Troy Moon

tmoon@pnj.com

The Elbow Room isn't on the tourist run. But the locals know.

In fact, few places are more "local Pensacola" than The Elbow Room in Brownsville, one of Pensacola's most unique and locally beloved watering holes. It's where white collar and blue collar are muted and bathed in a deep, red, sultry glow. In fact, walk into the Elbow Room for the first time and you might think you walked into a French brothel decorated with velvet art. It is swingin', it is happenin' and it is as purely Pensacola as a Blue Dot burger, the West Side Flag-Waving Running Man or our DeLuna fetish.

And the lure, that glow was the creation of Navy veteran Jim Flynn, who wanted to illuminate his little pub with the ruby red that he recalled from his days in France where he was stationed in the late 1950s while in the Navy. He opened The Elbow Room in 1963 with his mother, Maggie Flynn, who was operating her own eatery at the time, Maggie's Cafe. Flynn convinced mom to turn the eatery into a pizza pub, and The Elbow Room was born. For generations, it has served up pizza, beer and a sublime atmosphere that attracted hipster and hardhat alike, as well as every demographic between.

Mr. Flynn died on Friday. He was 76 years old.

In 2009, Flynn told former PNJ ace reporter Kris Wernowsky that he had a certain visual in mind: "To me, bars should be bars. Not big, bright daylight like the bars downtown. A pizza pub and tavern should be dark and cool..." (By the way, Wernowsky is now the criminal justice editor at cleveland.com, a popular Midwest comedian, and the host of a storytelling podcast, "Sorry, Please Continue,'' out of St. Louis and Cleveland that is currently available on iTunes and Google Play. Details: www.kriswernowsky.com.)

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In 2007, Lesa Touchette took control of The Elbow Room with her husband Phread Touchette. Flynn still owned the bar, but the couple would lease and operate it, though Jim was still a regular fixture at the club he created. Today, The Elbow Room is operated by Lesa Touchette and business partner Jonathan Owens, with Phread helping out, but no longer acting as a shot-caller.

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Owens said he and Lesa will continue to operate The Elbow Room "exactly like it is." Pizza, a cheap jukebox, that red glow and plenty of Schlitz beers will always be part of The Elbow Room. Mr. Flynn, you built something awesome and beautiful here. It wasn't for the tourists and visitors - God love 'em. It was for us.

"This was Jim's legacy,'' Owens said."It's westside's hidden gem." And that gem is most definitely, ruby.

"Everyone,'' Owens said, "looks better in red."