Margaritaville: Where It's Always 5 o'clock

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville
500 Duval Street
Key West, FL 33040
October 23, 2019

I doubt there’s anyone in America who hasn’t heard the song “Wastin’ Away in Margaritaville."  The real deal, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, is the Queen Bee of Duval Street and a hive of activity from morn till night.  Ol’ Jimmy has parlayed that song into an empire.

Whether they arrived by car or plane or stepped off a humongous cruise ship, the place is humming with tourists. There’s probably not a local in the joint except for the staff.  

“It’s 5 o’clock somewhere,” to quote a line from one of Jimmy’s songs…translate, it’s time for a drink. You might not find your lost shaker of salt, but, as I can tell you from experience, you can toss down a first rate Margarita and a ridiculously fabulous burger from a menu that’s easy on the wallet.

2:13 PM, patrons from 28 to 78 are blissfully marinating on island time and the laid back sound trop rock, the kind of music that made Jimmy a millionaire. The only thing missing here at 500 Duval Street is sand and the smell of Coppertone.

Sooner or later, or maybe never, the patrons will find their way to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservancy or the Harry S. Truman Little White House or the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum or the wondrous sites in Old Town Key West.

There are some hidden gems and seriously outlandish outposts among the scores of bars on this tiny island.  

Margaritaville is not Cheers, but everybody knows its name.

Hard to walk past 500 Duval Street without hankering for a margarita...

in Jimmy Buffett's place...

for an iconic drink rimmed with salt...

or a first rate cheeseburger...

with Jimmy or the house parrot looking over your shoulder...

and people from all walks of life...

enjoying the food...

and since this is the annual Fantasy Fest time, body paint artists just inside the door here and in stores up and down the street, are busy all day long

and a sense of humor reigns supreme...

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Comments

[KJones]

This piece is a lot of fun, just about as much fun as we had there and you got your cheeseburger in paradise to prove it.