J. Oliver Wintzell

Wintzell's Oyster House has been a Mobile, Alabama landmark and tradition for 70 years. Founded by J. Oliver Wintzell, it has been an established place to go for oysters and seafood in the city. It is a unique restaurant in appearance as well with hundreds upon hundreds of small signs containing wit and wisdom hanging upon the walls of the establishment. Wintzell claimed he had them there so people wouldn't notice how long it took to get them their food. My personal experience has been that the wait time for your food has never been that long to begin with however reading the signs never hurt, either. As a kid, my favorite sign was the solitary sign that was located on the ceiling which read, "What the hell are you looking up here for?" That just appealed to my unique brand of humor.

Wintzell was not only an established restaurateur, but also a politician, an oyster expert, and a well-liked, entertaining character in Mobile. This book contains the thoughts of J. Oliver Wintzell written longhand and covering a plethora of topics: mainly oysters, politics and...J. O. Wintzell. Although not an autobiography in the classic sense, the book gives us a glimpes into Wintzell's life growing up on the Alabama Gulf Coast, marriage, family life, running a restaurant, running for office and as the title indicates; oysters and politics. One thing you will notice is Wintzell's humor. It runs through the book like the Gulf Stream. It is humor that still is evident in the signs of wit and wisdom that permiate Wintzell's Oyster House today. It is a humor that charmed many people while Wintzell ran the restaurant and arguably is one of the reasons he had so many return customers (the great food was and still is a good reason as well). J. O. Wintzell was the kind of character of which movies are made (and who knows, one may be made about J. Oliver some day as well) and this book captured the humor and the spirit he exhibited daily.… (plus d'informations)

Wintzell's Oyster House has been a Mobile, Alabama landmark and tradition for over 70 years. Founded by J. Oliver Wintzell, it has been an established place to go for oysters and seafood in the city. It is a unique restaurant in appearance as well with hundreds upon hundreds of small signs containing wit and wisdom hanging upon the walls of the establishment. Wintzell claimed he had them there so people wouldn't notice how long it took to get them their food. My personal experience has been that the wait time for your food was never that long to begin with however reading the signs never hurt, either. As a kid, my favorite sign was the solitary sign that was located on the ceiling which read, "What the hell are you looking up here for?" That just appealed to my unique brand of humor. At some point Wintzell had a book created containing most of the wit and wisdom from those signs (no one could ever determine if all of the signs made it into the book because a) there were so many and b) new signs were being created and hung on the wall often). Wintzell's Oyster House is a family restaurant and the humor in the book is suitable for the whole family. Although J. Oliver has long passed on and the restaurant now owned by a corporation (and made into a regional chain), the original restaurant on Dauphin Street in downtown Mobile, Alabama is still standing, still serving seafood and oysters "fried, stewed and nude" and still has hundreds upon hundreds of signs containing the wit and wisdom from J. O. Wintzell.… (plus d'informations)