Bahamas or Bust  May 2007    By Neil Glander

Where can I start?

A little history perhaps.

I was one of the very few who both opened and closed Playboy Bahamas. Apr. '78 - Sep. '83.

Some went on to open The Cable Beach Casino, now Crystal Palace and others, 

like myself ended up at Paradise Island. Dec. '83 - May '88.

So that was my ten-year Bahamas experience and is the perspective from which I write.

        I hope these ramblings and some of the photos will explain each other.

It had been 19 years, to the month, since I left Nassau so I was expecting many changes.

The airport had grown but JFK Blvd. seemed to have shrunk. The airport road, as we called it, had 

not changed much but as we turned right onto West Bay St. the new structures were in evidence.

The Island of New Providence is so much more built up and a lot of new construction underway.

Having said that, I couldn't help but notice that the warehouse at Arawak Quay and the 

spectator stand at the Cable Beach Race Course were still in the same state of disrepair 

as I left them.

It was very nostalgic for me as we pulled up to Breezes, formally The Ambassador Beach

Hotel and home of The Playboy Casino. I spent my first few hours there wandering

around, taking pictures, comparing changes to the recognizable and just generally

soaking up the memories. There were plenty of them!

    It was quite strange swimming around where the pier used to be and a few yards

further down where we used to tie our boat to submerged engine blocks.

This reminded me of my favourite post card of the day, depicting my boat at the bottom 

and my home, Delaporte Point, at the top. Ahh! What a life!  

The pool is still the same but there are now more of them.

I swear they made the water thicker. More viscous that is.

    The room that I stayed in was just a few doors down from the one that we used as a break

room in the early days. The lobby and Casino areas had changed only cosmetically and what

used to be the showroom downstairs is now the buffet restaurant.

    Trivia: Who was the act for the official opening of The Playboy Casino?

    The Sugar Mill Pub (our other break room) and the restaurant opposite have changed little but

instead of walking out into the parking lot (remember day shift, conch fritters, peas 'n rice from

the boot of a car) one now walks into an outside restaurant, The Garden of Eden.

From there one can look up and see the break room that backed onto the upstairs ballroom that

was the home of the Casino for a few months while the lobby venue was renovated.

    I have only a vague recollection as to the location of the Bunny Room. I wasn't invited

very often you know. Can't think why. Too busy chasing tourists I guess.

Andy Wade (Pb) and his wife, Concha also stayed at Breezes 

as did Paula and Magda (both Pb then CB). Shane Kaufman (PI) was down the road at The

Wyndham. (Cable Beach Hotel) Doug (Pb-PI) and Linda (CB) Graham stayed 

at Leslie Darby's (Pb) place at Delaporte before moving into their time-share. 

We ate at Nesbit's (The Yellow House) Still great food and value.

Sherry May (Pb-PI) and her two friends from Connecticut, Margaret and Laura, split their

time between Breezes and Comfort Suites on P.I. 

Alison Clark came over from Ft. Lauderdale for a few days and stayed on P.I.

The night we all ended up at P.I. they had dinner at The Bahamian Club. I was so jealous!

There are some ex-pats and Bahamians left over from the "good old days". 

"The Locals", I like to call them.

At Crystal Palace, Michelle and Melanie from Playboy were amongst those who

remembered me but I was embarrassed that I didn't recognize them. 

Norma (Pb) recently left the Casino to open Spice. A great restaurant where The King and

Nights used to be. We had lunch there one day and I can recommended it to everyone.

Jerry Simons (PI) is still hanging in and Daveen was great! pointing us in the right

direction and driving us around.

There were more recognizable faces at P.I. than I expected.

Already on the PI list, Tim Martin, Rocky, James Burnett, were great to see after all

these years but of no surprise. But what about....

David K, Collin M, James O', Julian D,  Frosty...

Others in our group recognized more people than I did so sorry if I missed you out.

PI was very busy that night due to the official opening of the latest expansion. The Cove.

They rounded up all the usual suspects. Michael Jordan, Whitney Houston etc. but

the fireworks that were bursting over PI as we approached down West Bay St. were in

honour of the Casino Reunions group. No doubt in my mind!

    Because it was busy the locals were not able to spend as much time with us as they

would have liked but we did have a couple of beers with Tim Martin after work that night.

A plethora of anecdotal reminiscences were exchanged. Such fun!

    The Fish Fry was new to me.

