While in the Navy I spent almost 4 years in Pensacola, it was both my first time in the South and Florida. Pensacola was commonly referred to as LA (lower Alabama) and sitting on some of the most beautiful beaches on the Gulf it is definitely part of the Redneck Riviera. Truly a special place to visit and live, both of my daughters were born there and we enjoyed many fine evenings at this place!
Located in downtown Pensacola, a Retro Seville Quarter joint offering booze, plus live jazz & dueling pianos in an 1871 building. It is comprised of several "rooms," each with its own theme: Rosie O'Grady's, Lili Marlene's, Fast Eddie's, Apple Annie's, Palace Oyster Bar, Phineas Phogg's and End O' The Alley Bar. The rooms are connected by covered brick alleyways. An open-air courtyard with fountain sits on the north side of the complex.
Seville Quarter started as "Rosie O'Grady's Warehouse," a beer-and-peanuts saloon in 1967 specializing in Dixieland jazz. It was founded by Bob Snow, an ex-Navy pilot and former trumpet player for the Minneapolis symphony whose band, South Hangar Six, played jazz at private parties and nightclubs around Pensacola.
Snow rented a dilapidated brick warehouse on East Government Street (formerly home of the Pensacola Cigar and Tobacco Company) for $140 per month, and he and his bandmates made repairs and built a small bandstand. His total startup budget was limited to a last military paycheck of $400, $1,500 for the sale of his sports car, $1,700 from pawning an antique shotgun collection, and $50 from some old bottles he found behind the warehouse.
You may purchase a print in our online gallery.