Sail on Captain Tony
By now I suspect most of you have heard of the passing last week of a true legend - Captain Tony Tarracino of Key West. There are plenty of articles and stories on the internet that you can read about him, and I wanted to share a funny personal story about one of Key West’s most colorful characters.
Captain Tony arrived in Key West from New Jersey in 1948. Ten years later, he purchased a bar on Greene Street, calling it Captain Tony’s Saloon. The Saloon was also colorful in it’s own right having been the original location of Sloppy Joe’s, one of Ernest Hemingway’s favorite hangouts. Speaking from personal experience and many tastings, I can also tell you they have a great house drink “Pirate’s Punch”. Although it was sold in 1989, the bar still bears Captain Tony’s name and Captain Tony continued to frequently visit on Friday nights to meet his many admirers who stopped by for a photo or autograph. I had the pleasure of stopping for a quick visit with the Captain myself on several visits to Key West, the most memorable being the night before our wedding.
On the night before our wedding after gathering with family and friends at the Raw Bar for dinner, we headed toward Duval Street to check out the sights and have a few drinks. Eventually the crew made their way to Captain Tony’s for some Pirates Punch and hopefully a chance to meet the living legend himself. As the picture above shows we were in luck that evening as Captain Tony was indeed there, and in fine form I might add.
Just after I snapped the above photo of the Capt. With my soon to be 78 year old, Mother-In-Law Ellie - the Captain added another colorful chapter to his history with the ladies. He Looked at Ellie and said “You’re kinda cute, maybe you could be my girlfriend on my next Vegas trip” Then the smooth operator cupped one of Ellie’s breasts and said “Of course we might have to lift these boobies up some”. A great deal of laughter ensued as Captain Tony had given us an unexpected Wedding gift of another great memory that we can laugh about for the rest of our lives.
Capt. Tony was one of my favorite rascals, and I am glad I had the chance to meet him a few times. Sail on Captain - “there’s still so much to be done”
Patrick Ó Brien
