Henry Bolboul Palm Beach Gardens Fl

The Hut — West Palm's hangout to beat all hangouts — was so all-American that Saturday Evening Post featured it (and this photo) in its June 22,1946, issue.

For 51 years, it was known as Pearl's, a down-home, family-run diner in Lantana, where the regulars loved everything from liver and onions to fresh-baked morning doughnuts. Even actor Mickey Rooney dropped in to Pearl's.

Last week, it became The Hive Bar and Grill. New ownership, new menu. It's too soon to tell if it will last for a half-century.

But that's how it goes in Palm Beach County, where restaurants, diners and bars often change hands, change locations or change into an office or condo complex, courtesy of the wrecking ball.

We spend little time thinking about what we've lost (except for The Hut, that '50s West Palm teen hangout and soda fountain, which people still obsess about). That's because so many restaurants open and close in any given year that we rarely have time to look back. We are consumed by the latest hot spot.

But if you've been around town long enough, the mere mention of a certain long-gone restaurant or bar will give you a mouth-watering flashback to beloved dishes, drinks, and fun times spent with friends and family.

Here are some favorite haunts that still haunt our memories today.

391st BOMB SQUADRON, Southern Boulevard, West Palm Beach.

The food ranged from a delicious beer cheese soup to prime rib. But it was the unique atmosphere we loved. Located on the edge of Palm Beach International Airport's runways, the restaurant was a tribute to World War II pluck and perseverance. Sandbags and an old Red Cross truck marked the entrance, and parts of the patio looked like it had survived a Nazi bombing run. At tables inside the darkly lit restaurant, headsets tuned in to nearby tower talk at PBIA. Our favorite memory: going into the men's room and hearing Winston Churchill's "blood, toils, tears and sweat" speech piped in through the speakers.

The restaurant, open for nearly a quarter-century, closed in 2006 and was eventually torn down. Fourteen years later, patrons can't stop thinking about it. "I have dreams of the beer cheese soup," wrote Jill Roberts on an online memory page. Don't we all.

LA VIELLE MAISON, East Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton

If you were looking for fine French dining, and weren't concerned about the cost, there was only one place to go: La Vielle Maison. From the old-school, tuxedo-clad waiters to the fois gras and caviar, this place was class personified. From 1985 to 1995, this chic restaurant, which opened in 1976, was the only five-star rated restaurant in the county. La Vielle Maison closed in 2006, and the 1920s-era structure was razed in 2011 because it was too dilapidated to save.

Customer Marvin Kaplan told The Coastal Star newspaper: "When it closed, I didn't want to go to another French restaurant. It was that good. I wanted to savor the memories."

THE CRAB POT, Blue Heron Boulevard, Riviera Beach

Back in the day, seafood restaurants were basic. They were located on the edge of a dock, the catch was broiled or fried, and the decor was nautical. That's how we remember The Crab Pot, a funky joint where half the fun was driving up to its semi-hidden location under the Blue Heron bridge. After years of sitting on valuable waterfront property, The Crab Pot's owners sold the property in 2005. It didn't go down without protest: A wake was held, and one regular threatened to chain himself to a bar stool. People love their watering holes.

POWER'S LOUNGE, Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach

Located on downtown Atlantic Avenue west of the railroad tracks, Power's Lounge was the ultimate neighborhood bar in Delray's pre-trendy era. Originally Bob's Bar, a working-class pub built in 1902, it was the kind of place where beer was sold in cans only, and customers toasted every passing train. But it's mostly known for owner Maury Power. The story goes that he took a walk alone down the middle of Atlantic Avenue on St. Patrick's Day in 1968 and determined that what the city needed was a parade. With a green-painted pig named Petunia.

The parade still passes every March, minus Petunia (animal activists were furious). The lounge was torn down in 2002, six years after Power died. Regulars came out for the demolition, drank Bud in cans, poured Scotch over the building's debris and shouted out "To Maury!" As one friend said of Power: "You name it, he drank it."

