A Man of Vision And Community

When business people get together to discuss the best businessmen in our community, you can bet the name George Kessinger will come up.



George started out years ago as a local bartender eventually opening his first bar, Georgie's on Sunrise Boulevard. A few years later, George reinvented that bar renaming it Georgie's Bad Boys.
After selling Bad Boys, which became Plato's Repeat, George took over as general manager of the Club Caribbean Resort where he refined his skills as a promotional genius. He turned the empty resort into a major party location complete with 50 rooms and a national reputation. The legendary tea dances at the Marlin Beach Resort came to an end and George grabbed the idea and brought it to the Club Caribbean. CCR became the place to be seen and party on weekends and the tea dances and poolside were wall-to-wall skin. The main pool bar was very busy all week long as well as the “pool play”.  While at CCR, George showed his love for amateur sports and helped form the South Florida Gay Softball League which was the first gay sports league in the area. George and CCR sponsored three teams in the fledgling league which few felt would survive. Not only did it survive, it thrived and became the model for other gay sports leagues nationally.

Unfortunately, the owners of the property let the resort fall into disrepair and sold the North Federal Highway property. But George was not discouraged. He moved on to become the general manager of The Stud on State Road 84 for his good friend, owner Ron Gofrank. George carried on some of the features of CCR at The Stud. Installed were volleyball courts and the tea dance that started at the Marlin Beach and moved to CCR, brought new crowds every Sunday to The Stud. Ron went into semi-retirement and closed The Stud but George was not discouraged.


George decided to take his fate into his own hands and open his own club once again. George found a space that was a former bank in a rather rundown shopping center on Wilton Drive. He brought his long time partner, Adam Burnett in as a business partner and a former employee of his from both CCR and The Stud, Terry Norman. The three of them worked long hours to turn the bank into a club of monumental proportions — Georgie's Alibi was born. George then brought Ron Gofrank in as a partner and the club became the cornerstone of a revitalized Wilton Manors entertainment district. A few years later, a second location was opened but this time in St. Petersburg, Florida. Now a third location is currently opening in Palm Springs, California along with the already opened Azul Restaurant.

George, Adam Terry and Ron sold a majority interest in the Alibi to Jackson and Mark, owners of the then Bill's Filling Station. George sold the St. Petersburg venue to his good friend and partner, Ron Gofrank. George wanted to concentrate more on the Palm Springs Alibi location.

George's dedication to the community is also legendary. In addition to the softball league, he also helped formulate the first Stonewall Street Festival in Wilton Manors. Immediately after 9/11, he held a festival in Alibi's parking lot to raise funds for the families of those killed in the terrorist attacks. Also on his list of regular charitable organizations is Kids in Distress, Broward House, a theatrical school in the county, Children's Diagnostic and Treatment Center for children with HIV/AIDS, the former CenterOne, Shadowood II, the local Gay Veterans Association, numerous voters registration drives, fundraisers for the Broward County Health Department for educational materials, Poverello and the Poverello Food Bank, Tuesday's Angels and the 100% Solution Ride among others.

“Being a businessman, and being as successful as this business is, being part of the community has made us even more successful,” George told me. ”The [business owners] that think: I'll just take and not give back are people that don't understand that business is not just the taking but you must give back. And I see it — I feel it. The Police Benevolence Association, we help them constantly. We help all the sports from soccer to flag football and we see it all come back. It's what they always say, what you put into it, you can take out. If you put nothing in, don't expect anything to come back. That's how I was raised and I've kept it in the back of my mind. I've been in this town 35 years and I haven't forgotten where I came from. All these people that come in, and the employees, and they may need something and I remember that I was there myself once. There are so many people that think they have always been there and they haven't. Everybody's always needed help somewhere, somehow. And so I feel I do owe a lot back because Fort Lauderdale and Broward County and Wilton Manors have done a lot for me.”


But what about those that only take and don't give back, I asked. “For some reason they don't understand. Do they not see it? Would it really be that bad for them if they gave a little bit back? Do they think there's always an angle when someone comes in to see them?”

Over the Fourth of July weekend, the Alibi did a fundraiser for the troops in Iraq to send them 'care packages'. His goal was to raise thousand dollars. “You don't think about the cost to do this, you only think about what you're doing. And I found if you go out there and do your best, everything will follow behind you. But if you always put certain things ahead of that, you're going to have a bumpy way.”
“There are people out there I wish I could instruct them that [giving back to the community] won't hurt…it really won't. In the long run, you'll sleep better and feel better that you did the right thing. “