Gus Stevens Seafood Restaurant & Buccaneer Lounge was a restaurant and supper club on

US Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-lived ...

in Biloxi, Mississippi. Gus Stevens, the Greek-American owner, came to the Gulf Coast in 1946.

History

The restaurant building was constructed with a

Moroccan architecture Moroccan architecture refers to the architecture characteristic of Morocco throughout its history and up to modern times. The country's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military ...

style

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

. It was famous in the 1950s and 1960s and hosted many famous entertainers, including Andy Griffith, LOTHIER WANTS OLD CLUB DEVELOPER NEEDS CITY TO GRANT A VARIANCESun Herald - December 3, 1999 - A1 LOCAL-FRONT "IN THE 50s and 60s, stars gravitated to Gus Stevens' nightclub in Biloxi. Today, the wrecking ball is closing in on a piece of history." Mel Torme,

Jerry Van Dyke Jerry McCord Van Dyke (July 27, 1931 – January 5, 2018) was an American actor and comedian. He was the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke had a long and successful career mostly as a character actor in supporting and guest roles on pop ...

, Martha Raye, Rudy Vallee, Professor Backwards,

Mamie Van Doren Mamie Van Doren (born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and sex symbol. She is perhaps best known for the rock 'n' roll, juvenile delinquency exploitation film ''Untamed Youth'' (1957). Early life Van Do ...

, Johnny Rivers and Jerry Lee Lewis. It is also well known as the last place where Jayne Mansfield performed; she died early the next morning in a car crash while being driven from the club. The establishment closed in 1975 and the building was empty until 1977 when it was rented and revamped for an El Palacio Mexican Restaurant. That closed in 1985 and the building was empty until 2000, when it was demolished and the location slated to become a Surf Style store. ANSFIELD MEMORIES MANY KNOW THE LEGEND, BUT UNTIL NOW, FEW KNEW THE TRUTH BEHIND THAT FATAL NIGHTSun Herald - June 25, 2000 - A1 LOCAL-FRONT "Jayne Mansfield, Hollywood's heir-apparent for the blonde bombshell throne after Marilyn Monroe's death, entertained at the Gus Stevens supper club in Biloxi 33 years ago this week. Fate stepped in that hot, muggy night. History concentrates on Mansfield's untimely death, but this, too, is the story of shattered youthful dreams and the altered lives of two Mississippi Coast families."

History

See also

References

Further reading