Papa Rocco Bill McGinnes celebrates 30 years of warm beer & lousy pizza

Papa Rocco Bill McGinnes celebrates 30 years of warm beer & lousy pizza
By Fran Thompson
Bill McGinnes liked the location of what would become Papa Rocco’s back in 1984. But he was not enamored with the 10 ft. stairwell leading into his change-of-life venture.
So, before he even opened on March 15, 1985, McGinnes cut each piling and lowered the view of the building located a couple blocks from the beach on Hwy. 59 in Gulf Shores.
For 20 years McGinnes worked as a project manager for Modco, the largest cutting tool manufacturer in the world. But he wanted to work for himself.
“It was a good job. I had a company car. But I knew I was never going to save enough to be wealthy,’’ he said. “I had enough of that.’’
He had always been fascinated by the restaurant business. Eating out was a major hobby for him and his wife Rose. And he had a concept.
He wanted a simple menu. He wanted live music every night, even in the winter. He wanted to serve food ‘til midnight.
He knew serving good pizza was a good idea. And he knew there wasn’t another Gulf Shores oyster bar open year round in Gulf Shores.
He did not want to serve fried food. Customers would decide how crispy they wanted their wings by the number of times the wings passed through the pizza oven.
“The only thing that gets fried around here is the bartender on occasion,’’ said Jay Ryan, who pulled his first shift behind the bar at Papa’s in 1993 and was a regular customer way before that.
“Even back then, we had nice people coming in here and nice people working here. That always makes a difference,’’ he added.
A native of Scotland, The McGinnes patriarch, Malcolm, was a coal minor and pro soccer player who represented Scotland in the sport as a school boy. The McGinnes family (including mom Rebecca and older brother Jim) moved to America for the same reason most immigrants come here – opportunity.
Bill was 12 when the family settled near other family members in Detroit. He would go on to serve six years in the Army before returning home, marrying his sweetheart Rose and starting his career.
“I was never in this business before; but I love restaurants. This was something that I always knew I would like to do,’’ McGinnes said.
“I am a mechanical engineer. I used to tool up automobiles before I decided to come down here and tool up pizza and do something for myself.’’
McGinnes might have been thinking his old gig wasn’t so bad when he opened. On the first night, the phones were ringing off the hook, curious locals were lined up to get in and the food was not forthcoming.
“It was a real mess. I finally had to pull the plug on the phones and send everybody home so we could get it straightened out and try again the next night,’’ he said. Business slowly improved thanks to the McGinnes work ethic and the help of friends.
“For the first two years we had delivery and I often did that. I also tended bar, waited on tables and cooked. I did it all. We are successful now, but people probably don’t realize how hard it was when I first opened up,’’ he said. “I often had to rob Peter to pay Paul.’’
Those willing to help McGinnes included four of the area’s most popular restaurant owners: CW Spence at Top of the Port, Wayne Perdew at Shirley & Wayne’s Supper Club, Joe Gilchrist at the Flora-Bama and Dale McMath at Perdido Pass Restaurant.
“I consider all four of those my mentors,’’ McGinnes said. “If you want to be successful, hang around with successful people. These were people I looked up to, and they could not have been more supportive.’’
The original Papa Rocco’s menu featured pizza, gumbo, chili, red beans & rice and baked and fresh oysters. That was about it.
There were two other restaurants serving pizza in Gulf Shores in 1985 – Pizza Hut and Pizza & Potato. Both were located behind Souvenir City.
“But we were the only restaurant delivering, and we did most of our business during the day,’’ said Anita Spears in an earlier Mullet Wrapper story. Spears applied for a job at Papa Rocco’s before construction was even complete.
“I started as a driver, delivering pizzas in a LTD Station Wagon,’’ she said.
Soon after, Spears was managing the place and trying to keep up with three phones while also making pizzas.
“Our first promotion was a two-for-one,’’ she said. “Two price busters loaded for $9.98. We also sold a deluxe all the way for $7.42. Why do I remember that?’’
