2010 saw old restaurants go and new restaurants come. Same for people. There was money raised and weather battled.

Here is a 2010 Year in Review…at least the way On-StJohn.com remembers it!

-Billboards began filling in the new Coral Bay Triangle sign.
-St. John Sailing Center opened next to the Banana Deck.
-The formerly pink Morris F. deCastro Clinic building was painted blue.
-The Balcony restaurant went out of business.
-Grande Bay opened its pool.
-Boyson Inc. gave its barge crew new uniforms.
-More roads were paved in FIsh Bay.
-Plumbing problems plagued Wharfside Village.
-The Surly Cantina closed down.
-Jimmy Goulette left the island for family in New York.
-Jumbie Beach got a new access trail.
-The Texaco Station was razed.
-Spyglass opened in the former Balcony space.
-Thomas Chorny, from Bloomington Ind, set 8 Tuff Miles Record (46:27).
-A refurbished Roanoke rejoined the barge team.
-Sidney, or Sidney’s Peace & Love passed away.
-The Mail Center became PostNet.
-Love City Home & Garden Center opened.
-Love City Mini Mart was repainted white. (It was not a good year for pink.)
-TARP money found its way to St. John with South Shore road work.
-The Great Cruz Bay dumpster got safer.
-The Roundabout was officially finished. Except for that pole.
-Safe Boating Day cleared Bay of boats. Forgot to tell the boats owners.
-The police department got ATVs.
-Real Housewives of New York briefly spoiled the islands.
-Chocolate Hole got new road signs.
-Sue Brandi was named Westin Employee of the Year.
-Wagapalooza raised $22,000.
-Beach Bar kitchen manager Red Hauge headed for Alaska.
-Starfish Market got a makeover.
-Coral Bay raised money for Wendy Davis to become a paramedic.
-USVI-On-Line travel forum friend John Baranzano passed away.
-VIERs got, then lost, then got again an underwater Webcam.
-Now & Zen opened a Coral Bay location.
-The Soggy Dollar Bar turned 40.
-Property Tax bills finally came.
-The Tourist Trap lost Miles, its big, lovable mascot.
-Earl, Otto and Thomas all soaked the islands.
-Castaways opened where Crazy Cracker’s used to be.
-Joe’s Rum Hut added a restaurant.
-NY’s Fatty Crab began renovation work in the old Hinds.
-Lion fish began showing up, and getting caught in St. John waters.
-The ACC reorganized.
-The Tap Room added food.
-La Plancha del Mar moved to Mongoose Junction.
-Baked in the Sun moved next to Tamarind Inn.
-Lone Star Taqueria opened a new taco stand at Marketplace.
-Woody’s raised $23,000 for breast cancer.
-No Smoking got a reprieve.
-Transplants from Rhode Island opened pet boutique St. Johnimals.
-An Annapolis transplant opened consignment shop Saltwater Gypsy.
-Legislature confirmed its move to the big yellow building.
-A barge and a ferry both ran aground in the exact same place.
-JJ’s Texas Coast bricked part of its patio.
-And…white sunglasses were in.

Happy 2011 from the On-StJohn.com staff! (Below: John, Cultural Beat, Ruth, Breaking News Beat, Jeff, Managing Editor, Gretchen, we’re not sure what she does but we like her, and Russ, Videographer.)

From the pride of OSJ reader Doug Miller’s hunting, Virgin Islands Magazine, circa 1959.  75 cents! That was a lot of money in 1959.

And below, a write up about Coral Bay, called “one of the finest bays in the West Indies.”  Click (and squint) to enlarge and read.

Steve Simonsen, Bruce Schoonover and Bill Stelzer are teaming up on a new documentary to tell the story of Project Tektite.

If you’re not familiar with the project, read some background from Bruce, who is serving as the historian on the project, here.

“Plenty of old footage of the project exists,” says Steve. “We’re just having to jump through hoops to get a lot of it, especially the stuff that NASA has.”

They’ve also managed to find several of the people who were involved in Tektite to interview.

The three are hoping to land their project on cable for national broadcast when it’s complete.  Enjoy the trailer they’ve put together, below!

OSJ readers from New Jersey Quenton and Jannette were out amongst the holiday shopping crowd just before Christmas…when what to their wondering eyes should appear…

“We saw this in the parking lot at Freehold Mall. I was unable to talk to the driver because of the traffic, but he did let me take this picture. It made us feel a little closer to the islands.”

Cruzan Rum Distillery. St. Croix, U.S.V.I. There’s a Web address too, making it pretty obvious the truck predates the paint job by a few decades.

Merry Christmas from On-StJohn.com, and a few of our friends, both old and new.

Santa can find you anywhere, even on White Bay.  We hope he brings you what you want tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Eve! (And we’ve got a nice Christmas Day gift for you tomorrow.)

The University of the Virgin Islands will begin offering courses at The Marketplace after the first of the year in the former gym location on the third floor.

The space is being built out into a total of five classrooms.

The old gym equipment meantime has made its way to the Gifft Hill School, where it is now available to the paying public. Hours are 7am to 11am and 4pm to 7pm (it’s for the kids’ use the rest of the time.)  $40 a month gets you access and you can pay right there.

Now we know who puts up the street sign decorations around Great Cruz Bay over the holidays.

Caught red poinsettia’d. Nice work Jane Kyser.

We didn’t catch up to the D.C. cab driver fast enough to ask him if his meter was running, but we did talk to the camera shy owner of this 32 year old Mercedes.

“I bought it from a kid on St. Croix and she might not be pretty, but she still runs great,” he said. “She’s got a strong transmission and handles these hills just fine.”

That may be true, but we’d hate to be behind him going up Jacob’s Ladder on a rainy day.

As odd and out of place as both are, neither can trump the oddest car of all to find its way to the Caribbean.

You’ll forgive us for a day off we hope.

(Are you missing any news? You come to this site for news? )

We can at least report, St. John is, as always, beautiful.

There is a story in every one of those bottles. And, as soon as the folks who helped us empty them wake up, we’ll tell them to you.

On-StJohn.com reader and collector of old St. John photos and postcards Doug Miller sends us another. This one, circa 1950′s.

The caption on the picture says “around the time of the establishment of the V.I. National Park.”

It also notes at this time there were less than 10 vehicles in operation on St. John and no roads were paved.

A ferry carrying Westin employees from St. Thomas to St. John ran aground shortly before 9 a.m. Friday morning in the exact same place that the General II car barge did earlier this month.

Passengers were safely removed, although we’re told at least four were taken to the St. John clinic fo injuries after what folks who saw it happen described as “a very hard hit.”

The ferry was finally freed sometime after noon.

Have the reefs and rocks suddenly started moving? This is a routine run these barges and ferries make many times a day. ‘Spain please!