.


Nick, I read a post in the linked archived thread by you. You wrote that you hitched hiked down to Miami from Pittsburgh to save money the first time you visited. I used to hitch hike down to Miami from Pittsburgh and back to save money too. Took my girlfriend from CMU with me a couple of times too.

Once while hitchhiking back from a trip to Negril, my buddy and I made it as far as the Cumberland Gap in Maryland. One had to get though the mountains to get between I-95 in Washington DC and the PA Turnpike. It was winter so it gets dark early. We were stuck at a lonely spot with few cars passing us. It had not been cold earlier in the day, but as it grew later and the sun dropped lower, it got colder and colder. We did not have warm jackets on, just short leather jackets more appropriate for Miami than Pennsylvania. Where we were hitchhiking at there were no gas stations or stores around that we could go to get warm. During this trip, as part of the energy crisis, there were no gas stations allowed to be open on Sunday. And this was Saturday evening, so if we did not get a ride soon, there was not going to be any rides available for a day. Since we were on the return leg of the trip, we were broke, so getting a hotel room or catching a bus was out of the question. As we were jumping up and down and beating ourselves with our arms in a vain attempt to keep warm, a car driven by a young guy finally stopped. He was heading west but he was worried about not being able to get gas on Sunday. My buddy told him that if he got us to his father's house, he would get him enough gas to get to his destination. He got us home and my buddy siphoned enough gas to get our benefactor to his journey's end.

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## Piggymon

[QUOTE=Piggymon;76897]Hans and Eleanor, I had forgotten their names. It seems like there was a sign in the Sands that notified everyone that Eleanor was the "Brown Butch of the Beach"."

Edit, that was "Brown B*itch of the Beach". I don't know how B*itch became butch. It is either my Someheimer's or spell check fixed it for me and I did not notice. Eleanor was always nice to me and feminine so I did not want to let that Butch thing stand.

I guess now that my word was changed into a group of asterisks, I know how it was changed.

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon.  That Chalice brings back some memories.  When I first reached Mrs. Rubies after taking de bus from Montego, My friend and traveling buddy Pete the Freak went out looking for revolutionaries and returned with these Rasta guys.  well it was dark and with no electricity then on Red Ground we lit a hurricane lamp, a mosquito coil and the Rasta guys broke out the chalice.  There seemed to be a competition to see who could make the largest cloud and then inhale it.  Thank God there were no cars back then because I ended up earning my nick name for that reach, "The guy who slept in the road all night long"


I remember lighting one or two of those mosquito coils and sliding them under my bed before I went out on the town so that the mosquitoes would be suppressed by the time I staggered home after a night of drinking rum and cokes. It seems like they were made in China or Hong Kong. I seem to remember a picture of a fish on the box.

I must have forgotten to light them up one night, because I woke up with a bunch of mosquito bites, all on them on the tops of my feet, in the middle of the night. The itching was driving me crazy and I didn't have anything for bites. Then I remembered that I had a stash of coke and how it was good at making things numb. I wet a finger, dipped it into the blow, and rubbed it over the bites. Worked like a charm and I was back asleep in no time.

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## Piggymon

> Attachment 21914


Nice pictures, PT John. I don't remember anyone wearing a sport coat in Negril, but it looks good on you. That does not look like a Red Stripe bottle you are holding or a Heineken bottle, which was brewed by the same brewery as Red Stripe, D&G. It looks like a brown long neck bottle. Do you remember what you were drinking when the picture was taken?

----------


## captaind

[QUOTE=Piggymon;80710]


> Hans and Eleanor, I had forgotten their names. It seems like there was a sign in the Sands that notified everyone that Eleanor was the "Brown Butch of the Beach"."
> 
> Edit, that was "Brown B*itch of the Beach". I don't know how B*itch became butch. It is either my Someheimer's or spell check fixed it for me and I did not notice. Eleanor was always nice to me and feminine so I did not want to let that Butch thing stand.
> 
> I guess now that my word was changed into a group of asterisks, I know how it was changed.


Here's a video of Eleanor and I trying to do a video commercial

https://vimeo.com/57807813

----------


## Piggymon

[QUOTE=captaind;80727]


> Here's a video of Eleanor and I trying to do a video commercial
> 
> https://vimeo.com/57807813


Cool breeze, D! That is the lady I remember. Man it is nice to see her again in a video like that. It really brings back the memories.

Thanks for much!

----------


## captaind

On January 28, 1986 G and I went down to the beach from the yard to get the boats ready to rent.

As soon as we got there Eleanor came up and said "did you hear the American shuttle blew up"

Only 27 years ago but it stands out in my mind

----------


## pine tree john

> Nice pictures, PT John. I don't remember anyone wearing a sport coat in Negril, but it looks good on you. That does not look like a Red Stripe bottle you are holding or a Heineken bottle, which was brewed by the same brewery as Red Stripe, D&G. It looks like a brown long neck bottle. Do you remember what you were drinking when the picture was taken?


 guessing thats a stripe bottle, long necks were around until the mid 70's.thats not me .from march of '77

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## Nick

Captaind  The People at the Negril Sands made me pay Twice for that Buffet....and it was worth it!

Piggymon...YES! That stretch of highway between DC and the PA Turnpike could get very cold, dark, and lonely.  I had an experience finding myself off the main highway somewhere in Georgia around 1970 that could be the opening scene for a movie.

----------


## jeannieb

> While I can't recall the details, he was supposedly involved in the sinking of a boat off the shore of Negril (and he used to get very upset whenever it was brought up.


I want to hear more about this!  :Smile:

----------


## Piggymon

> guessing thats a stripe bottle, long necks were around until the mid 70's.thats not me .from march of '77


Sorry about the misidentification. I don't remember and long neck red stripe bottles, just the squatty ones. But then memory is the first thing that goes. Thanks for the information, Pine Tree John.

----------


## since75

Keep this thread open !!!!!!!!!  Too many memories to post here, but if you have any of the following, keep it up .

Juicy's   Grandma Porters    Miss Browns    Mothers   Vincent Honey Gifford  LeRoy   Kool Brown  Wharf Club   Redground Steve !  original Ricks  Errol Doer Neal Wilson Flor De Caribe  Prophet KingsleyConnell  Marley Family property west end Great House Compulsion  Villas Negril Negril Beach Village 3C's  Alex Haley Roots  Bobby Ash  Wes the hippie  Gunther  "lights off" on the beach road..................

Love reading the old stories!

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## Kathy

wow... this is great stuff...  our first trip was in 1985 so we have memories of an undeveloped Bloody Bay, but YOUR stories and photos? ... amazing.

Love love love it... Thanks to all of you for sharing...

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## TrelawnyT

I thought I would add to the great old photos.

----------


## TrelawnyT

I'm going to try again to attach this photo.

----------


## TrelawnyT

One more

----------


## captaind



----------


## vivnyc

Love the stories from the 1970s. I shared about my experience and photos on a post entitled Le Mirage. 
The town was very sleepy. I have a great photo of downtown Negril--a pig lounging about in 1977. It appears from the lettering that the store that printed the photo reversed the image--funny.

