Goodbye, Jack's

When Erin Good arrives at the farewell party for her father Jack Creedon, 88, and his iconic dockside bar, Jack’s Lookout, she glances up at the ceiling and sees a familiar wooden sign. It immediately takes her back to 1970s Marco Island. Seeing the sign, a remnant from her father Jack's first business on Marco Island, Jack’s Gone Bananas, was emotional for Good. It was one of countless emotional moments unfolding during the impromptu party, held at Rose Marina Saturday, October 29. News of the party initially traveled by the Coconut Telegraph, as Jimmy Buffett would say. As things got rolling, social media helped spread the word. 

"When they first got to the island he opened a fruit stand in Old Marco,” said Good, who finished her senior year of high school at Lely High School in 1977. "He would get up at four in the morning and drive over to Miami to get all of the fresh produce. They had juicers. They would squeeze the juice.”  Good said there was a tagline that went along with Jack’s Gone Bananas. "'And I’m one of the bunch’ was the other little piece of it,” she laughed. 

The ceiling of Jack’s Lookout was plastered with hundreds - if not thousands - of various signs, pennants, flags, and banners. Many of them had been up there for over 30 years or more. All day long people were requesting a piece of Jack’s. Signs were promised, ball caps, and patches were peeled off the walls and beams. One sign was from Terry Shea’s charter fishing boat. That one’s going to The Salty Dog, the restaurant/bar on South Collier owned by Terry Shea’s son Sean and his wife Jamie. Terry Shea was a longtime Collier County sheriff, patrolling by both land and sea. The sign for his charter boat, Carole Ann II, hung in the rafters at Jack’s since Shea retired as a charter fishing captain. Shea was also a regular at Jack’s Lookout. He passed away in 2016 at 71.

"The whole island has been so supportive,” Good said. "People love this place. But how could they not? It’s generations. People bring their grandchildren. They can catch fish off the dock. Feed the pelicans. It’s so low key and relaxing.”

Ah, that’s the way it was at Jack’s. But now it appears that Jack’s Lookout's days are over. At least in its present location. 

Dan High, general manager of Marco River Marina isn’t saying much for now.

"Regarding Jack’s,” Dan High said by text, “it's too soon for the marina to make any comment.”

High also texted this statement, attributed to Creedon: “Good afternoon. My whole family and I want to thank all of you – our great employees, our many loyal customers, our many business partners, and the whole Marco Island community for 38 years of the greatest “retirement” years anyone could ever ask for. We’ve all had so much fun, so many laughs, survived four hurricanes, a pandemic and persevered through many challenges together. However, this last storm, Hurricane Ian, left the rustic Lookout half submerged in saltwater and the damage was just too significant. Rose Marina, as the owner of the property, and I have made the difficult but agreeable decision to close Jack’s Lookout permanently and in the near future knock the building down due to the extensive damage it sustained. I want to thank Rose Marina for 38 years of friendship and support, particularly our old friend Bill Rose. What a gift. I thank you all.”—Jack Creedon. 

A follow-up text from High simply stated, “Just to clarify, the marina had no plans to close Jack's prior to the hurricane."

Creedon’s not closing the door on a return for Jack’s. One scenario he might consider is a partnership with his son, Dennis.

“If there was something down the road I could put him in, that would be about it,” Creedon said. "He’s a good personality.”

Could Jack’s Lookout return at Rose Marina?

“No,” Creedon said, "this is gone. They’ll have to tear this down, in my opinion. They have no choice. The roof is leaking. The seawall is pulling away. There’s a liability problem here now. It’s scary. They were always nervous about that. That was something that was on their mind all the time.”

"We've had a good relationship with the marina through the years,” Creedon said. "The building finally outgrew itself - like me. We’ve done repairs. Tried to re-open. We were talking about buying coolers. For coolers they were saying two to three months just to get them. The electric has to be brought up to code, which is another two to three months. It was just a point of no return. So that was it.”

Creedon said he’s getting phone calls from all over the country about the surprise closing.

"We’re getting calls now at my house from all over,” Creedon said. “They’re saying, ‘What’s happening? Why are they going to shut you down?’”

Creedon is philosophical about the situation he finds himself in.

"It’s the end coming and we have to deal with it,” he said. "But we had a wonderful time. We had a cross section. We had construction workers, we had millionaires. We had people who could buy the millionaires.”

He said it’s tough seeing Jack’s come to an end.

