The Caribbean Club: End of the Road

Mile Marker 104. The kind of bar Hollywood uses as shorthand for "end of the road." Dark wood, neon beer signs, pool table that has seen things. Interior hasn't been renovated because renovation would be lying. The original Key Largo movie may or may not have filmed here. The bar disputes it. The bar always disputes it.

The bayside deck faces west with nothing between you and the mangrove islands except water and sky. At sunset the regulars gather with ceremonial punctuality. The sun drops into the bay, water goes blue to gold to pink, and if conditions are right the green flash — split-second emerald at the moment the sun disappears — rewards the patient. Drinks are uncomplicated: beer, rum drinks, and a frozen thing whose recipe is the bartender's secret and whose strength is the bartender's joke.

The parking lot at sunset is also the parking lot at midnight. The bar doesn't close early. Keys nightlife isn't about going somewhere — it's about staying where you are and letting the night arrive.