Sloppy joe history

Located at the corner of Duval and Greene streets, the Victoria had been built in 1917 and incorporated beautiful Cuban tile work, busily whirring ceiling fans, and jalousie doors.

Perhaps the most famous Sloppy Joe’s was a bar in Havana, Cuba, that opened up in 1918, an enormously popular tourist spot for Americans, particularly during prohibition.

In 1919, Jose Garcia returned to Havana and was employed as a barman at "Greasy Spoon" Café for about six months.

Some attribute the original Sloppy Joe to a cafe in Sioux City, Iowa, where, many years ago, in 1930 a cook named Joe added tomato sauce to his “loose meat” sandwiches.

When Hemingway left Key West in 1939, he left a number of personal effects stored in a house next to Sloppy Joe’s.

Joe Russell died in 1941 of a heart attack.

What started out as a humble sloppy joe recipe dream created by Don Hill Jr.’s grandmother in the 1960’s quickly became a regional full production success now found in mega-retail stores such as Walmart and Kroger.

It earned a place in the imagination of Havana's residents with its 18-meter long black mahogany bar, considered the longest in Latin America in its time, and which mysteriously disappeared in 1965.

The renowned Hemingway Days Festival itself began at Sloppy Joe’s in 1981, ultimately becoming a weeklong celebration honoring Hemingway as both writer and sportsman.

There’s also a notable appearance in King of the Hill, when Bobby, upon receiving a meatless Sloppy Joe, exclaims, “My Sloppy Joe is all sloppy, and no joe.” It’s appeared multiple times in The Simpsons, perhaps most memorably in a “Treehouse of Horror” episode from 1994, when the juvenile delinquent Jimbo is ground into the cafeteria’s Sloppy Joes.

The new Hotel Parque Central Torre, planned to be opened in early 2008, is its new neighbour.