Hey Blake,
I remember going to a restaurant with a huge aquarium in Metairie. There we were able to observe fish and sharks and watch divers feed them during our meal. What was it and who was behind it?
Dear Reader,
Lawyer Jack Dunne, a scuba diver, marine biologist and shark enthusiast, opened Sharky’s Reef in 1986. The aquarium-themed restaurant and nightclub was located at his 3505 North Hullen St. in Metairie. It featured his 135,000-gallon saltwater tank that stocked sharks and other marine life.
“On the ground floor there may be a bar, kitchen, table space and dance floor,” wrote Times-Picayune reporter Bob Ross in November 1986. 14 feet wide. The aquarium occupies the length of his ground floor of the building. About 300 fish, stingrays and eels could be seen swimming in the aquarium, along with seven sharks and one sea turtle.
Sharky’s Reef offered school excursions during the day and lunch and dinner before turning into a dance club at night. The restaurant also hosted children’s birthday parties, shark feeding shows, and a ‘mermaid show’ where actors acted out underwater creatures.
In 1988, the restaurant made national news when a 6-foot tiger shark attacked a diver diving to feed other fish. Although the diver survived, he needed 75 stitches to close the bite wound on his arm. Dunn himself and other divers had some dangerous situations with sharks, but considered it part of the job.
In 1992 Sharky’s was rebranded to Scuba’s. Closed immediately. Another nightclub, Club Silhouette, has opened in the building. It is now owned by Manny Randazzo’s King Cake Bakery next door.
Dunn then opened an aquarium-themed restaurant, Blue Fish Grill, in Baton Rouge, which has since closed.
Louis Armstrong recorded this song in 1955. It was originally written by Jo Van Winkle and Richard M. Sherman.
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