
They Still Call It Home
The music is loud, and the crowd is languid on an early afternoon at the Elbo Room. Many of the regulars at the most-renowned corner bar in South Florida already have assembled. People such as Pete Wood, whose bottle of Chandon Brut Classic chills next to his barstool in a metal bucket typically used for icing beers. Wood takes swigs of sparkling wine out of a plastic foam cup as he waxes poetic about the indoor-outdoor spot forever linked to spring break on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
A regular for 11 years, he embraces the role of honorary public relations representative. About six days a week, youรขโฌโขll find him in his signature cowboy hat, with medallions around his neck and a silver cuff on his wrist, drinking Brut ClassicรขโฌโรขโฌลItรขโฌโขs my beer,รขโฌย he explainsรขโฌโsocializing with friends and chatting up tourists.
Wood traveled the world while enlisted in the military before he moved to Fort Lauderdale. Now an information technology consultant, his home is roughly an eight-minute walk from his favorite barstool.
รขโฌลEverything in Fort Lauderdale flows into the beach, and this is the best beach bar,รขโฌย says Wood, 52. รขโฌลIt is like a magnetรขโฌโit draws you in. No matter where you start, youรขโฌโขre going to end up on this corner. This is South Floridaรขโฌโขs Times Square.รขโฌย

Pete Wood
Itรขโฌโขs here, on what is now the corner of South Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard and East Las Olas Boulevard, that the Elbo Roomรขโฌโขs no-frill charms gained widespread attention as a backdrop in the 1960 film, รขโฌลWhere the Boys Are.รขโฌย By then, it already had been around for more than two decades, having opened in 1938, but the coming-of-age exploits of Connie Francis, George Hamilton and the other รขโฌลcollege studentsรขโฌย in the movie turned the beach and the bar into the countryรขโฌโขs unofficial spring break haven virtually overnight.
However, as its regulars will attest, the Elbo Roomรขโฌโขs legacy extends beyond spring break, beyond even a tourist attraction. Itรขโฌโขs become home to a cast of characters that serve as its guardians. They railed and rallied when construction threatened its integrity and, more recently, when rumors of a sale were rampant.
รขโฌลTo me, itรขโฌโขs not a barรขโฌโitรขโฌโขs my living room,รขโฌย Wood says. รขโฌลMost locals would say that.รขโฌย
The Matriarch
Michele Penrod likes to sit in the back corner of the bar, near the beer tap, to get a view of the band, the ocean and the people. She grew up in the bar business. Her father, Jack Penrod, owned a few on this Fort Lauderdale strip in the 1970s and รขโฌโข80s, including Penrodรขโฌโขs on the Beach, an early spring break destination. In 1981, he bought the two-story Elbo Room, with its prime corner lot overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
For about 15 years, Michele and her two siblings have been equal owners while their father devotes his time to Nikki Beach, the global luxury lifestyle and hospitality brand he founded in 1998. As managing partner, Michele comes in four to five days a week to oversee operationsรขโฌโthe good times are just a perk.
รขโฌลMy kids are all grown up now,รขโฌย she says. รขโฌลI sold my family home and now I live on the beach, so I can walk to work. I just love it.รขโฌย
Michele is waving her favorite cocktail in one hand as she speaks. A sandy blonde in ripped white denim, a navy tie-dyed top and hoop earrings, she is a self-proclaimed margarita girl. รขโฌลIรขโฌโขve got a couple of boys who know how to do it the right way. I like them strong, but I like them top-shelf, like with Patron.รขโฌย
Joe Wetzel is one of those รขโฌลboys,รขโฌย an Elbo Room bartender for the last six years and a bouncer for two years before that. On a recent Sunday afternoon, heรขโฌโขs busy at the bar, being called from all directions by sweaty patrons in sunglasses, flip-flops and little clothing. At first glance, the burly man is intimidating. He wonรขโฌโขt chat with a writerรขโฌโunless she takes a shot. His unamused facade then cracks into a smile and booming laugh.
รขโฌลDo you know where you are?รขโฌย he demands.
(When in Rome รขโฌยฆ)
To the left, Janet and Briana Carrero, mother and daughter, nod with approval.
