The "And Yet Another Swan Hotel" Story

The White Swan Hotel as pictured on the southeast
corner of Centre Square in Lancaster, PA. In the
background an be seen the spire of Trinity
Lutheran Church.

It was an ordinary day.  Just received an email from Jack Brubaker who is known as "The Scribbler" to Lancaster readers of the local Intel/New Era daily newspaper.  I recently posted a story titled  "Decrepit Swan" which described one of the local hotels and taverns that was part of the city of Lancaster for years.  It was owned for many of those years by a friend and high school classmate of mine, Howie M.  During the writing of the story and researching the history of the building, I came across a building called the White Swan which was in center city Lancaster.  Since some of the same years popped up in my research, I kind of assumed both names referred to the same place, but just to be sure I sent an email to "The Scribbler" who knows just about everything that went on in Lancaster for years or who knows someone who knows.  Less than a day later he told me that the Swan Hotel is distinct from the White Swan Hotel.  So, I dug in deeper.  I am amazed at the history I am learning by writing stories over the past three years for my blog.  Seems that the White Swan Hotel was located on old Centre square in Lancaster on the southeast corner of King and Queen Streets, while the Swan Hotel was on the southeast corner of Queen and Vine Streets, one block to the south of the White Swan.  Old Centre square was an Indian village prior to 1730 when Andrew and James Hamilton laid out the city of Lancaster, PA.  The lot on which the White Swan was located was known on the original map of center-city Lancaster as No. 128, situated on Queen Street, bounded north by Centre Square.  It was granted by James Hamilton to Henry Bostler in 1736 and sold by him to Jacob Slough, March 6, 1747.  Mr. Bostler was licensed to sell beer in 1741, but it is not known if he sold beer at the White Swan during the six years that he owned the property.  I found that Jacob's son, Mathias Slough, was mentioned as keeping the White Swam as early as 1761.  Mathias was a member of the Committee of Observation of the borough of Lancaster in 1774, and a member of the Legislature from 1774 to 1783.  He was coroner from 1755 to 1768 inclusive.  He continued in the White Swan until October 24th, 1806 when his son Jacob, grandson of the first Slough owner and keeper of a tavern in Columbia, PA, took charge of the White Swan.  Jacob was said to "speed the parting and cheer the coming guest" until 1824 when John Stehman took over.  In 1828 Edward Parker became landlord and the White Swan changed hands several other times until in 1855, the long history of the White Swan drew to a close.  The owner of the hotel at that time, Rosina Hubley, sold the establishment to William B. Fordney, Esquire, who sub-divided the lot into parcels which he later sold, marking the end of a Lancaster landmark.  During its heyday the White Swan entertained such distinguished guests as George Washington, John Adams, Jerome Bonaparte, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor.  It was known for its good fare and genial hosts and was the house that before the era of railroads attracted the wealthy and influential travelers.  A traveler going to Philadelphia could catch a stagecoach at the White Swan at 5:00 AM and be in Philadelphia that evening.  The original White Swan building has been lone gone, but the memories have lingered on in history. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "A Collage of St. Martin/Sint Maarten: Part III" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Final day of photos that I recently snapped while on vacation.  As I download them to the post, I think about where each was taken and how much fun I had taking the photo.  Hope to return soon to the island of St. Martin.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Pinel Island with St. Martin in the distance

There is a plane dead center at the top of the photo

Popsicles made with Gelato 

Beach finds

The city of Philipsburg at night 

Pure Caribbean colors 

Island beach bar with my license plate hanging dead center 

Mussels a la Andy and a Ting, a favorite of mine 

Orient Beach 

Waitin' for a lift 

Looks just like our stray at home, Creamsicle 

The opposite end of Orient Beach

Island dolls

Philipsburg

Island cuties

The "A Collage of St. Martin/Sint Maarten: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Downloading another batch of my favorite photos I just took while on vacation in the Caribbean.  I can't imagine having to ever go back to a film camera.  The cost for approximately the 2000 photos I took would have been probably the cost of our airline tickets.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

98.1 Rue de Bouvelard

They do look mean don't they

Outside the Catholic Church in Philipsburg

Artist Gallery in Marigot

One of my favorite things to do.  Take photos of planes landing at the airport.

