Mad Bull posted about Downtown Kingston.
Now that is a subject that brings back memories!
Back in the mid sixties, my mother would take (force?) me, my older brother and sister to catch a Jolly Joseph (JOS bus) from our house near August Town to go shopping in downtown Kingston. We would tow behind her through Orange Street, King Street, Parade, you name it. She was a real battleaxe when it came to dealing with the merchants, and I remember numerous occasions of wishing I could sink throught the floor, rather than be present for her tirades. The original consumer advocate!
On one occasion, when I was perhaps 7, I remember ending up at the Myrtle Bank Hotel, right on the waterfront. There were kids diving off the dock for coins thrown by the ‘merican tourists, while I drank a coke (normaly a Sunday treat back then). A Jazz band played background music, with one guy strumming the biggest violin I had ever seen!
Fast forward to the mid seventies…..Me, my brother and two dark skinned uptown bways were downtown, near the Instituite of Jamaica and heading east on foot (can’t remember why). The neighbourhood was going from dilapidated to sinister, when an old lady in a doorway advises “whereever you are going, turn back now” We complied with her suggestion.
Now to the 90’s! My wife and I arrived in Kingston to attend a family wedding. My brother (who lives in the UK but was in Kingston weeks in advance) picked us up at the airport. He tells me that instead of Mountain View Avenue (the normal, uptown direct route) , we will be going via downtown Kingston, for safety reasons! Hello?
Apparently there is some kind of war between security forces and gunmen in the Montain View area. Back in the seventies, there was an infamous shoot-out between (reportedly) machine gun weilding snipers and gun-club members off this highway. I don’t remember the body count, but it was a ducks in terms of the latter. Still, this was the way that, as teenagers, that we drove at night to and from the drive-in theater.
So back to our trip through downtown Kingston, near the Bellevue (mental) Hospital, I notice that there is a cop car in front of us, and also that my brother is hanging back about 200 yards, ”AK47s are not very accurate” was his comforting explaination!
All a unu, back-a-yard, or elsewhere, tek care!
