Trader Jon’s: A World of Aviation Memories

Alex Ardoin
Posted: 3/26/2020

Hello everyone! My name is Alex Ardoin and I’m a member of Historic Pensacola’s Visitor Experience Staff and a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of West Florida. I am originally from Lafayette, Louisiana and have been living in Pensacola since the summer of 2017. Planes and aviation are one of my passions in life, so much so that I even once considered becoming a commercial helicopter pilot many years ago. Upon starting my job at Historic Pensacola, I discovered the Trader Jon’s exhibit located on the second floor of the T.T. Wentworth, Jr museum. I had no clue who Trader was, as I hadn’t heard of him before. After spending some time in the exhibit and later meeting former patrons of his bar, I had grown to learn of just what his pub had meant to so many people.

Trader Jon was more than just a man that ran a peculiar pub on Palafox Street. He was an aviation enthusiast who loved his bar and the culture created by not only himself, but also the customers who visited. Trader didn’t set prices for drinks but rather traded stories or memorabilia in exchange for a couple of cold ones. This barter system became known as “Tradernomics” and is a large part of how the bar’s walls become covered in pictures and aircraft parts. Once his establishment gained worldwide fame, aviators from all over the world wanted to bestow their memories onto the walls as well. 

As Pensacola is home to the world renowned Blue Angel’s, Trader Jon’s became adorned in team photos and flight gear. Naturally, Trader’s became part of Blue Angel culture and even hosted their annual homecoming parties. The different Blue’s classes had spent many nights in Trader’s bar and shared many stories between themselves and Trader. Trader Jon’s Flying Pub closed in 2003 after Trader’s passing a few years earlier bringing an end to a pub full of aviation history and memories. 

In 2016, Historic Pensacola opened the Trader Jon’s exhibit in the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Museum. The exhibit recreates the historic pub and celebrates the life and legacy of Trader Jon. The walls and ceiling are covered in flags, pictures, posters, and aircraft parts in a wonderful reimagination of Trader Jon’s. There is a documentary with interviews of Trader himself as well as patrons talking about life inside of his pub. 

In 2017, the Blue Angels held a reunion in the exhibit, and I was lucky enough to be working the event that evening. I watched and listened as some of the world’s best pilots walked around the exhibit and saw some of their own memories on the walls. They started reminiscing about their flying years and shared stories of their experiences with Trader. They described the amazing times they spent with their fellow pilots and how important Trader Jon’s was to the community that developed within the Blue Angel’s. Thankfully, the Trader Jon’s exhibit allows those stories to be remembered by those who lived them and shared for those, like me, who visit the exhibit to appreciate them.