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## vivnyc

More pictures from 1977 and 1978. Included in these photos is a photo of a woman who bought Mirage on the cliffs, then she and her husband built Charela on the beach, in the mid-late 1970s. She was French, married to a Jamaican. I think her name was Sophie--but I'm amazed that I can even remember her name so many years later. This week (4/13) I tracked down with the former owners of Mirage (Lauro and Michela). I got to know them quite well in Paris after they'd left Negril in 1981. I'll ask them the name of who purchased Mirage and built CHarela. Jack, a Harvard-trained dentist, who temporarily practiced dentistry in an open-air house on the beach in Negril in the 1970s, first introduced me to the owners of Mirage in 1977. He was a friend of my mother's. I stayed in the actual cottages at Mirage; they were located across the road in the West End, in a beautiful, well-kept garden. The first year, in 1977, there was no electricity. It was quiet and beautiful. The only way to get around in the West End was to walk. No traffic and not many people. No hustlers on the road.  There were "Home Sweet Home Lanterns" for light at night. The bartenders at Rick's Cafe had to turn off the music whenever a patron requested a blender drink--the generator wouldn't support the blender and music simultaneously. Rick's was the "expensive" place in the area, a place we only went to once or twice. The Jamaicans would dive off the cliffs, but not at the place where they dive now. Most of my friends rented rooms--at Sammy's, I think. Showers at Mirage before electricity had limited hot water--hot water heated by the actual sunshine during the day (solar powered hot water). Eating in a restaurant in Negril took hours back then!

The road in the West End in 1978 
Rick's Cafe 
Sylvie, Owner of Charela in 1970s

----------


## vivnyc

More pictures from 1977 and 1978. Included in these photos is a photo of a woman who bought Mirage on the cliffs, then she and her husband built Charela on the beach, in the mid-late 1970s. She was French, married to a Jamaican. I think her name was Sylvie--but I'm amazed that I can even remember her name so many years later. This week (4/13) I tracked down with the former owners of Mirage (Lauro and Michela). I got to know them quite well in Paris after they'd left Negril in 1981. I'll ask them the name of who purchased Mirage and built CHarela. Jack, a Harvard-trained dentist, who temporarily practiced dentistry in an open-air house on the beach in Negril in the 1970s, first introduced me to the owners of Mirage in 1977. He was a friend of my mother's. I stayed in the actual cottages at Mirage; they were located across the road in the West End, in a beautiful, well-kept garden. The first year, in 1977, there was no electricity. It was quiet and beautiful. The only way to get around in the West End was to walk. No traffic and not many people. No hustlers on the road.  There were "Home Sweet Home Lanterns" for light at night. The bartenders at Rick's Cafe had to turn off the music whenever a patron requested a blender drink--the generator wouldn't support the blender and music simultaneously. Rick's was the "expensive" place in the area, a place we only went to once or twice. The Jamaicans would dive off the cliffs, but not at the place where they dive now. Most of my friends rented rooms--at Sammy's, I think. Showers at Mirage before electricity had limited hot water--hot water heated by the actual sunshine during the day (solar powered hot water). Eating in a restaurant in Negril took hours back then!

Rick's Cafe 
Sylvie, Owner of Charela in 1970s?

----------


## negrilmon

Wow... so much fun to read about the good old days!

I first visited Negril in November 1975 as a 10 year old boy with my Father (his name was Scott and he stayed at Tensing Pen most of his visits and he walked with two canes...locally known as the man with the sick legs) and my seven year old brother and a group of my fathers friends.  

We stayed at Sea Grape and Jenny from "Jenny's Cakes" was our helper around the place. She took my brother and me under her wing and she quickly became our Jamaican Mother through the three week stay.

Jenny told us the prior week before we arrived an up and coming singer stayed in the same house as we were staying at Sea Grape. His name was Bob Marley and she thought he would make it big some day. The album "Natty Dread" seemed to be playing throughout the entire vacation ( not sure how since electricity was scarce on the west end back in the day). In hind sight I think it is safe to say Jenny was spot on with this prediction!

My most vivid memory from that trip was up at Rick's Cafe. We were up for sunset and my Father and his friends began discussing how much it would cost them to see my father jump off the cliffs on the NORTH SIDE of Rick's. 

$50 (1975 $50 keep in mind) was the number it took for my father to start crawling out to the edge of the cliff and jump. He asked my brother and me to meet him at the cove that now is where the world famous cliff diving happens. My brother and I ran down to the concrete slab with his canes and tennis shoes and waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to come swimming around the bend. Needless to say we were very relieved once we saw him because we were thinking he may have been hurt or drowned from the jump.

After typing this I'm wondering if my father was one of the first tourists to jump at Rick's? Anyone else have an earlier memory of jumping there?


Other memories were the old road from Mobay to Negril...Riding in an old VW Van...Wow what a ride. Much better ride these days with the new road.

I also remember the ice truck delivering big chunks of ice for the ice box and a huge truck that would deliver oranges for juice up on the west end. I also remember the sign "Stop at Brown's he's real cool" in front of his shop. "Jah Bah"  and his shop across from Ten Sing Pen. Daisy and Gosnell and Miss May around the old "Rocky Dell" restaurant. 

Almost 40 years have gone by but I still get back about once a year. My Father passed away about 30 years ago (we put his ashes in off the bridge at Tensing Pen)  but he is still remembered up on the Cliffs and his grandchildren now are making memories in Negril.

The tradition continues...I'll try to post photos of the 1975 visit soon!

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## jcjcnj

Enjoyed your looking back, negrilmon.  Thanks.

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## lane

Negrilmon what a great story.  Is this Miss May you remember she is in the little yellow house across the road from Tensing Pen with Tony, she is  fixing some curry goat for us in this picture.

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## negrilmon

Lane...That is May!...It seems like she was always down at Rick's around sunset.

Another memory from that 1975 trip was the phone down towards the roundabout. I wanted to call my Mother on Thanksgiving and I was told that was the only phone in town. We made our way down to the phone and the line was about 10 deep but we were able to get through to my Mother once our turn came up. 

Now everyone seems to have a cell phone!

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## Jim-Donna

Looking forward to those pictures~ What wonderful memories of your father.

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## Rambo

love it thanks much

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## Seveen

loving this thread!

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## since75

Does anybody still have a Ricks Weed Bead?  Post a photo if you do.!!

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## TrelawnyT



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## JessicasJamaica

Piggymon we are new to the forum and want to thank for your rich history lesson. I'm an American woman living with my Jamaican husband not far from Tip-Top. Wow he remembers all of the people you talked about. He says yes Presidente was the only one who could take people down to the water. He says Jason is still here in the neighborhood.We can't thank you enough for sharing. This is important information for our history in Negril. One Love and blessings Nigel and Jessica 

.


> My how time flies when one is having fun. I remember the first time I heard about Negril. It was 1971. I was with my college buddy, Bobby, and we had escaped the cold Pittsburgh winter and were hanging out on the beach in Key Biscayne's Crandon Park. We were having a great time, but there was a guy on the beach who was telling some girls near us about the terrific time he had in Negril. He said that you just flew into Montego Bay and then took a taxi along the beach road to Negril where there was 7 miles of white sand beach. He said that the accommodations in cottages were cheap and people were friendly.
> 
> We were staying at Coconut Grove at the time at the house of a relative of Bobby's and we did not have much money, but it sounded like fun. We went to a Travel Agency in the Grove and bought two cheap tickets on Air Jamaica to Mobay. I remember that this was in the days before age discrimination, so we were able to buy youth tickets that were cheaper than regular tickets. My memory is a little fuzzy, but it seems like the tickets were only $90 round trip. Of course minimum wage the minimum wage back in those days was $1.60 per hour, so $90 was still some good money. 
> 
> Loved the rum drinks on the plane down to the Island and the free rum punch in the airport before we cleared customs and immigration. It was the first time either of us had been outside of the country, except for going to Canada, so the clearing customs and having our bags searched new, but relatively painless.
> 
> We caught a minibus that was headed to Negril and were soon out of the jumble and hurly-burly of Montego Bay and on our way. We were delighted and entranced by occasional glimpses of the turquoise sea through the verdant foliage. We were in a great mood and were only slightly put off by some of the hard stares by some people along the road in the small towns on the way to Negril.
> 
> The driver went directly to Miss Ruby's Tip-Top cottages in Red Ground since we had no idea where we wanted to go. We were a little dubious until we learned that a room was only going to cost us $2.00 per day. Back then, a dollar US was only worth $0.88 JA, but still, $2.00 was fine for a nice clean room with two beds.
> ...

