Only in Key West could a real treasure hunter sit in a motel room-turned-bar, tended by an actual gun-running pirate smuggler, while charting his search for a lost Spanish treasure ship. All the while listening to one of the most influential musicians to ever sing about the Caribbean.
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Nestled in a corner of the Pier House Resort and Spa, rests one of Key West’s hidden treasures. Especially if you’re a fan of Jimmy Buffett and the island’s tales and mysteries. Built in 1967 as a 50-room motel, it lacked only one thing…a bar! The quick fix? Empty a room, add liquor and a mahogany bar, shake, and pour out one of the most quirky places on an island filled with them.
Key West runs on legends and tall tales. Some are easily disproved (Hemingway did not drink at the Chart Room as he passed before it was established). Some are harder to prove or disprove. Did Bob Marley ever play here? Were a buddy’s ashes snorted off the bar? And some are surely exaggerated. Could you really get an arrest “fixed” by the bar’s patrons? But Key West doesn’t work like that. Getting lost in the aura is what makes it so appealing.
The island was a different place in the 1970s. This was before the $500/night resorts and the AirB&B’s ruled Old Town. T-shirt shops had not yet taken most of the prime real estate along Duval Street. And drinks cost $1.25. Tennessee Williams and Shel Silverstein lived here. David Allan Coe was inspired to record his two X-rated albums while listening to Silverstein’s off-color comedy songs. And many other celebrities enjoyed a relaxed island lifestyle here. Not exactly who you would expect to rub elbows with now. And most, if not all of them, came through the doors of the Chart Room.
Even the first ocean powerboat races started from the Pier House, sponsored by Hennessy cognac. Participants raced to the Dry Tortugas and back while “spectators” waited at the Chart Room.
Legend has it Jimmy Buffett’s career started here. Jimmy’s friend Jerry Jeff Walker brought him down to Key West in November 1971. Their first stop in town was the Chart Room where the bartender, Tom Corcoran, gave Jimmy his first beer “on the house”. This, and the ambiance of the bar were omens of great things to come. Jimmy started his tropical career playing for drinks here. In attendance were treasure divers, pot smugglers, beachcombers, politicians, and friends. Some of those friends included Hunter S. Thompson, Tom McGuane, Vaughn Cochran, Steve Goodman, and even Jim Croce.
Jimmy’s earliest Key West related songs were tested on Chart Room audiences. Some were even inspired by them. It is widely thought that “A Pirate Looks at Forty” was written to commemorate the bartender named Phillip Clark. Phil was looked at as some kind of wild pirate because he had spent time in the Virgin Islands with dubious characters. He had already been busted for trying to smuggle some pot from Jamaica. He hung out with gun runners and ran with professional gamblers. Phil had a lot of tall tales to tell. Claiming he dated Lauren Hutton before she was famous, bartending in New York, and living with the Mamas and the Papas on the beach in St Thomas. Occasionally, one of his old accomplices would blow through town, fitting the mold of a modern-day pirate. Phil had six wives (maybe more) and at least two children. Probably more, but two showed up at the Chart Room looking for their dad. Sadly, Phil drowned in San Francisco Bay in the mid-’80s. He was bartending in Sausalito under an assumed name while hiding from various elements of the law. Rumors abound as to what happened to Phil’s ashes. Possibly the legend of ashes being snorted from the bar top by grief-stricken friends?
Whether this happened or not, this likely gave rise to the tradition of embedding regular’s ashes into the bar itself. Up and down the bar, holes are drilled, ashes spooned in, corked, and sealed. A plaque honors the dead. The most famous of those interred is Mel Fisher.
Mel Fisher, the American treasure hunter, charted his search for the Atocha at the old spool table in the center of the bar. Mel and his family lived in Key West as they searched for sunken treasure ships. In 1973, he discovered silver bars from the wreck. Two years later, his son, daughter-in-law, and a friend found five bronze cannons also from the Atocha. In total, Mel and his team found 40 tons of gold and silver. Some 114,000 Spanish pieces of eight (silver coins). Gold coins. Colombian emeralds. 1000 silver ingots. And many silver and gold artifacts. The cache recovered was estimated at $450 million and was known as “The Atocha Motherlode”. As large a find as this was, it’s roughly just half of the treasure that went down.
Another local legend forever memorialized in mahogany is James “Whistle Pants” Cox. This is a prime example of hard to prove or disprove. Just who is “Whistle Pants”? He invented the whistle pants for men. Billowy and open on the sides, they had an attached whistle. Ergo, whistle pants. Not sure they caught on, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pair. He had a local cable show called “IIRC Weather in Revue” (If I Recall Correctly). He went on camera and gave yesterday’s weather report. He said it was for those that missed yesterday. Not surprisingly, he had a 100% accuracy record.
Panama Peat was a long-time friend and loyal employee of Mel Fisher. Unfortunately, his antics are protected by “bar-attorney-client privilege”. I say unfortunately because those always seem to be the best stories.
And there’s Bob. Not much is really known about Bob. There are a few pictures of him around the bar as he was a regular, but that’s about it. But he, and the others embedded will forever protect the Chart Room and ensure its doors remain open. Florida law prohibits the moving, disturbing, or bothering of pretty much anything containing human remains. I guess the regulars figured out a way to make sure their bar will stay the same long after they’re gone.
Nowadays, the clientele is a lot calmer. Most are simply stopping for a quick drink before heading out to another local watering hole. Some, like us, stop to hear some of the local legends from the bartender. Maybe the stories are all true, but probably not. I’m sure they’re at least greatly exaggerated. Or to look at the pictures and other memorabilia adorning the walls. Grab a basket of free popcorn or a hotdog. All are complimentary as long as you keep drinking. Not much has changed in the more than 50 years since its opening. And sitting on my barstool intrigued by what I’m hearing, I hope it never does.
Find more to do and places to visit while in the Florida Keys here.