Berries on a palm

He followed me everywhere

Fisheye view of the center of Philipsburg

The Alamanda Resort in Orient Village

Even the palm leaf can be beautiful

Giving me the balancing act

Different way to look at the bar

The old man challenged me, but I passed

Colorful flowers everywhere

Dessert on evening

The "A Collage of St. Martin/Sint Maarten: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  I just finished making a slide show from the nearly 2000 photos I took while on vacation in the Caribbean.  Most times I do a chronoligical show so our family and friends can see what we did every day, but this time we spent almost every day on the beach so the show had to take on a different vibe this year.  Broke the photos down into categories such as people, creatures, beaches, food, buildings, flowers, unusual features and textures of St. Martin.  I have picked out some of the best of each category and put together some photographs to share with you.  I have joined all categories together so you don't get bored looking at just the same thing for an entire story.  Have enough that I will spread it over three days with a fourth day showing just the colors and textures of the island.  Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.  Part I will follow.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Sunset over Grand Case

Pinel Island

Sugar Birds

Island artist Sir Roland Richardson

Snails that are everywhere on the island

Fantastic rooftop design

Colorful Caribbean houses 

World famous Orient Beach

Strays are a problem everywhere

Probably the only snake on the island

The market in Marigot

Our "waitresses" at Grand Case 

The beach at Philipsburg 

My evening meal

Colorful mailbox

The "As The Beach Turns" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Taking my first early morning walk on Orient Beach which is located on the French side of the island of St. Martin.  Most looks the same as last year ........ except there seems to be another beach bar on the beach.  For years and years there were five main beach bars which were known as the "5 Stars of Orient."  They were Bikini Beach, Kon Tiki Beach, Coco Beach, Waikiki Beach, and Kakoa Beach.  The story goes that over 20 years ago the French government, in order to encourage tourism on Orient Bay, leased the beach to a business owner who built five identical beach bars and he then issued long term leases to operators for the beach bars.  Over the years the five beach bars made renovations such that today the beach bars no longer resemble each other.  Seems that every tourist has their favorite and parks themself in front of that bar, pays for chairs and umbrella, and buys their drinks and food from that bar.  Well, today there are TWO Bikini Beach bars with different colored chairs and umbrellas and two places to eat.  Wondering what's going on so I walked up to one of the beach boys who I recognized from last year and asked what was going on.  He was extremely upset with the situation, but tried to answer me the best he could.  I eventually checked my computer to find out the details and discovered a small war between a few of the beach bars and a Mr. Norbert Luftman.  I must admit that I am totally confused and have tried to read more about the situation, but have become even more confused the more I read.  I will try to not take sides during the rest of my story, because I know how easy it is to take sides when you don't know all the facts and I am claiming right now not to know all the facts.  The story allegedly goes like this ....... years and years ago the Beauperthuy family from France had established The Saline Company on the Orient Salt Pond and laid claim to the territory known as Orient Beach.  Then, back in 1992 that same land was given, by means of an AOT (Authorisation d'Occpation Temporaire) by the government of St. Martin to the Sindextour Company which was owned and operated by Mr. Norbert Luftman.  It was questionable if the government of St. Martin had the right to do so, but they did it anyway.  The AOT was like a long term lease and Mr. Luftman built the five beach bars and sub-leased them to five beach bar owners.  The bars became known as the "5 Stars of Orient."  Bikini Beach Bar is run by Elisa Cohen and Kon Tiki is run by Phillipe Just. The beach bars all pay Mr. Luftman for allowing them to have the bar on Orient Beach or property AW33.  Mr. Luftman then pays the government for allowing him to have the AOT.  And, now the plot thickens.  It seems that in 2009 the AOT suddenly was terminated for Mr. Luftman, but he did not tell the bar owners who were paying him approximately $120,000 a year in rent. Mrs. Cohen discovered that she had been paying Luftman from 2009 to 2011 and he no longer had the AOT to collect it so she and Mr. Just decided to pay the government instead of Mr. Luftman and then applied in February of 2012 for their own AOT with the Government.  She also sued Mr. Luftman to get her money back for the two years she paid him when he no longer had the AOT.  A few months later Mr. Luftman also re-applied for the AOT for the same property that he had lost and was now being applied for by Cohen and Just.  It seems the reason that Mr. Luftman lost the AOT in the first place was because the Beauperthuy family wanted the land back from the government.  What a mess!!  Then the government gave Mr. Luftman his AOT, much to the dismay of Mrs. Cohen, and since she wasn't paying him any money anymore, he had others move in and take her chairs off the beach and open another Bikini Beach Bar right next to the Cohen's Bikini Beach.  He also claimed to have the rights to the title "Bikini Beach Bar."  And, that's a brief summary of what I saw and hear about today.  Who holds the rights to the land and who will come out on top in this battle?  Legal wrangling is now taking place and some of the high government officials along with Mr. Luftman are being charged criminally with fraud for getting the AOT back illegally instead of Mrs. Cohen gaining the AOT.  Is money changing hands illegally?  The courts are deciding who the original owner of the 1600s property AW33 really is.  And ..... the courts of France work extremely slow.  My very basic story I just gave you of a totally complicated legal situation is amazing.  How will it end?  You picking sides yet?  I have my favorite, but I can't tell.  I'm not even sure I have the facts straight yet!!  I'm sure that when I return in a year nothing will be resolved.  Make a great soap opera!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The new Bikini Beach Bar directly next to The Original Bikini Beach Bar 

Sign on the Original Bikini Beach Bar

Surfboard sign by the Original Bikini Beach Bar

New logo for the new Bikini Beach Bar.