Marlon James on why Kingston is Jamaica’s beating cultural heart

If you’re looking for a good time, Jamaica is where to go – as Marlon James knows all too well.

The author, who was born and raised in Kingston, often heads back to the island from his base in New York to shoot documentaries, hang out with his friends and (these days) to film TV shows like Get Millie Black.

And with more tourists than ever heading to Jamaica to enjoy it’s sun, sea, and rum we sat down with James to discuss how to do a holiday the right way.

I am going to advocate for Kingston. I lived there most of the time I was in Jamaica, and it’s still my favourite place. I think a lot of times when people come to Jamaica, they go straight for the beaches or for the coastline, and that’s great, but Kingston actually is on the coast. And the great thing about being in Kingston is that you’re in a centre of culture. There’s always something going on. There’s Dub Club in the hills, if you want to get classic reggae; there’s always some sort of party going on.

I was last there a month ago, with me and my beautiful self. I was actually shooting a documentary about being an LGBT Jamaican coming back home. So that involved talking to a lot of young people, talking to people in different scenes and so on. I’m there quite a bit: for me, Jamaica will always be home.

If I’m at a hotel, I’m usually in Treasure Beach. So I’m usually at Jakes. Or if I’m in Kingston, I’m usually at AC Hotel. If I want to be up in the hills, I go all the way up to Strawberry Hill.

Rasta pasta. Rastafarian culture was vegan before we had the name vegan. And I like Rasta food. It’s sort of a guilty pleasure, I think. How do you take fettuccine alfredo and take out all the nasty parts? I’m not the biggest fan of dairy. It’s kind of that.

When I’m there, I’m eating at friend’s houses. Restaurants? There’s one up in the hills, a vegan restaurant called Stush in the Bush. Stush, in Jamaica, is patois for posh. It’s absolutely fantastic. You definitely have to reserve ahead, because it’s a pretty remote location. I love going to that when I can. But I’m a pretty regular Jamaican, so I’m usually not far from somewhere selling Jamaican patties. I’m either eating patties or I’m on the street buying pan chicken late in the night. They’re cooking it in an old oil drum, it’s steaming hot, and it’s two in the morning and you’re standing on the roadside and you’re eating chicken.

I’d hope I’m in Kingston, so I would check out the National Gallery. Then I’d probably go to one of the many restaurants that are in downtown Kingston. You particularly want the old Chinese restaurants, which may have secretly been there a hundred years; you want to soak that up. I think downtown Kingston gets a bad rap. It’s actually really quiet, which is weird. I would start from there, from the harbour, and just go all the way up into the interior, go to Devon House, in the centre of Kingston. It was built by a runaway slave who escaped to Venezuela and came back a millionaire. Then just sort of keep going, until you hit the hillside, and then you can go to like The Gap Café in the hills, or you can go to Skyline Drive and look out at Kingston. Slip into Dub Club near the end of the night and then just come back down off the hill, and then you’re done.

Go to somewhere where there isn’t a road. It’s one thing to go to the port town Ocho Rios. But have you been to the small town of Above Rocks? There are places in, say, St Catherine, where, without knowing it, you’re suddenly on a mountain cliff and you’re looking over the mountains. The interior country is so fantastic. And when you go there, you’re basically dropped into 1924, except they have wireless internet. It’s a great way of seeing all the different Jamaicas there are without going very far.

Grace Jones’s My Jamaican Guy, because it’s a song about rural Jamaica. It’s about her guy, but it’s also about a person who washes clothes by the river and lives a pretty rural and idyllic life. And I think in some ways that always reminds me of Jamaica. Then just stuff like Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, which does it as well, or a Jamaican song like Greetings, by Half Pint. But ask me tomorrow, and I’ll give you three different songs.

There’s two. I can’t believe I’m going to talk about a beach, but I want to talk about a beach. For me, there’s a beach called Winnifred Beach. You’re not going to see it on the map. You have to ask somebody where it is and they’ll show you. It’s almost as if you accidentally tripped into the Blue Lagoon; it’s fantastic and it’s not that well-known. Then, there’s a very famous beach called Fort Clarence, which people go to. Stay on that road and continue going, and you’ll come across this thing called Two Sisters Cave. They’ll tell you it’s not open; it’s open. And you can go down into the cave. You can even take a canoe from in the caves out to open sea. That’s my secret place.

In Jamaica, just go until you find something. Somebody’s always having a party, somebody’s always having some event, preferably downtown, preferably somewhere near the sea. So there, you know, there’s always something going on. There’s always a party; there’s always some sort of street dance going on. There was a time in Jamaica when the biggest dances started at two in the morning. Wow. And you just stay partying until eight; basically morning to morning parties. Clear your slate, because it will be filled up.

My best friend Ingrid. I mean, you can call any Jamaican to have a good time. Honestly, call a total stranger. We’re fun-loving people. We love to enjoy ourselves, so you’re never too far from a celebration. And Jamaicans are very open and welcoming. Get out of the hotel, honestly, and if you’re at a hotel that tries to discourage you from going out, leave that hotel.

Jamaicans are very big on style. They’re very big on fashion. Don’t be the one idiot to overdress and end up sweating. Stay away from the Jamaican clichés. You do not need a “No problem” T-shirt. In Jamaica, you kind of come as you are. And I think that’s part of the laid-back atmosphere. It doesn’t necessarily mean underdress. There is a kind of casual glamour to it. People are dressed simple, but they’re put together. It’s a T-shirt and shorts where it’s probably tailored or something, it’s the little details.

Certainly bring home the coffee, because it’s super expensive. Once you leave Jamaica, grab as much of that Blue Mountain coffee as you can. I do; I am kind of shameless. Yeah, if it’s Jamaican, I say grab the food. Grab a box of patties. Grab your Jamaican stuff, like, find out what a gizzada is and ask for it. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is. Just carry back all these things that will perplex British customs.

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