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## Rambo

"Early Morning Vegetable Man on W End Rd (in front of Tayons)

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## STRIPER

That's a cool pic,things have sped up a bit  :Smile:

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## Nick

Nice Rambo

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## Piggymon

Love the photo. That is the real deal.

Thanks for posting it!

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## Piggymon

> More pictures from 1977 and 1978. Included in these photos is a photo of a woman who bought Mirage on the cliffs, then she and her husband built Charela on the beach, in the mid-late 1970s. She was French, married to a Jamaican. I think her name was Sophie--but I'm amazed that I can even remember her name so many years later. This week (4/13) I tracked down with the former owners of Mirage (Lauro and Michela). I got to know them quite well in Paris after they'd left Negril in 1981. I'll ask them the name of who purchased Mirage and built CHarela. Jack, a Harvard-trained dentist, who temporarily practiced dentistry in an open-air house on the beach in Negril in the 1970s, first introduced me to the owners of Mirage in 1977. He was a friend of my mother's. I stayed in the actual cottages at Mirage; they were located across the road in the West End, in a beautiful, well-kept garden. The first year, in 1977, there was no electricity. It was quiet and beautiful. The only way to get around in the West End was to walk. No traffic and not many people. No hustlers on the road.  There were "Home Sweet Home Lanterns" for light at night. The bartenders at Rick's Cafe had to turn off the music whenever a patron requested a blender drink--the generator wouldn't support the blender and music simultaneously. Rick's was the "expensive" place in the area, a place we only went to once or twice. The Jamaicans would dive off the cliffs, but not at the place where they dive now. Most of my friends rented rooms--at Sammy's, I think. Showers at Mirage before electricity had limited hot water--hot water heated by the actual sunshine during the day (solar powered hot water). Eating in a restaurant in Negril took hours back then!
> Attachment 25633
> The road in the West End in 1978 Attachment 25634
> Rick's Cafe Attachment 25635
> Sylvie, Owner of Charela in 1970s Attachment 25636


Nice pictures and good information. Thanks for posting.

I know what you mean about it taking hours to have a meal in the restaurants back in the day. But after a while, one got used to it and it seemed normal. Since I was usually with friends and we were all stoned and drinking Red Stripes, the very slow and uncertain service was not a biggie. I really did not realize how slow the service was until I was staying at my sister's apartment in Manhattan for a few days after spending a couple of months in Negril. My sister was a model and had left the apartment early in the morning for work. I got up later. Her apartment was high dollar with a doorman and all that, but it was also tiny and there was very little to eat in the little kitchen. But there was a menu and a phone number for a deli that delivered on the kitchen counter. I looked over the menu and the food looked good so I made my choice and made the call. I was only about ten seconds into my order when the voice on the other end of the line demanded that I speed it up. I quickly blurted out my order and address and was cut off with curt OK. I was still smarting over the demand to speed up my order when there was a knock on the door. I paid the bill and the delivery guy was gone in a flash. I checked my order, thinking that they had probably messed it up, but it was perfectly filled with everything just as I had ordered it. I ate my meal laughing at the difference in speed and accuracy between the Jamaican and New York food service. In New York, time was money and you do not waste time or money. In Negril, you gave your order about three times and more often than not, you got pretty much what you ordered. Still, I loved Negril and the vibe there and I always will.

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## Piggymon

> Captaind  The People at the Negril Sands made me pay Twice for that Buffet....and it was worth it!
> 
> Piggymon...YES! That stretch of highway between DC and the PA Turnpike could get very cold, dark, and lonely.  I had an experience finding myself off the main highway somewhere in Georgia around 1970 that could be the opening scene for a movie.
> 
> Attachment 22194


A girlfriend and I hitchhiked from Miami to Pittsburgh after a quick trip to Negril. The after the first day of hitchhiking, our ride ended north of Jacksonville but south of the Georgia state line. It was dark and late and there was little traffic, so we simply climbed over the fence that bordered Interstate 95 and put down our sleeping bag on the pine needles under the big pine trees. There were a lot of mosquitos so we pulled our heads under the covers in the bag, even though it was a bit warm and stuffy in there. When day broke, all was fine with me, but my girlfriend had managed to stick her head and one arm out of the bag and everywhere her skin was exposed she was covered in mosquito bites. It looked terrible and I am sure it must have itch terribly, but she did not complain much about it.

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## JamericanNC

Piggymon, I talked to Jason when I was in Negril last week, and when I mentioned your screenname Piggymon, he said "Oh Piggy!", so he believes he knows who you are.  He did tell me one story about you having to run out of Negril back in the day.  I didn't have my computer with me to show him your picture, unfortunately.  Just wanted to let you know I finally got to tell him about you!

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## goldilocks

Good Stuff!  Permanent archives for this one please!

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## since75

Thanks  !!!  I wish I still had one of those.    Was it 1 for a Red Stripe and 3 for a mixed drink ???

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## georgelenard

Yes mon faces of me yout mon! Franklin, Gusnel, Princess and of course the Pee Wee his self. Great food great memories.

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon, I talked to Jason when I was in Negril last week, and when I mentioned your screenname Piggymon, he said "Oh Piggy!", so he believes he knows who you are.  He did tell me one story about you having to run out of Negril back in the day.  I didn't have my computer with me to show him your picture, unfortunately.  Just wanted to let you know I finally got to tell him about you!



Cool Breeze, JamericanNC! Good old, Jason! It is funny thinking about him being all grown up. Thank you for passing along my good wishes to him and for letting me know that he still remembers me. His father, Steve, and I had some neat adventures together, not just in Jamaica, but in South America as well. Steve was an amazing character. I remember when he was knocked off a little motorcycle on the beach road doing about 60 mph. He was wearing nothing but a bathing suit and flip-flops. Steve skidded, slid, and tumbled down the tarmac for quite some distance before coming to rest  on the grassy shoulder. The surface of the road that that time resembled an extremely rough rasp, and Steve had road rash all over his body, particularly on the palms of his hands and the sides of his feet. While Steve laid in the grass, the Jamaican motorcyclist who Steve ran into, and his buddy, ran into the bush, grabbed a couple of sticks and administered corporal punishment to Steve for causing the wreck. Steve probably did cause the wreck since he was high Mandrax and rum at the time of the accident. Steve had a rough recuperation period, because he could not lay in any position without his oozing road rash becoming stuck to his sheets. But recover he did and went on to buy himself some much bigger and more powerful motorcycles later. He also was thrown over a wall by Big Al on the cliffs and tore the heck out himself on the jagged rock, but the miracle was that he managed to not die in the process. Whenever and however he died, as the old blues song goes, he had his fun. In fact, he had several lifetimes of fun and agony. I am sure that he did not go gentle into that good night.

Yes, I did have to leave Negril under somewhat shall we say less than ideal circumstances. That old concrete jail back behind the police station across from the Yacht Club was not the most secure in the world. They must not have let that concrete cure properly, but that is not really unexpected. If they had known how close they came to snagging me, they would be gnashing their teeth. It makes a hell of a story, but one that I can tell very few people.