Papa Rocco’s still has an intimate atmosphere. You can reach the on-stage tip jar from four different tables. But in the very beginning, that fine line between staff and customer was even more thin.
“People were afraid to come in because I would try to put them to work,’’ McGinnes said. “They’d come in for a drink and end up getting a job.’’
Chris Dowd, Tim Rider and Jasper Burr were among the first Papa Rocco’s bartenders. Spears took over for the bistro’s first manager, Mike Lelani. Dan Comarmi and Tom Rachel were also early employees or managers. As were Dan Davis & Jerry Sullivan. The late Bo Stewart and the late John Schoenfield were two others.
“It was a swinging door in the kitchen for awhile,’’ McGinnes said. “I’d recruit whomever I thought could sling a pizza.’’
McGinnes said the original restaurant had an open kitchen. That lasted until Hurricane Elena skirted the Gulf Coast six months after he opened.
McGinnes and his staff tied down what they could and joined the exodus from Pleasure Island on Labor Day Friday, only to see the fickle storm churn through the Gulf all the way to Tampa. He came home and was set to open again on Sunday only to see Elena reverse back towards Gulf Shores for a second time, mandating a second evacuation.
“I was thinking if things were going to be like this, I might have to reconsider what I got myself into,’’ McGinnes said.
Instead, McGinnes decided to accept the inevitable.
“If you live here, you have to accept that you are going to have to deal with hurricanes. You just have to be prepared. Have good insurance and a willingness to get back open as soon as possible,’’ he said.
Papa Rocco’s and every other Gulf Shores business below Ft. Morgan Rd. had to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
“We’ve dealt with minor hurricanes over the years, but I’ve never seen anything in my life as devastating as Ivan,’’ he said. “Our goal was to bring it back in three months, and that’s what we did. A year later we had Hurricane Katrina and that shut me down for three weeks. But we worked hard. We got back in business, and here we are.’’
One of Papa’s first customers, Johnny Reynolds, is still a regular. Gerald “Dank” McGough is another early regular still remembered well.
Another early customer, Tim Heyter, helped McGinnes come up with the Papa Rocco’s slogan that Heyter flew on a banner behind his airplane: “Home of Warm Beer & Lousy Pizza.’’
“It was an interesting first year trying to make payroll every week without dipping into what, believe me, was a very limited reserve,’’ McGinnes said.
While the bulk of the early business at Papa Rocco’s was definitely take-out pizza, McGinnes was also working hard to build his bar clientele. And to that end, he determined that live nightly music would set him apart.
“I knew the chains were coming in and I only had a couple years to make my bones delivering pizza while I built the bar business,’’ he said.
National acts, including Buddy Greco, Pete Fountain, Bob Anderson, AL Hirt, Jack Jones, The 4 Aces, Wayne Newton, Boots Randolph and Pat Boone, have graced the stage or ate at Papa’s. Celebrity guests also included the late Ken Stabler (a regular), Mike Ditka, and a long list of SEC football coaches.
But it is the house musicians who have given Papa’s its mojo. The first musician to play there was Mobilian Ken Henderson, who would later team up with former Drifter Johnny Williams to form what was probably the most popular duo McGinnes ever booked.
Brent Burns has been around so long that the local tourist commission named him Pleasure Island’s official musical ambassador. He remembers winter nights at Papa’s when it was just him, Papa and a bartender or cook in the place.
“Papa employed me for years, and I still appreciate that,’’ said Burns, who played there as a solo act and with the late Shine Powell as a duo.
“He always stayed open late in case somebody wanted to come in after work for a late bite to eat. Even if nobody came in for two hours, he would still keep that kitchen and those doors open,’’ Burns said.
“A couple of times we would sit outside and wait for a car to come down Hwy. 59. We had some good nights too. But there was just nobody on the streets in the winter here in the 1980’s.’’
Other early regular acts at Papa Rocco’s included JR Owen, and a trio featuring Jeff Fidler, Jim Hutcheson and Elaine Petty.
Another regular, Top Hat, ended up asking Papa to be his best man when he married his wife Jackie. But he and McGinnes were not exactly fast friends.
