E14 SUNDAY • JUNE 16,2019

The tranquil main beach of GoldenEye resort, a 52-acre en- clave in Jamaica with James Bond roots.

BOND’S ROOTS

Spymaster Ian Fleming wrote all 14 Bond books at this desk, which remains in his villa.

Visitors can spy on beach home at GoldenEye resort in Jamaica, where Ian Fleming created his super-spy stories

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY NORMA MEYER

hake, don’t stir, the martinis. You see, The reception area of GoldenEye resort pays tribute SI’m in GoldenEye sitting at James to Ian Fleming’s years at his Jamaican hideaway. Bond’s birthplace, which is a small cor- palled around in his teens with Errol Flynn, was rescued by ner desk where Ian Fleming created the world’s Rastafarians after a boating mishap, founded mega-hit most dashing super-spy in 1952 and banged out Island Records (besides Marley, his artists included U2, Tom Waits and Cat Stevens), and is a boutique hotel-and- all 14 Bond books. Fleming’s three-bedroom rum mogul. He also saved nearby frozen-in-time Firefly, the Jamaica beach pad seems rather simple, con- tropical lair of illustrious raconteur playwright Noel Cow- ard; this sunset hour, the laid-back Blackwell and I are sidering the British naval officer-turned-best- sipping fruity Blackwell Rum-label cocktails on Firefly’s lawn next to Coward’s grave. selling-author hatched Pussy Galore, Auric We’ll get to that chapter shortly. As for Fleming’s house, Goldfinger, Scaramanga, assassin-thwarting “It is creatively blessed. I lent it to Sting and he wrote his biggest record there, ‘Every Breath You Take,’ ” Blackwell gizmos, rocket bombs and other do-or-die hav- says. He mentions it not to brag because this is one unpre- oc on this very spot. Anybody — covert or not tentious multimillionaire, clad in a well-worn lavender sou- Ian Fleming’s villa, where agent 007 came to life, is venir sweatshirt emblazoned “Montauk.” —can book it for a vacation. part of the GoldenEye resort in Jamaica. Guests staying at the resort can tour Fleming’s villa if it’s not rented. Three days before my peek, Craig slept in the Never mind that just a few days ago, 007 killing machine producer who vaulted Bob Marley and Jamaican reggae to fluffy white-canopied four-poster bed adjacent to Fleming’s Daniel Craig overnighted here. international fame. Bring a license to chill because the toiled-over writing desk. The extravagantly paid leading “Fleming didn’t want the house to be fancy,” recalls disarming seaside resort — which includes what is now man was about to begin filming the untitled 25th Bond nearly 82-year-old Chris Blackwell, whose spirited mother, called “Fleming’s Villa” — is a spread-out enclave of 44 rus- movie elsewhere in Jamaica, bringing the suave sleuth back Blanche, lived close by and purportedly was the longtime tic-chic cottages, lagoon dwellings and multicolored beach to his roots. The first movie, “Dr. No” (1962) was shot in this love of the married Fleming. “When I went there, it was very huts, fringed by flowering jungle with gravel roads and Caribbean nation — Bond buffs will never forget when sultry militaristic and very sparse. There wasn’t a cushion in sight. funky directional signs brightly hand-lettered on scraps of shell-clutching Ursula Andress emerges from the ocean in a He would wake up, swim, write after breakfast, nap. He was wood to keep you from getting lost. It’s more enchantingly knife-belted bikini. very disciplined.” Gilligan’s Island than secret agent glitz. Except you are Fleming’s GoldenEye got its start in 1946, when he Your mission: soaking up sun, fun and iconic history. being surveilled in the ocular-shaped saltwater “Eye Pool” bought 15 acres that had been a donkey race track, sketched London-born, Jamaica-raised Blackwell built, owns and —agiant turquoise eyeball stares up as swimmers splash out his idyllic hideaway and christened it after one of his hangs out at the encompassing 52-acre GoldenEye resort, overhead. clandestine World War II operations. He was infatuated although he’s probably better known as the legendary music Blackwell’s own dossier is fascinating — for starters, he SEE GOLDENEYE • E15

