Vintage Postcard – Moock’s Tavern

Moock’s Tavern
Famous Steak House and Cocktail Lounge
Swift’s Tender Age steaks cut to your order – Delicious seafood and chicken platters – Delightful cocktails.
709-16th Street North     Your Hosts
St. Petersburg, Florida    Erven and Gertrude Moock

Copyright 1957 by J. Foldes
J. Foldes – 1915 Morris Ave., Bronx, N.Y.
25658

This lovely vintage card was mailed from St. Petersburg on August 13, 1968 using a graytone six cent Franklin D. Roosevelt stamp. It was mailed to Mr. & Mrs. R. Wheeler, 1559 Chapel, Muskegon, Michigan. It reads:

Dear Nancy,
This is one of the restaurants we ate at. My back is all blistered and a cock roach was chasing me. I guess it’s time to come home. Linda.

I sincerely hope a cockroach wasn’t chasing Linda inside Moock’s Tavern (nor, I hope, where her back was blistered!).

A horrible medical office building was constructed in 2004 where Moock’s Tavern once stood. Moock’s Tavern business license is listed as being inactive. The St. Petersburg Times online reported the following (click here for full article):

“August 17, 2003: Moock’s Tavern, once a popular spot for locals and visiting Major League Baseball players, was torn down recently to make way for Pinellas Bayside Surgical Center. The restaurant at 709 16th St. N opened in 1946, but the building has been vacant for years. It was an informal restaurant with moderate prices, according to Times files, known for its steaks and onion rings. Founders Ervin and Gertrude Moock sold their tavern in 1970. It closed in 1977 when it was seized by the Internal Revenue Service for nonpayment of taxes. A couple of attempts were made to resurrect Moock’s but were not successful.”