Trader Jon's - Pensacola

[BravoBeach]

Martin "Trader Jon" Weissman, owner and namesake of Trader Jon's Bar memorabilia has been transferred to the Pensacola museum. https://www.visitpensacola.com/directory/trader-jons/

"The collection salvaged from Trader Jon's was purchased by a Pensacola law firm and donated to the museum on Friday. It's said to be worth about $2 million."

 

[Fallonflyr]

Awesome, great memories of that bar. My wife of 40 years and I still laugh when we think back on nights of drinking and dancing at Traders.

 

[nittany03]

Man, I worked the NAS Pensacola airshow as a brand-new Ensign. Long day on my feet in the sun, totally beat, buddy calls up and says "hey, we're going to Trader's. Want to come?" Meh. Tired. Sleep. No.

Didn't realize it was the closing night or close to it. Wasn't the original ownership, but I believe it was an aviator and his wife who made a go of running it in the early 2000s, but it didn't work.

 

[TF7325]

First time I'm hearing of Traders, damn I feel like I missed out. Edit: I realized now that it closed back in the late 90's.

 

[Uncle Fester]

First time I'm hearing of Traders, damn I feel like I missed out. Edit: I realized now that it closed back in the late 90's.

It closed for the first time when the eponymous Jon died. His family sold it to a Navy IP and his wife. I was in flight school during that era and spent a few Friday nights there. They made a good go at it but I think it was too big a concern to be run as a side hustle.

There have been rumors for most of the last 20 years of sending the memorabilia to the Naval Aviation Museum and opening a second restaurant/bar venue along the lines of Cubi Point, but I guess it never came to fruition.

 

[Griz882]

I went a few times when Jon was still around…what a place…but then again that was a very different world for naval aviation. Among his numerous talents was his personal knowledge of his collection. He always said he knew exactly where everything was by name of the giver. This included photographs. Well, I tested him and said my father had been there with his reserve squadron back in the late 60’s and gave his name. Believe it or not, Jon said “follow me” and pointed out the picture!

I’m glad the collection found a home.

 

[HuggyU2]

This is great news. The treasures that were in Trader's are an irreplaceable part of Naval Aviation.

First time I went there was around June 1995. Place was quiet and I got to meet and talk to Jon. I was pretty blown away by all of the stuff in there and just walked around and soaked it up. I recall from that night that he never wore a matching pair of socks, and if you ever caught him with a matching pair, you got something (free beer... I can't recall what the prize was).

The last time I was there was the Blues' end of season show in Nov 2000, after the Navy Lieutenant and his wife opened it. The Blues Annex was open we had a great time. They wouldn't sell us beer after whatever time, so I went down to a liquor store that was still open and bought a bunch of cans and brought them back. They were very cool and let us stay there for quite a while, and even a couple of the Blues hung out with us until the wee hours. It was an epic night.

 

[nittany03]

There have been rumors for most of the last 20 years of sending the memorabilia to the Naval Aviation Museum and opening a second restaurant/bar venue along the lines of Cubi Point, but I guess it never came to fruition.

There’s probably only enough room in that place for one historic restaurant anyway. But at least someone got the collection to display somehow.

Edit: for those initially confused as I was, it looks like the Trader’s exhibit is in the civilian museum downtown, not the Naval Aviation Museum on base.

 

[zipmartin]

First time for me was in '76 when I was in AOCS. There were dancers then. ? Always went there whenever I was back in town after that. Last time was the late '80's time frame when I was in town for an A-4 NATOPS conference. Much more quiet then, but still fun. Looking at all the memorabilia never got old.

 

[BravoBeach]

First time for me was in '76 when I was in AOCS. There were dancers then. ? Always went there whenever I was back in town after that. Last time was the late '80's time frame when I was in town for an A-4 NATOPS conference. Much more quiet then, but still fun. Looking at all the memorabilia never got old.

I have seen it mentioned numberous times that there were 'dancers' at Jon's in the 1970's. What type? GoGo?

 

[HSMPBR]

I have seen it mentioned numberous times that there were 'dancers' at Jon's in the 1970's. What type? GoGo?

Interpretive?

 

[Griz882]

Interpretive?

Of course…the South Palafox Center for the Performing Arts.

 

[zipmartin]

Viennese Waltz of course.

 

[Notanaviator]

 

[GroundPounder]

Of course…the South Palafox Center for the Performing Arts.

Being the least educated branch, we just had strippers at the I Bar at Ft. Benning.

All ya'll rocket science Navy types had a corner on high class dancers, I guess.