Island Odyssey,,,,(originally titled "Island Boys" ) is a fantastic read. A must for Negril fans!
Island Odyssey,,,,(originally titled "Island Boys" ) is a fantastic read. A must for Negril fans!
The Wharf Club had the bar and restaurant on left side of the West End Road (heading out of town) and the store across the street from the Bar. Back in the early 70's the store was mostly dry goods and I remember the Chinese guy who ran it sold dried Salt Fish. It was the town grocery store. During that time the Villa's complex was being built up on the hill overlooking the town and a "Mall" was built on the street including several shops including a more modern grocery store, Hardware Store, Bank, Bakery, Record Shop, Disco to mention a few.
The Wharf Club had great and very inexpensive food. A Fish or Chicken dinner was like $3.50 JA (The exchange rate back then was $1 USD = .80 cents JA). The dinner included the entree plus a big helping of Rice and a portion of vegetable. You would enter the restaurant and go to the counter and place your order and pay.
It was here I first learned the classic Jamaican saying "Soon Come" after waiting endlessly for my food to arrive. Yes mon "Soon Come"
And yes there was an earthen floor. At the center of the floor there was a riser that was higher than the surrounding seating area so if you sat at that table you were looking over the rest of the restaurant.
The Wharf Club was named after the concrete wharf that was built on the banks of the Negril River where it meets Long Bay
rjohnsun Those are great shots of both sides of the business.
Probably one of the last pictures of the Wharf Club, "A Disciplined Club" was featured on one of our year 2000 Negril Today pages that also featured an excerpt from the book, Banana Shout from 1972.
Mark and I spent countless rum filled hours on his porch working on the details of the book.
https://www.realnegril.com/beingees/nn291100.htm
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
Our first trip to Negril was in 1983. Some of those memories are etched in my brain today. We dropped our bags in our room at the Beach Club and went out to explore. Mr. Williams was an older gentleman in blue khaki work uniform who mostly sat at the front door of Beach Club. He advised us to turn right to walk into town. As we got to the bridge we met a beautiful Rasta woman called Sister Love, who had a craft shop in the Rasta warren on the river below the bridge. Her given name was Adassa and she would become our first Jamaican friend. (Her friend Dorothy P. cooked us our first Jamaican stew chicken dinner the next night.) We continued over the bridge to the circle and off to the right was the phone booth. At the phone booth were the only other white faces to be seen, obviously other tourists. At this point we had been in Negril about half an hour and were feeling a little overwhelmed by all the attention we were drawing. So we made a bee line to the phone booth and met Dave and Kathy from Pittsburg. They had been to Negril several times and when he saw me he asked "First time to Jamaica?" I told him we'd just gotten to town and were a little nervous about how to handle it all. He roared out a laugh and a hearty "welcome to Jamaica. You're gonna love this place!"
Then he and Kathy led us across the street to The Wharf Club. He walked in and shouted "hi fellas!" and everyone in the place yelled back "hi Dave!" He then ordered a round for the boys and Red Stripes were served to everyone. We started meeting people that afternoon and the rest is history. We've gone back at every chance since and now I don't know how many times we've been over the years. But I'll never forget my first ever Red Stripe at The Wharf Club.
ol'yardie,
Do you remember the juke box in The Wharf Club? In the 70's the juke box was the rage and many Jamaican artists got their music to the masses that way. Lone Ranger's Barnabas Collin's Lone Ranger,Gregory Isaccs Soon Forward, U Brown's Please Doctor, Gregory Isaacs Mr. Brown, Marcia Griffiths Stepping Out of Babylon, Jah Thomas Come Nurse come to mind. Not to forget all Bob's stuff!! But these Roots artists had a side B to their 45's called the Dub or Version side. Music was always blasting in and out of the Wharf Club. It was a social gathering place not only for Negril locals but for those visitors seeking that kind of food, drink and entertainment. I sent many hours, lots of dollars there. It was a really fun place!!!!
johng,
I can't say that I remember the juke box but i didn't get to Negril until '83 and maybe it was gone or maybe it was playing and I didn't take notice. I was just totally smitten by this culture I had been welcomed into. I do remember Gregory was huge and I bought his records at the little record shop in the HiLo center at the circle. Also the club Compulsion was upstairs and there was a bakery there. Also bought Bob and a guy named Don Carlos whose album was "Pass me da Lazer Beam". I also remember seeing Beanie Man and Yellow Man at Kaiser's but I think those were in later years. Kaiser's was the bomb on Wednesday nights in those days.
ol'yardie,
I venture to guess that the juke box probably was out of service or obsolete by '83 as there would be absolutely no possible way it was playing and you didn't take notice!! It was always running nonstop and so loud!! Yellowman is originally from Negril and often played gigs in town, Scratch Perry was born not far from Negril before moving to Kingston. I have seen them both at Roots Bamboo as well as dozens of other acts there.
And then there was that whole scene at "the Bus" on the beach for a while
Ah, the Bus. Just mention of that place brings back a load of memories.
...and the fella who drove up and down beach road and west end road all day with a huge loudspeaker on top of his little car announcing "TONIGHT...at the Bus..." followed by the name of that nights performer. Social media posts may be more efficient but they have no flair or theatrical quality.
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