Another one of my quick trips.

I left New York (JFK) after 11 p.m. on April 22, 2025 on JetBlue #1803 and arrived in San Juan on April 23, 2025. This delay did not bother me since I would be having a long layover in San Juan. The flight was scheduled to leave at 10:50 p.m. At about 7:30 a.m. on April 23rd, I took Silver Airlines flight 132 to St. Croix and arrived at about 8:05 a.m. No delays. Nice plane. Once off the tarmac, I called my brother, who was shocked that I was on the island. I had not mentioned this trip to anyone! I invited him and his wife to lunch.

I had made plans with VI Ubah to pick me up at the airport and take me where I wanted to go on April 23rd and 24th. The vehicle that picked me up at the airport was filthy!! What were they thinking? Since my sister-in-law offered to drive me around, I decided not to continue using VI Ubah. After I got back to NY, I sent them a text explaining the situation. I was asked for the name of the driver. Say what? Shouldn't that be part of their records?

I got to The Frederiksted Hotel, Kings Cross and Strand Streets, had breakfast, checked in and then spent the morning walking around Frederiksted taking photos. The town looked a lot cleaner than previous years. There was a positive aura about the town. I visited the cemetery to spend time at Ma's grave.

There were two cruise ships in port, the Adventure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and the Scarlet Lady (Virgin Voyages).

My sister-in-law and brother picked me up after 11 a.m. We went to Sand Castle for lunch. I always enjoy the ambiance there though what's served at lunchtime may not be that great. After lunch, we visited my sister, Carmen (Min), and her family. We talked, mostly about how our father died. I got to chit-chat with Javier, Frankie and Rodney. It was an enjoyable afternoon. We headed back to town to buy a t-shirt from one of the vendors by the pier. The information on the t-shirts is embroidered, not ironed on like other vendors.

For dinner, I went to the restaurant Six Nine (69). I was to invite a niece but since she did not respond to my text, I went alone. Dinner was delicious as always. The Shrimp Emme is incredible!!!

On April 24th, I had breakfast then walked around the town. I took more photos. I also visited the cemetery. I walked around the cemetery visiting the graves of relatives and friends. I also visited my friend Asta. It was nice seeing her.

My brother and sister-in-law picked me up on April 24th after 11 a.m. We had lunch at El Flamboyant, on Eddie Ortiz Drive (Route 663), in what we called Machuchal. Area is considered to be Clifton Hill. I love their food!! From here, we drove around the island, visited Estate Coble, then headed to the Henry Rohlsen airport. By the way, the entrance to Coble looked so different that we made a U-turn, asked someone for assistance then went back. We had been in the right place all along!!

I left St. Croix on JetBlue and headed to San Juan. Slight delay. Flight 2941 was to leave at 4:52 p.m. but left after 5 p.m. After a long delay in San Juan, flight 904 that was to leave at 9:55 p.m. left at after 11 p.m. I arrived at JFK after 3 a.m. on April 25th. I got home at 4:30 a.m. By the way, finding a taxi in terminal 5 is very complicated. It involves a lot of walking.

Another fun filled trip.

All photos taken with the S23 Ultra Galaxy phone unless indicated otherwise.

The following was published on St. Croix Source January 6, 2025
(stcroixsource.com/2025/06/06/op-ed-the-beautiful-ludvig-e-harrigan-court-65-years-ago/


The Beautiful Ludvig E. Harrigan Court
65 Years Ago

Do you remember Harrigan Court? Now it is only an empty field as one enters the great town of Frederiksted. When it first opened in 1960, it was a beautiful housing complex that was the envy of many. It had manicured lawns, beautiful flowers and trees, playgrounds for children, a basketball court and benches in various areas where we could sit and talk. For the first time in my life, I did not have to go to a local faucet to fill buckets with water to cook, shower, etc. Latrines were a thing of the past! There were 8 buildings but they were numbered 1 to 9. If I remember correctly, buildings 7 and 8 were joined as one building but considered two.