WARHOL ART SHOW FORESHADOWS SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

San Francisco exhibit’s standing of something about and aura can be traced to his early American culture, which is now years, after he moved to New York images became indelible more global.” in 1949 and got a job as a commer- “Andy Warhol —From Ato Band cial illustrator. He did work for long before the Internet Back Again”opened in lateMayat publications such as Mademoiselle the San FranciscoMuseumof Mod- and Glamour magazine. BY KATIE OYAN ern Artandruns through Sept. 2. It “That idea of marketing and all includes morethan 300works span- the things we take for granted was SAN FRANCISCO ning Warhol’s40-year career. just something Warhol was im- Before Instagram and Face- The show features some of the mersed in,” De Salvo said. “And he book, before selfies and filters that artist’s most iconic creations — was just such a sponge in his capac- perfect selfies, there was Andy depictions of Campbell’s soup cans ity to absorb things.” Warhol, using his art to imbue and Brillo boxes, for instance, and In 1963, he was commissioned to friends, family, celebrities — even silkscreen portraits of Elizabeth do his first portrait, of modern-art himself — with a certain mystique. Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis collector Ethel Redner Scull. Aretrospective of Warhol’s work Presley and others — along with The artist took Scull to a photo on display in San Francisco cap- lesser-known pieces from his early booth in New York, gave her a stack tures the artist’s ability to use and later years. It next travels to the of coins and said, “Pose,” Garrels paintings, drawings, photographs Art Institute of Chicago. said. She took 300 pictures, looking and other mediums to create buzz- “Warhol is constantly labeled a playful, pensive and everything in worthy personas the way people do pop artist, but all that happened ERIC RISBERG AP between. now using social media. within three or four years, and then A woman walks past Andy Warhol’s “Large Sleep” and “Triple “From that, he makes this paint- The idea of personal branding, he moved on and the work goes Elvis” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit. ing,” De Salvo said: “Ethel Scull 36 “of how we can be who we want to quite dark and explores questions Times,” a brightly colored montage be,” was something Warhol was of gender and sexual identity, fame, work,suchas celebrity, money and out the show. of images that anticipated modern- trading on more than a half-cen- subcultures,” said Gary Garrels, love.The artistdied in 1987 at age58. “When you see some of the day selfies and Instagram posts. tury ago, said Donna De Salvo, Elise S. Haas senior curator of De Salvo said the San Francisco rooms, particularly the portraits, “You feel each moment,” De deputy director for international painting and sculpture for the San museum’s team “really enlightened we really conceptualized it in a way Salvo said. “I think it’s really one of initiatives and senior curator at Francisco museum. me in terms of thinking about of thinking about Facebook,” she Warhol’s great commissioned New York’s Whitney Museum of The show’stitle comes from Warhol through the lens of social said. portraits.” American Art, where the exhibit Warhol’s1975 memoir in whichhe media.” Warhol’s understanding of the originated. “He had a real under- touches on keythemes from his It’s a common thread through- power of images to create identity Oyan writes for The Associated Press. THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE SUNDAY • JUNE 16,2019 E15

NORMA MEYER PHOTOS The Fleming Villa has been updated with comfort- GoldenEye proprietor Chris Blackwell, who also The reggae-and-jazz-bedecked Bizot Bar is Golden- able furniture; the 007 author had hard benches and owns Noel Coward’s Firefly home, stands in the late Eye’s central hangout. It’s staffed by locals who seem planter’s chairs to sit on. playwright’s garden with his statue. like family.

