Nine Mile Stories: The Shack music venue/bar welcomes all (except chicken thieves)

There's a big and colorful chicken chained up day and night outside a shack on Nine Mile Road.

Actually, not a shack. But The Shack ‒ a long-standing live music and funky bar at 2800 W. Nine Mile Road. The metal decorative chicken is a "national landmark" said Amy Jackson, a retired EMS worker who purchased The Shack in September. Don't know about that, but The Shack folks do keep it chained up day and night ‒ and no, it's not the Popeyes restaurant folks right next door eyeing the bird or anything like that.

"Everyone's tried to steal this thing," said Jackson, who runs the business with her fiancé Nate Lewis, while her mom Pat Jackson is a bartender. "It's chained down now to keep people from running off with it. It's been stolen and returned before."

Located at the site of an old convenience store, The Shack seems an aberration on Nine Mile Road amid the modern structures that busy the street. There's the chicken, of course. And then the old place itself, decorated with a colorful beachy mural filled with dolphins and seagulls and pelicans and a lot of other stuff not found near Nine Mile Road. There's an outdoor stage between The Shack and Nine Mile Road where national and regional, as well as local acts, perform mostly original music on weekends. The stage, like the outdoor furniture for patrons to watch the acts, are painted in light pastels as well as vibrant and varied hues.

It kind of looks like an old-time Pensacola Beach Bar, but there's no Gulf of Mexico nearby.

"Do you remember back in the day ‒ the MTV spring breaks?'' Jackson asked. "That's the kind of vibe I was going for. Kind of bring back that nostalgic feel."

The outdoor stage, the chicken, the funky nature of The Shack was all in place when Jackson became owner. Original owner Chad Brown was responsible for much of it ‒ it was called The Chaddy Shack back then. One of Amy's sisters worked there for years. When Brown sold it to new owners a few years back, Chaddy Shack became The Shack. It was Jackson, who put the fresh paint on the stage and the outdoor patio furniture to make it splashier and more eclectic.

The Shack is also one of the few nightclubs, Nine Mile or Pensacola proper, where most of the live music is original music, with few covers.

Earlier this month, the Alaska-and-Florida-based band Modern Natives played the outdoor stage at The Shack. Days later, Crags Radio ‒ a volunteer community online radio station based in the United Kingdom ‒ named the band Best International Artist in its 2024 Unsigned Music Awards.

"We love live original music," Jackson said. "Modern Natives played for us and right after that they win the award. I was so proud that we had just had them here."

Though Jackson is a first-time venue owner, her family is well acquainted with The Shack ‒ the building itself dates back to the 1940s, said Jackson's mother Pat.

"This building is older than me," she said. "It was a service station and when I was little by Dad would go to Ruby's Fish Camp and we would stop by here to get gas."

It then transitioned to a bar under different names until its debut as Chaddy Shack, then, the Shack.

"I started working here to help my daughter just get started," she said. "But I love it. I love meeting people, the crowds that come in. It's just a welcoming environment."

It's frequented by bikers ‒ The Shack hosts a "Bike Night" once a month ‒ as well as Navy Federal Credit Union employees, college students, blue collar folks and sometimes, folks a bit fancier. (They also host pool tournaments, comedy nights, karaoke events and a lot more.)

On a Tuesday afternoon, Val Hinson took a stool at the bar sipping a white wine.

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Retired, she's a regular at The Shack and said loves her neighborhood bar ‒ not just because of the wine, but she's a big music fan as well. Especially electric guitar.

Why does she keep coming back?

"The No. 1 reason is the bartenders," she said. "They're awesome. No. 2 is the great entertainment and No. 3 and the biggest reason is the people. It's just good down-home folks. A lot of locals and it's just comfortable."

Amy Jackson said that's her goal ‒ to make everyone feel welcome.

"The best thing ‒ the thing I love most about this whole bar is whether it's bikers or high-society people, younger people or older people, everyone here gets along. We're here for everyone, no matter who your are."

Unless, of course, you're a good-for-nothin' chicken thief.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola The Shack Nine Mile Road bar features original live music