Schooners Last Local Beach Club

Schooners earned its nickname, the Last Local Beach Club, by staying exactly what it has always been: an open-air, sand-in-your-shoes hangout on the Gulf in an era when much of Panama City Beach has grown more commercial. The building traces its roots to the late 1960s, when it operated as The Beach Party under owner Kinney Strickland. In 1985, Jim Cannon bought the property, and the new name came from an unlikely source: Cannon was traveling in Australia, heard the bar was for sale, and made his decision over an ice-cold schooner of beer, the term Australians use for a mid-size beer glass. He cut his trip short, flew home, and opened Schooners on Panama City Beach.

Hurricane Opal tested that legacy in 1995, tearing through the building and forcing a full rebuild. New owners Sparky Sparkman and Toni Davis took on the reconstruction and made a point of preserving every original detail they could, reopening the doors over Memorial Day weekend 1996. That rebuild kept Schooners’ character intact, and the beach club has run continuously ever since as one of the few remaining open-air institutions from Panama City Beach’s earlier era.

The nightly sunset cannon is the tradition most visitors remember. As the sun drops toward the Gulf, a crowd gathers on the sand and counts down together, and the cannon fires the moment the sun disappears, marking the close of another day at the beach. Regulars treat it as a can’t-miss ritual, and first-time visitors often plan their evening around catching it from Schooners’ beachfront deck or the popular Hill Bar area nearby. Live music plays through the week, adding another reason to linger past dinner and into the evening.

The menu keeps things simple: burgers, wings, soups, salads, steaks, and Gulf-fresh grouper, built around the same unpretentious approach that has defined Schooners since 1985. Families find plenty to like here too, from a casual atmosphere that welcomes kids to a beachfront setting with room to play in the sand before or after a meal. Throughout the year, Schooners hosts seasonal celebrations including Easter, a Lobster Festival, a Christmas party, and a New Year’s Eve bash, drawing both locals and visitors for its biggest nights of the year.

Schooners Last Local Beach Club is open daily from 11 AM to 9 PM at 5121 Gulf Drive, Panama City Beach, FL 32408. Call 850-235-3555 or visit schooners.com for hours, menu, and event details. Because the sunset cannon draws a crowd every evening, visitors who want a beachfront table with a clear view should plan to arrive well before sunset, particularly during the busy summer months when both the deck and the sand fill up early. Few spots on the Emerald Coast pair a simple meal with a daily ritual quite like this one, and that combination is exactly why Schooners has kept its local following for four decades.

The property also runs live camera feeds of the sunset cannon, the beach, and the Hill Bar on its website, which lets past visitors check in on the scene from home and lets first-time guests preview the setting before they arrive. That kind of accessibility fits the brand Schooners has built since Jim Cannon first opened the doors, an approach that treats every guest, local or tourist, as part of the same nightly tradition rather than a separate crowd to manage. Parking and beach access sit right at the property, so visitors do not need to hunt for a public access point before settling in on the sand for the countdown. Between the food, the music, and the cannon, an evening at Schooners covers most of what a first Panama City Beach sunset should include.