Sloppy Joe's goes to court over name

KEY WEST, Fla., July 19 (UPI) -- A judge will settle the dispute between two bars in Key West, Fla., claiming to be the original Sloppy Joe's Bar favored by author Ernest Hemingway.

A suit filed July 7 by Sloppy Joe's Bar in U.S. District Court accuses Captain Tony's Bar of infringing on its trademark and wants it to stop, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

Each bar casts doubt on whether Hemingway ever drank and wrote at the other establishment.

The original Sloppy Joe's was in Havana and no longer exists. From 1933, "Sloppy Joe" Russell operated a tavern at the current location of Captain Tony's. There is no proof, however, that it was known as "Sloppy Joe's."

Local lore has it that Russell moved a half-block to the location of the current's Sloppy Joe's in 1937 because the landlord raised his rent. Storytellers say Hemingway provided $5,000 to help Russell buy the new bar.

As for the real Captain Tony, he doesn't own any bars anymore, but Tony Tarracino, 87, says his former bar has been calling itself "the original Sloppy Joe's for as far as I can remember."