Tagged: beach bar, kim sha beach, la bamba beach bar, simpson bay, st. maarten, st. martin
After confirming earlier this week that the iconic Rum Runners, a beachfront bar located at the Postcard Inn in Islamorada, was torn down, word comes out of St. Maarten via Today SXM that La Bamba Beach Bar, located on Kim-Sha Beach, will be be replaced by a concrete parking lot. “The ministry wants a parking lot built of concrete, with boulders surrounding the property,” states the article and confirmation from La Bamba’s Facebook page confirms this, with this post from February 6th that it has indeed been razed: “IT IS WITH GREAT REGRET WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF ST. MAARTEN ,AS WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED FROM THEM TODAY, WILL BE BULLDOZING LA BAMBA (EVEN OUR NEW BAR) TOMORROW AT 8: A.M.”
As you can see from the satellite view below, there seems to be plenty of space to construct a parking lot without having to tear down buildings. Coming from someone who walked that stretch of beach numerous times during our stay at the Royal Palm, it’s unclear to me why tearing down La Bamba was necessary. I’m sure the government of St. Maarten has a good excuse, right?
The words of the classic Joni Mitchell song, “Big Yellow Taxi,” have never rung more true: “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.” Yep.