"Naturally, I’m going to miss it,” Creedon reflects. "It was like a home to me. I’ve made a tremendous amount of friends. We have friends from all over the country. I’m certainly going to miss them. We had a wonderful time here. It’s been that way since day one.”

Everyone appeared to stand in stunned silence when Creedon approached a packed Jack’s Lookout for the final time on Saturday morning, October 29. Creedon noticed the crowd’s reaction. It was like time stood still.

"For 30 seconds, right?” Creedon says about the frozen moment in time. "I noticed, sure I did. It was hard for me to walk in there, actually. Just seeing all those people at one time. People from everywhere. I said to myself, ‘Boy oh boy.’”

Roger Gonzalez, a mountain of a man, was sitting on a barstool that he’d strategically placed next to a piling just a few feet in front of the entry doors. Like everyone else, Gonzalez was anticipating Jack’s arrival. Creedon spotted Gonzalez among the frozen crowd and walked over and gave him a big hug. It was Creedon’s first farewell hug that day - the first of many. 

Holly Baldwin was with Jack’s Lookout for just shy of 20 years. She revels in recalling some of the regulars from over the years. She said it was first name only at Jack’s. First names and nicknames, that is. Names like Limey, Joe Kitchen, Billy Chairs, Easy, Baby Waiter, Mike Z, Massachusetts Gary, Radio Bob, and Paper Boy Ed to name a few.

"Lots of regulars,” Baldwin said fondly. “Limey was from Pittsburgh, but he was originally from England. So they all nicknamed him Limey. He was Limey for 30-some years. Joe Kitchen was a guy who re-did his kitchen one summer. He went away for six weeks and came back and the workers had done nothing. So from that point on he was Joe Kitchen. Billy Chairs got his nickname because he got all these new chairs and they were the wrong chairs. So he became Billy Chairs. He passed away at 90, and he always wore cashmere. He was writing his memoirs when he died.”

A name that came up frequently at the farewell party was that of Easy. He’s formally Glen Gagnon of Easy Street Moving. But Jack’s was never formal.

"Then you had Easy,” Baldwin smiled. "Easy’s been with Jack since 1984.”

Another Jack’s favorite was a gentleman they called Baby Waiter.

“Baby Waiter lived next door,” Baldwin said. "He was kind of cranky, short. He was the last of three guys who passed away in the last five years. They were all in their mid-to-late 50s.”

Baby Waiter was Dave Williams, a beloved server at Snook Inn and the Old Marco Inn since the 1980s. He was beloved at Jack’s. His mother, Nancy Williams, was there for the final day. There was a tribute to her son in the rafters. His friends also purchased a bench to honor him. She sat on the bench and reminisced about her son.

"He passed away about eight months ago,” Nancy Williams said. "He was a friend of Jack’s. This was always his favorite stop. He had friends from all over the country - and probably the world. The bench is going over by Jody Weis’s slip. The bench was given by his friends. The rest of the money raised is going to his high school in New York for a scholarship fund in his name."

So, was it a good ending for Jack’s Lookout?

"I would say it’s a good ending,” Creedon said, contemplating the question. "Yeah. Absolutely. Couldn’t be much better, you know, 38 years. We opened at 9:30 AM and closed at 9 PM. So naturally we didn’t have many problems here. That was it. It just couldn’t be any better. It was a good ending. As good as could be expected under the existing conditions. It was at its end. More so the building than the business.”

Is there a small core group that Creedon will miss most?

"I couldn’t say there was a small group,” Creedon said. "I would say there’s a large group of different personalities and different walks of life. It’s almost unbelievable that you could put that crowd together. You've got the young guys, the workers, the retirees. It was a mix and match. It’s unbelievable, it really is. You really can’t fathom that you can mix that together. And everybody got along so well. No one was putting on airs here,” he said with a knowing smile.

Rose Marina posted this to Facebook on November 7th:

Rose Marina regrettably announces that due to damage sustained in Hurricane Ian our revered and rustic bar, Jack’s Lookout, will close permanently.

The decision has been made to take the building down. It was not a decision the marina took lightly, and it pains us to lose what has become an institution and island landmark since opening its doors in 1984.

While it is too soon to determine what will become of the space, our ownership is committed to continuing Bill Rose’s vision of making the marina one of the finest on the gulf coast of Florida and will explore all options that complement the marina’s many great attractions and independent businesses.