Cheers... and Cigarettes - Part Three

This is Part Three and the final installment of a short series about growing up around alcohol.

Last Monday I posted about the three main bars in Cruz Bay in the late 1950's; Smitty's, Mooie's, and the Ellington's bar at Gallows Point. I also promised to tell you about how my sister Erva and I came to play with cigarettes.

Among the white people who lived on St. John, my parents were in the minority who had kids. Getting a baby-sitter rarely happened. Most every one understood, if the Denhams were invited, the girls were going to come along. My parents felt if Erva and I weren't invited, then it probably wasn't a party they wanted to go to. The consequences of this attitude was that Erva and I were around a lot of adults.

So it was, when my parents were invited to a wedding reception at Gallows Point, the girls went along. I was around ten. Just about everyone was there, including Ivan (John) Jadan who, in a former life, had been a Russian tenor with the Bolshoi Theater.
Whenever he showed up at a party he brought his balalaika and sang Russian folk songs.

Well, this time he not only brought his balalaika, he also brought his son, a handsome young man of about 25 or so.  Even I, at ten, thought he was good looking.

Because, as usual, Erva and I were the only kids at the party, Ivan's son decided to help keep us entertained, with my parent's permission of course.

He anchored a paper napkin across the top of glass with a rubber band. On top of the napkin he placed a dime. Then he lit a cigarette for each of us. The game was to see how many holes we could burn into the napkin before the dime fell into glass. So there we were, the three of us perched on bar stools at on end of the bar, playing with cigarettes.

It never occurred to either Erva or I to take a puff when it was way more fun to burn holes in the napkin! I can clearly remember having a grand time watching the ashes collect in the bottom of glass, trying not to be one to cause the dime to fall.

Those were innocent times. I can't imagine parents these days allowing their kids to hang out at a bar and play with cigarettes.

Would you?

Cheers - Bars - Part Two

This is Part Two of a short series about growing up around alcohol.

In the mid to late 1950's there were three bars in the Cruz Bay area, each with its own distinct atmosphere.

If you wanted a cold beer and a raucous game of dominoes Smitty's was the place to go. Raucous game of dominoes? In the islands dominoes is still predominately played by men who, when they have the winning tile, slam it down on the table top with as much force as possible, causing the tiles jump. The games can get quite noisy. Smitty's is where many of the hard-working day-laborers hung out. It was a place where I could buy the occasion Baby Ruth.

If you wanted to play pool or to talk politics, you went to Mooie's, the oldest bar on the island. Theovald "Mooie" Moorehead an Army Veteran of twelve years, was St. John's senator for many years,  and a humanitarian. Outside his bar, under a large Maho tree, was a concrete bench. While the men talked politics the women gathered under the tree and gossiped. The area became known as the Gossip Tree. In those early days if Mooie wasn't around a person could get a beer or other drink, and leave money on a shelf behind the bar. He kept my favorite soda on hand, Orange Crush. I remember how he'd carefully turn the bottle upside down to mix bits of orange pulp before he opened it.

Smitty's and Mooie's catered more to the locals, both black and white.

Now, if you wanted to play liars dice or pitch horse shoes, you went out to Gallow's Point to Duke Ellington's bar. Duke had been a mystery writer and had several books published. At Gallow's he and his wife, Kay, own and operated a few guest cottages.  Their bar catered more to tourists and white folk. He had a large round table around which long-time residents, like my parents, would confab while they had their evening cocktails. It was here that we heard a wandering minstrel who played a lute. His name was Seraphin (or Serafin) and he wore something like Arthurian or Robin Hood-type garb, green tights, multi-colored coat and cape, and a hat with a feather. We also went to a few Easter Egg hunts there.

Bars were places where people gathered at the end of a long work day, drank a beer and talked before they headed home for supper. It was social drinking and more refined than just going to a bar to drink and get drunk. And we kids, we were all near by, either down on the beach swimming or in the park playing marbles, jacks, or jump rope or playing on the swing set.

Next week? Part Three. In which my sister and I play with cigarettes.

Cheers - Part One

This is Part One of a short series on growing up around alcohol.

Alcohol was, and still is, part of the social fabric of the Virgin Islands. It's cheaper to buy a fifth of rum than a gallon of milk.

My parents kept alcohol in our home. My grandmother's guest house at Trunk Bay and later at Lillie Maho had fully stocked bars. When we were little my sister, Erva, and I were allowed to drink a liqueur glass of wine for special occasions, like Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Sometimes if my parents were visiting friends in the evening and I got whiny Mom would slip me a small amount of beer so I'd go to sleep.

One time, when I was about six, we were at a party and I got a fish bone stuck in my throat. I grabbed my father's drink -- which I thought was water -- and chugged it down. It turned out to be rum on the rocks. I don't remember a thing after grabbing his drink. And, strange to say, since then  I've never been all that fond of rum. Though I do like a good pina colada every great once in a while.


When my father won the Fourth of July boat race in our speedy little boat the FDO (Father's Day Off) he got a case of Schaefer Beer. (See, even Lucille Ball advertised for Schaefer.) And speaking of the Fourth, at least once, those in charge of the fireworks got so drunk and excited that they shot them off on the 3rd. But this can be forgiven because the 3rd is Emancipation Day, the day the slaves won their freedom from Denmark.

For many, many years there was an elderly gentleman who, when he got to the right level of drunkenness, would put his bottle of beer on his head and dance, with or without music. I can't remember that bottle ever falling from his head.

The availability of alcohol in my life had it's good and bad sides.  The bad side is that with liquor being cheap, alcoholism is prevalent and I can spot an alcoholic with relative ease. The good side is, because I saw responsible drinking in our home and because we were allowed to drink small amounts, neither my sister or I ever had the need or desire to go out, drink and/or get drunk with our peers, something I saw happen on more than one occasion.

Did you grow up with alcohol in the home? Next Monday...Bars.