Do they have a statute of limitations act in Jamaica? I actually slipped back into and out of town a few times afterwards, but discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to let things cool off for a while. Do you think 40 years is long enough?

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## ackee

lol

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## Piggymon

I did a little looking around in the drawers and I found a couple more pictures of when I came upon Sir Paul McCartney back before he was an MBE, and family on a remote section of Negril beach around 1974.

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## Piggymon

I did a little looking around in the drawers and I found a couple more pictures of when I came upon Sir Paul McCartney back before he was an MBE, and family on a remote section of Negril beach around 1974.

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## Piggymon

Canoe out on the water with a guy paddling



Negril Beach at sunset. Still a long way to go to get to Red Ground and a cold shower


Rasta going down the beach road on a motorbike


The old West Indian Sugar Building


Tree house on the beach


Getting his stash together

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## davevols

Great pics, thank you.

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## georgelenard

Before becoming Rocky Dell the property was known as Pee Wee's, Gus, Franklin, Winsome, and Princess, and of coarse Pee Wee. Never in my life have i enjoyed the food and the company, Pee Wee, Franklin, Winsome, are all gone, but will remain in my heart and memories. I hope to get back and see those remaining this year, as well as all my other old friends.

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## georgelenard

April 29, 1975! Life changed for me that day! I never really liked Jamaica. It was love a first sight!

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## Flipadelphia26

So, did you speak with McCartney?

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## Rob

The fisherman being shown in the last few sets of pictures was James, who was a fixture on the Negril Beach and even took a young Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his lovely young bride out on his hand carved canoe. Here are a couple "blasts from the past " on our Negril.com Negril Today pages:

James entertaining some kids in 1997:

http://www.realnegril.com/beingees/nn300197.htm

and James out early in 1996:

http://www.realnegril.com/beingees/nn290596.htm

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## johng

Hi Rob,

Is James still alive? I remember him quite well from all my trips to the beach and him selling his shells and starfish, etc... Very pleasant man never a bother to anyone as far as I can remember. Thinking back to the 70's and 80's he must have been 50 years old back then? I used to see him all the time.

John

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## Rob

I think James passed a while back - I last saw him on the beach around 2000....

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## Piggymon

No, I did not talk to Paul. 

I was not going to talk to anyone and just keep walking, but Linda called me over and started asking me questions. I chatted with her for a while, told her where I had been up the beach and where I was headed. Told her where I was from. I told her that her kids were cute. Paul didn't say anything to me, but he listened to what I was telling Linda. I didn't want to bug him. They were on a remote part of the beach, so that told me that they did not want to be bothered and I wanted to respect their privacy and let them enjoy their family vacation.

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## lane

Here is Franklin working next to the goat pen and A Frame in 1982.

Here is Franklin and Daisy house which was next door to the Rocky Dell and in front of the A frame guess house the built.
My 1st stay with them was in George's place between Rocky Dell their house up front close to the road. Did anyone know Gladstone who lived up the road next door?

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## captaind

*Here's my canoe*

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## johng

captaind,

What ever happened to OK Sam? I know he used to run a boat off the beach

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## Piggymon

> *Here's my canoe*



Real cool, Capt'n. It looks like the real thing and that is also a good looking spear gun too. I went out with Knocky on his canoe one morning. My only regret now is that I did not give him more money for the great time I had. I did not have much money, but Knocky had a wife and a couple little kids so he could have used what little money I did have more than me.

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## Piggymon

Dinner!

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## TizzyATX

Look at all you hotties  :Smile: 

Glad to see this thread get bumped, just read through most of it _again_.  Ya'll please keep it rollin

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## johng

negrilmon,

Nice memories!!!  I first visited Negril in April 75. Was in Ft Lauderdale during Spring Break and the crowd was too much, walked by a travel agency and saw that Jamaica poster with the beautiful girl and bought a R-Trip Miami - MoBay on the spot. Stayed in Red Ground not far up the hill on the left side across from a church.

I jumped from the same spot as your dad at Ricks, my first but not last, I remember well that upon impact with the water how the soles of my feet stung like heck. I wonder how many people have been injured or died there as a result of jumping? Back then Rick's was much smaller but still very popular place at sunset.

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## Rambo

West End Rd mid 80's..............................................  ..................................................  .....................................Jennys Cafe...about '84
great reading...keep thinking back everybody, continue please
we didn't come along until mid 80's.....even then it sure has changed,,,we actually got use to waiting for coffee, 20-30 minutes, food much longer, it taught you to slow down right now   :Smile: ....keep up the good work.....

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## Piggymon

[QUOTE=johng;104850]negrilmon,

Nice memories!!!  I first visited Negril in April 75. Was in Ft Lauderdale during Spring Break and the crowd was too much, walked by a travel agency and saw that Jamaica poster with the beautiful girl and bought a R-Trip Miami - MoBay on the spot. Stayed in Red Ground not far up the hill on the left side across from a church.

QUOTE]

That was a heck of a poster. When I think of LC's Sonja, that is what comes to mind, that beautiful ethnic Indian girl in the tight wet tee shirt. Probably from Mandyville, as I understand that is where most of the ethnic Indians are concentrated. Although there was a fine looking Jamaican Indian woman who worked the rental car desk at Hedonism who was highly attractive and had a set to match the girl in the poster.


I walked to the travel agency in Coconut Grove, but pretty much the same deal.

Thanks for posting the pictures, johng.

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## johng

Whappen Piggymon?

Give a new meanin "COME TO JAMAICA" Yes mon!!

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## Piggymon

I remember staring at that poster in the waiting lounge of the Mobay airport, johng. Easy on the eyes for sure.

*I'M COMING* out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-mjl63e0ms

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## negrilmon

Great photos Jhong! Thanks!

Speaking of Rick's being much smaller back in the day. I recall the bar was just an old converted swimming pool with a thatch roof built over it to protect from rain!

You would be eye level with the bartenders because the were standing in the drained pool. 

Electricity was so iffy that If the blender needed to be used they had to turn off the record player before blending the drink.

 I recall Rick lived in a nice little ocean front place right on the north cove...Hard to believe Rick's is world famous now!

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## vivnyc

Anyone recall the name of this place? I recall it took two hours to get served food!
The year was March 1977

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## vivnyc

This photo was taken at Mirage in 1978. The woman is Sophie (Grizzle?) who now owns Charela. She was french. The young man was a traveller. At the time, Sophie had just bought Mirage from Lauro and Michela Grandi. The Grandis were from Italy. They built Mirage in the 1970s. Michela would teach yoga and meditation. This was the first year there was electricity on the West End. The Grandis moved back to Europe and never returned to Jamaica. 1978 was my second year visiting Negril. I later returned and Mirage had a french restaurant on the cliff-side of the road.

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## vivnyc

Attachment 32601
1977 or '78 at Mirage, in the garden

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## Bluez

Thanks to everybody for posting their memories and fabulous pics, this is great stuff, really enjoying it!

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## Mike_D

Lovin' all these vintage pics!



> 1977 or '78 at Mirage, in the garden


When you say "in the garden", do you mean that the Mirage use to have some property across the road from their current cliffside location (e.g. garden side), or just that there was a garden area on the cliffside property? Obviously the property looks very different today, but I'm trying to place where the picture was taken.

