The longtime owner of Terrace Inn Lounge in Joliet has served up his last round.

Lionel Norris closed the bar at the end of last year to spend more time with his family.

A farewell party was held for Norris on Dec. 30 to celebrate his retirement from the bar he’s owned since 1984.

“This last year has been a rough year. I’m not getting any younger. So, I’m going move on,” Norris said.

Norris said there’s a possibility he might come back but he wants to take a break.

“I’ve enjoyed myself here. I’ve met some good friends. I had some good times and a few bad ones. It’s time for me to move on,” he said.

Norris said he plans to spend time with his family in Mississippi, where he can fish 11 months out of the year.

He said he served in the U.S. Air Force and he came to Joliet when he was discharged in the 1970s.

He started working at the Terrace Inn Lounge in 1981, he said. Before he took ownership of the bar, he said he was a captain for the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The bar had been known by different names in the past, such as Mozambique. Norris said his wife came up with the name Terrace Inn Lounge when he took ownership.

The 2020 movie "Monuments" had been filmed at the Terrance Inn Lounge in 2018.

In an interview with Shaw Local in 2018, Jack C. Newell, the writer and director of “Monuments”, said he liked how the Terrace Inn Lounge was right beside Interstate 80.

Norris said he has a lot of good memories of the bar and he enjoyed the dancing and the partying “until I got a little older.”

“It was a lot of fun,” he said.

Norris said he’ll miss the Terrace Inn Lounge and he’s thankful for all the people who supported him and the bar over the years.

“But like I said, I got grandkids I want to spend time with,” he said.