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San Tan eatery to boast historic bar
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MAN IN CHARGE: Frank Rockwell is one of the owners of The Gym Grill and Bar that is scheduled to open in early April in Pinal County, east of Johnson Ranch. The bar in his new restaurant is from Washington, D.C., and is nearly 100 years old.
Jennifer Grimes, Tribune
A restaurant opening near Queen Creek will be home to a piece of American history. Amid dozens of plasma screen televisions, the big attraction at The Gym Grill and Bar will be a nearly centuryold bar from Washington, D.C., where former presidents and other famous folks once bellied up for drinks.
The Gym Grill, 2510 E. Hunt Highway in Pinal County, is the creation of retired U.S. Army Sgt. Frank Rockwell, who moved to the San Tan area and is opening the eatery in early April.
Rockwell marvels at the fact that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and singer Bobby Darin were all patrons of the restaurant that once housed the bar. Its original home was the landmark Blackie’s House of Beef in northwest Washington, D.C.
“It’s incredible,” said Rockwell of the bar. “It means so much to me to have an authentic piece of history in the restaurant.”
Rockwell said the history adds something extra to his establishment, which will have a gym theme with a uniformed staff and a high school gymnasium floor.
“We drove across the country to get (the bar), disassembled it, loaded it up and reassembled it here,” he said.
Robert Reese, the Gym’s general contractor, said the bar was a “nightmare” to take apart and it has seen a lot of use. “But it was built very well,” he said.
Despite painstakingly restoring the bar, Rockwell said his wife is disgusted he won’t scrape the gum off the underside. Reese and Rockwell plan to varnish over the gum to preserve it.
“Who knows, it could be Kennedy’s gum,” Rockwell said, laughing. “It’s history.”
The San Tan and Queen Creek areas don’t have many restaurants, but the Shops at Copper Basin is bringing in more — including The Gym.
The struggle to find places to eat was an inspiration to Rockwell.
“I could not find a place to go out to eat,” he said. “I wanted to take the best of what I know and give the people here a place to come to.”
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