By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Editor & Publisher
As someone who has spent a lot of time in the Sunshine State and who has lived in the Golden State for many years, I have long said that if you could combine the best things about Florida and California then you would have the ultimate paradise.
And one of those things is what is needed in California beach cities: a Florida beach bar.
If you are not familiar with a Florida beach bar, they are wooden structures on or at a beach with a big deck. They have potent rum drinks with names like “Red Tide” or “The Angry Fisherman” often served in souvenir hard plastic cups that have some type of comical character in an inebriated state of mind with a funny slogan like “I got slammed by the Slammer,” or “I got decked at the Deck.” With t-shirts to match. They all serve beers by the pitcher and often drop in a plastic cup filled with ice into it to keep the beer cold. (Whenever I do this in California, people are amazed. “That’s a great idea!,” they say. They obviously have never been to Florida,)
These bars have good prices and are not touristy and most have some type of tropical or polynesian decor to them, such as a thatched roof over the bar area or a tiki statue outside of it. They usually have funny painted signs on the walls or on the frame of the bar; one of my all-time favorites is of a smiling shark with the words “send more tourists; the last were yummy!” You can enter either right off the beach or from the main entrance facing a street. The menu has your Florida bar staples: fried shrimp, crab cakes, burgers, that sort of thing, all served with a pile of salty french fries.
Sometimes there’s live music, be it one person with a guitar who sings a lot of Jimmy Buffett songs or a full band that plays on weekend nights and Sunday afternoons. There’s always a cute server (or two) with blonde hair and wearing Daisy Duke cut-off shorts. The patrons are a mix of the young and fun out for a good time with friends down to weathered old men and women occupying a barstool that they took when the place first opened decades ago and haven’t left since.
These “Florida bars” as I call them, are usually not wild party places, but rather a comfortable and cozy place to have a few drinks and some food on warm, sunny afternoons and lively evenings. You’re there for the conversations and the view (and because, quite frankly, there’s not much else to do on a hot Florida afternoon than sit at a bar and drink. Unlike California, people there do not generally play beach volleyball, go for long runs or bike rides along the beach or otherwise involve themselfs in afternoon exercise other than the continual 12-ounce curls).
So, California, you need to get some of these bars on the beach. If you want to be truely like Florida, you can name it the Salty Dog. If I am not mistaken, it is Florida law that every beach town must have a bar called the Salty Dog.
Kevin Wilkerson writes blogs for PubClub.com. This story was written from personal experiences. No AI or ChatGTP was used to write this article.
Leave a Reply