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## vivnyc

Most of the accommodations at Mirage were located across the road in a large garden that was beautifully kept. Lauro and Michela, originally from northern Italy, lived in a house relatively close to the road. There were several cottages at Mirage, each one with three rooms, all of them round in shape, beautifully constructed. Each cottage had two bedrooms and one main room located in between the two bedrooms. There was one conventional house on the cliff side, I believe it is still there. The first year 1977, there was no electricity. We used home sweet home lanterns to light the cottages. Lauro anticipated that one day there would be electricity, so the cottages were built with light fixtures and electrical outlets. There were bathroom, but the showers had limited hot water--the sun heated the pipes during the day. Life without electricity in Negril was very quiet.

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## caz

I believe the pic with the 2 guys and girl is PeeWee's the original across from Mariner next to LaMirage.

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## bigga

Piggymon you still lurking?

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## Mike_D

> Most of the accommodations at Mirage were located across the road in a large garden that was beautifully kept. Lauro and Michela, originally from northern Italy, lived in a house relatively close to the road. There were several cottages at Mirage, each one with three rooms, all of them round in shape, beautifully constructed. Each cottage had two bedrooms and one main room located in between the two bedrooms. There was one conventional house on the cliff side, I believe it is still there. The first year 1977, there was no electricity. We used home sweet home lanterns to light the cottages. Lauro anticipated that one day there would be electricity, so the cottages were built with light fixtures and electrical outlets. There were bathroom, but the showers had limited hot water--the sun heated the pipes during the day. Life without electricity in Negril was very quiet.


Thanks for the history,vivnyc! We just returned from a week at Mirage (great place! - more on that later) and the hotel is much different today. It would've been great to stay there in those early days. 

Speaking of across the road - there is currently some construction happening across from Mirage. It is a nice looking two-story structure. Looks like it might be a small hotel or a large house/villa. Scrawled in spray paint on the corrugated metal fence that surrounded the property it said, "The Somerville".

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## captaind

Only 35 yrs ago

*Dodds, Love I and me on Hobie race day. I'm the race committee* 




*The race*

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## Richie B

Great picture's  Capt.

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## francis

42 years ago ... I first arrived in Negril October 1972 ... and thought I had died and gone to heaven, what a pristine paradise it was ... people were friendly and cash poor but quality-of-life rich, very friendly and generous ... the Old Jamaicans refer to that time as "When the Hippies Came!" ... and come we did, first as a trickle then a torrent ... the 7 mile beach had just a few isolated buildings, the cliffs were just as isolated, we could go anywhere we wanted and it was possible to pay $0.50 per night to camp on some friendly person's property who would toss in a meal ... where in the world today can such a place be found? The marvel was not how inexpensive Negril was, nor how unpopulated it was, but that the people had lived for so long without money that they placed more value on people and friendship than money, and because they had such few material possessions they had learned the value of sharing and they freely gave what little they had, albeit they were happy to receive some cash, which had ironically changed Negril forever; isn't that the way it is, eh! We find paradise and bring to it our values - cultural influences - and change comes in like a storm to wash away the shores never to return to its original state; I lament, I know, because I was 19 and found freedom and love, and during the time I lived there, Reggae music via Bob Marley came to fruition, creating an atmosphere of positive vibrations and goodwill everywhere - truly a magical time in Negril. I tried to capture that time period in a novel, a highly fictionalized account of experiences; if you don't want to shell out the cash to check out my creative attempt at capturing that era in storytelling on Amazon or CreateSpace, email me and I will send you a PDF of the novel: Island Odyssey, Francis Oliver Lynn franlynn36@gmail.com 

Island Odyssey Ghetto Flowers in Paradise

PAPER BACK  
https://www.createspace.com/4258190
E-BOOK   
http://www.amazon.com/ISLAND-ODYSSEY.../dp/B005TVG54A



Thanks for the pictures and stories - they are precious!

Irie! Brothers and Sisters ...

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## STRIPER

Call some place paradise,kiss it good bye.....eagles

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## Kimbobwee

Is this the same book as "Island Boys"......Oliver James?

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## francis

Yes - I had to change the name because of another book had the same title - Oliver James is the main character in the book, Francis Oliver Lynn is the author.

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## Kimbobwee

Thank You......am reading it as we spend our precious time in Negril, now.

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## francis

Kimbobwee,

Thank you ... I do think you will find it fascinating as it will take you on a journey back in time to Negril 70s style!

Francis Oliver Lynn

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## Jamaica4ever

Does anyone know of Roy of Tear Drops Tours MoBay, in the early to mid 70's. He and his American wife Pat were friends of my parents. They brought us to Negril in 1973 and 1974. Spent lots of time with them at their home and his parents home in the mountains. Would love to reconnect if anyone remembers them or where they might be now?

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## francis

Jamaica Forever,

Sorry, but I do not know Roy. On one of my recent trips to Negril I spent time searching for the people I had made friends with during the 70s, I found a few, but most had died; this is because the people I got to know the best were older and the younger ones are old like me and their lives had changed dramatically, a few still in Negril, and some had to move on to areas where tourism was not the economy base, having sold their land to developers and moved to the hills. Good luck with your search. I assume you asked your parents - if you were able to.

Irie! Fren-mon (Francis Oliver Lynn)

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon you still lurking?


Yep!

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## Piggymon

> Hey all you 70s Negril folks, here is a novel set in Negril in the early 70s - it'll stimulate memories and perhaps inspire you all to start writing your stories - it's all great stuff! I took my experiences and created a fictional novel - it was fun to write, lots of great experiences to draw from - we all have them, especially the 70ers!
> Francis Oliver Lynn (Fren-mon): Island Odyssey Ghetto Flowers in Paradise
> 
> PAPER BACK  
> https://www.createspace.com/4258190
> E-BOOK   
> http://www.amazon.com/ISLAND-ODYSSEY.../dp/B005TVG54A



I read the entire thing in one sitting and I must say that the book really captures the essence of the times.

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## Piggymon

> Only 35 yrs ago
> 
> *Dodds, Love I and me on Hobie race day. I'm the race committee*



Cap'n, thanks for the pictures. They bring back memories.

Not of a Hobe Cat, but my first time out on a little catamaran. I was hanging out on the beach one day, as was my wont, when I spotted three new girls setting up on some beach chairs. One of them in particular was quite cute, so naturally I lavished most of my attention on her. I came to find out that they were Canadians and had only been on the Island for a day or two. I chatted them up and eventually made a date to pick them up that evening to go out drinking and dancing to some reggae.

I took them up to the little club that was open in the shopping center near the roundabout. At that time, almost all of the people who frequented that club were native Jamaicans, which I loved, because the music and dancing were so real and sensual. I had spent a lot of time on the Island and it seemed like how to me, but the girls were put off by the admittedly rather strong body odor emanating from the crowd and all the black faces in a dark club, so I had to leave and take them to Hedonism instead. 

We had some fun but I didn’t make much progress on the scoring front and in fact, despite a lot of trying, I never did make it with the girl who I was working on, although she kept me thinking I might at any minute, so I did not shift my attention to either of her two friends who were both more than willing to get up close and personal with me. Sort of like a cock blocker, only different. I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind. You could have done better but I don’t mind. You just kinda wasted my precious time. But don’t think twice, it’s all right.

In any case, after that first night of dancing, I went around the next day to see what I could see and the girls were again hanging out at the beach getting some sun. I noticed that up the beach a way there were some little catamarans for rent. I think there were called Sunfish, or something like that. So I asked the cutie if she wanted to go for a ride on the Sunfish with me and it turned out she did.
I had never done any sailing at all, but the fellow who rented the boat gave me some tips and it did not take long to get the feel for the use of the rudder and trimming the sail to get the little boat moving along at a pretty good clip in more or less the direction that I wanted it to go in.

