Pascagoula restaurant remembers Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffet died on Saturday. Today, friends of his are tipping their glasses in remembrance.

In Pascagoula — where Buffett was born and spent many days on the beach — his impact is clear.

Scranton’s Restaurant in Pascagoula is frying up cheeseburgers on their day off, reminiscing on times with Jimmy Buffett.

“I had this picture for a long time of Jimmy on one side and Mac McAnally on the other side both of them hugging me. What we were doing… we were gonna send a picture to Fronz and say we missed him and everything like that, so we were supposed to look sad,” said Richard Chenoweth, general manager of Scranton’s Restaurant, while talking about one of his favorite moments with Buffett. “But being hugged by those two guys I could never be sad, and the picture… I always had a big smile on my face because it was just a great experience and that happened right back there in the kitchen.”

Mac McAnally and Jimmy Buffett  would come to Scranton’s after a show at the Grand Magnolia, hungry for a cheeseburger and to hang out with friends.
Now, salt, margaritas, and flowers cover his childhood home and the Buffett Beach Bridge, as people across the Gulf Coast – and especially the city of Pascagoula — mourn the loss of a friend too.

“They connect through his music,” said Richard Chenoweth, “Everything that he talks about in his music, we experience it here on the Gulf Coast.”

Curtis Rockwell saw a different side of Buffett, working alongside him at shows and festivals.
Rockwell tells us Buffett was no different off the stage than he was on it, and no matter how far he went, home was on his mind.

Rockwell, executive director at Grand Mag Music in Pascagoula, said, “He was the kind of person that no matter how famous and how world-renowned he became, just like I told you about showing up to Scranton’s every couple years in Pascagoula. No matter how big he was in the world, he was never too big to come back home and return to his roots.”

Friends of Buffett called him funny, down to earth, and a beach bum. It’s no doubt that someone like that would be remembered forever.

“Even after you and I, and most everyone watching this have left the world,” said Rockwell,  “Jimmy Buffett’s legacy will live on.”