Flamingo Bar’s 25-year bartender makes a mean bloody mary and keeps the St. Pete dive running

Behind the bar or not, Mary Green plays the role of “bar Mom” at St. Pete’s Flamingo Bar. She’s well known for feeding customers, most notably on St. Patrick’s Day with her annual “one woman” feast of enough corned beef and cabbage to feed a village. Green also makes it a point to learn regulars’ names and birthdays and takes care of innumerous things behind the scenes that keep the place running.

She moved to St. Petersburg from Buffalo, New York in 1977, joining her sister and escaping the blizzards back home. Both of her parents were bartenders, and she herself started bartending at the age of 18 at a local Buffalo bowling alley. She’s now been at Flamingo Bar for 24 years, with her 25th anniversary approaching on Nov. 1 of this year.

When she first got the job, Green was simultaneously working at the now-shuttered 4th Street Pub. She eventually chose to work full time at Flamingo—which celebrates its 55th anniversary this month—because she made better tips. She once even paid her rent with a month’s worth of coin change from tips, although this was notably several years ago.
Green takes her job seriously, but still appreciates practical jokes and is quick to hit patrons with a good one liner. Once, when a promotional sign for a “whiskey sour” looked more like “whiskey soup” and a customer jokingly ordered it, she poured whiskey in a bowl and served it to him with crackers on the side. She has also been known to toss a foam brick towards an unsuspecting patron to make them do a double take.

She truly loves her job and says that the customers are the reason it’s her favorite she’s ever held. She bartends five to six shifts a week and likes to relax at home and cook on her time off, but from time to time will stop into Sunset Grille and order some chicken wings and a beer.

When asked what her signature drink behind the bar is, she easily answers that she makes a good Bloody Mary from scratch, and the sentiment is emphatically echoed by many longtime patrons. She’s a fan of the drink herself and ritualistically has one every Sunday, but normally sticks to beer and the occasional shot of tequila.

As for her outlook on the future of the bar business, she just hopes places like Flamingo Bar continue to succeed and stay as relatively traditional as possible. Support your local dive bars while they’re here, and be sure to say hi to Mary when Flamingo Bar celebrates its 55th anniversary on Saturday, Aug. 10.

Just don’t be surprised if she’s got more than a few plates spinning.
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