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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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.
Here is a photo of Captain Dennis who I alway belonged with the sail boat off the beach.
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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?Quote:
Originally Posted by lane
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...Quote:
Originally Posted by original spanky
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by lane
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' Attachment 21282
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.
Thanks Shelly. I love all these stories from long ago.
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.
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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.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these old pics.More please
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.
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
It really is a great thread! The stories are spectacular.
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
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shelly
Shelly, loved your stories and it does remind me of some great times in Negril. Who knew 40 years could go by so quickly?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shelly
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?
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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!
Lets move on up to Rick's 1982, not the crowds of now, but more of a Zoo.
Just Hanging out before Sundown.
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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.
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Something never change at Rick's
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Boohoo lane, we can't see them. :(
Click on them.
Still doesnt work
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.
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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.
Wow! Good stuff lane!!
And he was very proud of the those shells because he wanted top dollar for them!Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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!
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by original spanky
:) I'll be sure to call him Million Dollar Man when I return in two weeks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Piggymon
What an incredible thread. Thanks everybody!
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".
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 ManQuote:
Originally Posted by JamericanNC
http://hark.com/clips/lklqfsflfc-six...in-slow-motion
When the right time come
Mighty Diamonds -Right Time (Live)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11...c#.UPNp3R1EE40
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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.
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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She is so beautiful Cap
piggymon.. you still got the hair?
I was wondering the same thing? lol
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!