OP
OP
Found this in an academic paper:
Thank you, Castro!
Thank you, Castro!
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Sint / St. Maarten Isle Hotel: History & Set (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Taghkanic
- Start date
buffalojim
Royal Flush
Very cool, nice job!
Rakrul
Straight
Yup. In general, the french side has the best restaurants and dutch side has the best nightlife. I don't eat on the french side too much but there were still a lot of places recommended.
I tend to hang out in Simpson Bay and visit Maho and/or Pburg to buy some cigars. I did consider to stay in Grand Case for my next trip but think it's a bit too small and the french loves closing up early.
OP
OP
A bit of trivia I picked up about St. Maarten... It was named by Christopher Columbus on an early journey, though he did not actually set foot on the island. Problem was, he intended to give that name to the island of Nevis, but some map-maker screwed up and wrongly assigned it to what then became St. Maarten.
Various accounts indicate that the island was populated as long as 3,500 years ago, by Arawaks from what is now roughly Venezuela. There were other waves of immigrants, and more than two centuries of slavery which ended in the mid-19th century (slightly earlier on the French side than the Dutch side).
By coincidence, the area where I live (New York’s Hudson Valley) was also colonized by the Dutch. Just another small personal connection to the chips along with their 1968 origins.
My general sense is that the Dutch side is partytown, still hosting more than a dozen casinos and lots of nightclubs. There also evidently are many brothels there, and by some accounts it is a haven for money-launderers (including through the casinos, which seem to be very lightly regulated if at all). The French side has no live casinos, and seems to be more sedate. The current government seems to have some concerns about the unusually high percentage of permanent residents who patronize the casinos, as opposed to just tourists.
I’ve only passed through once, very briefly in the 1990s, landing by plane and taking a ferry to another island.
Various accounts indicate that the island was populated as long as 3,500 years ago, by Arawaks from what is now roughly Venezuela. There were other waves of immigrants, and more than two centuries of slavery which ended in the mid-19th century (slightly earlier on the French side than the Dutch side).
By coincidence, the area where I live (New York’s Hudson Valley) was also colonized by the Dutch. Just another small personal connection to the chips along with their 1968 origins.
My general sense is that the Dutch side is partytown, still hosting more than a dozen casinos and lots of nightclubs. There also evidently are many brothels there, and by some accounts it is a haven for money-launderers (including through the casinos, which seem to be very lightly regulated if at all). The French side has no live casinos, and seems to be more sedate. The current government seems to have some concerns about the unusually high percentage of permanent residents who patronize the casinos, as opposed to just tourists.
I’ve only passed through once, very briefly in the 1990s, landing by plane and taking a ferry to another island.
A Hollywood special effects artist retired there and has a small museum and shop. Tons of original Star Wars props and production design art.
In Grand Case, yes -- and two old favorites left on the marina waterfront. Just a shell of what was there before, though.
Rakrul
Straight
Also a bit brief history of the split of the island, popularly called SXM now, the airport code. The source is a cab-driver we hired as a chauffeur and guide so take it for it is. 
The island was wholly governed by the Dutch and was important to them due the salt reservoir on the island. The spanish armada came and captured the island, sending the remaining dutch fleet fleeing to the ABC-islands. The dutch went to the french and said, "let's take the island back, we split it and share the salt". The french agreed but requested the northern half of the island.
The french and dutch fleet then sailed to St. Maarten. The spanish picked up that there was a huge dutch/french fleet coming their way, so they were like "ah, screw this" and left before the fleet arrived so the french and dutch took the island back without a single shot fired. The dutch settled in Oyster Pond, while the french set up shop in Marigot which became the french capital, while Phillipsburg (later?) became the dutch capitol.
The reason why the french wanted the north side, was to keep an eye on the English who were on Anguilla. You can actually see Anguilla from SXM. They built their fort, Fort Luis, on the highest point in/around Marigot, which is now just a ruin.
Marigot:
Anguilla in the background:
The other thing I heard was that since the french got the bigger part of the island, they "gave" the dutch the cruise port and later the international airport. There's still a working "domestic" airport on the french side, flying to other french islands. And then there's the legend how the island was split. The story goes that a french guy started at the north end and the dutch on the south end. Where they met would be the border. The french guy drank red wine, while the dutch guy drank Jenever (dutch gin) so it went a bit slower. It is also said that he fell asleep. This is of course highly improbable but a good story nonetheless.
As you see, Marigot has much more modern look while Philipsburg has a more colony/touristy look, mostly due the cruise port. The rest of the dutch side doesn't look like this at all. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good pictures displaying this, so all you get is this.
Philipsburg
Btw, I belive your hotel/casino used to reside close to where I took this picture.
