by Fat Hand
This past weekend after having just arrived at FTL beach, I caught wind of an unfortunate rumor: the Pirate Bar had closed down. I went to see for myself and indeed, the wooden pirates stationed along the alley were gone and the doors, or openings, or whatever you want to call them, were shuttered. Pirate vacation, perhaps. Temporarily closed by health inspectors, seemed likely. But a quick check of their website confirmed the worst: Pirate Bar on FTL beach is gone. Cue the violins. Leave a bouquet of black lilies. A bar that seemed more Ft. Lauderdale than Ft. Lauderdale itself often seems, is no more.
Now, there are a couple pieces of information that may provide some silver lining:
First, as you know, and as the website linked above points out, there is another version of the pirate bar located in the old Shirttail Charlies location downtown on the south bank of the New River. It’s a good bar, has a full menu, tons of space, a pool, and outdoor picnic tables right on the dock. But the vibe is more Shirttail Charlies than it is Pirate Bar on FTL beach. It can never compete with the grungy, laid back, rock & roll feel of the original. For this blogger, it will never replace wasting away late afternoons at the beach, alternating between sake bombs and buckets of Polar beer, dangerously playing that ring game across a public alley, listening to rock music turned up a little too loud.
Second piece of info: I stopped in the pirate gift shop next door and asked the young lass working the counter what she knew of the situation. She says the landlord is taking over the bar and is currently working on renovations. The bar (or some bar) will supposedly re-open in the future.
We shall see how closely the new bar will resemble the Pirate Bar, if at all. Maybe it will re-open, seem exactly the same, and we will forget the original ever closed. Maybe. But no matter what opens in that location, be sure to go back at least one time, order a couple sake bombs if they are available, and pour one out for your old pirate friends.
