Dallas “Wayne” Palmer passed this week. The very first day I bartended at Grand Central Station on Central Ave in St. Petersburg Wayne walked in. He ordered a beer and then told me he has a “Permanent $1.00 key on the cash register.”

OMG He really did!!! Wayne told me that he had been coming to this bar for many years. When it came up for sale he purchased the club. Wayne named the bar DT’s. This stood for Dallas (his real first name)  & Turn. Thus DT’s was Dallas’s Turn to own the club. When Wayne sold the club to Grand Central Station there was a $1.00 beer clause in the contract. He left a special statement to be released after his death by his son Dave. . Here it is….

If you don’t already know, my father and friend, Dallas “Wayne” Palmer passed away on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. He was 75 years old and had struggled to breathe for quite some time. He left some final words with instructions for me to send everybody. Here they are:

We have all heard many stories about Ybor’s Bud & his birds. Many people say that chickens walk up to him as if to be talking with Bud.  His other half Jeffy says that many times Bud comes home with a chicken under his arm.  The birds sitting on his porch talking to all hours of the day with him. Some times Bud takes them into his bedroom and in the morning the birds are still there watching him. One day we were all sitting inside the Crow Bar in Ybor yakking with bartender/owner Bonnie.  The afternoon crowd had grown to a couple of dozen people chatting and enjoying a hot Ybor afternoon. A colorful pigeon flew into the bar thru an open door. The bird then tried to fly out but went into a closet by mistake. The next thing we know there is Bud with the bird in his hands. He said, “the poor little bird is scared because there is no sky above her.”

The bird actually looked like it was talking with Bud. Then Bud put the bird on his shoulder and together walked out the door! You just can not make this up!!