Chart Room Cocktail Lounge Key West, FL

The Pier House was built in 1967 as a 50 room motel when the owners realized they didn’t have a bar so this motel room turned bar became one of the longstanding, story filled, dim-lit, cherished places on on the island.

The first ever ocean powerboat races started here at the Pier House, they raced to the Dry Tortugas and back while spectators waited at the Chart Room.          Truman Capote,  Tennessee Williams,  the Rockefellers, Melons,  Vanderbilts,  even Robin Williams stayed here and frequented the bar.   Bob Marley even played here.  It was a haven for locals, travelers and musicians.  It was a time when no one was famous and drinking was a sport.

The real booze filled history of this bar began in November of 1971 when my dear friend Jerry Jeff Walker (Mr Bojangles) brought Jimmy Buffett down here in his “Flying Lady” a silver maroon 47 Packard sedan and their first stop was the Chart Room.  Jimmy would test his early Tropics songs here playing for drinks amongst the treasure divers, pot smugglers,  gun runners, beachcombers, politicians and friends like Hunter Thompson, Jim Croce,  Vaugh Cochran an original member of the Coral Reefers,  and writers Tom McGuane and Tom Corcoran.

This place  has a strange tradition of memorializing regular’s ashes into the mahogany bar.   All along the bar,  holes are drilled, ashes spooned in and sealed with a plaque honoring the dead.          The most famous of these is Mel Fisher. The American treasure hunter held court at the old spool table in the center of the bar, as he and his family searched for sunken treasure in the mid 70s.  They found the “Atocha Motherlode” of 40 tons of gold and silver”  emeralds and artifacts estimated at $450 million.

The bar is kinda of hidden in the back nestled in the corner of the Pier House Resort and Spa.  Free hot dogs, peanuts and popcorn as long as you’re drinking.    Casual atmosphere full of pictures and memorabilia.  FINS UP!!!