รขโฌลThe bartenders, theyรขโฌโขre awesome; theyรขโฌโขre like your friends,รขโฌย says Briana, a 27-year-old who had her first of-age drink at the Elbo Room with her sister. Her mom, from Davie, was the one who called to meet up that day. They visit the bar a few times each week, which is convenient for Briana, who lives down the street. They estimate theyรขโฌโขll hang around all day, perhaps about seven hours.
After sharing a Mind Eraserรขโฌโthatรขโฌโขs vodka, Kahlรยบa and tonic water in a plastic cupรขโฌโwith a customer, Wetzel pushes the sunglasses off his shaved head and onto his face, and motions outside.
รขโฌลLooking for drunken stories here?รขโฌย he asks. รขโฌลDo you have three months? We can tell novels. You ever read War and Peaceรขโฌโthatรขโฌโขs what this story is. Itรขโฌโขs about that big.รขโฌย
Sunday Service
รขโฌลThe stories people tell about their barsรขโฌโรขโฌหEight girls in bikinis came in and danced on the bar stoolsรขโฌโขรขโฌโthatรขโฌโขs like a Tuesday here,รขโฌย Wood says.
รขโฌลThereรขโฌโขs so much fun going on, you canรขโฌโขt point to one particular episode. Itรขโฌโขs like having a favorite band and saying, รขโฌหWhatรขโฌโขs your favorite song?รขโฌโข Youรขโฌโขre like, well, theyรขโฌโขre all good.รขโฌย
Wood is hanging with his รขโฌลgroup,รขโฌย a mix of men and women about 15 strong that have gotten to know one another at the Elbo Room over the past decade. Theyรขโฌโขre day drinkers, he notes, a different crowd from the late-night patrons that also frequent the bar.
For them, รขโฌลthe day starts around noon and ends around 6,รขโฌย he says.
The group not only gathers and talks regularly, some of its members also vacation together. On this dayรขโฌโSunday is รขโฌลFundayรขโฌย at the barรขโฌโthey begin, as they often do, with pizza at Spazio (a few doors down from the Elbo Room) before settling in at their favorite watering hole.
รขโฌลWe used to call it church,รขโฌย says Sandy Fitzgerald, one of the group, of their Sundays at the bar. รขโฌลWeรขโฌโขre all professionals, all hard-working people. And this is our meeting place.รขโฌย
รขโฌลI met my wife here,รขโฌย adds Rick Distefano, motioning to Jackie nearby.
In addition to the bonds that have formed over the years, Wood admits that part of the barรขโฌโขs allure is mingling with the out-of-towners.
รขโฌลI thrive off of people,รขโฌย he says. รขโฌลItรขโฌโขs one of the most valuable resources you can have. Here, you interact with so many different peopleรขโฌโEuropeans, South Americans. A lot of them work in town, a lot of them are tourists.
รขโฌลItรขโฌโขs a place for everybody to share their knowledge. Tourists want to know where to go, and locals want to know where [the tourists] came from. Itรขโฌโขs a symbiotic relationship. Itรขโฌโขs [trading] information. Everyone gets along here.รขโฌย
Looks Are Not Deceiving
Michele Penrod glides her finger across a cluster of photos on the upstairs wall. The collages here and on the downstairs tables will be changed out every so often because of wear from sun and rain.
รขโฌลThis is Pops; he lives in Connecticut,รขโฌย Michele says, pointing to one of the photos. รขโฌลThatรขโฌโขs his son and his sonรขโฌโขs girlfriend. He comes here six months out of the year, and heรขโฌโขs here every day heรขโฌโขs in town. Itรขโฌโขs like, รขโฌหPops will be here tomorrow! Pops is back!รขโฌโข Everyone gets excited.รขโฌย
Chances are the crowd upstairs doesnรขโฌโขt know Pops. The Red Monkey party on Sunday nights draws 20- and 30-somethings with a disc jockey spinning house music under a disco ball and flashing lights. Thereรขโฌโขs a metal pole off to the side. Downstairs is known for its daily live music, from noon to 2 a.m. Itรขโฌโขs full of Micheleรขโฌโขs regular crowd, which skews 40 and older. Theyรขโฌโขre the reason she works hard to keep the cash-only dive in its original, disheveled glory.
