Jimmy Buffett

Capt. Tony Tarracino

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I found the above Capt. Tony Tarracino for Mayor poster (“He Listens To You”) a couple of years ago at my absolute favorite Key West shop, 90 Miles to Cuba, which is located at 616 Greene Street in the Historic Seaport District. A Key West legend, Capt. Tony (1916-2008) served as a shrimper, charter boat captain, gunrunner, proprietor of Captain Tony’s Saloon and Key West mayor from 1989 to 1991. Capt. Tony once remarked, “All you need in this life is a tremendous sex drive and a great ego. Brains don’t mean shit.” He served as the inspiration behind Jimmy Buffett’s 1985 song, “Last Mango in Paris.”  

Jimmy Buffett

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“It was the seventies, and Key West was cooking. A strange collection of shrimpers, gays, dope dealers, crooked politicians, hippies and tourists roamed the quaint streets of the little town at the end of the world.” – Jimmy Buffett, Where is Joe Merchant?

“Jimmy literally made Phil [Clark] a legend with that one song [‘A Pirate Looks at Forty’]. It was one of the high points of Phil’s life, I would say.” – Vic Latham

“Success turned Jimmy Buffett into a human tourist attraction …” – The Rolling Stone Album Guide

“I love the Church of Buffett because they don’t think I’ve done anything worth a shit since 1974. I tend to disagree with them, but I love the fact that the people that don’t like me still like me.” – Jimmy Buffett

“The Island Hotel [in Cedar Key] is a throwback … It’s a small old hotel – the kind of place where they couldn’t really care less whether you come, as opposed to those overmarketed tourism spots.” – Jimmy Buffett

 “… a pleasant hang with a multimillionaire who’s got a chill philosophical side.” – Rolling Stone on Life on the Flip Side, Jimmy Buffett’s 30th studio album

Logun’s Lobster House

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“On the south end of Duval Street, just before you hit the water, there used to be a restaurant flanked by red fringed umbrellas with a thatched tiki bar inside. ‘Logun’s Lobster House’ the sign read, and if you wandered into the seaside lot on the right night in the early ’70s, you might have heard a long-haired young Jimmy Buffett play with his band.

‘The first gig we did as the Coral Reefer Band, we did at Logun’s Lobster House, and it was a dollar a ticket,’ says Jimmy Buffett. ‘David had a table on the front row, and at the table was Truman Capote, John Malcolm Brinnin, Dotson Rader, and a few other people.’

The ‘David’ in question was David Wolkowsky, longtime friend and patron of Buffett’s. A few years before the Logun’s gig, in 1968, Wolkowsky opened the Pier House Resort at the north end of Duval Street. The Miami Herald called the opening ‘the turning point in Key West’s transformation from washed-up military outpost to funky tourist destination.’ Wolkowsky recognized the glitter of Key West under the grime of neglect and economic depression. And he recognized something special in Jimmy Buffett. ‘One of the great attributes of his was his tolerance of crazy people … me included,’ he says.” – Keys Weekly

Golden Lion Cafe, Flagler Beach

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Billed as “Flagler Beach’s Favorite Beachside Restaurant & Bar,” the Golden Lion Café lies near the heart of this East Coast beach community at 501 North Ocean Shore Boulevard. Bustling, unpretentious and full of eclectic charm, the Golden Lion Café, which is known as “The King of the Beach,” has been voted the #1 Beach Bar on the East Coast of Florida in 2017 by floridabeachbar.com. It features a tiki bar, roof deck, live music (of the Jimmy Buffett, Neil Young and James Taylor variety, at least during our Saturday afternoon visit), gift store and a menu full of delicious seafood, appetizers, wings, sandwiches and more. Recommended menu items include Peel ‘N’ Eat Shrimp and the Chargrilled Jerk Caribbean Wings (next time I want to try the Lobster Guacamole Tostados!). Check it out!

Aerial View of the “Arbutus,” Key West

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“The Arbutus was an old 175′ to 180′ Coast Guard buoy tender that was owned by Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors operation and used as a ‘Sentry’ vessel over the Atocha wreck site following the capsizing of the tug boat North Wind, which claimed the lives of several people including one of Mel’s son’s and daughter-in-law. Later on, the Arbutus was towed to the ‘Quicksand’s’, west of the Marquesas, and was used as one of Mel Fisher’s tower ships. These ships were used as reference points in searching the wreck site. Once, while as the ‘Sentry’ vessel over the Atocha wreck, it was accidentally strafed and bombed by a reserve Navy squadron out of Tennessee. Remarkable, they didn’t hit the ship or its startled occupant. The vessel sank of its own accord at its current location in the Quicksand’s. It was also used by Jimmy Buffett for a back cover for his record album Songs You Should Know by Heart.” The photo above was taken by Dale McDonald in 1985. Source: Dale M. McDonald Collection, State Library & Archives of Florida

Gamble Rogers

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“When I look back on the causes and effects that have brought me to this stage in my life, I do believe I have kept my guardian angels quite busy. I say angels, because I feel that with the lifestyle I have chosen, more help is required and they have been quite good at providing me with the right kind of help at the right time. Gamble Rogers was the right kind of help. I vividly remember the days I spent traversing the folk club circuit in the Southeast, roaring down two lane black top roads with Gamble at the wheel of his black fastback Mustang listening to the glass packs ricocheting through the pines as he offered words of wisdom to an up and coming folk singer from the Gulf Coast. I would open shows for Gamble in places like The Hub Pub Club in Buoy’s Creek, North Carolina or the Tradewinds in St. Augustine or the Gaslight in Athens watching him weave the magic with just a guitar and a story. Gamble Rogers taught me how to move an audience with dialogue and delivery as much as with music. I never tired of listening to him expound about the Maitland Turkey Farm Massacre or deliver a history lesson on the Seminole Chief, Osceola, as he sang a Will McClain song. I was the apprentice and he was the master.” – Jimmy Buffett, liner notes, Fruitcakes, 1994. (Photo by Robert S. Blount, ca. 1986)

Caribbean Club, Key Largo

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According to its official website, the Caribbean Club was opened in 1938 by legendary automotive and real estate promoter Carl Fisher “as a poor-man’s fishing retreat.” It later became a gambling den. The bar served as a filming location for exterior shots from the classic 1948 film Key Largo, which was directed by John Huston and starred Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Edward G. Robinson. The photo above was taken by legendary commercial photographer Joseph Janney Steinmetz (1905-1985). The Caribbean Club is the oldest bar in the Upper Keys. Today, the bar offers “live music, daily happy hours, waterfront sunset views and a dog-friendly atmosphere.” Ideally located at Mile Marker 104 bayside, it is open 7 AM to 4 AM “every damn day.” Note: The Caribbean Club is a cash-only bar with an onsite ATM. The bar served as a filming location for the Netflix original series, Bloodline. According to Jimmy Buffett, “It was a bar like many others and then it wasn’t.”