Quote Originally Posted by ol'yardie View Post
Our first trip was 1983. We stayed at Negril Beach Club. There was Charela, the old Bar-B-Barn, Tea Water, Pete's (for patties), Yellow Bird, and after Gilbert in '89 Mark opened the Hurricane Bar which was there until the owners of Yellow Bird (Montreal owners) finally came down three years later and evicted him from his spot on their beach just off the corner of their chain-link security fence. Way up on the beach was Cosmo's (worth a taxi ride to get Mr Brown's fish and chips). And don't forget the Rasta enclave that was at the bridge and mouth of the river. I had my first Jamaican home cooking there at Sister Love's, prepared by a Rasta lady called Dorothy P. Also met my first Rasta at Sister Love's place that night, a tailor who sewed baggies (remember them?) He went by the name of...drum roll...Tailor. Those were the days, my friend.
My first trip to Negril was in 1981 and I stayed at Yellowbird and have been a consistent regular Yellowbird customer for 40 years!. The owners of the Yellowbird were a couple from
Nebraska; Roy and Irene, whose painted Mural was on the outside wall of Cottage # 3 until recently. The Hanson family owned the Yellowbird for many years until it was sold in the early 2000's.
I remember the Hurricane Bar, located where Merrill's is now situated. While the music was great, it was so loud that not a soul could sleep. Mark would be sleeping on the counter of his bar oblivious to the volume. These were the days when there was no "noise time limit" for bars/restaurants. In my recollection, I do not recall any owners of the Yellowbird other than Roy and Irene who related they founded the "yard".

For fabulous Lobster I recall Angela's in the cliffs, Lobster pizza place next to Risky Business on the beach, great food at original Xtabi (prior to Gilbert damage), Mariposa (fabulous Italian food), Café au Lait in the cliffs, Rock Cliff Hotel in the cliffs, Pee Wee's on the cliffs as well as Bar B Barn, Alfred's, Miss Brown's for tea etc, Chicken Lavish, Miss Cool on the beach (past Negril Beach Club) with her sons who sold "anything for the head"