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DancDance in the Sand
Paradise keeps ‘local feel’ alive on Pensacola Beach
By Josh Kinser Splash!
Do you remember the Ollie Java? A short
drive down Via de Luna used to take you to a local college haunt; a small, Gulf front, music, food and coffee spot called the Ollie Java.
Every weekend the stage was filled with some of the best original music on the coast. In front of the stage was sand.
Surrounded by the light from tiki torches, the smell of beer, veggie buritos, dreadlocks and girls in backless shirts, the sand was filled with locals and tourists getting down and shaking off the week while the gulf of mexico rolled as close as a back porch.
Now the Ollie Java is gone. As gone as the casino and waterslides and snow Cone shop on Casino beach. Now, you go to where the Ollie Java was and look up. Squint your eyes and you’ll make out the red flashing light on top of the Pensacola Beach Hilton. Look down and you’ll see the same sand that local barefeet once flicked out from between their toes after a great night of dancing and relaxing at the Ollie Java.
Now days locals and tourists aren’t even looking for the Ollie Java. They are talking about and looking across the street to the Paradise Bar and Grill. If you drive fast enough down Via de Luna you will probably miss it. Hidden on the shore of the sound between the Gulf Air Inntwo rows of one-story hotel roomsyou can find the Paradise Bar and Grill.
I had spent the early part of the night talking to a few friends who evacuated from New Orleans and were staying at the Gulf Aire Inn. We were all lured to the Paradise by local rock and reggae band H3O. They were filling Saturday night with the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”.
The place was packed but not too crowded. There was enough room to stretch in the fire light of the torches that lined umbrella covered tables and reflected off the water of the Sound. The bar was packed and people were spread out along the beach and atop the pier that stretched out from padded, shore-front lounge chairs.
We knew this was as close to the Ollie Java as we would ever get. Some aspects were even better. The paradise had a larger selection of food and drinks and you still didn’t have to wear a shirt or shoes.
“I have never really liked the high rises,” said Fred Simmons, the owner of Paradise Bar and Grill, The Sandpiper Inn and Gulf Air Inn. “I have always enjoyed taking something old and making it wonderful.”
On Friday and Saturday night from 6-10 p.m. the Paradise brings in great local rock and blues bands. H30, the Young Codgers, and local legends Dunnottar are all regulars.
On Sundays from 4-8 local acoustic solo acts and duos like Randy and Shane, and Richard Madden are featured. On the night we stopped in, H3O played through two sets of Classic Rock and reggae. They played the better of songs by artists like Pink Floyd, The Beetles, The Doors, and of course Bob Marley.
After all, it would be hard to call it paradise without a little Bob, wouldn’t it?
At ten o’clock the band wrapped it up and the crowd cleared from in front of the stage and flicked the sand from between their toes. For a moment nothing was gone, and the last 15Paradise years seemed to roll away into the sound that was as close as a back porch.
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