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Judge Roy Bean’s in Daphne burns down
Jimmy played at this legendary bar in Daphne Alabama.
From NBC13: A Gulf Coast landmark goes up in flames on the Eastern Shore
http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=C0FE5585-EE0C-4EC2-9471-D903A68DD3D8
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Fire gutted a unique and popular Gulf Coast landmark this morning. The alarm came in just after 6 a-m at Judge Roy Bean’s, a bar and concert venue located on Highway 98 in Daphne.
Judge Roy Bean’s — sometimes called J-R-B’s by most local patrons — was an old wooden building with a fenced-in back yard. The yard was the site of numerous concerts involving entertainers like Leon Russell, Emmy Lou Harris, Wet Willie and Jerry Jeff Walker. Jimmy Buffett also appeared at several impromptu concert at “Judge’s.”[/i:6345ba25ef]
February 15th, 2005 at 6:11 pm
Wow – Amy Lee played there I know in the late 80s – I may still have my T-Shirt with the Billy Goat on it…. I will have to let her know.
February 15th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
Hi Steve!
Too bad about the place burning.
February 16th, 2005 at 8:26 am
THATS A SHAME.. SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THAT
February 16th, 2005 at 8:32 am
I grew up right down the road from this place. I can’t believe it’s gone. I don’t live in Alabama anymore but man, it was great place to grow up and that bar in engraved in my memory.
Jimmy came by a lot back then. I always missed him. I get there on a Thursday night for $1 Moosehead beer and someone would say, “Jimmy was in here last night.”
It was a cool bar all around and not just ’cause Jimmy stopped by.
–Capt.Craig
February 16th, 2005 at 9:10 am
Daphne bar burns to ground
Popular goat and Macaw survive fire at Judge Roy Bean
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
By DAN MURTAUGH
Staff Reporter
DAPHNE — A Tuesday morning fire transformed Judge Roy Bean from the Eastern Shore’s most recognizable late-night hangout to a pile of smoldering scraps of wood and metal.
No one was injured and business owner John Sack said the bar’s two mascots — a goat named “Billy” and a Macaw named “Tattoo” — survived the blaze, but everything else was destroyed.
The building was not insured, he said. He said he is trying to reopen by this weekend, selling drinks in the backyard area behind the burned building.
Richard Montgomery, the Alabama state fire marshal, said Tuesday that an investigation was ongoing, but there appeared to be no foul play and investigators were looking at electrical wiring. The bar is closed on Mondays in the winter, Sack said, and workers shut down the power every night.
A neighbor called in the fire to 911 at 6:05 a.m., Daphne Fire Chief Mund Hanson said. A thick fog had shrouded the area in the early morning, and Hanson said the fire had probably been burning for a while before the neighbor noticed.
By the time firefighters arrived at the building on South Main Street south of downtown Daphne, it was beyond saving.
“One of my guys said it looked like flames were coming out of every place possible,” Hanson said.
Firefighters had controlled the fire by about 7:30 a.m., and were putting out hot spots for the next hour or so, Hanson said. The area around the bar is heavily wooded, and there are several homes nearby, but the fire never spread, Hanson said.
Most of the building was wood, with tin walls and roofing. Hanson said the metal trapped the heat inside while the wood caught fire.
As the morning progressed, the fog lifted and sunlight replaced it. Investigators surveyed the damage and crowds of people came and went, taking pictures and giving their condolences to Sack and Jack West, who founded the bar and restaurant in 1977.
Judge’s gained fame in the late 1970s and’80s by attracting big-name musical guests and because of its color and environment. Customers would often see cats lying on the counter and a goat walking through a sea of human legs.
West said the original building at Judge’s was erected in 1946 and was known as the Embassy Lounge. He bought the property in 1976 and remodeled the bar after Western saloons he had frequented while living in Colorado.
In 2002, West sold the business and leased the property out to Sack and Steve Anderson. Sack said he bought out Anderson in July, and was planning to reopen the kitchen soon after a several-year hiatus.
Since the bar opened in 1977, West said he kept making additions to the original building. He said about 60 percent of the space that existed prior to the blaze was added after the bar opened.
“We never stopped nailing nails for about 15 to 18 years,” he said.
Judge’s drew 1,000 people every Sunday — its most popular night — during its first decade, West said. Musical acts included Emmylou Harris, the Marshall Tucker Band, the country band Alabama and local favorite Jimmy Buffett, who played Judge’s about 25 times, West said.
Buffett’s sister, Lucy Buf fett, who owns Lulu’s restaurant in Gulf Shores, said that when her children were young, they only knew two phone numbers by heart: their grandmother’s and the number for Judge’s.
“I find it heartbreaking,” Lucy Buffett said. “It’s sort of an institution in the Mobile area.”
West said Judge’s was visited by its share of celebrities, as well. Actors Tommy Lee Jones and Stephen Segal frequented the bar when they were in Mobile shooting “Under Siege.” Writer Hunter S. Thompson also stopped in for a beer, West said.
Winston Groom, a Fairhope resident and author of “Forrest Gump,” said he met his future wife at Judge’s in 1986.
Groom said he hasn’t been back to Judge’s in about 10 years.
“I will miss the Bean,” he said Tuesday. “I still have the memories.”
West said Groom isn’t alone.
“There’ve been thousands of marriages where people met here,” West said.
West and Sack said that despite the lack of insurance they plan to rebuild. Sack said he would open two trust funds that people can donate to if they want to help. And he still has power to a beer cooler in the backyard area, so he plans to start serving beverages again as soon as possible.
“If I can get one board up, I can get it going again,” West said.
Sack was expecting people to show up Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil at the bar.
