Jolly Inn

Parish: Vermilion

Location: Forked Island

Paul Breaux: “It was located on Hwy. 82/35, right before the Intracoastal Canal. Coming from Kaplan, it was on the right side of the road and was about 1/4 mile past the Rock-a-Bye. The Rock-a-Bye was a place that was well known for fights, and if hunters or fisherman stopped, they’d better behave themselves. I remember some hunters stopped one night and were from upstate somewhere, and one of them thought it’d get a laugh, if he started blowing on his duck call. Ambulance had to come pick the three guys up, because those inside, felt like they were being INSULTED, and that was a NO-NO. The Jolly Inn, was even worse. If you knew people, you were usually okay, but if not, DON’T GO. One night, the place was packed, as usual, and three big guys, who supposedly were wrestlers who had done a job in Lafayette, came into the place, and because of their size, felt they had nothing to fear. They bumped and jostled folks, until they did it to the wrong guy. They made him spill his drink on himself, and THEY NEVER TRIED CALM HIM DOWN… when the drink was spilled and the three guys ignored him, he made them realize they had made a mistake. He took on all three of them, by himself and knocked one out inside the place. It rolled outside, where he took the second one out, and by that time, he was running out of gas from the fighting. The third guy probably would have got him, if he hadn’t jumped up on the hood of a car, and as the wrestler was reaching for him, gave a kick to the guy’s head, and God knows, it should have killed the guy. (He) was wearing COWBOY BOOTS, so when he planted his kick in the guys face, he did damage. The guy hit the ground and didn’t move. Everyone was yelling and clapping about, until we all realized, this was something the police would come to, and the ambulance, and we better not be around. We all took off at the same time, and had a long line of vehicles, heading towards Kaplan.”

From information at the Kaplan Museum:
“Jolly Inn: This club was located in Forked Island. It was on the east side of the Forked Island Bridge.”