Seventy-two square feet. Two bar stools. Zero square footage to waste on pretense. The Smallest Bar in Key West lives up to its name in every measurable way, and then completely ignores the math when it comes to personality.
Tucked into 124 Duval Street as part of what was once the Old Customs House Inn, this place started as a cigar stand in the 1930s, pivoted to sodas and candy, and by the 1940s had made the only sensible conversion available on Duval Street: it became a bar. It has been one ever since. The footprint never changed. The attitude never needed to.
You don’t come here to sit down for a long evening, though people have certainly tried. You come here to order something cold, take a photo with the sign, and absorb as much concentrated Key West energy as physically possible before the crowd pushes you back onto the sidewalk. The key lime pie shot has developed its own cult following. The piña colada will survive the walk to Mallory Square. Both are correct decisions.
Mallory Square is half a block away. Sloppy Joe’s is right up the street. Captain Tony’s and the Hog’s Breath are a short stumble in either direction. The Smallest Bar is the kind of place you duck into between stops, and somehow it ends up being the stop you remember. That’s Key West for you. The smallest things leave the biggest impressions.
There are more like it in the Florida Keys beach bar guide.
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