Fleming regularly waded with a magnificent, sweep- lurk — in the 17th century, The Bond 007 Beach, and a GOLDENEYE If you go out with fish-filled conch ing view of Jamaica’s coast. notorious pirate Henry cigarette-stub-chewing shells to feed an octopus Visitors were a Who’s Who — Morgan lived in a still-exist- angler dubbed “Quaker FROM E14 Miss Moneypenny, take that lived under it. “Octo- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard ing look-out on the property. Oats” boasts about his huge with Jamaica, then a British note. Through Dec. 19, pussy” was not only the title Burton, Winston Churchill, Inside, you’ll find cannon- jackfish catch. It’s a testa- colony, and each winter he GoldenEye (goldeneye.com) of a Bond story; it was the Laurence Olivier and Soph- balls. ment to one of Blackwell’s ditched England to spend name of a fishing boat ia Loren, among others. To initially get to Gold- projects, the Oracabessa several months at his para- is offering reduced rates — Blanche Blackwell gave After Coward’s death in enEye, if I had a Bond-pi- Bay Fish Sanctuary, which dise perched above the starting at $315 a night Fleming. 1973, Firefly sank into disre- loted Acrostar or private protects another offshore azure, warm waters of ba- with breakfast for beach Closer in, rugged boul- pair; Blackwell, who shared plane, I could’ve jetted into area in order to revive the nana port Oracabessa Bay. huts — due to construction ders cordon off a shallow hilarious laughs with Cow- Ian Fleming International overfished stock. During an For 13 straight years, in of three new guest houses seawater pool. “This is ard there, bought it in 1992. Airport, about 10 minutes outing on GoldenEye’s between snorkeling, swim- on the resort’s lagoon. where Caspar played,” Da- What’s so extraordinary away. Instead, I fly economy glass-bottom boat, I also ming and bird-watching, the Complimentary activities costa says, referring to the is that the entire home is a commercial into Montego witness how coral is success- urbane scribe tapped out have been added, including only child of Fleming and his musty time capsule, seem- Bay’s terminal, where fully being replanted on the Bond fantasies (sometimes guided snorkeling, “sound British socialite wife, Ann ingly untouched since the cheery, gray-haired Gold- eco-threatened reef where on a gold-plated Royal type- bath” meditation and Charteris. Neither Caspar acclaimed showman suf- enEye driver “Pops” pulls a Fleming snorkeled. And I writer) until his death from nor Ann visited here much fered a fatal heart attack in Red Stripe beer out of a later meet “Turtle Man” Mel aheart attack in England at Firefly excursions. The during the Flemings’ trou- Firefly’s shower and died on backseat cooler and hands it Tennant, a retired British age 56 in 1964. secluded Fleming Villa bled marriage. Following the the bed. A faded pink towel to my perked-up husband school principal who, along Since then, GoldenEye starts at a discounted author’s death, Blanche monogrammed “N C” hangs before our two-hour ride. with GoldenEye support has hosted a bevy of bare- $4,455 a night, has a Blackwell looked after the in the yellow-and-black-tiled “Ya mon, relax, you’re on and hands-on guests, annu- foot VIPs from Bill and private pool, and with two villa for Caspar until, tragi- bathroom as if he just wiped island time,” Pops declares. ally saves and releases up to Hillary Clinton to Harrison satellite cottages sleeps 10. cally, in 1975 he committed his hands. In the living When we arrive at Gold- 22,000 endangered sea turtle Ford to Scarlett Johansson. It comes with a butler, chef suicide in London by over- room, a glass decanter holds enEye, there is no clue, other hatchlings. The delightful Ramsay and housekeeper so you dosing on barbiturates at acouple of inches of his than a cryptic “Private Prop- Fleming cherished the Dacosta, 82, was Fleming’s can devote your attention the age of 23. now-oxidized brandy, erty” notice on a wrought- natural beauty of his Carib- gardener, and decades later “That’s when my mother straight across from the iron gate. After a guard gives bean haven; he even picked he still helps visitors plant to penning a page-turning asked me to buy it,” Black- composer-singer’s much- us the OK, we not-so- the