Saturday Video: A Look at Daily Life in 1930’s Saba
We’re jumping into the Wayback Machine today to showcase an authentic look at daily life in Saba some 75 years ago, courtesy of this fascinating video produced by True, an old men’s magazine that hasn’t been published since the mid-1970s. Aside from a chauvinistic and somewhat racist tone in certain spots (predictable for the era), the video is an incredible representation of what it was like to visit this uniquely isolated little corner of the Caribbean at a time when most of the world didn’t know it even existed.
Several of the historical curiosities we mentioned in this earlier post on Saba Spice are featured here, including footage of engineers surveying for, and laborers working on the “The Road” some 20 years before it was finally completed!
It may be really old, but this video has me more excited than ever to visit Saba. The island has always lived in my imagination as a place where the old Caribbean really still persists; where time has stood still.
I wonder if all birthdays are still remembered in Saba with personal visits and flowers?
I wonder if Saba’s policeman still doubles as the bell-ringer, marking each hour?
I wonder if he also still posts the rates of exchange daily for no real reason at all?
If you know any of the answers, please don’t tell me. With this video as a foundation, I want to see how much of old Saba really still exists for myself, hopefully soon…