Quote:
Originally Posted by Grantham Forester
-- Then-- fishing, shooting live pigeons, or drinking at Sloppy Joe's in Key West, or at the Floridita in Havana.
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In the summer of '71 I flew a TA4J Skyhawk on my last dual cross country before my wings and landed at NAS Key West. My instructor had been there many times and he ushered me to Sloppy Joe's which was still pretty sloppy and was just as Hem left it. Today it is not.
The bartender showed us Ernie's favorite bar stool, which was left of the pass through. He also described the Hemingway Daiquiri. It carried three double shots of Bacardi rum. Hem would show up around noon and stay until closing and drink over a dozen of them. At the time I was there the place had a green (or was it red?) lanoleum bar, rickety bar stools, concrete floors and floor to ceiling shutters usually left open to the elements, often wind driven rain.
I've never been back, but I understand the place has had a makeover. How sad, because when I was there it was a very pleasant place to get bombed.