Joe grew up in Virginia and always had an affinity for sunshine, water, and beach food.  He also understood that "time" was the real treasure of life.  He never worked a summer until he was thirty years old -  opting only to be a lifeguard (not real work to Joe).  He learned the love of water from his father, who never missed an opportunity to drive to the beach at Ocean City, MD, or go water skiing on the Severn River near Annapolis.  With time, Joe, too, became very good and later became a barefoot water skier in California - skiing with some of the top barefooters from the United States and Australia.  Joe wasn't really that good, but they were a friendly bunch and let the "old man" hang out!  Here is Joe barefooting backward in the Bay Area of San Francisco at age 40.

Earlier, at the age of 21 - before moving to California - Joe got his first taste of the beaches of Hawaii.  He and his best friend Rick decided to road-trip across the country (something Joe has done many times since) and fly to Hawaii.  They holed up near Makaha - a world-famous surf spot on the island of Oahu - and spent most weekends watching surfing competitions (some of which were broadcast on ABC’s “Wide-World-of-Sports” back home).  It was only natural that Joe would want to run off to the islands since, as a kid, he had repeatedly watched his dad's Kodachrome Navy slides of Hawaii.  This 1949 photo shows Joe's dad paddling his hollow wooden surfboard at Waikiki Beach - just a short distance from (and a few short years after) Pearl Harbor.

Twenty-five years later, when Joe was in the islands himself (1974), a new craze was sweeping the mainland back home—Puka Shell necklaces (Puka means hole). Joe and Rick feverishly collected Pukas on the beach to make necklaces for girlfriends, moms, and friends back home. When Joe's mother passed away in 2015, the last thing she carried with her was Joe's Puka necklace.

Joe and Rick stayed in the islands and ate lots of Huli-Huli chicken until a lack of work sent them packing for the mainland. However, by then, the island experience had cemented Joe's love of beach life and beach food. The photo (at the top of the page, right side) shows Joe in the early 80s flipping what would become his "Huli-Huli Burgers."

After a stint in the U.S. Navy (reserve) - Joe headed off to college at Arizona State University.  It didn't have a beach, but it DID have the most sunny days on the mainland!  While there, Joe met the love of his life - a cute Iowa girl named Leah - and upon graduation, they were married. Leah joined Joe as they both wandered surf beaches along the California Coast and eventually Australia. They were very happy being vagabonds - never staying in any one place for more than three years - but after almost ten years of wandering, the winds of change blew them into an unexpected little harbor that Joe soon christened “Bakersfield Beach.” It didn’t have a lot of ocean, but it was loaded with sand!

Soon, Joe bought into a small struggling restaurant and - taking the gamble of his life - started Coconut Joe's.  Finally, he would have a place to offer beach food to all the people who hung out on his "beach" every day. 

To him - the restaurant parking lot was a marina, and the cars were sailboats.  Joe believed that life should be a joy, and Bakersfield was just one big gathering of locals on the beach.  The only thing to do, Joe thought, was to feed them.

Expanding the restaurant to three times its original size, it has been an amazing run, to be sure, as Coconut Joe received many accolades from customers and food critics alike. Joe was even recognized by the Governor of Hawaii in 2007. He also received congressional recognition in Washington, D.C., for his work with underprivileged communities.  

Joe has been happily married to his beautiful wife Leah for 42 years and has been blessed with two beautiful girls he adores - Ami and Kate, and much later, an “adopted” son - Ivan.  (See more pictures below.)