Memorial for Hilton Head’s “Pool Bar Jim” attracts longtime patrons from home and afar
Hundreds flocked to Hilton Head Island’s Lowcountry Celebration Park Saturday to honor the memory of beloved bartender Jim Lisenby, also known as “Pool Bar Jim,” who died last month.
Owner of the iconic oceanfront watering hole “Pool Bar Jim’s,” Jim was known for his signature fresh fruit cocktails, Hawaiian shirts, and cheerful smile.
A “staple” of the island, Jim was serving drinks to happy patrons before Hilton Head Island was incorporated into town, and before the U.S. 278 bridge had four lanes.
Many of those in attendance Saturday had known Jim for decades. Some donned Hawaiian shirts or official Pool Bar Jim T-shirts as they celebrated with live music, free food and free drinks.
They lined up for grits, pulled pork, BBQ ribs and other provisions donated from local restaurants such as the Sunrise Cafe and Mellow Mushroom. There was also free Fireball and Painkillers, two of Jim’s favorite drinks.
While the event was populated with plenty of local islanders, some drove from afar to remember Hilton Head’s bartending legend.
Bonnie Hartnell, 81, drove to the island from Pittsburgh. She and her husband Jack, who passed away last year, had their first drink from Jim in 1981, and followed him ever since. Even though they only visited the island about four times a year, Jim would always remember her favorite drink: a Roseanna Banana Kabana.
“I’d walk up to the bar and Jim would see us and he’d say, ‘One or two?’” Hartnell said.
Lynne Hummell, a retired local journalist, visited Jim’s nightclub Jim’s Paradise the week that it opened in 1984.
Back then, she said, the island only had about seven traffic lights, and the phone book was about a centimeter thick.
Jim was a “beacon of fun,” she said, and was kind, funny, and generous. If he made a drink that was too big to fit in the cup, he’d always give his patrons that little bit extra in a second cup.
Steve Kreuter and his wife Linda drove two and a half hours from Aiken to celebrate Jim. They’ve been vacationing in Hilton Head from Michigan since 1981, and recalled fond memories of sitting at the bar, drinking Kahlua Chocolate Raspberry Frosts and reminiscing with Jim.
“I don’t think he knew how to serve a drink without a smile,” Kreuter said.
His nephew, Mark Vanden Heuvel, has been bartending at Pool Bar Jim’s since 2019, but was drinking nonalcoholic smoothies and milkshakes from Jim since he was 10 months old. The bar owner treated his staff “like friends first and employees second,” Vanden Heuvel said.
Jim would take his staff out to dinner or drinks after work, and even once took is staff snowboarding and skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado, recalled former bartender Brendan Horlbeck, 40.
Horlbeck still holds onto the valuable life lessons he learned working with Jim in the 2000s, such as the importance of enjoying life, traveling the world, being responsible with money and taking care of family.
In one corner of the park, organizers set up a folding table with two notebooks for attendees to write messages in memoriam. By the end of the event, both notebooks were full, and eventgoers had resorted to scrawling their handwritten notes on the inside covers.
Writers thanked Jim for good memories, great drinks, and warm smiles.
One Jim Fitz wrote: “Thank you for being a light in the darkness of this fantastic place we all call home.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM.