This was taken in 2021. There's a lot more places that has opened now. Not many survived both Irma and then Covid hit just as they were ready to re-open so it took some time for them get back up again.
Courthouse
Bonus pics of Oyster Pond that still isn't rebuilt after Irma. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me unfortunately, but this is most of it.
Sorry @Taghkanic for dumping holiday pics in your thread. Let me know if you want me to delete the post.
The island was wholly governed by the Dutch and was important to them due the salt reservoir on the island. The spanish armada came and captured the island, sending the remaining dutch fleet fleeing to the ABC-islands. The dutch went to the french and said, "let's take the island back, we split it and share the salt". The french agreed but requested the northern half of the island.
The french and dutch fleet then sailed to St. Maarten. The spanish picked up that there was a huge dutch/french fleet coming their way, so they were like "ah, screw this" and left before the fleet arrived so the french and dutch took the island back without a single shot fired. The dutch settled in Oyster Pond, while the french set up shop in Marigot which became the french capital, while Phillipsburg (later?) became the dutch capitol.
The reason why the french wanted the north side, was to keep an eye on the English who were on Anguilla. You can actually see Anguilla from SXM. They built their fort, Fort Luis, on the highest point in/around Marigot, which is now just a ruin.
Marigot:
Anguilla in the background:
The other thing I heard was that since the french got the bigger part of the island, they "gave" the dutch the cruise port and later the international airport. There's still a working "domestic" airport on the french side, flying to other french islands. And then there's the legend how the island was split. The story goes that a french guy started at the north end and the dutch on the south end. Where they met would be the border. The french guy drank red wine, while the dutch guy drank Jenever (dutch gin) so it went a bit slower. It is also said that he fell asleep. This is of course highly improbable but a good story nonetheless.
As you see, Marigot has much more modern look while Philipsburg has a more colony/touristy look, mostly due the cruise port. The rest of the dutch side doesn't look like this at all. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good pictures displaying this, so all you get is this.
Philipsburg
Btw, I belive your hotel/casino used to reside close to where I took this picture.
This was taken in 2021. There's a lot more places that has opened now. Not many survived both Irma and then Covid hit just as they were ready to re-open so it took some time for them get back up again.
Courthouse
Bonus pics of Oyster Pond that still isn't rebuilt after Irma. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me unfortunately, but this is most of it.
Sorry @Taghkanic for dumping holiday pics in your thread. Let me know if you want me to delete the post.
Attachments
OP
OP
Also a bit brief history of the split of the island, popularly called SXM now, the airport code. The source is a cab-driver we hired as a chauffeur and guide so take it for it is.
The island was wholly governed by the Dutch and was important to them due the salt reservoir on the island. The spanish armada came and captured the island, sending the remaining dutch fleet fleeing to the ABC-islands. The dutch went to the french and said, "let's take the island back, we split it and share the salt". The french agreed but requested the northern half of the island.
The french and dutch fleet then sailed to St. Maarten. The spanish picked up that there was a huge dutch/french fleet coming their way, so they were like "ah, screw this" and left before the fleet arrived so the french and dutch took the island back without a single shot fired. The dutch settled in Oyster Pond, while the french set up shop in Marigot which became the french capital, while Phillipsburg (later?) became the dutch capitol.
The reason why the french wanted the north side, was to keep an eye on the English who were on Anguilla. You can actually see Anguilla from SXM. They built their fort, Fort Luis, on the highest point in/around Marigot, which is now just a ruin.
View attachment 1326957
Marigot:
View attachment 1326956
View attachment 1326958
Anguilla in the background:
View attachment 1326960
The other thing I heard was that since the french got the bigger part of the island, they "gave" the dutch the cruise port and later the international airport. There's still a working "domestic" airport on the french side, flying to other french islands. And then there's the legend how the island was split. The story goes that a french guy started at the north end and the dutch on the south end. Where they met would be the border. The french guy drank red wine, while the dutch guy drank Jenever (dutch gin) so it went a bit slower. It is also said that he fell asleep. This is of course highly improbable but a good story nonetheless.
As you see, Marigot has much more modern look while Philipsburg has a more colony/touristy look, mostly due the cruise port. The rest of the dutch side doesn't look like this at all. Unfortunately I couldn't find any good pictures displaying this, so all you get is this.
Philipsburg
Btw, I belive your hotel/casino used to reside close to where I took this picture.
View attachment 1326967
View attachment 1326966
This was taken in 2021. There's a lot more places that has opened now. Not many survived both Irma and then Covid hit just as they were ready to re-open so it took some time for them get back up again.
