It was Prohibition in the United States
that convinced Jose Garcia Abeal, the original owner of Sloppy Joe’s to switch from
food service to liquor service. American tourists were coming to
Havana for the nightlife, gambling and all the alcohol they could get their
in a legal manner.
Sloppy Joe's was welcoming tourists for over
four decades, serving 80 cocktails plus the bar's own brand of 12-year-old rum. During the 1940s and 1950s Sloppy Joe's was a magnet
for American celebrities as well as tourists wanting to mingle with them. It has been described as "one of the
most famous bars in the world" with "almost the status of a
shrine." by the Los Angeles Times.
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 saw the bar's business take a nosedive, with
90% of Sloppy Joe's clientele being Americans, who had been banned from Cuba.
A
fire in the 60’s closed the establishment for good. The building in which the bar was housed
remained intact, resembling a ghost town with its single-piece mahogany bar and
photos of celebrities. The slow-paced, extensive restoration,
undertaken by The Office of the Historian of Havana, began in 2007. Located
on the corner of Calle Animas and Zulueta in Old Havana, just behind the Plaza Hotel.
Renovation work on Sloppy Joe's was completed in April of 2013, and its doors opened to the public on April 12th. The facade closely resembles the images from the 1950s, down to the sign on the corner, above the arches.
The really great news is that they are still
serving the fine cocktails that made Sloppy Joe’s famous in the first place. I spent several afternoons and evenings there
enjoying the people that work there and their wonderful cocktails. ;o)
