by | October 15, 2026
Caribbean Club’s Hollywood Claim to Fame
The Legendary Lore of Key Largo’s Caribbean Club
The tagline appears on the sign out front, the website, T-shirts and pretty much all other promotional materials: “Where the famous movie ‘Key Largo’ was filmed.” Yet the fact that the 1948 film was shot almost entirely on a soundstage in Los Angeles was lost somewhere in the annals of oral history and hasn’t stopped locals from leaning into the lore. The Caribbean Club is said to have been the location inspiration for the work, but like all good legends, the specifics have been muddled, twisted, repurposed and woven into the fabric of the oldest bar in the Upper Keys. In the nearly eight decades since the film’s release, other hit movies and shows—like the 1996 film “Blood and Wine” and the recent Netflix series “Bloodline”—have filmed on location. Jimmy Buffett even wrote about the place.
So why does the bar cling to “Key Largo” as its claim to fame?
“It’s old Florida,” says co-owner Katie Schweiss, whose grandparents bought the place in 1963. “A lot of cool history of the cool time in The Keys back then. Lots of interesting things happening, a lot of underground gambling and stuff like that. A lot of character.”
It feels more like a bit than a stake, an inside joke for the cast of regulars lining the bar. The place is steadfastly un-Hollywood. Since opening in 1938, the Caribbean Club has changed ownership, burned down, been rebuilt and turned from a low-budget fishing resort into a family-owned, cash-only, 21-plus social hub.
Sleeping dogs lie under the tables. In the winter, fires roar in the hearth. The decor appears to outdate everyone in the place—empty fish tanks, dusty photos, mounted marlin and sailfish. The bar doesn’t serve food, yet the doors open at 7 a.m. every day, seemingly as a courtesy to those pushed out at closing time six(ish) hours prior. There are Christmas potlucks and Kentucky Derby parties, movie screenings and even the occasional Episcopal sermon, everything seasoned with the distinct Keys flavor that sticks to the ribs of the place.
A swell always arrives to see the sunset that has won many “Best of the Upper Keys” awards. Local musicians play. A statue of two dolphins oversees the proceedings. Then dusk falls, interlopers disperse and regulars get back to the business of unspooling the night ahead.
