Captain Tony's Saloon

The oldest bar in Florida was a favorite hangout of Hemingway, JFK , Truman Capote. Tennessee Williams and Bob Dylan.  Built in 1852 the building served two important purposes due to the heat in Key West, it was an ice house and the city morgue.

The bar houses the Hanging Tree where vigilantes hung 17 convicted Pirates.  Over the decades it housed speakeasies, a bordello, a cigar Factory, and an early gay bar.

Gambling, gossip and 10 cent shots offered patrons a chance to kick up their wobbly heels.

A dive bar with thousands of dollars covering every imaginable inch of their walls and where women still hang their bras there with glee.

In 1971 Jerry Jeff Walker (Mr Bojangles) brought Jimmy Buffett down to the Keys for the first time.   Surrounded by treasure divers, pot smugglers, beachcombers, pirates, poets, artists, writers and Scallywags Buffet found rich material for his songs.  He sings about Captain Tony’s in the song “Last Mango in Paris”.

Tony Tarracino commonly called Captain Tony was awell-known storyteller and may have created many of the Legends himself as he held Court in the saloon every night.  Buffett even helped his old friend Captain Tony get elected mayor.

This Bar is a blast!  You can almost feel the ghosts here.