mild name of his bird- trees throughout the resort thriller. well says. “She was very tinkled piano topped with stealthily reach the recep- watching guidebook’s au- for a $1,000 donation to emotionally attached to it. photos of glamorous chum tion Fleming Room, adorn- thor — James Bond — for Blackwell’s Oracabessa villa. “I used to climb up the She used to swim there Marlene Dietrich. Decaying ed with vintage pictures of his cloak-and-dagger hero. Foundation benefiting the palm tree to get the right every day.” literary works line shelves. the mastermind, most taken Today’s resort, starting with local community. Strolling coconut for him. He loved So in 1976 Blackwell Frying pans clutter the at GoldenEye. Next door is afew cottages in the 1990s, around, you’ll notice dozens rice and pea porridge with purchased the spymaker’s stovetop. the treehouse-style Gazebo remains remarkably down- of hand-printed weathered coconut milk.” refuge when the first poten- In an outdoor corridor, a restaurant, where Fleming to-earth with a kindhearted markers beside vegetation: In front of the home’s tial buyer — renegade Mar- glass patio table is set with pondered MI6 plots in a staff of townsfolk and a the guava tree planted by open-air picture windows — ley — backed out, deeming it floral-patterned china, just gazebo shack. (Coinciden- Jamaican “One Love” vibe. Johnny Depp, the ackee the Commander shuttered “too posh.” like when the Queen Mother tally, charred octopus is on At the thatched-roof, planted by a teenage River them to concentrate when Long before that, Cow- dropped by and quaffed a tonight’s menu.) In the record-album-covered Bizot Phoenix, the Julie mango he wrote — is the “sunken ard fell for Jamaica while vodka-and-beef-bouillon restaurant’s entry, five Bar, I’m channeling my stuck in dirt in 1998 by silver garden,” where he enter- vacationing at Fleming’s Bullshot with Coward. framed stills from “Dr. No” inner Bond girl as my hus- screen then-Bond, Pierce tained celebrity friends, villa, although the cheeky Firefly is also one for the show Andress in her classic band and I sip frothy signa- Brosnan. (Of course, “Gold- including Katharine Hep- British “Private Lives” and books. And GoldenEye bikini debut, one with hunky ture pineapple-and-rum enEye” is also the title of burn, Truman Capote, “Blithe Spirit” playwright guests can privately tour it, co-star Sean Connery. The GoldenEyes in a cocooning Brosnan’s 1995 Bond caper. Coward and swashbuckling likened the white-walled, capped with a picnic or scene was shot on a 20- breeze with the rolling surf And Bono wrote the movie’s Flynn, who had moved to no-frills manor to a medical sunset wine on the expan- minute boat trip from Gold- lapping against rocks, a theme song here.) Jamaica. Two almond trees clinic. “He’d call it Gold- sive lawn. You’ll be joined enEye and arranged by the drop-dead gorgeous sun Dacosta, like others who that Dacosta planted for enEye, nose and throat,” alfresco by the bronze, life- film’s then-24-year-old loca- setting, and resident cat worked for Fleming, referred Fleming form an inter- Blackwell recounts. (Yes, size statue of Coward, cross- tion manager — Blackwell Fleming meowing at our to him only as “Command- twined leafy awning. the villa has since been legged in a chair, cigarette in himself. feet. Soon, tree frogs and er,” a nod to his British naval From there, a steep stone updated.) fingers, admiring the spec- Another reason to R and crickets loudly chirp a be- intelligence rank. “The staircase descends to Flem- In 1949, Coward built his tacular vista; he’s buried Rhere is that conservation witching symphony. I figure Commander always had a ing’s narrow ivory-sand first nearby retreat, Blue close by, a rectangular mar- —not nefarious SPECTRE You Only Live Twice. cigarette holder in his teeth private beach. Dacosta Harbour, and later erected ble slab marking his final —is a main concern. One that he was smoking,” Da- points to a jagged rock off- his beloved, modest one- resting place and favorite morning, I chat with local Meyer is a freelance travel costa tells me outside the shore, remembering how bedroom Firefly on a hilltop cocktail spot. Other ghosts fishermen at what they call writer.

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