St. Pete Bar Frequented By Jack Kerouac Celebrates 50 Years

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — It was 1967, and St. Petersburg resident Dale Nichols had just returned from a tour in Vietnam that, as was the case with many young soldiers, left him traumatized.

"I came back pretty screwed up," said Nichols. In a desperate attempt to restore some normalcy to his life, he met up with an old friend at a favorite pool hall hangout.

"He said he had a friend he wanted me to meet," said Nichols. "He said this guy was a character, and thought I'd like him."

That was Nichols' introduction to Jack Kerouac, the literary pioneer credited with founding the Beat Generation movement.

Kerouac had already achieved fame with his second novel, "On the Road," published in 1957, based on his travels across the country indulging in jazz, poetry and drugs with his legendary friends and fellow writers, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassady.

Nichols admits he wasn't especially attuned to the literary world and was unfamiliar with the work of the acclaimed novelist when he was introduced to Kerouac.

"He told me that he wrote every now and then," said Nichols. "I didn't think much of it."

Kerouac had moved to St. Petersburg in 1964 living with his third wife, Stella Sampas Kerouac, and his mother Gabrielle, in a home at 5169 10th Ave. N.

Nichols said they quickly bonded over their shared love of counterculture pursuits including excessive drinking and smoking pot.

"His wife and mom didn't want us smoking and drinking in the house, so we'd hang out on his back porch," said Nichols.

The friends found a new hangout in 1969 when Nichols purchased a St. Pete barbecue joint and transformed it into the now-iconic Flamingo Sports Bar, a combination dive bar and pool hall geared to serious drinkers.

Nichols removed the cafe tables and added a bar, some retro 1940s chrome and naugahyde bar stools, and a couple of pool tables.

"Back then I'd open at 8 in the morning," said Nichols. "Jack would often be in the parking lot waiting for me when I arrived."

Nichols said Kerouac would visit the bar three or four times a week, and spend the day drinking.

"He liked to sit on the same corner bar stool, so he could watch everyone come and go," said Nichols.

At the time, the bar's license allowed only wine and beer to be served. Kerouac would sneak in a bottle of whiskey and add a shot to his beer. Nichols still serves draft beers with a shot of whiskey, calling the drink the Kerouac Special.

"He never drove, so I'd give him a ride home when I closed the bar," said Nichols.

Nichols served Kerouac his last beer at the Flamingo on Oct. 19, 1969.

At 11 a.m. the next morning, Kerouac was at home, drinking whiskey and malt liquor and working on a book about his father's print shop in Lowell, Massachusetts, when he began vomiting blood. He was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital where doctors diagnosed him with an esophageal hemorrhage. Kerouac never awoke from surgery. He died Oct. 21 at the age of 47.

The official cause of death was an internal hemorrhage caused by cirrhosis.

"It wasn't until he passed that I realized how famous he was," said Nichols.

Fifty years later, the bar at 1230 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. looks much the same as it did when Kerouac frequented it. Nichols has even preserved Kerouac's favorite bar stool.

The only changes are a mural painted by an art student on the exterior wall of the bar and a collection of Kerouac's books, photos of the author and newspaper clippings inside.

It's in this Bohemian environment that Nichols will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Flamingo today.

"I'm turning back the clock, selling 16-ounce Budweisers for 25 cents," said Nichols. "And I'll be grilling up about 500 hot dogs and giving them away."

The celebration will run from noon to midnight and is being hosted by the Friends of the Jack Kerouac House, a group of Kerouac fans who are attempting to purchase Kerouac's former home in St. Petersburg and transform it into a writer's retreat. The house is still owned by Kerouac's estate.