Sloppy Joe's
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 8 May 2012 22:57
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Sloppy Joe’s, Duval Street, Key West,
Florida Sloppy
Joe’s is in the 1000 Things book, so in celebration for not calling out
Tow Boat US (the AA of the Intracoastal Waterway) and being in our last port of
call in the USA, we nipped in for a cocktail.
Bigger
crowds than we are used to in a noisy hubbub of cruise ship patrons
Bear settled for a beer, I had a Strawberry Daiquiri
Sloppy Joe’s Bar was born on the 5th
of December 1933, the day after prohibition ended. The bar was destined to go
through two name changes and a sudden change of location before it would become
today’s Sloppy Joe’s Bar. Joe Russell was the original proprietor and the bar
was called the Blind Pig located in a rundown building that Russell leased for
three dollars a week. Upon the addition of a dance floor, the name changed to
the Silver Slipper. The bar was a place of shabby discomfort, good friends
gambling, fifteen cent whiskey and ten cents for a shot of gin.
It was suggested by Ernest
Hemmingway; a favourite patron of Russell’s from the very start, to change the
name to Sloppy Joe’s. The new name was adopted from Jose Garcia’s Rio Havana
Club which sold liquor and iced seafood. Because the floor was always wet with
melted ice, his patrons taunted this Spanish Joe with running a sloppy
place..... and the name stuck.
Next, Bear fell
into a ‘Pain in the Ass’, served by our nice server – a lady originally
from Nottingham. She put extra rum on the top..............
We enjoyed the talented
singer, the atmosphere and the surroundings
I have never seen such big jars of cherries. The bill came
and we left. A cruise ship ‘fin’ just visible at the
end of the street.
ALL IN ALL A GOOD THING TO
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