St. John School of the Arts hosted their second annual dance-a-thon fundraiser on Saturday night, January 30, at the Westin Resort’s Grand Ballroom. Full story and more photos in next week’s St. John Tradewinds.

Albert, Aaron and Lonnie Willis in 1975 standing at their car rental hut on Cruz Bay Beach, where Dockside building is now located.

When Lonnie and Albert Willis first visited St. John together in 1974, the two hippie kids from New York camped out and grooved out on the slow-paced  island life — with no idea they would still be running a successful business here more than 35 years later.

Although the 1974 vacation was not the first time Albert Willis had visited Love City — he stayed on the island in the mid-1960s after reading about it in a travel book — this time around the visit was different. Tiring of the congested and cold northeast, the couple was looking for more than a great place to snorkel.