Good Monday Morning Everyone! I hope everyone had a stupendous weekend. I have some not so great news to share this morning unfortunately. Early Friday morning, a Cruz Bay staple spot for local hangouts and cuisine was removed from the Port Authority parking lot across from the post office.
If you have traveled to St. John in, say, the past 30-40 or so years, you may recall the yellow booth near the public bathrooms at the ferry dock. The popular food and beverage stand in the Victor Sewer Marine Terminal parking lot was removed by the request of the Port Authority last week to make way for some additional parking spots.
Patrick’s West Indian Delight opened in 1981 and served the community up until they closed their doors last week. The hot spot provided an outlet for locals to gather and for residents and visitors to grab a quick refreshment or a bite. The business’ namesake, Patrick Joseph, passed away on October 3rd and his cousin has been running the business to help his widow since then. VIPA asked the family to remove the business at this time, stating ““With the passing of the late Mr. Patrick Joseph, VIPA currently does not have an agreement with any tenant to operate Patrick’s West Indian Delight,” as reported by the Daily News.
This wasn’t the first time the business has been asked to vacate the premises tho. In 2005, The St. John Tradewinds reported on a similar request. In June of that year, VIPA asked Mr. Joseph to remove the business. He insisted that he paid rent each month and should be allowed to stay. VIPA referred to the building as an “eyesore” and that Mr. Joseph was only paying rent for one parking spot even though he was taking up two.
Mr. Joseph refuted that he kept the parking lots clean and paid his $100 rent each month. He argued that, at the time, he was the only spot for local cuisine in town. Eventually, the two entities came to some type of an agreement because, fifteen years later, Patrick’s West Indian Delight still stood erect and busy in the VIPA lot.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Mr. Joseph and his family for keeping their doors open for so many years and for providing the local community and visitors with snacks and drinks since 1981. The tearing down of this building on November 20, 2020 is truly the end of an era and I hope the family can find a new location for the business!
VIPA plans to expand the space into free, two-hour parking spots for residents and visitors.
So sad. This little local place has been around for so many years. It’s torn down for 3 extra parking spaces. Not right. Maybe the gravel lot should be looked at again. So many spots and no one is using it. I wonder why?
Time marches on. I never ate nor had a beer at this place but I walked past it hundreds of times. Always seemed like a really popular hang out for the elder locals. I Always got a good vibe from the place. My regards to the family.
This is heartbreaking. Is there anything we can do to reverse this action?
I’m sorry to hear about the loss of Mr. Joseph and his lunch wagon. I remember when they called this colorful island structure an “eyesore”–this from an agency that operates out of something that looks like a shipping container behind a chain link fence. This is what you see on the beautiful Cruz Bay waterfront!
And yet one more part of what made STJ unique disappears. But hey, we have Summer’s End to look forward to, right? We will miss Patrick’s.