If Jamaica went mass-market, then the secluded North Coast seems to have missed the memo. It’s as glamorous as ever, no caveats required, and the subtly retro, thirteen-villa Trident Hotel makes a strong case that the style of Jamaica’s ’50s and ’60s heyday belongs firmly in the here and now. Where mid-century modern is the style, sheer pleasurableness seems to be the guiding principle. Sprinkled about a coast lifted straight from a tropical fantasy, the villas start out spacious and range toward the palatial, each one like a private residence with its own outdoor tub or plunge pool, its own bar, its own private terrace, its own framed vista of the Caribbean — or, at the top end, several of each. They’re proof that, with some popping modern art and a light touch, white-on-white looks as good as ever, the airiness of the interiors helped along by breezes blowing in off the Caribbean. Another trick borrowed from back in the day: combining the seclusion of an intimate island hideaway with nightlife worth leaving the room for. There are several bars and restaurants well worth a few hours’ lingering, but the best of them all is Mike’s Supper Club, a speakeasy-style lounge inspired by the era of Calypso Bop and the Harlem Renaissance. Its centerpiece: a Ferrari-red 1917 Steinway baby grand piano. Arrive on the right night and one of the world’s top vocalists might be draped over the thing; and famous or not, the jazz musicians that gather around it nightly are always outstanding.