At Arawak Quay, The Fish Fry consists of about twenty small Bar / Restaurants.

A perfect blend of 'appealability' to both locals and tourists.

The group was starting to amass when Linda looked up and said "Who's that? Don't

we know him"? Well, who should be just walking by but Will Armstrong (PI-CB)

What a surprise for all of us, especially him!

    That was also the night Victor and Marilyn Lownes joined us for dinner.

We were very pleased that they were keen to join in.

They were staying with Serena Williams who was the Playboy PR guru and, still in PR,

now lives on Cable Beach. As you will see, lots of photos of Victor, Marilyn,

Serena and her friend.

Paula and Marilyn had a lot to chat about. Both originated from the Portsmouth

Playboy Club and their Mothers have a lot of mutual friends who still hang out together.

It was fun us to hear them reminisce.

That night we ended up at The Cricket Club by Fort Charlotte for a nightcap.

    Sunday was a busy day.

The last day of the Premiership with West Ham in fear of relegation but more on that later.

    It was Glory and Traveller's day.

Rod Dofort (Pb-CB) was unable to attend the reunion. Family commitments and too 

busy running Carnival Cruise Line I think it was.

So... you can imagine my surprise when he was there to meet us at the dock and give

us the guided tour of the Carnival Glory. The Glory is the Sister ship to the Liberty 

which is the ship we will use for, until we come up with a better name, Super Cruise '08.

Everyone loved it and can't wait for next April.

    After the tour and lunch it was off to the Traveller's Rest for a daiquiri or two.

As you will see, I took a lot of photos of the journey.

    It was a nice surprise to see locals, Bonnie and Maggie (PI) join the group.

Conch: Salad, Chowder and Crack. Grouper Fingers, Connect Four, Banana Daiquiris...

It was as though time had stood still. Traveller’s was eerily unchanged down to the 

hanging pictures, mural, bar and furniture.

  Bernie!... Sorry I didn't receive your email requesting me to "give Joan,

the owner, a kiss on the cheek for you and your memories," until after my return.

        If one is wondering, why the Compass Point photos?....

Blanca and I lived there form '83 - '85. What a fun time that was! We met and hung

out with all sorts of Stars and would take them to our local. The Traveler's.

The Stones (Ron was fun, Bill was quiet and Keith was rude)

Julio Eglesias. Blanca's favourite, was very gracious.

Cool and the Gang, Robert Palmer, Julian Lennon, Talking Heads...

    I can remember, reluctantly, taking Iron Maiden to play Football with the Boys.

Longhaired, tattooed yobs play Football? Ha. What a joke. How wrong was I?

They were super fit and ran rings round us. Turns out they are all excellent footballers

and when they tour they do a football tour as well. With the exception of the 

American drummer the whole entourage has to be footballers.

What a great bunch they were. One was even a West Ham fan.

    Then there was the time we were disappointed that Judas Priest had left without

saying goodbye. The next day, everyone was at Judy and Simon's to watch Live Aid.

Ahh! There they are. They were back out by the pool the next day.

So that's why I walked up to Compass Point Recording Studio. Island Records.

Great memories. Although there is a whole new and posh Compass Point just up the road,

the old part where we lived is unchanged.

    Daveen gave Rod a lift back to the airport but most of us ended up in 

a Super Jitney (see photo) back to Cable Beach.

Doug and I got off at what used to be the Swank Club but is now The Britannia. A

British Pub that shows the football. We had it all worked out. We were going to watch

West Ham vs. Man Utd as live as we could make it. Football, Beer and Pizza. It just 

doesn't get any better, we both agreed. We had to settle for Conch Fritters but two out

of three ain't bad. West Ham did the double over Man Utd, go figure, and stayed up!!!

    We were getting ready to leave when a bloke came up and asked us our names. It

was Keith Burbridge (PI) He had missed us at Traveller’s Rest but heard where we

would be. We had a chat and took a photo. He's doing very well by all accounts

and is soon to marry again. Good luck mate!

    Monday night there was a nice gathering for a dinner at Breezes. Very good.

Non residents have to pay for a pass but due to Magda's silver tong, that

was not necessary. That was a fun night, in and around the old Playboy.

    So! All things considered, one can safely use the well worn phrase...

A good time was had by all. Fantastic in most cases!

   See you at the next reunion!                   

Trivia Answer:        Dionne Warwick (She loves to play Roulette)