"A good place to start – or finish - is Lynch's Irish Pub, a friendly establishment with a crowd most likely to be throwing down the local specialty, the Red Snapper (amaretto, raspberry and Crown). Perhaps that's because it's only $3.25 a shot – and just $2.50 on Wednesdays. It's also a good beer-drinking place.
A younger crowd prefers the dancing at Ocean Club. The hot dance floor gets going with a DJ and the beachfront deck is an ideal conversation break/hangout spot. Some nights, it features live bands. Thursdays is college night with $2 anything until midnight and $3 after midnight.
The Atlantic is another 20s hangout, a bar/club that's popular with locals, especially the patio bar. A DJ or live music provides tunes.
Live music lovers like Freebird Live, and if the name strikes a chord, yes it's taken from the signature song of Jacksonville's own Southern rockers, Lynyrd Skynard. The band started playing in Jax Beach and its gold records are mounted on the brick walls. While the image is of a run-down rock 'n roll joint with bad carpet and smells of beer spills, this is actually a nice place. Live bands and cover varies.
For sports, the mega-bar Sneakers Sports Grille offers it all. Entering it is almost like walking into a Vegas sportsbook, except this place has many more TVs (and no casino, of course). In fact, Sneakers has big screens on steroids, at least a half-dozen of them strategically placed around the bar for maximum viewing. If it's kicked, hit, passed, punted, raced or run, it's shown here. Bonus points for the waitresses being dressed as cheerleaders.
It's down the road in a shopping center (a $5-6 cab ride) and hardly worth bypassing the Main Street action on a hot night, but on Thursdays the otherwise non-descript (other than to say it's a bar in a shopping center) Monkey's Uncle can be quite entertaining on Thursdays when well-fueled amateur singers take the stage for Karaoke."
