Changes

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Seville Quarter

76 bytes added, 15:16, 16 December 2009
m
External links
==History==
===Beginnings===
Seville Quarter started as "Rosie O'Grady's Warehouse," a beer-and-peanuts nightclub saloon 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 [[Rosie O'Grady's Warehouse|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.<ref>J. Earle Bowden. "Seville Quarter entertainment complex needs new touch of genius." ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 14, 1986.</ref> When an air conditioning contractor demanded up-front payment for the $3,500 cooling system, Snow couldn't afford to pay. Luckily, attorney [[Wilmer Mitchell]] was able to convince the [[Citizens and People's National Bank]] to issue a $5,000 loan.<ref name="newbeat">"Rosie O'Grady's good times return with a new beat and look." ''Pensacola Journal'', May 13, 1983.</ref>
[[Image:RosieOGradysWarehouse.jpg|thumb|right|The original "Rosie O'Grady's Warehouse," photo © Nelson K. Hamilton]]
Opening night was [[August 1116]], [[1967]]. An early writeup of the club described the scene:
<blockquote><p>In Rosie's, you find old timey silent films with such stars as Charlie Chaplin and W. C. Fields. You'll find the twangy, happy sound of banjos.</p><p>And sing-alongs. The words are flashed on a screen and when the banjos begin plucking away, it'll take a real music hater to keep from singing along with those nostalgic melodies!</p><p>But most of all there's the great sound of Dixieland music. And what music!</p><p>"This music makes me go," says a college gal when the Dixie Racing & Marching Society Band opens up. "Something happens inside — and whammo!"<ref>"Rosie O'Grady's: Step Back Down Memory Lane." ''Pensacola News-Journal'', October 1, 1967.</ref></p></blockquote>
===Fast Eddie's===
Fast Eddie's Billiard Parlor (former Coppersmith's GalleryGalley) is Seville Quarter's pool hall.
Among the salvaged furniture are doors and wheels from old ships, English chandeliers, New Orleans cypress doors, benches from the old [[L&N Passenger Depot and Express Office|L&N Passenger Depot]]. The wainscot and wall paneling were fashioned out of solid wood doors from the [[American National Bank Building]].
==External links==
*[http://www.rosiessevillequarter.com/ www.rosiessevillequarter.com] - Official site
[[Category:Bars & nightclubs]] [[Category:Seville Quarter|Seville Quarter]]

Navigation menu