Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Restaurant Bar Le Select

St. Barth

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

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See our Tribute to Jimmy Buffett below, after this pictorial

Le Select is famously linked to Jimmy Buffett, a frequent visitor, who performed free concerts for the bar’s 50th, 60th, and 70th anniversaries.

Most likely you are familiar with Buffett's mega-hit "Cheeseburger in Paradise." This song was inspired by a sailing trip in the Caribbean on his boat Eurphoria, which went awry. Rough weather in the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico led to a broken bowsprit and a diet of canned food and peanut butter.

Photo showing the very crucial bowsprit

Buffett and his crew limped into Roadtown, Tortola, where they found a restaurant at Village Cay Marina serving American cheeseburgers.

While other restaurants lay claim as the location that inspired the writing of the famous song, Village Cay Marina is the one that is supported by Jimmy's own narrative in the Parrothead Handbook.

Cheeseburger in Paradise debuted on his 1978 album Son of a Son of a Sailor.

A sign with the iconic "Cheeseburger in Paradise" on it

Jimmy had a lifelong open tab as part of an agreement with Marius Stakelborough (who founded Le Select in 1949) to use the song's name for the bar's burgers.

Not a bad deal for either side.

Le Select holds the title of the oldest bar on the island.

Open air seating

Being Parrotheads ourselves, and with all this history of Le Select, we had to stop by and have one of those illustrious burgers.

Known for its unpretentious, open-air setting, plastic chairs, and a shaded garden, there's a casual Caribbean charm to this place.

As a community hub on the island, it's perfect for people-watching and socializing.

As you can see in the photo above, people of all ages and both locals and tourists alike come to Le Select.

Items to share, buckets and salads

Le Select is known for being relatively affordable compared to St. Barts’ typically high-end dining scene.

You can see this from the pricing listed on the "to share and salads" menu above.

Burgers, meals and desserts

We ordered the cheeseburger (of course) and a Caesar salad.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Expecting to have a serious sense of nostalgia and a tasty burger to boot, our experience - surprisingly - was a big "Meh."

Our burger was barely cooked, had no seasoning, and I had to scurry around trying to find anything (salt? pepper? pickles? mustard?) to put on our burger and at least ketchup for our fries.

While there were more than 20 tables, only 3-4 had (fairly empty) condiment set ups.

Doggone it, our Caesar salad was teeny and pitiful also, and there were no forks in the silverware bin.

A local at another table saw my plight and went to the cashier (who had a "don't bother me" attitude) and told him in French to fill the silverware bin right in front of him.

Merci, mon ami.

Vintage paintings on the wall

Described as a "hippie saloon" and family-friendly, Le Select has a lively cosmopolitan crowd.

Above you see some vintage murals painted on the walls with Jimmy Buffett prominently featured in the middle.

Notice on the top left is a poster showing men playing dominoes. This is a favorite pastime in the tropics. We often see gentlemen playing in the shade of a plaza in Mexico, Central America and Colombia.

The bottom left mural says Le Select BAR - "Avoiding progress since 1949."

A corner view of Le Select

This is a great view of the terrace, and as you can see, the place is packed.

This location is ideal for people-watching, and live music, small concerts, and the happy hours enhance the noticeably vibrant atmosphere.

Many have made Le Select a bucket-list destination when visiting St. Barth.

The Bar de O'ubli is right across the street on the left hand side, out of the photo.

A mural of the famous Coconut Telegraph

Jimmy sings about the Coconut Telegraph also, and in wandering around, we saw this mural on a side road.

The Coconut Telegraph is right there!

Would we recommend you to visit Le Select?

Well, ya gotta do it.

Next time I'll order the mahi-mahi sandwich which is supposed to be exceptional.

Jimmy used to own a hotel in St Barth and he sings about it in the verses below.

Read his tale and the verses to his song here:

Our tribute to Jimmy Buffett

This a a little tale about a hotel in the Caribbean that I used to own
Well it wasn't really a hotel
It was a patio bar with funky rooms and an outdoor disco with bad wiring
Some people said if you looked between the cracks of the floorboards of our dance floor, you would see Hell
If you ever went there, you'd know what I'm talking about
If you never did, then thought we'd sing you a little musical souvenir from another place and another time
Back in the old St. Bart's
You know, in the beginning of rock and roll, Bill Haley used to rock around the clock
Back in the late '80s in St. Bart's, we used to rock around the rock.

Some say it was a planet, some say it was a rock
For five wild years in Lorient, the party never stopped
There were pirates from the Indies, there were models from Paris
There were locals and New Yorkers and the Brazilian Navy
By mini-Mokes and scooters, in cabs and stolen cars
Came the creatures of the evening from St. Martin and from Mars

Yeah, you could see 'em comin' up the hill
Headlights on those mini-Mokes, trying to find the parking
Sometimes the party just started out there and never made it into the building
You never just knew

Girl at the pool table puts on a show for free
And they were bivouacked in the bathroom by the hot tub near the sea
Every night at midnight, seemed the devil took control
And the hill became a parking lot fueled by rock 'n' roll

They were talking by the cannon, but I couldn't believe my ears
The Russian had plutonium, the sailor wanted beers
They shook hands in the moonlight and broke out a big cigar
Just business as usual beneath the tropic stars

It was better than a painting at le Musee de Beaux Arts
And simply what we did for fun back in the old St. Barts
Then the glitz and all the glamour hit like a hurricane
Or maybe we just all grew up, but it never was the same

Yeah, all good things have to come to an end sometime
Some say it was the grease fire in the kitchen
Some say it was the turntable and the disco melted down
But like a lot of good things in this world, how it went down is still a mystery

Well, the Gendarmes finally closed the joint and the fire, it did the rest
But on New Year's Eve of '91, we sang the last request
We were dancing in the ashes. we were dancing in the sea
We were dancing in the ruins where we left our memories

Alors, Alors
Alors, Alors
Alors, Alors
Alors, Alors

Vien faire un tour autour du rocher
On croisera les fantomes du passé
Viens faire un tour autour du rocher
Sur les souvenirs l'herbe a poussee

So, So

So, So

 So, So

So, So

Come take a walk around the rock

We'll meet the ghosts of the past

Come take a walk around the rock

Grass has grown on memories

__________

Le Select

Address: Rue de France

Gustavia, St. Barthélemy

Open Monday to Saturday 10 AM–2 PM, 4 PM–8 PM

Phone: +590 590 27 86 87

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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