Judge’s is the second landmark bar in Baldwin County damaged over the past six months. Flora-Bama Lounge & Package, on the border of Alabama and Florida near Perdido Pass, has been closed since it was ravaged by Hurricane Ivan in September. The owners plan to reopen, according to the bar’s Web site.
February 21st, 2005 at 4:15 pm
A parrothead before it was popular to be a parrothead, I drank many a beer and ate many an oyster on the half shell at Bean’s! I remember the first time I was there when Jimmy showed up. My drinking buddy and I were standing at the bar, when he suddenly sets his beer down and points behind me. Jimmy had just come up to the bar for a cold one.
Even though we both had to go to work the next day, we both decided we were staying until closing time or whenever Jimmy started playing. A couple of hours (and more than a couple of beers) later, he finally picks up a guitar and started singing. Though we got both got little sleep that night (and did little work the next day!), it was a great night to remember. Hard as it is to think about, that was about 25 years ago.
I moved away not long after that, but whenever I was in town, I always stopped back by. After all, you never knew when Jimmy might be in town!
Bean’s will be sorely missed!
September 2nd, 2005 at 11:29 pm
So, irishcajunphan, did Judge Roy Bean’s rebuild and have you been to see the old goat yet?
March 31st, 2010 at 3:24 am
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May 17th, 2010 at 12:34 am
I have been lookin for info on JRBs for years, I knewn it had burned down, but didn’t have any info more than that, I started goin there right after a divorce, I was styin with my sister in Mobile, she took me there and I fell in luv with the place and its atmosphere, I sailed a lot and use to talk to Jack about it, I’ve lost track of hin, does anyone know how I can contact him. thanks
Best Place Ever
Jane Fell
February 9th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
God this is very sad!! I played there years ago! And was hoping it was still there!! Just got back from Europe doing studio work, and am now back in Alabama.
If I had a place to stay and eat, I would like to help build the place back again!!
I would be glad to play for tips as would most everyone that ever sat in the Barberchair and had Shots poured in the always OPEN MOUTHS!!!
There was a Huge Doberman that use to walk thru as he pleased but he would come lay by me on the stage while I played. He was a great Cat Stevens fan!!
He would always look up at me when I played Moon Shadow or Where Do the Children Play! And if anyone was being louder than I was he would stand and just look at them…and soon would quiet down!
I got the first standing ovation I ever got after my version of Mr Bojangles.
If they puild it back like it was and not with formed, hard cold McDonalds tables, but use the heavy wood tables with everyones names carved in them, They could start the autographs all over again!!
I guess the Wooden Indian got burned up??? Please tell me it was not still there and in someones home!!
God Bless JRB’s and the people that made him memorable!!
Micky DeLoach
February 9th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
I hope someone lets me know when it has been rebuilt!! Hope the ond saloon swinging doors are remade!!
That has burned an image in my head as the ultimate Bar to go to hear Good Music, and Horse shoes in the backyard..not that Ima fan of horse shoes but hearing the loud Clank and happy people cheering is one of those memories!!
MIcky
March 23rd, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Anyone know if someones going to build it back? At least close to like it was?
my email is mickyfxstc01@yahoo.com.
Hope someone reads this and can let me know something!!
Micky
May 23rd, 2011 at 9:47 am
The things people are saying about JRB’s can only be imagined if they were never there! I played there in the 80′s and when the put my name on the signs inside and they had a Lighted sign outside, Saying I would be there what ever week, the place was packed! The old wooden Indian, the Potbelly stove, the Doberman that would come lay on the stage with me just to find a place someone wouldnt step on him and he’d seem to watch everything as if he was the Bar Mgr!! Outside on Saturdays, the hourse shoes would fly, the volleyball court had a waiting line for new challangers. Well It was a place anyone could come and be theirselves! Unlike the Grand Hotel! Guests of the Grand would come when they heard the music and wanted to go somewhere that didnt require being someones blueblood relative or the CEO of a huge shipyard in Biloxi!! Jimmy Buffet and fingers taylor came in one night with no Pomp and Circunstance, just like everyone else. Fingers came up to the stage as I was getting ready to play starting pencil thin Mustche and asked what key I was playing it in and if he could sit in! I didnt recognize him and said “If you can Keep up and dont embarass me!!” He asked if I did much Buffett, and I told him that I saw JB in Huntsville AL At a TP Crockmiers one time and aske Jimmy if he was doing any of my songs, and Hes said No Micky not yet! I told him well Im not going to play but a couple of yours anymore!! I looked at the Bar and there JB sat LHSOff. Well I died right there and after the song JB came up and sat in with me on the Captain and the Kid that he wrote for his Grandfather. We stretched it out with a verse he never recorded and I sang a verse I had written for the song! That was a monumental night! For a Boy From Bham bearly dry behind the ears!! So if you ever see him, tell him Im still playin his songs and still feel like the “Kid”
Hope JRB’s got rebuilt with the same feel it had back then!! So much of the stuff was one of a kind just like the laid back feel of the place!! If its anything like it was before, Id love to play for the kids of my old followers!!
Micky DeLoach
July 29th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
When I remember Judge Roy Bean’s in Daphne,Al., there is not a bad memory in the bunch.There was no other bar/restaurant/amusement center/concert hall in the world, I suspect, like it. There’s a big ole grey kitty laying on the bar while everyone is enjoying their drinks and a big grey goat walking around the place. They both seemed very at ease with all that was going on around them and weren’t inclined to move out of the way,anyway. Great intimate live music setting in front of the fire place across from the bar or outside in the courtyard,where there was a stage that had hosted the likes of Leon Russell,John Prine,Mac McAnally,and Jimmy Buffett among others.Last time I went, there were already advance posters out for Bonnie Raitt coming, but that was the year she won all the Grammy’s for “Nick of Time” and that was the end of that. A wonderful place. Miss it a lot.Let’s bring it back!!!!!
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