We had a fine time, with the sun shining, the salty tang in the air, and the fresh breeze in our hair. She sure looked fine smiling and laughing as we kept getting further and further out to sea. The further out we got, the bigger the waves we encountered but the cat was steady and stable and we were in seemingly in no danger of capsizing. 

What did happen, however, was that a large wave hit the rudder and knocked it out from its attachment points. The rudder was attached to the back of the boat by having two pins in the rudder being inserted through two metal hoops on back of the boat. When we rented the boat the boat guy had inserted the rudder pins into the hoops while standing a couple feet of water. The pins were retained in the hoops by two spring loaded balls that one compressed in order to insert or remove the rudder. I think that the Sunfish was designed to be used on lakes, not out in the open ocean, because it did not take that much force for a wave to knock the pins right out of the hoops, since the spring loaded locking device was not very strong.

Somehow in the process of getting knocked out of the pins, perhaps it happened while we were shifting our positions while tacking, and ducking under the swinging boom, the rudder ended up floating in the water a few feet from the boat. I dove in and swam to it and retrieved it. But when I turned around and started swimming back to the boat, I was horrified to see that with the rudder out and the sail still up, the girl and the boat were drifting away from me at about the same rate at which I could swim, but I was going to get tired of swimming before the boat stopped drifting out into the open ocean. 

Terrified that the babe and boat were going to be carried out to sea, never to be seen again, I put my head down and swam as fast as I could, shoving the rudder ahead of me while doing so because I did not want to be on the boat without the rudder to steer it. I knew that even though we were several miles off shore that I would be able to swim back with little trouble, but I knew that I was responsible for the situation she was in and I needed to fix it.

Once I managed to get myself and the rudder to the boat, things were still hairy. Due to what I considered a design failure while I struggled trying to get the rudder back into place, it was almost impossible to put the rudder back into the hoops while in the water. I needed one hand to hang onto the boat, so I needed to put the rudder in place with only one hand. It could not be done from the boat itself, but had to be done while in the water. The major problem was that both pins were the same length, so both the top and bottom pin had to be inserted into each hoop at exactly the same time. This proved to be very difficult using only one hand in a rough sea.  I could get one or the other pins in, but I could never get both in at the same time. The longer I worked on the problem, the more tired I became. The boat also kept drifting further out into the ocean. Finally, just when I was at the point of exhaustion and ready to wish Sweetie good luck and strike out towards the shore on my own, the pins shot home and the rudder was secured.

With the rudder in and care being taken to not submit it to any sudden forces that could potentially dislodge it again, we steadily made our way back to the beach and returned the catamaran. I told the rental man what happened and suggested that instead of just having the spring loaded balls to hold the pins in place that they should drill the pin and use cotter pins. Also, that one pin needed to be longer than the other so that one could get one pin started and then line up the second one. By his reaction I don’t think he paid any attention to my hard won advice.

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## Piggymon

A friend recently sent me a picture of me holding Steve and Erica's son, Jason. I have been told that while Steve and Erica have gone on, Jason is still around.

This picture is one of me standing in the doorway of the little shack that Bobby and I paid to be built behind Miss Ruby's Tip Top Cottages while it was still under construction.

Looking back on it, I cannot believe I was not concerned about secondhand smoke, but I guess few people were back then.

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## jar77

This is great...must have been a great place and time to be

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## Piggymon

> Call some place paradise,kiss it good bye.....eagles


They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot SPOT
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Joanie Mitchell

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## bigga

Piggymon, I just  went out with Miss Rubys daughter a couple weeks ago and had afew cocktails. We had agood time and talked about the old days,do you remember a guy named Brock?

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## francis

Great story - I bet the incident hurt your chances with the gals ... or did it?

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## Piggymon

> Great story - I bet the incident hurt your chances with the gals ... or did it?


Francis, all three of them acted like they wanted to make it with me, both before and after I almost lost one over the horizon. 

The cutest one, the one I spent all my time chasing, led me on because she knew that the minute that she stopped acting like she was going to make it with me I would have immediately shifted all my time and attention to candidate #2 and candidate #2 was ready, willing, and able to get it on with me. The cutest girl had a boyfriend back in Toronto who she did not want to cheat on and she decided that candidate #2 was too young and innocent, so she was protecting the young girl by shining me on. No big deal, you win some and you lose some. I won more than my fair share, so I am not complaining.

When you can pull off wearing a speedo bathing suit, finding gals willing to get up close and personal is not a major problem. And when you have a one track mind and a prey drive that puts a pitbull to shame, good things happen.

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon, I just  went out with Miss Ruby's daughter a couple weeks ago and had a few cocktails. We had a good time and talked about the old days,do you remember a guy named Brock?


I do remember a guy named Brock, but not well. Cooliemon, El Presidente, and Eddie I remember best.

I started this thread hoping to find out what became of Steve Sharp, but I was talking to an old buddy of mine from back in the day and he said that he heard that Eddie died from being pushed through a glass window by a girlfriend and that Steve died from an infection in his ankle. I remember Steve getting road rash from a motorcycle accident and getting all cut up from falling over a wall and onto the coral at a house on the cliffs, but he recovered from both of those episodes. I wonder if Steve's death had anything to do with the time I took him down to Santa Cruz Bolivia?

He got the clap while we were down there and he went to a hole in the wall clinic for a shot of antibiotic to cure the clap. I remember the needles soaking in some liquid in an open stainless steel pan. The shot cleared up the clap, but on our way home Steve started to feel sick and the whites of his eyes turned yellow and we figured out that he had hepatitis. I am not sure what type of hepatitis he had, but I know that Hepatitis C can be bad. Any type of hepatitis can be bad if you drink alcohol and Steve liked to drink.

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## rjonsun

A lot of old timers remember El Presidente.  A couple of years ago his nephew Leonard (Tango) took me down to the water at the bottom of Porters Cave in Red Ground.  Back in the day El Presidente was the only Jamaican that would venture down to the water.

http://www.negril.com/discus/message...41/276001.html

Regards,
Bob

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## suzengrace

do any of you old timers remember the" Morning Star" bus that would come up from the country in the early morning ???

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## captaind

> do any of you old timers remember the" Morning Star" bus that would come up from the country in the early morning ???


Morning Star and Bluebird.

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## francis

Piggy-mon speedo photo ...

Tarzan of Negril! Where's Jane & Cheetah? The era of "when the hippies came" was remarkable - we were exceptionally fortunate to have experienced a taste of paradise, even though we were the initial influence that cost Negril its pristine nature and cultural virginity ... I think the real reason was you in your speedo!

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## Kimbobwee

francis....off the subject for a moment..but, where in present day was Millie & Charlie's property located?  Also, Elijah & Norlina's?  Thanx, only a couple of chapters left to go.

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## francis

Kimbobwee,

Croton Grove - it is almost directly across from the Blue Cave Castle - Elijah's real name is Everton and he is the current owner of the property, and Millie (whose real name was Daisy) and Charlie are no longer alive. Norlina is a fictional character. Elkhannah the fishermen died just 3 days before my May 2011 visit (when I stayed at the Blue Cave Castle to write the final chapters that you are now reading); I visited all of the places mentioned in the novel to stimulate memory and imagination. Lord Joseph was dead and his sister, Auntie May, is now owner of his lovely cave (she keeps it under lock and key but will let you go in if you buy a Red Stripe from her and sit and chat for a while - she is quite eccentric - most Negril Jamaicans and tourist are).

Thank you for taking the time to read the novel, it was a labor of love and quite enjoyable to write.

Respect & Irie,

Fren-mon (Francis O. Lynn)

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## vivnyc

Can anyone recall where this photo was taken?

