The Beachcomber won't be forgotten. How Quincy is honoring its legendary music past

QUINCY ‒ On a sweltering afternoon, dozens of former managers, workers, musicians and customers gathered on Quincy Shore Drive for the unveiling of five stone monuments, each encapsuling a small piece of the legendary Beachcomber nightclub's 56-year history.

The monuments, which were unveiled during a dedication ceremony on Tuesday, July 8, stand along an eight-foot-wide path of crushed stone winding through a small park the city built two years ago on the site of the former Beachcomber, which was torn down in 2021.

While the monuments recall some of the great acts who performed at the club through decades – from Louis Armstrong to the Dropkick Murphys who gave the farewell performance in 2015 – speakers at the unveiling singled out the late Jimmy McGettrick as the genius behind Quincy's greatest live music venue.

McGettrick, who died in 2011, opened the Beachcomber in 1959 with his business partner Joe Kintigos. As one of the monuments explains, McGettrick would book internationally acclaimed acts looking to add a date to their tours after headlining weekend shows to sold-out audiences in Boston.

Mayor Tom Koch, sculptor Ryan Ackerman and members of the McGettrick family unveil new historical markers at Quincy's Beachcomber Park. The park was dedicated on the sight of the legendary Wollaston music venue, which closed in 2015 and was demolished in 2021. July 8, 2025.

'He's not missing a trick.' Beachcomber family remembers founder Jimmy McGettrick

Kintigos, 95, honored McGettrick and told anecdotes about Louis Armstrong, who performed at the club in its early years.

"I know he's watching," an emotional Kintigos said of McGettrick. "He's not missing a trick. He never did. He was always on."

When Armstrong played the Beachcomber, Kintigos said he expressed admiration for the great performer's globetrotting lifestyle, entertaining at the world's most famous and glamourous hotels and nightclubs.

One time owner of the Beachcomber Joe Kintigos, 94, shares some stories about the musicians who played the venue. Five Beachcomber Park was dedicated on the sight of the historic Quincy music venue along Wollaston Beach on Tuesday July 8, 2025

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a colored man," Kintigos said, recalling Armstrong's reply. Armstrong then explained the indignities suffered by Black entertainers in the era of Jim Crow segregation.

"When I work Las Vegas, New York, Florida, any of the hotels or nightclubs, I go in through the kitchen and I go out the kitchen," he said, quoting Armstrong. "I'm not allowed to eat there or have a hotel room there."

Kintigos contrasted the racism typical of nightclub owners and managers of that era with McGettrick, who he said treated all musicians with love and respect, regardless of their race, nationality or fame.

"Nobody was better than anyone else (in McGettrick's eyes)," Kintigos said. "We're all the same."

Artists behind monuments once played at the Beachcomber

Quincy native Ryan Ackerman, of Monti Ackerman Sculpture, received the $160,000 contract to create the stone monuments for the park. He was the sole bidder.

The grandson of pioneering Quincy granite sculptor Edward Monti, Ackerman has created other notable city monuments, including the waterfall at Pine Hills Cemetery and the apple outside Quincy High School.

Ackerman teamed up with South Shore illustrator and musician Lennie Peterson, who played the Beachcomber in the 1990s and 2000s as trombonist for the band, Clutch Grabwell. Ackerman said his band opened for Peterson's and the two struck up a lasting friendship.

"For me, (the Beachcomber) was a second home," Peterson said. "It's great to pay tribute to Jim, especially."

Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: The Beachcomber won't be forgotten. How Quincy is honoring its legendary music past