รขโฌลPeople come because they hear itรขโฌโขs legendary,รขโฌย says Julian Vazquez, who sings at the Elbo Room a few Sundays a month with the band Active Radio. รขโฌลThe roof leaks on you, but you know what youรขโฌโขre getting.รขโฌย
Michele makes no pretenses about the look of her bar. Five years ago, during the buildingรขโฌโขs mandatory 40-year reconstruction, she had to field concerns left and right about an Elbo Room face-lift.
รขโฌลMost of my regulars were worried,รขโฌย she says. รขโฌล รขโฌหAre you going to change it and make it more like South Beach?รขโฌโข Iรขโฌโขm like, รขโฌหNo, no, itรขโฌโขs going to stay the same, donรขโฌโขt worryรขโฌโIรขโฌโขm spending half a million dollars to make it look like exactly the same crap.รขโฌโข รขโฌย When it came time to redo the floors, she recalls telling the contractor, รขโฌลJust throw it on the ground. I donรขโฌโขt want a smooth finish.รขโฌย
A cleaning crew arrives every day to hose and bleach the upstairs and downstairs. รขโฌลItรขโฌโขs always clean, even though it doesnรขโฌโขt particularly look it,รขโฌย Michele quips. รขโฌลThis whole thing, it looks like a mess. I love it.รขโฌย
Amid the photos on the walls, which have countless layers of paint, are license plates. Ninety percent of the plates belong to someone; most of those owners were anxious as to where their plate might move during the latest paint job.
None of that would matter, of course, if the bar were soldรขโฌโwhich was the rumor last year that Michele had to squash. The ground under the Elbo Room is owned by a trust, and when her father took over, he took on the 100-year lease. The Penrod family has every intention of holding onto the bar until at least 2038.
รขโฌลAll these stories of, รขโฌหOh, theyรขโฌโขre selling it,รขโฌโข well, no, weรขโฌโขre not selling it,รขโฌย she says. รขโฌลThereรขโฌโขs no reason to. Hopefully, when that time comes, we can strike a deal with that family. For now, no.รขโฌย
A Family Affair
On top of the downstairs bar is a stack of computer paper, 255 crayons and a laptop with a slideshow of photos and videos on repeat. Wood is taping up photos of a man with tousled gray hair, square-framed glasses and his tongue poking out of his mouth.
It doesnรขโฌโขt take a special occasion to prompt a trip to the Elbo Roomรขโฌโwhen people ask Wood what heรขโฌโขs celebrating with Champagne (which long ago he convinced Michele to stock), he replies with a shrug: รขโฌลWednesday.รขโฌย But on a warm winter afternoon, a crowd has gathered to pay respects to a friend who had been a regular for so long that no one can pinpoint the span.
Mickey Clean, a Fort Lauderdale punk rocker and caricature artist, has died of a heart attack. He was a local legend, many say after the band stops and the microphone is passed around the room.
รขโฌลIn this day and age, you have a life celebration,รขโฌย Wood says. รขโฌลWeรขโฌโขve had many. We usually go out to the beach, but with Mickey, he wanted us to just have fun and have some drinks and remember him that way.รขโฌย
People make use of the art supplies and try their hand at drawing Mickey, who is รขโฌลlooking down at how terrible we are,รขโฌย Wood quips. There are tears and there is laughterรขโฌโremember the time the group decided to make a movie called รขโฌลWalking Wood,รขโฌย playing off AMCรขโฌโขs รขโฌลWalking Deadรขโฌย? Mickey made a convincing zombie. In the slideshow is the wiry man in gothic makeup and ripped clothes, writhing about the Elbo Room.
Michele remembers when Mickey was convinced aliens were coming; the only way to stay safe, he felt, was to wear foil on his head like a hat. รขโฌลIt was so funny,รขโฌย she says. รขโฌลEveryone did that.รขโฌย
Sometimes itรขโฌโขs bizarre, but itรขโฌโขs home. รขโฌลMost of the customers really feel like this is their family,รขโฌย Michele says.
The band begins to play รขโฌลWonderwallรขโฌย by the English rock band Oasis. Wood nods along and looks at the writer.
รขโฌลYouรขโฌโขll have your own stories before long.รขโฌย