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## francis

This could be one of a 100 places in Negril, maybe more depending on the year it was taken.

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## Kimbobwee

Francis, thanx so much....I know Everton.  Have stayed at Croton Grove numerous times and BBC.  Staying at Le Mirage right now for the first time...on nite #28 of 30, leave on Wednesday.  Much Respect....Thanx again.

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## vivnyc

1977--perhaps Mariners? It was along the water, there was a bar, I think in the shape of a boat. It was near Mirage.

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## Vhause1

Glad to find this site---brings back a lot of memories. First time in Negril was in 1973. We stayed in a house in Red Ground. Don't remember the name, but they had the guys roll us a couple of spliffs. Went back and forth from 1973 to 1977/78. Stayed on the cliffs with Sammy Jackson. Then on the beach at the Sands Club. At the Sands Club they let me stay for free in a tree house on the property. Last time I was in Negril was when they were building the resort at the end of the beach. Haven't been back, not sure if it would be hard to see how much it's changed. Saw some recent photos from the beach---it was sad to see. Some of the resorts had roped off swimming areas. He also had some video of the area around where the Wharf Club had been--didn't look as peaceful as I remember. Has anyone that was there in the 70's returned after all those years? It was such a special, beautiful place, not sure seeing all the development and changes would make it difficult to be there.

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## Flipadelphia26

I would gather that it does not resemble anything close to what you remember.   However,  it is indeed still a very special place.

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## captaind

Look familiar?

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## Vhause1

Great picture! Weekly (Wednesdays?) tours came in from Montego Bay. They had a buffet with lobster pizza. Eleanor and Hans owned it.  Lovely people. Is the Sands Club still there? If not, what is?

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## rjonsun

Yeah, I returned in 2007 after being away for 34 years.  You just can't try to recreate the past, but look for new adventures, of which we found many.  And don't let anyone kid you that Treasure Beach on the south coast is like the Negril of the early 70's....it isn't.  We have been back a half dozen times since 2007.
Regards,
Bob

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## captaind

> Great picture! Weekly (Wednesdays?) tours came in from Montego Bay. They had a buffet with lobster pizza. Eleanor and Hans owned it.  Lovely people. Is the Sands Club still there? If not, what is?


Hans passed away in the mid seventies. Eleanor ran it for quite a while. I ran my Hobie Cat rental there from 1978 to 1986.

Eleanor was in poor health in Canada as of last year.

Cap

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## captaind

Here are are two videos from the early 80s with Eleanor:

https://vimeo.com/57807813

https://vimeo.com/57819786

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## Piggymon

Thanks for posting those videos, Cap. It was nice to see Eleanor looking young and healthy. I also enjoyed the video of the little band playing in the afternoon. Nice catch of good sized fish back in the day too.

When I walked from my shack in Red Ground to the Island and back, the Sands was a nice stopping point to rest and get some refreshment. Lounging in one of the net hammocks under one of the mini pavilions was a nice way to spend an hour or so enjoying a mellow buzz.

I never felt any pressure to spend money at the Sands. It seemed like you were always welcomed whether you had money or none. I guess being so far from town they were not overrun with hangers on and ne’er-do-wells.

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## Piggymon

> Yeah, I returned in 2007 after being away for 34 years.  You just can't try to recreate the past, but look for new adventures, of which we found many.  And don't let anyone kid you that Treasure Beach on the south coast is like the Negril of the early 70's....it isn't.  We have been back a half dozen times since 2007.
> Regards,
> Bob


It seems that your search for new adventures has helped to keep you young, at least in spirit, Bob. I am in awe of your courage shown in your diving exploits. Keep up the search for the new and interesting.

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## Ladynegril

This is a great thread. Love,love ,love it  :Cool:

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## rjonsun

> It seems that your search for new adventures has helped to keep you young, at least in spirit, Bob. I am in awe of your courage shown in your diving exploits. Keep up the search for the new and interesting.


No Negril for us this year.  We are spending money like a drunken sailor on our house this year while we are still working.  2 years till retirement and we want everything done around the house before then.  We are planning a 3 week trip to the Ecuadorean Amazon in February.....in search of new adventures!
Regards,
Bob

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## sonja

what a great report!  love hearing it from someone's that even more of an old timer than me (but not by much).  please keep posting.

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## TAH

> No Negril for us this year.  We are spending money like a drunken sailor on our house this year while we are still working.  2 years till retirement and we want everything done around the house before then.  We are planning a 3 week trip to the Ecuadorean Amazon in February.....in search of new adventures!
> Regards,
> Bob


Very cool.

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## Piggymon

> No Negril for us this year.  We are spending money like a drunken sailor on our house this year while we are still working.  2 years till retirement and we want everything done around the house before then. 
> Regards,
> Bob


I hear you, Bob. We live in Texas now, but I have inherited 40 acres in the Arizona mountains. 





My wife and I are using all our vacation time and a good deal of our free cash flow trying to get the cabin comfortable enough that we can live there when we retire. Did I mention that Arizona has approved growing your own ganja under their Medical Marijuana laws? What goes around comes around. It will be good to stop taking all these drug tests at work when I retire.

Best regards,

Piggy

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## Piggymon

> We are planning a 3 week trip to the Ecuadorean Amazon in February.....in search of new adventures!
> Regards,
> Bob


The only time I have been in Ecuador was at the Quito Airport, on my way from Kingston to Lima, but from what I could see out of the airplane window, Quito looked like a neat little mountain city. 

I had plenty of adventures in Colombia. Most of them were in cities and in beach towns, but I did make it back into the mountains behind Santa Marta. The guy I was dealing with had a nice Toyota FJ40 four wheel drive that we used to drive back into the mountains to a finca he owned.

I spent plenty of time in the Bolivian jungle outside of Santa Cruz, back when I was young enough to enjoy it. I suppose that could be considered the Amazon, since the Amazon basin is so huge. Lot of parrots and the occasional sloth.

One adventure was riding behind the younger brother of my Bolivian girlfriend on a 250cc Harley Davidson trail bike. It was an Italian made four-stroke bike that Harley sold under their brand. The bike was not set up for a passenger, but I was able to squeeze onto the back of driver's seat. With no passenger foot pegs, I had only the short section of bolt protruding past the nut of the rear axle to rest my feet on, which gave me a very precarious perch. 

El Loco drove like a maniac through town, ignoring stop signs and nearly wiping out when he tried to squeeze between a stopped taxi and the curb just before the passenger opened the curbside door to exit. I knew that my fears of our wrecking were not misplaced, since both of his forearms, from pinkie finger to elbow, were one long scab from a recent accident. I am sure he is dead by now, the way he drove. 

But he did take me out to see the Lomas de Arena sand dunes and lake out in the jungle. Back in the day, it was very difficult to get to the area and a trail bike was perfect, but with the bad trails and ruts, it was difficult for me to stay on the bike due to the lack of foot pegs. It put a hell of a strain on my groin muscles keeping my feet on the short sections of bolt. 

He got lost a time or two and had to ask directions from peasants in shacks out in the boondocks, but eventually he found it. He parked the bike and we clambered up over the sand dune and then down to the edge of the lake. We smoked some hash and then took off our clothes and skinny dipped in the lake. We sat on our clothes by the edge of the lake and smoked some more hash while the sun dried us. Somewhere along the line, he got an erection and made a half hearted pass, but I don't swing that way, so we let it pass and did not mention it again. 

Eventually we got dressed and walked back to where we had left the motorcycle. The bike would not start. It would have been a ***** to have to walk out of the jungle, so I was quite relieved when El Loco finally figured out that he had turned off the fuel petcock when he parked the bike and had forgotten to turn it back on before trying to kick start it. Blame it on the hashish. 

We finally made it back to the house, owned and occupied by some extended family members of my girlfriend where I was to be staying while in town on this trip. I had purchased a bottle of Stolichnay vodka at the Lima Peru Duty Free store on my way to Santa Cruz and stashed it in the freezer section of the refrigerator at the house before heading out on the trip to the sand dunes. It was Cold War big time, back then, so the Stolichnay was a rare treat. 

With ice cubes, some fresh lemons, and the cold vodka, it went down smoothly and we were thirsty after the long day on the trail. Sitting at the kitchen table we managed to polish off the entire bottle between the two of us in a couple of hours. I don't recall using it, but there must have been some stimulant use during the vodka drinking, because even after the bottle became a dead soldier, we were both fairly sentient and completely mobile. I was about ready to turn in for the night when there was a good deal of excited conversation in Spanish, little of which I followed, but it was not hard to figure out that there was some heat from somewhere or just a good deal of paranoia and I and my package were suddenly persona non grata in the house where I was supposed to be staying. My package and I were relocated to a nearby seedy hotel. My room was on the second floor and looked out over the road at a large forbidding prison. All night the lugubrious sounds of moans, groans, and the occasional whistle drifted across the street as I lay awake on my sagging mattress imagining what life would be like being locked up there.

But the sun came up eventually without the dreaded knock at the door. I got some breakfast and around noon I was transported to more comfortable digs at the local Holiday Inn.

I am too old for adventures like that now. Now my idea of an adventure is going to out to a nice steakhouse with friends and family and having a couple of drinks and a nice steak.

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## newfiegirl59

Just got done reading this whole thread. Thank you so much to everyone for posting along with all the pictures. Piggymon you sort of resembled Robert Plant back in the day.

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## Piggymon

> Just got back from JA yesterday and was able to confirm that the Jason I know is the same one you are referring to.  He is still in Negril.  If you ask for him at Juicy J's, someone will most likely know where to find him.  Sadly, his mother has passed away.  Not sure about his father.



Here is a photo of Jason and me in the door of my little shack when it was being built in Red Ground behind Tip Top Cottages.

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## Piggymon

> Attachment 32599
> Anyone recall the name of this place? I recall it took two hours to get served food!
> The year was March 1977


Two hours to get served was par for the course back in the day. You can get used to nearly anything. After being down in Negril for a while, I came to be accustomed to long waits for food. The culture shock came when I stayed in my model sister's apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and ordered food from a deli off a menu she had stuck on her refrigerator.  My first shock was the guy on the other end of the phone getting annoyed with me because I was taking too long to place my order. I was used to talking slowly and repeating my order in order to try to prevent too many errors. The second shock was hearing the knock at the apartment door long before I was expecting it, with the sandwich done to perfection and the Heineken nice and cold. Night and day difference between the pace of life in New York and Negril.

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## rjonsun

Piggymon, I still wear cut off shorts about the same length as those in the photo.  I get grief from my kids for showing too much leg!  In fact I'm wearing a pair right now.
Regards, 
Bob

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## Piggymon



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## Piggymon

> Piggymon, I still wear cut off shorts about the same length as those in the photo.  I get grief from my kids for showing too much leg!  In fact I'm wearing a pair right now.
> Regards, 
> Bob


It is funny how habits we develop when we are young stick with us for life. I remember wondering why my father loved the big band sound in the sixties, but I still love me my Bob Marley and here we are the second decade of the 21st Century.

My buddy Bobby also had his cut offs at about the same length.

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## Piggymon

> Piggymon, I still wear cut off shorts about the same length as those in the photo.  I get grief from my kids for showing too much leg!  In fact I'm wearing a pair right now.
> Regards, 
> Bob



I wear baggy long cargo shorts now. Living in the Houston area, we can wear a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals about 9 or 10 months a year.

I am wearing my cutoffs when I ran into Paul water skiing.

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## Candy man

I visited Negril either 1972 or 73. Not sure which. Stayed in a hut behind a fisherman's house. He rent out several of these huts. He also had a thatched roof restaurant. Served food every day, whatever he caught. It was on the 7 mile beach strip. I can't remember his name. He had a woman, who we called Mrs. Light-a. I have no idea how you spell it. She cooked. I remember a granddaughter named Masea. Again, no idea how to spell it. Anyone visit Negril during that time recognize any of this?  I've enjoyed all the old stories.

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## Bossman

> I visited Negril either 1972 or 73. Not sure which. Stayed in a hut behind a fisherman's house. He rent out several of these huts. He also had a thatched roof restaurant. Served food every day, whatever he caught. It was on the 7 mile beach strip. I can't remember his name. He had a woman, who we called Mrs. Light-a. I have no idea how you spell it. She cooked. I remember a granddaughter named Masea. Again, no idea how to spell it. Anyone visit Negril during that time recognize any of this?  I've enjoyed all the old stories.


Could it have been Lester and Miss Lena Donaldson? Mister Lester was a fisherman. They had one of the original properties on the beach between what is now Tree House and Footeprintes which was another one of the early properties on the beach. Their Daughter Deloris O'Conner manages the property today. Their Son Ossie's Donaldson owns the property across the road along with Ossie's Jerk Center.

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## original spanky

Piggymon, is that the same Jason whose family owned the place on the cliffs that they sold to the group from rock house?

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## TAH

Fantastic thread.

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## Candy man

Mmm. Could be. Not sure. Maybe Ms. Light-a was Ms. Lena. they had a house with 4-6 shacks in the back. Outdoor shower and toilet. There was an A framed house directly across the street. Don't know if he owned it. He had a restaurant. Simple, open air, thatched roof. Local police used to eat there and play checkers. They were delightful people, who let me extend my vacation even after I told them I had no money left to pay them. I think our shacks were 5 bucks a night. Thanks for responding.

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## Bossman

> Mmm. Could be. Not sure. Maybe Ms. Light-a was Ms. Lena. they had a house with 4-6 shacks in the back. Outdoor shower and toilet. There was an A framed house directly across the street. Don't know if he owned it. He had a restaurant. Simple, open air, thatched roof. Local police used to eat there and play checkers. They were delightful people, who let me extend my vacation even after I told them I had no money left to pay them. I think our shacks were 5 bucks a night. Thanks for responding.


It does sound like it was Donaldson's Inn. Way back then it may have been called just Miss Lena's.

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## Nirvana

WOW.... we were there in '72 & after years of trying we did finally buy the land where the red canoe in your pic is.....NIRVANA!

also recognize White Sands driveway with George on his bike & the walk way down to the beach

thanks for your post it brings a tear to me eye

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## theIguana

Great thread, stories and photos. Most enjoyable for an semi-old timer. Where was the Negril Sands located on the beach?  What's in it's place currently? Where was Negril Sandy Park? I heard stories that the Tamboo and Yellowbird were some of the first places on the beach. Can you confirm? Any stories of the Yellowbird you can share?

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## Kevin, PA

Wow how did this thread elude me for almost a full year? Great stuff! I Will need some time to read through it all.

Not to change the subject too much but I ran some numbers based on what was provided in the OP. In 1971 minimum wage in the US was indeed $1.60. Adjusted for inflation today that would be the equivalent of $9.33. $90 for airfare would be $524.78 in today's dollars (about what I paid for my ticket this year). 

I like to point this out whenever I see\hear someone say "I was only paid" or "minimum wage was only X back in 19XX". Minimum wage has almost always paid more than what it does today when adjusted for inflation.

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