Years ago, a couple of merchant marine sailors found themselves far from their Florida homes, sailing in the South Sea Islands. In the seaside bars of ports of call throughout the islands, under slow-turning fans and over cool drinks, an idea began to take shape in the sailors’ minds: a lounge, back home in St. Augustine, that would recall the easy grace, the fun, the exotic charm of the island bars they visited. On their voyages, the two sailors collected and shipped home many of the artifacts — among them the solid teak bar, the grinning idol that squats on the back bar, the bamboo that adorns the “Dai Bar” — that decorate the lounge today. Even Trade Winds’ main trademark, and what people remember the most, the “Tropical Storm,” complete with lightning and thunder, echoes the island storms those two sailors heard so many years ago.

In the beginning, there was a wonderful Minorcan restaurant owned by Ms. Clara Meir, where as early as 1944, Granville Grissom and Sterling Andrews helped lay the groundwork for what was to become the lounge. With much anticipation on February 20, 1945, John Meigs and Kenneth Dow opened the South Seas Lounge.

Two years later, John Meigs had left, and on March 14, 1947, William S. Mills became Kenneth Dow’s partner. In the spring of 1949, C.F. Fisher and E.R. Carr bought the lounge and on May 17, 1954, sold the business to Rex Clark and Elizabeth Leonard Clark, the first of the Leonard family to own the business. After Rex Clark p ... view more »

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Featured Organizations

EMMA Concert Association

Presenting beautiful music in beautiful St. Augustine at the Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College! EMMA’s mission is to offer quality music and dance performances by national and international artists. They also aim to encourage interest in classical music and to provide opportunities for the youth of St. Johns County. EMMA accomplishes this by offering school concerts in local schools and funding requests from music teachers for instruments and equipment.

Historic Florida Militia

historic-militiaThe Historic Florida Militia (HFM) is a non-profit umbrella organization supporting re-created historic interpretive units and representing a number of cultures and time periods. "We are not street performers, we are educators. We are not parades, we are historic programs. This is not an exercise in free speech, this is an opportunity to educate. We are not promoting a political agenda, we are promoting the city's history through a practical and factual teaching method".

Crisp-Ellert Art Museum at Flagler College

crisp-ellertBuilt in honor of Dr. JoAnn Crisp-Ellert and her husband, Dr. Robert Ellert, the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum offers Flagler College students and the Northeast Florida community a venue for fostering knowledge and a deep appreciation of contemporary art. As an educational resource for the College, the Museum exhibits regional, national and international artists, and provides opportunities for critical engagement and exposure to a variety of exhibitions and personal interactions with visiting artists. The Museum challenges students, the Flagler community and the public to cultivate individual creativity, critical reflection, historical consciousness and respect for the free exchange of ideas. In this spirit, the Museum also hosts public programs, including artist talks, readings, panel discussions and film series that provide a platform for vital interdisciplinary dialogue.