Sloppy Joe's - Key West, FL
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denben
N 24° 33.542 W 081° 48.306
17R E 418468 N 2716359
Sloppy Joe's is a historic American bar in Key West, Florida located at 201 Duval Street since 1937.
Waymark Code: WM12P8A
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 06/25/2020
Views: 4
From Sloppy Joe’s website: "The official beginning of Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the famous and infamous Key West saloon, was December 5, 1933, the day Prohibition was repealed. The bar was destined to go through two name changes and a sudden change of location before it would become Sloppy Joe’s, seen by millions of visitors to Florida’s southernmost outpost.
Sloppy Joe’s migrated across the street to its present location on May 5, 1937. The move was occasioned by a rent increase that Joe Russell refused to pay: from three dollars a week to a whopping four. Luckily, the former Victoria Restaurant owned by Spanish emigrant Juan Farto was vacant. Located at the corner of Duval and Greene streets, the Victoria had been built in 1917 and incorporated beautiful Cuban tile work, busily whirring ceiling fans, and jalousie doors. Joe Russell paid $2,500 for it.
Over the years Sloppy Joe’s, like rare Cuban rum, has gained a richness and flavor while essentially remaining unchanged. The ceiling fans still whisper busily, a little bit wobbly but carrying on. The jalousie doors open on a Duval Street busier than even Hemingway could imagine, yet still bearing the offbeat ambience that prompted him to brand Key West “the St. Tropez of the poor.” The long curving bar wears the scars of generations of visitors and Hemingway aficionados, drawn by the legend and hoping some measure of magic will rub off on them, and it does.
Open 365 days a year, from 9:00am to 4:00am (from noon to 4:00am on Sundays), Sloppy Joe’s has three complementary divisions: food, beverage, and retail store. The bar offers generous drinks, live music and dancing. The quality of the entertainment, showcased on the huge stage facing Duval Street, is exceptional, and ranges from rollicking bluegrass to raucous rock." (
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