A Great Bradenton Location for Quaker Steak & Lube
Not long ago, the owner of a “motorsports-oriented” franchise eatery called Quaker Steak & Lube was not allowed to take over a defunct restaurant on Bradenton’s main Cortez Road shopping strip. Residents of a nearby condominium complex objected loudly to the idea of outdoor parties with potentially hundreds of motorcyclists in attendance. I personally would love to have Quaker Steak & Lube in my Bradenton neighborhood. I think I may even have found them a location that, with a little imagination, would be better than Cortez Road.
The place I’m thinking about is currently a nearly-unoccupied used car lot with a 4-bay garage and gas station-type office attached to it, located at 1701 9th Street West. There’s plenty of room to add on to the existing building, and all of its direct neighbors are industrial or commercial operations that wouldn’t complain about loud, outdoor events. (The current owner’s name, address, and phone number can easily be found through the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Web site.)
It’s an easy location to get to from almost anywhere, directly across the street from McKechnie Field.
Quaker Steak & Lube could not only hold all the outdoor events they wanted at this location but could even put in some sort of covered “ride up and order” area where you could park your bike right next to your table. That would be tres cool, wouldn’t it?
And for seriously big-time major custom car or bike events, perhaps they could rent McKechnie Field and blow the hell out of Hooters and other operations that compete for many of the same customers.
Best of all, this is a neighborhood the local cops apparently characterize as a “ghetto” not worth full-tilt law enforcement, where gang members and mobile boom-box annoyers are allowed to run free, and “shots fired” calls are blown off as firecracker noise. Against this backdrop, motorcycle-riding Quaker Steak & Lube customers would be seen by most residents here as an asset, not as a problem.
This part of town is often shown on city development maps as our “entertainment district,” but so far the only entertainment the city’s putting here is a “one-stop” homeless service center.
Let’s face it: while Bradenton’s Mayor and City Council members may find it entertaining to watch winos and druggies stagger along sidewalk-free side streets, pissing wherever they want, those of who live here would rather have a brightly-lit, noisy restaurant and bar full of bikers and other convivial people.
If this property doesn’t work out, there are others
There are plenty of underutilized lots and buildings along 17th Ave. W. and 9th St. W. that beg to be turned into some sort of nightlife spot. Right now, the only entertainment place in Bradenton’s so-called entertainment district is the Fogartyville Cafe. We love Fogartyville, but it has a vegetarian menu and plays mostly folk and “roots” music, which is fine as far as it goes but isn’t what we want every night.
Maybe the old people near Cortez Road don’t want anything bright, loud, and happy near them, but up here, the welcome mat is out for Quaker Steak & Lube — or anyone else who wants to bring good food, decent booze, and a party atmosphere to our neighborhood.