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South Padre Island’s storied Coconut Jacks Bar and Grill opened on March 23, 1990, right in the knick of time for spring break. Now, over 36 years later, the bay-side palapa bar, known for its inimitable vibe, is no longer.
Overlooking the Laguna Madre Bay, the concrete Coconut Jacks was once built-by-hand upon is currently bare, awaiting the construction of a national franchise-themed seafood restaurant chain, leaving a blended and neighborly Island history in its wake.
It took a mere six weeks for Amy and Jack Salander to build the iconic, two-story, open air tropical-style bar with its thatched roof made up of dried palm leaves.
Back then, Amy and Jack were avid surfers. They had gotten married in 1989, a year before the bar’s opening. The two resided near the SPI Jetties, on Carrizales Street — their first home together.
As a part of the Island’s tight-knit surfing community of the 1980s, the couple recognized a need among their fellow wave riders: a place to come together, eat burgers, and drink beer.
They set out to provide this space for their Island, but little did they know at the time, Coconut Jacks would be so much more. In its heyday, it was evidently a communal melting pot, where diverse perspectives intertwined, in search of a good time. And still, its humble origins rang true to its core until the end.
Jack’s contractor experience — garnered from his time at college in San Marcos — came in handy during the bar’s construction. They hired a work crew, fired them, and ultimately, the newlyweds finished bringing their vision to life themselves.
Amy came up with the name “Coconuts,” which later became “Coconut Jacks,” after Winter Texans coined the nickname for Mr. Salander.
The bar and grill was a family affair, with Jack’s parents helping the young couple. In the first few years of operation, Amy and Jack welcomed two sons, Oliver and Benjamin, whom Amy would care for while Jack worked 16-hour days at the bar.
Before, Mrs. Salander was a reporter for The Monitor and a teacher in Harlingen. Later, bartending there at Coconut Jacks became her proud new vocation.
In the beginning, Amy and Jack operated jet ski rentals and parasailing tours on their own, before later bringing in Captain Jorge Lopez’s services.
Many Island kids experienced their first jobs at Coconut’s watersports, and the bar employed countless Island bartenders. Bartending there was almost a rite of passage — it was even this writer’s first job on the Island.
In the early days, if a bartender didn’t show for their shift, Amy would fetch a bartender from another bar to “double their day,” but it was the staple staff members, Kenny Stalker, Rudy Carillo, Rick Ramos, Security Mike, Chef Kenny, and Gary Von Hook, aka “Hooker,” that made Coconut Jacks special. Along with its unique staff, all of whom were quite individualized characters, music was a crucial piece of Coconut’s heart.
The first ever band to perform at Coconut Jacks was Sugar Ice Tea, a reggae band hailing from McAllen, according to Amy. Later, The Connectors, a three-piece band known for blending reggae with Tex-Mex and classic rock took over as their iconic house band.
Coconut Jack’s appeared in a commercial for Jimmy Buffet’s beer, Landshark, and the ending of certain episodes of shows on HGTV. Amy and Jack hosted shrimp boils and “Bacon Fridays,” during Winter Texan season, and they sold $1 burgers to Island surfers. Everyday the two would prepare for the active nightlife scene, which drew quite a crowd, as Coconut Jacks was known for having “the vibe.”
“That’s what everybody called it back then,” Amy said. “Nobody had cellphones, so nobody communicated that way. It was just word of mouth. Everybody would talk. They knew where to go and what to do.”
The locals would gather their friends, Amy says, and head down to Coconut Jacks by 10:30 p.m. every night. There, they’d find quite the impressive mix of people from all walks of life, from city commissioners getting down on the dance floor, to tarot card readers telling stories of destiny to sun-weathered surf folk. The crowd was so iconic, it even received its own legacy catchphrase: “cops, crooks and lawyers!”
Even judges would come in for a good time, with a posse of bodyguards. Jack reflected on one memory that stood out from the rest: a federal judge being egged by some kiddos, and yet choosing to stay to not miss out on “the vibe.”
“He was like ‘we’re partying, man. Give me a clean T-shirt. Let’s go. I’m dancing,’” Jack recalled with a laugh.
Many celebrities and famed politicians found their way into Coconut Jacks, including former Gov. Ann Richards and the entire San Antonio Spurs team.
“We didn’t have any picture-taking,” Amy said. “We let them just enjoy themselves.”
“Because of our attitude, anybody could come here and have fun. It was all about the vibe. We wanted everybody to have a good time, and if you were in a bad mood, well, you know we got the tequila ready.”
Meanwhile, their sons, Oliver and Benjamin, grew up Island-style, running free range down the sandbar, finding trouble where they could.
Amy remembers young Oliver standing by the doorman, offering free-hugs to spring breakers,
as well as a disgruntled passerby attempting to snitch on the young boys for towing a skateboard behind a shopping cart, tied to a bicycle.
“And I told him, ‘You’re just jealous,’” she recounted with a smile.
When Coconut Jacks first came along, the Island was a much different place than it is today. As the years went by, more places followed Amy and Jack’s lead, erecting other palapa bars across the barrier Island.
In the final years of Coconut Jacks, after Mr. Salander’s parents had died, and the couple had spent over three decades building up and maintaining their one-of-a-kind bar; they decided to retire to a quieter life. They moved to the Hill country, where Amy now paints and gardens, and Jack splits firewood.
When asked what they want people to remember most about Coconut Jacks, Amy put it simply: the feeling of relaxation when you first stepped in. Whether it was daytime, with the sun sparkling off the Laguna Madre Bay, or nighttime, under the South Texas moon and a glistening sky full of stars, peace of mind was found with ease at Coconut Jacks.
In its place, the 22nd Bubba Gump Shrimp Co will soon be constructed. The sprawling seafood franchise is inspired by the film Forest Gump. The chain first launched in Monterrey, California in 1996, two years after the film’s release, and is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary.