That's what Patty McGee found on Hutchinson Island a decade ago.

Blue-collar America living beside Fortune 500 retirees. Swanky houses on stilts sharing a million-dollar view with concrete-block duplexes.

Now the former Alaskan pipeline worker is fighting to keep her historic and occasionally raucous beach bar known as Archie's.

Savage winds and salty waves rode roughshod over the 57-year-old wood building during Frances, leaving McGee's tiny apartment on the second floor in shambles.

The 60-year-old grandmother took refuge under a pool table.

By the time Hurricane Jeanne came knocking, someone offered McGee $6 million for the Ocean Drive bar.

``If I was in it for the money, I never would've bought the place,'' she said, her coarse voice hinting at a lifetime of hell-raising.

On an ambrosial 60-degree afternoon in November, a tanned and freckled McGee stood outside the closed bar and watched a crew of her weary out-of-work employees and former customers.

In the two months since Jeanne, they've come faithfully to help, wielding brushes dipped into tropical blue, lavender, green and yellow paint.

The new color scheme came courtesy of Key West, where McGee escaped after stuffing all the employees she could in a rented gray Cadillac.

She left to save her sanity after the city's building inspector found mold and structural damage that could put an end to Archie's.

``They haven't given me time to do anything,'' McGee lamented.

Emergency officials ordered everyone to evacuate before Jeanne hit Sept. 25.

When they were allowed to return three days later, many learned their homes and businesses were uninhabitable. Some still wait for insurance adjusters to settle damage claims from Frances, which came ashore Sept. 5.

They worry an economic shift could push out the poor to make room for the rich. Across the street from Archie's, a real estate sign boasts the coming of four town homes.

A high rise stands next door to the bar, where generations of visitors enjoyed the blues, good burgers and cold beer.

While McGee waited for the city's approval to open, customers rolled in, shoving checks into her hand. ``Barbecue Pete'' Kogar forked out $500.

When he got out of jail, ``she got me a place to live, put me on my feet again,'' the former Archie's cook recalled. ``I don't forget.''

McGee has a soft spot for down-and-out sorts. For many, she's a second mom watching out for her kids.

Archie's is their home.

By day's end, the word had come. They won't be coming home anytime soon.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.