“The first time I walked in there, Johnny Williams was playing with Ken Henderson and it was packed. Johnny recognized me from years ago and asked me to get up and sing a song with him,’’ Top Hat said.
“Well, there were two older women sitting in front of me smiling and looking happy and I started singing to them. I gave them both kisses on the cheek. I was getting kisses in return when I felt somebody hit me on the back of the head. It turns out I was singing to Rose (Papa’s wife) and her mother. And Papa took offense at me kissing his wife.
“The next day I went to Dollar General or somewhere and bought him a hat that said ‘Manager.’ I told him to wear that from then on, so I would know who he was. He turned out to be one of my best friends ever. What a good guy.’’
Top Hat said he was also good friends with Rose, who passed away on March 12, 2017.
“She was our little version of Liz Taylor down here,’’ Top Hat said. “And theirs was always a place where people knew they were going to have a good time. That hasn’t changed a whole bunch. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Bill never charges a cover to get in. He’s fair to all musicians, and he gives people a chance. It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice. Bill knows that.’’
McGinnes is also grand marshall of the annual Gulf Shores St. Patrick’s Day Walking Parade, an event with a history that dates before 1979’s Hurricane Frederic. Vince Murphy, who at that time owned The Pink-Pony, started the tradition. Murphy passed the baton to local character John Kelliher, who led his green swarm into Papa Rocco’s just after McGinnes opened and deemed McGinnes worthy of the grand marshal’s position four years later.
“People come from all over Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Our snowbirds love it. And we get some spring breakers. We even have grandkids of some of the originals coming out with us,’’ McGinnes said about the St. Patrick’s parade.
A sportsman, McGinnes was part owner of a professional football team, the Mobile Admirals, which won the championship in its only year of competition.
He loves the Glasgow Rangers soccer club, all the Detroit professional sports teams and especially the Michigan Wolverines. His favorite athlete is Michigan alum, Tom Brady. And he held season tickets at The Big House for 15 years. Many of his vacations back home through the years were planned around a Saturday game in Ann Arbor.
It is a mutual love of Michigan football and a love of people that first bonded McGinnes with Bob Picard, who after 25 years of wintering in Gulf Shores, has been physically unable to travel here for the past two years.
Big Bob said that more than anything else about his winter home, he misses hanging with his friends at Papa Rocco’s. Cutting up with Papa Rocco’s regulars such as Alabama Kenny made his afternoons at Papa’s some of the best times of his life.
Picard compared Papa Rocco’s to Cheers from the famed 1980’s TV series.
“If you walked in there at 3:30 in the afternoon, everybody knew your name. Everybody would say hi and ask you how it was going,’’ he said. “Bill is such a great man. People don’t know all he does for the community. He is very much a philanthropist.’’
A former football coach who played collegiately at Michigan, Picard became the official St. Patrick’s Day parade starter by accident.
“I have a booming voice and one year it was so loud in there that you could barely hear the pipers, who were wanting to start everything. So, I stood up and announced the beginning of the parade. Well, you know how that goes. By the time you do it a second year, it becomes a tradition.’’
As for the future, McGinnes said he has a foundation set up for his favored charities and he would like to give his current manager, Jama Baker, a chance to take over the business, if she wishes that. But he has no plans to retire as long as people still come through the door.
“Sure I could sell and retire comfortably. But what am I going to do? I still like coming in here,’’ he said. “I meet people from all over the United States. I have met celebrities, and have gotten close to so many snowbirds.
“It hurts when they start dying off and you realize they are not coming back. But I would not trade my life for anything.”
McGinnes knows he has made his mark on the Pleasure Island community, and his willingness to share his good fortune with others is part of his legacy.
“I would hope people will always remember this as a place where you were treated well. A place where you could have a good time and get good food at a fair price,’’ he said.
“And when I do die, I hope there will be a celebration of my life where people come and have a good time. The beer will be on me.’’
For the record, the beer will be ice cold. And the pizza will be delicious.
Pictured: Bill & Rose McGinnes; Grand Marshall McGinnes ready to lead the annual St. Paddy’s Day Walking Parade.