Jolly Roger Restaurant   

In the old days, the Jolly Roger was a bar to be reckoned with. Occupying an unassuming corner of S.E. 14th, the drab blue building's inner life was hinted at only by its distinctive sail-shaped sign. Within, the comfortable, dimly lit lounge was decorated with dusty maritime relics. The adjoining dining room featured patched leatherette booths, wisecracking old waitresses who knew regulars by name and a full menu of greasy pub grub. It was an ideal dive for killing the afternoon blues or nursing a weekend hangover over eggs, hash browns and a bloody mary. For years, Sunday nights featured music from rockabilly legend Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell, whose nickname was bestowed by Elvis himself. Tom, the affable former owner, was known on occasion to drunkenly scale the bar and boogie to the crazy sounds shaking Rudy's amp. Colorful regulars crowded the booths, filling the air with smoke, conversation and rowdy laughter. Those days are gone, though, since the Jolly changed ownership. The menu is similar (the famous $1.75 breakfast special has jumped to $2), but the old dining room has been gutted and jazzed up with multiple big screen TVs, neon sports signs and a distasteful purple paint schema. The wide windows that used to provide diners with a peaceful view of the outside world have been shuttered, and the friendly waitresses have been replaced with a younger, hipper staff. Even the clientele has altered from eccentric neighborhood boozehounds to baseball cap-wearing college boys and their girlfriends. Another figment of the past has been ploughed under by progress, but the sign is still the same, a lonely relic of better days. -- Jason Gelt