Tropical Isle Original

[festivalgirl]

Quarter bar owners vow to rebuild after blaze
No one injured in Saturday night fire
Monday, May 18, 2009
By Danny Monteverde
and Ramon Antonio Vargas Staff writers

As the sun rose over the French Quarter on Sunday, firefighters doused the last few stubborn hot spots from a four-alarm fire that tore through the second floor of the Tropical Isle Original a few hours earlier, sending smoke billowing from second-floor windows to a congested Bourbon Street below.

Less than 24 hours after the blaze, the bar's owners said it wasn't a question of if they would reopen, but when.

"We are going to rebuild as quickly as we can and try to get our employees back to work as soon as possible," said Earl Bernhardt, co-owner of the bar on the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse streets.

[Corona]

damn, well glad they're going to rebuild....would miss seeing those Hand Grenades around town :)

[mangoon]

Damn, thats a shame. Glad they are going to rebuild. I always got a kick out of that place. Nothing got you in the mood and in the right frame of mind ;) to hit some night shows like a couple of well timed Hand Grenades.

[marignygreg]

One of the oldest buildings in the Quarter, from the Spanish era.

[duende]

Even tho' I never actually went in to the place, I thought it was very cool that John Gros kept his Tropical Isle gig out of respect for them giving him a start. Was he still doing the Thursday nights?

[swag]

http://www.offbeat.com/2010/07/07/tropical-isle-returns-tonight/

Tropical Isle Returns Thursday Night
07 July 2010 — by Lauren Noel

A year after a four-alarm fire ripped through the building, the Tropical Isle at the corner of Toulouse and Bourbon is re-opening tonight with a renewed commitment to live music on Bourbon Street. Equipped with new state-of-the-art sound systems, both Tropical Isle and Tropical Isle Bayou Club (formerly Beach Club) will continue the tradition of live music seven nights a week.

“We are dedicated to live music, and not just tired cover bands,” co-owner Earl Bernhardt says. “We want to bring in more variety.”

The larger room in the main Tropical Isle now features a centered music stage, with the musicians on a raised stage behind the bartenders. To ensure that the out-of-reach musicians still get tipped and patrons can request songs, the owners installed a pneumatic delivery system like the ones used at banks.

The opening weekend features Amanda Shaw, Brent Burns, Vince Vance and the Valiants, and Brandon Giles, a pianist in the Jerry Lee Lewis mold. “We want to bring people from all over the Gulf Coast,” Bernhardt says.

Next door, in place of the old Tropical Isle Beach Club is the new Bayou Club, where the scene is decidedly more Louisianan. Complete with a fiber-optic ceiling that mimics a bayou night sky, the Bayou Club features Waylon Thibodeaux, Bruce Daigrepont, and The Can’t Hardly Playboys from Lafayette during its opening weekend.

Bernhardt admits that after the fire, which was caused by a careless, cigarette-smoking employee, he and co-owner Pam Fortner thought seriously about not rebuilding. “The building was in desperate need of updating and reinforcing,” he says. “The whole shell had to be rebuilt to get the building up to modern codes.”

Bernhardt and the owners used the incident to completely re-vamp the location, adding the new sound systems, better dining options, and more variety in music. “We wanted the new bar to be tastefully done, so we can shoot for a more mature crowd.”

[BigDag]

Sounds good to me.

I'm a fan of Earl & Pam, and a friend of many of their employees, past & present. Those places make a boatload of money, but are well run, affordable and fun. I look forward to checking out the new establishments.

[CEfromLA]

Hand grenades are flammable enough when they're taken internally; they must really add fuel to a fire!

[bRETT]

Hand grenades are flammable enough when they're taken internally; they must really add fuel to a fire!

ALso quite a value for money, since you can get pretty well sloshed after drinking just one!