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How many Hemingway Bars have you visited?

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17,536
Holy grail: Floridita in Havana, but I'm not sure I will ever make it.
Living in the US, I would like to spend some time in Havana before "reconstruction" were to happen if relations are ever fully normalized. But likewise, I'm not sure that is going to happen anytime soon.

By the way, Hemmingway's wooden cabin cruiser that was left in Cuba & Castro kept for so long has been fully restored & is now in Florida somewhere. Bob Hufford may know exactly where it ended up.
 
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17,536
Happened to remember last night I was in a Trader Vic's a few times. Long gone from here now, not sure if the chain is still in business or not.
 

Shanghailander

One of the Regulars
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202
Location
Pennsylvania
Sloppy Joe's Key West

El Floridita, Havana

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Sloppy Joe's Havana

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My uncle, serving in the Merchant Marine during WW II, visited Sloppy Joe's in Havana as well. I think the stools haven't changed in 75 years...

Dick Hall group - Copy.jpg
 
Messages
10,343
Location
vancouver, canada
Living in the US, I would like to spend some time in Havana before "reconstruction" were to happen if relations are ever fully normalized. But likewise, I'm not sure that is going to happen anytime soon.

By the way, Hemmingway's wooden cabin cruiser that was left in Cuba & Castro kept for so long has been fully restored & is now in Florida somewhere. Bob Hufford may know exactly where it ended up.
In 2006 I visited his Finca outside Havana. They had the Pilar on display on the grounds.
 
Messages
10,343
Location
vancouver, canada
Me:
  1. Sloppy Joes, Key West
  2. Harry's Bar, Venice
  3. Harry's Bar, Paris
  4. Ritz Bar, Paris
Next month: Cerveceria Alemana, Madrid

Holy grail: Floridita in Havana, but I'm not sure I will ever make it.
I have been to all of Hemingway's haunts (except east Africa) in a general sense but stayed away from the named bars. If the Floridita is an example I have not missed much as it is just a tourist trap crawling with cruise shippers slurping mojitos. Papa would be appalled! I visited his grave site in Ketchum and found it quietly moving. A few metres from the house where he shot himself is a modest brass plaque marking his grave.....it was sad and touching.
 

Tiki Tom

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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3,157
Location
Oahu, North Polynesia
Shanghailander: Great photos! That is exactly the way one should dress in those bars. Well done.

Belfastboy: You make some good points about tourist traps. Yet some are not traps and well worth a visit. I recently popped into Brasserie Lipp (beautiful 1930s décor!), sat at Hemingways old table, and was almost the only one in the place. Had a small beer and was able to contemplate the scene in peace and quiet. Ironically, it is quite close to Les Deux Magots, which is indeed a real tourist trap. I went into Museo Chicote in Madrid at an early hour (7pm or so) and it was also fairly empty. Looked like it hasn't changed much since the golden era.
Your comment on visiting EH's grave in Ketchum brought back some memories. 25 years ago, my wife and I were relocating from the West Coast to the East Coast and we stopped at Ketchum on our way and visited Mr. Hemingway's grave... Ironically (because I didn't know it at the time), we ended up living about 2 miles from F. Scott Fitzgerald's grave in Rockville, Maryland.
 
Messages
10,343
Location
vancouver, canada
Sloppy Joe's Key West

El Floridita, Havana

View attachment 81758

Sloppy Joe's Havana

View attachment 81759

My uncle, serving in the Merchant Marine during WW II, visited Sloppy Joe's in Havana as well. I think the stools haven't changed in 75 years...

View attachment 81761
Not much of anything has changed in Havana in 75 years, well or at least the last 50 or so! Attended a ballet at the Grand Teatro and had to scrunch onto one side of the seat as there was a coil spring protruding out of the cushion on the other side. When I stood up to leave at the end the coil snagged an ripped my pants and in my surprise I flinch and the wooden arm rest was in my hand. I feared arrest for the willful damage of state property. That moment summed up Havana, faded crumbling beauty disintegrating before my eyes.
 

