Bungalow Village

At 8th and Hope streets, there once was an ornate Spanish Renaissance church designed by one of Southern California's most notable architects. Now there is a vast patch of concrete, an oil-stained parking lot advertising "Early Bird Parking." In Eagle Rock, a mini-mall has replaced a classic 75-year-old brick office building that had been nominated as a historic landmark.

After months at sea in 1493, Christopher Columbus spotted Mount Misery and likened it to his patron, St. Christopher, bearing the Christ Child upon his shoulders. The first settlers, the Brits, soon turned Christopher to Kitts. St. Kitts and neighboring Nevis became a two-island nation within the British Commonwealth. On arrival by sea or by air (Golden Rock Airport is a mile from Basseterre, the capital), do not stop at the sugar factory; do not collect batiks at Romney Manor.