View attachment 1326968
Courthouse
View attachment 1326969
Bonus pics of Oyster Pond that still isn't rebuilt after Irma. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me unfortunately, but this is most of it.
View attachment 1326972
View attachment 1326975
Sorry @Taghkanic for dumping holiday pics in your thread. Let me know if you want me to delete the post.
Not at all, great additions!
You may have already seen this, but I was looking through the Burgel auctions and recognized one of these (undrilled) $100s:
Here's the link, hope it finds it's way to your collection: https://estateauctions411.hibid.com...foreign-and-domestic-casino-chips?ref=catalog
Here's the link, hope it finds it's way to your collection: https://estateauctions411.hibid.com...foreign-and-domestic-casino-chips?ref=catalog
OP
OP
To fill out the history a bit more, I acquired these two chips from the Great Bay Hotel & Casino, which succeeded the St. Maarten Isle Hotel after its demise in 1974:
The red $5 chip is perplexing to me, as the inlay looks almost like a label (rather than something pressed into the chip at its inception). According to TheMogh, the red $5s were ordered in 1974 and the blues in 1978. Their last order was in ’78.
Maybe they were just in a big rush to get chips after taking over the SMIH, so the reds were produced in a hurry. The other weird part is that the older red inlay is very clean, whereas the later blue is pretty filthy.
http://chipguide.themogh.org/cg_chip2.php?id=SMGBGB
The red $5 chip is perplexing to me, as the inlay looks almost like a label (rather than something pressed into the chip at its inception). According to TheMogh, the red $5s were ordered in 1974 and the blues in 1978. Their last order was in ’78.
Maybe they were just in a big rush to get chips after taking over the SMIH, so the reds were produced in a hurry. The other weird part is that the older red inlay is very clean, whereas the later blue is pretty filthy.
http://chipguide.themogh.org/cg_chip2.php?id=SMGBGB
OP
OP
I want to wring the neck of whoever is running this auction.
I did find another lot with one of the $100s, and one with a red $5. But it’s needle/haystack stuff. And there is no good way to navigate from lot to lot.
There is little rhyme or reason to how they have sorted these chips. High value chips are in lots with tons of junk. Many lots will get no bids, others will get excessive bids because there are 1-2 rarities in there with the crap. Little effort has been made to match up chips from the same casinos. You find lots of 10-15 choice chips (e.g. Pick Hobsons) but then there are other strays of the same type in lots of 50-75 random chips. Grr.
Pollack was a periodontist in Dartmouth.
(And my ex-wife was from South Dartmouth, which is why I'm trying to forget everything I know about that area...
)
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OP
OP
Unusual addition to my Isle Hotel collection… An LP of calypso, bossa nova, swing and other musuc performed at the venhe by an eight-man combo from the island:
Now I need to pull out my turntable from storage to have a listen.
Now I need to pull out my turntable from storage to have a listen.
OP
OP
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OP
OP
(This is Side A Track 2, a bossa nova medley. Pretty cool to be hearing music that was actually played live in the casino. Can’t find a date on the album, but I would guess this was closer to 1968 than 1974.)
Rakrul
Straight
I'm guessing you only want chips from that hotel / casino, but if you want some other chips from the island, you can have these:
PM me your address if you want them. Not sure which ones are still alive. Casino Royale is there, I think Princess moved, Dolphin isn't were it used to. I found the Hollywood Casino chips as well.
PM me your address if you want them. Not sure which ones are still alive. Casino Royale is there, I think Princess moved, Dolphin isn't were it used to. I found the Hollywood Casino chips as well.
OP
OP
This is a very kind offer, which I should probably pass on though… My collecting around this one St. Maarten casino is already a bit out of control. If I start in with other Caribbean venues there will be no bottom to it…
OP
OP
I corresponded recently with Mr. Pollack, the author of the book about Caribbean casinos posted above. He indicated that he is nearing completion of an updated edition of the book. Also acquired one of his personal promotional chips, which I guess he passes out at conventions, to attach to the existing version of the book.
OP
OP
Photo of the hotel from sometime in the 1970s… This may be from after it rebranded under another name:
A commenter on Facebook said that during the Isle Hotel days it was jacket & tie inside (I assume he meant for dinner). Also that the owner, Goberman, would show up in a Rolls Royce and let kids check it out.
A commenter on Facebook said that during the Isle Hotel days it was jacket & tie inside (I assume he meant for dinner). Also that the owner, Goberman, would show up in a Rolls Royce and let kids check it out.
OP
OP
Found this Atlas Obscura article about “the Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit museum, run by Creature Effects Designer Nick Maley and his wife Gloria” on the island:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yoda-guy-movie-exhibit-sint-maarten
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