Bfd70

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,042
Location
Traverse city
The Hemingway museum a block from his birth home closed for good. Items from the museum are now in the house and the library. Oak Park il
 

HadleyH1

One Too Many
Messages
1,240
Sadly, I've been to none.

If I ever have the opportunity and time, there are two....The Floridita in Havana (is it still there?) and the Ritz's bar in Paris (been to Paris of course, but never stopped there)
 
Messages
10,343
Location
vancouver, canada
Sadly, I've been to none.

If I ever have the opportunity and time, there are two....The Floridita in Havana (is it still there?) and the Ritz's bar in Paris (been to Paris of course, but never stopped there)
I fear you will be most disappointed in the Floridita....it is crowded with cruise ship tourists jostling to buy overpriced mojitos. Papa would be appalled at the spectacle. We also visited his Finca outside Havana and it was surprisingly touching. Largely untouched, in a bit of disrepair and to my eyes looked like Papa stepped out for a bit of fishing and would be back soon. I could have bribed the custodian for a picture at the helm of the Pilar but that seemed somehow disrespectful and I declined.
 
Messages
10,343
Location
vancouver, canada
Shanghailander: Great photos! That is exactly the way one should dress in those bars. Well done.

Belfastboy: You make some good points about tourist traps. Yet some are not traps and well worth a visit. I recently popped into Brasserie Lipp (beautiful 1930s décor!), sat at Hemingways old table, and was almost the only one in the place. Had a small beer and was able to contemplate the scene in peace and quiet. Ironically, it is quite close to Les Deux Magots, which is indeed a real tourist trap. I went into Museo Chicote in Madrid at an early hour (7pm or so) and it was also fairly empty. Looked like it hasn't changed much since the golden era.
Your comment on visiting EH's grave in Ketchum brought back some memories. 25 years ago, my wife and I were relocating from the West Coast to the East Coast and we stopped at Ketchum on our way and visited Mr. Hemingway's grave... Ironically (because I didn't know it at the time), we ended up living about 2 miles from F. Scott Fitzgerald's grave in Rockville, Maryland.
Yes, Brasserie Lipp is an exception, last there in mid October, mid week and it was quiet with wonderful ambiance.
 

HadleyH1

One Too Many
Messages
1,240
I fear you will be most disappointed in the Floridita....it is crowded with cruise ship tourists jostling to buy overpriced mojitos. Papa would be appalled at the spectacle. We also visited his Finca outside Havana and it was surprisingly touching. Largely untouched, in a bit of disrepair and to my eyes looked like Papa stepped out for a bit of fishing and would be back soon. I could have bribed the custodian for a picture at the helm of the Pilar but that seemed somehow disrespectful and I declined.


The Floridita, for what you describe, sounds very depressing....full of cruise ship tourists and overpriced drinks. :confused: That's out for me. I'll just content myself looking at the old photos.

On the other hand...Finca Vigia still sounds haunting and beautiful! May be one day I'll stop there!
 
Messages
11,130
Location
Alabama
In 1992 a group of friends and I did a bareboat charter on a 40' sloop out Ft. Lauderdale and sailed the Bahamas for a week or so, spending most of our time fishing and diving in the Berries. We did make the trip over to N Bimini and visited the Compleat Angler in Alice Town. The Compleat Angler was a small 12 room hotel with a little bar that Hemingway frequented during his stay there from 1935-37. It is said he worked on "To Have and Have Not" during his stay there.

Just a small "dive" bar, my kind of place, with lots of fishing memorabilia and Hemingway photos hanging about. Sadly, it burned to the ground in 2006.
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HadleyH1

One Too Many
Messages
1,240
When I said I have visited none of the Hemingway's bars.....I forgot I have been drinking coffee at De Deux Magots and also at La Closerie de Lilas in Paris....but those two don't count as much as the ones in Havana and Key West or even the Ritz.

For me at least!:p
 

HadleyH1

One Too Many
Messages
1,240
You'll always have Paris!


Absolutely!:D

(but not anymore, no after the invasion, you know what I mean :().... but in our hearts and minds we will always have Paris like it was in the 1920s!

Haunting and totally beautiful! The best of the best!
 

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