Peter B. Jensen

Pete Jensen, the original proprietor of Pete's Bar in Neptune Beach, is buried in Section D of the cemetery, next to his wife, Alice Lily Jensen. Pete opened his famous watering hole, located one block from the Atlantic Ocean, in 1933. He tore down three tourist cottages he owned on First Street to build the one-story concrete block bar, which was formally known as the Jensen Building in the 1940s. Pete also served as the assistant fire chief of Neptune Beach as late as 1955 and was a past president of the Atlantic Beach/Neptune Beach Lions Club. According to his obit, Pete passed away at Beaches Hospital, following a lengthy illness.

Peter B. Jensen, the founder of Pete’s Bar in Neptune Beach, was born in Denmark in 1882 and immigrated to the U.S.in 1901 when he was 20 years old. Pete became a naturalized citizen in 1924. He ran a grocery store in a section of Harlem with his English-born wife, Alice, before relocating to Jacksonville, where he operated a grocery store on Main Street from 1919-1921. Later in the 1920s, he opened Jensen’s Market in what was then Atlantic Beach. Pete’s was the first drinking establishment to open in Duval County after Prohibition was repealed. Pete’s son, William Beck "Pete" Jensen, ran Pete’s Bar until his death in 1979. William's wife, Clara, operated it until 1999 when William’s granddaughter, Nancy Jensen, took over. Pete's Bar was reportedly sold for upwards of $10 million in 2021.