Key West Live Cam

Ernest Hemingway built his reputation as a writer in solitude. But Key West's crowded bars played an important part in shaping his work; there, with human nature on display, they were his observatories. His reputed favorite, the one watering hole permanently linked to the author, is "Sloppy Joe's."

Hemingway met "Sloppy Joe" Russell when the saloon keeper ran a speakeasy on Front Street in Prohibition-era Key West, using his boat to haul fishermen to the Gulf Stream and illegal booze from Cuba. The friendship began when Russell cashed a royalty check from Hemingway's publisher after a local bank refused it. They were fishing and drinking buddies from then on.

When Prohibition ended in December 1933, Russell opened the first legitimate "Sloppy Joe's" at 428 Greene Street. It wasn't a gentlemen's club. Customers were drawn by pool tables, gambling and less-than-refined amusements. It was the writer's preferred hangout. He sat alone at the end of the bar, often barefoot, wearing a dirty T-shirt and a pair of shorts held up with a piece of rope, sipping a rum-and-citrus juice concoction called "Papa Dobles" and jotting down notes.

After a dispute over the lease to the building at 428 Greene (today a bar called "Captain Tony's"), Russell moved Sloppy Joe's to its present location at the corner of Greene and Duval streets in May 1937. Hemingway continued to patronize the bar after the move but was already spending less time in Key West when it opened at the new location. He would go on to live in Havana and Idaho; he would leave behind more than memories of good times at Sloppy Joe's. Shortly after his 1961 suicide, a cache of manuscripts, personal papers, galley proofs, photos and other items was found in a storage room at Russell's saloon. Among the dusty treasures were part of the original To Have and Have Not manuscript and some notes for A Farewell to Arms.

Sloppy Joe's is now an unofficial Hemingway shrine and takes full advantage of its link to the author. A souvenir shop adjoins the bar. Pictures of Hemingway in his 50s, with his full gray beard and somber eyes, peers at browsers from T-shirts, coffee mugs, ash trays and other paraphernalia. The shop offers a variety of Sloppy Joe's souvenirs, including bumper stickers for $1.50, baseball caps for $14.95, and sweatshirts with an embroidered logo for $37.50. If you feel like splurging, you can spend $105 for an embroidered denim "Sloppy Joe's" baseball jacket. The same brooding visage is also visible everywhere in the bar, looking up at patrons from cardboard coasters and plastic cups and even the labels of "Sloppy Joe's Beer," an in-house brew.

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is open 9-5 daily; last tour begins at 4:30. Admission $6.50 for adults, $4 for children ages 6-12. For information, write to them at 907 Whitehead, Key West, FL 33040, or call (305) 294-1136. For general information about visiting Key West, contact Key West Tourismm Information and Reservations, 1601-A N. Roosevelt Blvd., Key West 33040.

Key West and the Hemingway house sit at the end of U.S. Route 1. You can pick it up south of Miami off Route 821, Florida's turnpike. Route 1 leaves the Florida mainland and hops across the Keys over 40 bridges. The last bridge, running from Marathon to Key West, is seven miles long and makes for a spectacular drive in fair weather. The railroad bridge was destroyed by a great hurricane in the '30s. Small planes service the island now, replacing long-gone rails.

A haven for many writers - Tennessee Williams and Robert Frost among them - Key West throws an annual literary fest each year in mid-July called Hemingway Days. There are writers' workshops, fiction and poetry readings and short story and first novel contests. Hemingway Days also sponsors an annual competition for college-bound high school juniors and seniors, the $1,000 Young Writer's Scholarship.

In keeping with "Papa's"legendary competitive spirit, the Hemingway Days festival also includes a fishing tournament, an arm-wrestling championship and the Hemingway Bell Regatta Awards.