There were many families I knew but many were unknown to me. The names of the families I can recall were: Edwards, Flynn, Rivera, Garcia, Seales, Thomas, Monell, Ortiz, Roberts, Santos, Charles, Crawford, Henderson, Peterson, etc. Various nicknames for families and each other were ever present. Names like La Colora, Los Ratones, Pinky, Mongo, Fa, Mongoose, Guin, Midget, Big Wheel, etc.

Harrigan, as we called it, was an incredible community. We looked out for each other, helped each other, and helped take care of the grounds. It was one big family.

Some weekends traveling church groups came into the complex to have service, invite interested parties to join their ranks. We listened from a distance. We were Catholics who were not interested in leaving our church. There were neighbors who were Anglicans (Episcopal), Moravians and Lutherans, etc. There was also a Baptist church close to Harrigan. Most children attended St. Patrick or Claude O’Markoe School. Due to the ever-growing population, St. Joseph and Central High were eventually opened to house grades 9 to 12.

After school and/or on weekends, we played games like Jacks, Lotto/Bingo, Three Holes (marbles), Cack (with the seed from a locust fruit), softball or basketball. We also had competitions to see who could fly the highest on a swing. Usually Friday and/or Saturday night, the boys got together and played various games. Some girls joined us. We played Hide-and-Go-Seek (HGS), Touch the Post (similar to HGS) but in order to score we had to touch a light post before being found or tagged by one of the members of the opposing team. There was also a repulsive game, Policeman, that didn’t last.

When mangoes were in season, a group of Puerto Rican guys, would walk to Annaly. These trips to Annaly were fun. Lots of talking, singing, joking and teasing took place. We also picked mamey fruit, if available. Other fruits we picked when in season were Mesple (sapodilla) in the Clarke pasture, genip in various areas, hog plum by the St. Pat’s gut, etc. At other times, we went torching (kerosene in a bottle with a lit rag to startle the crabs at night, but not needed during the day).

Other weekends we went fishing on the dock (old and new) and/or visiting the navy ships that came regularly to the island. We also had picnics on one of the many beautiful beaches on the island, including Dorsche, First Target Wall, Cramer Park, Sandy Point, etc. The coco plums at Sandy Point were delicious. We were told not to eat many to avoid being constipated. We also searched for turtle eggs. The eggs were delicious boiled. Now Sandy Point is off limits during turtle laying egg season.

My favorite weekend activity was visiting relatives because we’d get to meet the rest of the family. We visited our grandparents in Estate Whim or our aunt in Estate Coble (where I was born). Most of the times, we walked to Whim. The big celebrations took place when family from off-island visited.

On Strand Street we hung out in Jacaranda and the Hobby Shop. The stores on King and Queen Street were busy all week but much more so on weekends. I never got to see a movie in the Gardine Theater but did visit Alexander’s Theater in Christiansted a few times.

Then there were the walking trips to Hams Bluff on San Juan Day. Miss Maria Monell, a neighbor, who enjoyed celebrating the day, had to put up with a bunch of wild, screaming kids. How did she do it? We swam, we fished, and we collected whelks (wilks). What we caught became lunch.

I miss Harrigan. It was an exciting place. It wasn’t total luxury but it was better than what we had. I miss the families. I miss the many friends. I lived in Harrigan, Apartment 29 of Building 3, from 1960 to 1969. The good old days!!

It is sad to know what Harrigan became before it was demolished. There will never be another community like Harrigan.



Note: Mr. Rodríguez graduated from St. Joseph Catholic School in 1969 after which he attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn from 1969 – 1973 where he received a BA degree. During his college years, he worked as a tutor at the Dr. White Community Center on Gold Street in Brooklyn through Catholic Charities. He worked for the Social Security Administration in Queens, New York for many years from where he retired. He volunteered for many years as an interpreter in Elmhurst Hospital in order to help Spanish speaking patients who spoke no or little English. From 1998 to 2013, he worked in various positions at the Dennelisse Corporation in Manhattan (now in the Bronx). Are you interested in photographs he has taken over the years of St. Croix, etc.? You can visit https://www.torrens-nieves.com/USVirginIslands.html for the original website or https://carmennieves-torrens.com/usvi-st-croix.html for the current website.