Jack Rabbits

Jack Rabbits is a 300-capacity live-music club in Jacksonville’s San Marco area. Its defining feature is scale: a smaller stage and compact room put performers within close range, while a beer-and-wine bar keeps the experience focused on the show. The club’s history reaches back to 1999, giving a current bill of punk, indie, metal, pop and singer-songwriter acts a setting with deep roots in the city’s club circuit.

A tavern becomes a stage

Anne Wind opened Jack Rabbits in 1999 after she and Tim Hall relocated from San Diego; Wind owns the venue and Hall books through Jax Live Presents. They converted a modest commercial building constructed in 1941, most recently occupied by a tavern called Izzitz, on a then-quiet stretch of Hendricks Avenue. The first show, a February 1999 sellout by Gainesville rockers Big Sky, set the club’s basic proposition: original bands in a small room.

The club has weathered tough stretches that closed or reshaped other rooms. After the touring downturn following September 11, 2001, Jack Rabbits and JaxLive continued; when the COVID-19 shutdown arrived, Hall and Wind launched a public fundraising campaign on May 5, 2020. By its 25th anniversary in 2024, the stage’s roll call included early appearances by Paramore, Fleet Foxes, Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson.

The room today

Expect a music-first booking approach led by Hall, with touring and local artists occupying the same calendar. Indie, punk, metal, hardcore and reggae form the core described by Jacksonville music outlets, with singer-songwriters and Americana also in the mix. Inside, the bar runs along the right side and the stage sits to the left; tables, seats and a wall riser offer alternatives to the standing area. Quality live sound and cold beer are the practical draw.