Welcome to Capt Tony's Saloon
Favorite watering hole of such legends as Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Shel Silverstein and Jimmy Buffet, Captain Tony’s Saloon is not just a bar it is a piece of living history. The saloon’s namesake, fishing boat captain gunrunner, gambling casino operator and Mayor of Key West the late Captain Tony, was a larger than life character who was often described as a dropout from a Hemingway novel.
Originally built in 1851 as an icehouse that doubled as a morgue Captain Tony’s Saloon is steeped in history. When you stop in for a cold one, remember you are drinking where legends have been drinking for decades. We’re glad you’re here and we welcome you to stay a while and learn about us!
Browse around the site and please come down and pull up a barstool next time you’re in paradise…we’ll have a cold one waitin’ for you at the bar!
A tree growing in the middle of the bar and through the roof has a sordid history of its own and legends to accompany it. Come pull up a seat at the bar and let us tell you all about it…
Most of Hemingway’s productive years as an author took place in Key West during 1928-1938 and his favorite watering hole was a bar, owned by his good friend, Josie Russell called “Sloppy Joe’s” … not the one on Duval Street though; the original Sloppy Joes is now Captain Tony’s Saloon.
Anthony “Captain Tony” Tarracino, former mayor and “Mayor Emeritus” of the city of Key West, a former charter boat captain, saloon owner and still a visionary character who for years brought world attention to Key West, died peacefully Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008, at the age of 92.
The building housing Captain Tony’s Saloon has a history as colorful as the town of Key West itself. When first constructed in 1851, 428 Greene Street was an ice house that doubled as the city morgue.