Alice Cooper spent his Southwest Florida stop like a local with a rock legend’s shadow. He shopped at Edison Mall in Fort Myers, signed autographs and posed for photos with fans, then kept turning up across Lee County around his May 5 show in Fort Myers.
The visits were first reported May 6, and readers soon added more sightings of Cooper around the area. Among the places they pointed to were Old Town New Market Central, The Dunes Golf & Tennis Club on Sanibel, and Crisp Creperie in Cape Coral, where he stopped for lunch the day after the concert.
One of the clearest accounts came from Kristin Swanson at The Timbers on Sanibel Island. She said Cooper, his wife and a touring crew of 35 people ate there on May 4, the night before he played Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers. Swanson said, “They were all so awesome!” and added that “They were all allowed to enjoy (themselves) without being bombarded by fans.” She also said, “They were all so amazing. Great people. Alice Cooper ate stone crab and swordfish. Yum!”
At Crisp Creperie at Coralwood Mall, restaurant owner Jack Hernandez said a server first told a guest, “Oh yeah, you sort of look like Alice Cooper,” before the reply came back: “I AM Alice Cooper.” Hernandez said the server answered, “No, you're not.” He said the exchange continued, “She said, 'Who does that look like? Who does that guy look like?'” and then, “That's Alice Cooper.” Hernandez said Cooper later told him, “This is by far my favorite restaurant now.”
Hernandez said the meeting was personal as well as memorable. He said Cooper posed for photos with him, described the singer as Christian and said a common friend linked them through one of Cooper’s former bass players. “He said that's what brought him in,” Hernandez said. “It was awesome,” he added. “I mean, I'm standing here with a legend, the legendary Alice Cooper. Who wouldn't be stoked?”
What makes the run of sightings matter is that it was not a fleeting backstage stop. Cooper’s visit tied directly to a concert that drew him into Fort Myers, but it also left a trail of ordinary local moments — shopping, lunch, golf and dinner — that turned a tour date into a small countywide event. By the time the comments started piling up, the question was not whether he had been around Lee County. It was how many places he managed to visit before heading out again.