PETITE MARMITE, Worth Avenue, Palm Beach.

For four decades, Petite Marmite (French for "little pot") was the quintessential Palm Beach restaurant for islanders and visiting celebs. Nixon, Liberace, the kings of Jordan and Spain, Dan Rather and Marjorie Merriweather Post ate there. The restaurant began as an afternoon tearoom and expanded into fine dining with dishes such as bouef bourguignon and Coquille St. Jacques. It won Mobil's prestigious five-star dining award three times in a row in the late '70s. The decor was just as upscale: It had a crystal chandelier from Venice, a stunning arcade entrance and murals of owner Gus Pucillo's native Capri.

Pucillo and his wife Geraldine sold the restaurant in 1983. The building at 315 Worth was razed, a smaller Petite reopened, but problems with subsequent owners led to its permanent shuttering in 1988. A sad footnote: In 1996, 10 years after Gus Pucillo died, Geraldine Pucillo was found strangled in her Seaspray Avenue home during a burglary. A Palm Springs pest control worker was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. Since then, no other murder has been committed on the island.

ROXY'S BAR, Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach

If you think Roxy's has always been on Clematis Street, you haven't been here long enough. (Same with E.R. Bradley's, or John G's, both of which moved from their iconic first addresses). The original Roxy's Bar was at South Dixie and Okeechobee Boulevard near where the Kravis Center and CityPlace now stand. It was originally a speakeasy, built in 1933, and the big, ungainly dive had an appropriately dark, furtive feel. Downtown redevelopment signaled its end in 1989.

Today's, the relocated Roxy's Pub, with a rooftop bar, is a well-known beacon on Clematis. The old place was quite different. As owner Ken Wagner told the Post in 1988: "It's not a place to be seen. It's where people come to get away from places where people are there to be seen."

YE TOWER, U.S. 1, Lantana

Lantana had about 150 residents and the county was just taking off when Paul Dunbar and his brother Harley opened Ye Tower in 1925. It was named for its original 54-foot white tower, naturally. After being destroyed in the 1928 hurricane, a smaller tower replaced it. With patrons ranging from bootleggers to movie star Gloria Swanson, the restaurant lasted until 1987, still selling barbecue sandwiches and banana creme pies. Paul Dunbar, once Lantana's mayor, was there to the end: He stood and watched the building being demolished.

PROCTOR'S, South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

For more than a half-century, from 1947 to 2006, people swore by the seafood entrees at this restaurant on South Dixie near Belvedere Road. Named for original owner H.D. Proctor, it was a consistent favorite among Palm Beach Post readers (and Post employees, since it was down the street from our offices.) During season, people lined up around the block, especially for the all-you-can-eat fish. "My cousin told me that he was thrown out of Proctor's more than once as he and his teenage buddies would get the "all-you-can-eat" and just keep eating … and eating," wrote local historian Ginger Pedersen on the blog Palm Beach Past. The site is now occupied by a spa.

KENYA CLUB, Australian Avenue, Palm Beach

If you were looking for a Palm Beach bar without Palm Beach pretension, there was only one place: Kenya Club. Not that it wasn't over-the-top: Animal heads hung from the walls, and it looked "like a jungle inside," Joseph Bustani Jr., son of the club's founder, told the Post in 2012. It wasn't politically correct, either. The owners were upbraided for racial stereotyping for having a 6-foot-3 doorman/bouncer wearing a zebra skin and holding a spear. Nonetheless, hoi polloi and high society mingled easily at the Kenya Club. It's probably most remembered for being the last place that Robert F. Kennedy's son David visited in 1984, before he returned to his hotel room at the Brazilian Court and died of a drug overdose. The popular restaurant Buccan is on the corner where the Kenya Club once stood.

This story used material from previous stories in The Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach Daily News and the palmbeachpost.com blog, Historic Palm Beach.