"Hemingway's Sloppy Joe's" at 428 Greene Street (Captain Tony's Saloon), was the location of Sloppy Joe's Bar during the majority of Hemingway's life in Key West (Not the bar at the corner of Duval and Greene Streets, which would have you believe otherwise).  Most of Hemingway's productive years as an author took place during this time.
(1928-1938)

It was during this period that he wrote "Death in the Afternoon",
"The Green Hills of Africa",
"To Have and Have Not",
and
"The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber".

Hemingway kept to a strict schedule while writing in Key West, waking at dawn and walking to his pool house, where he wrote at an old wooden desk. After work he met his circle of friends every afternoon at 3:30 - at Sloppy Joe's Bar, 428 Greene St. (Captain Tony's Saloon).

Ernest Hemingway, with his second wife, Pauline came to Key West from Paris in 1928 on the advise of John Dos Passos, a novelist. Thought he traveled to Africa, Wyoming and Spain, he lived in Key West for 12 years, fishing and drinking. The macho myth, called "Papa Hemingway" was created while living in Key West. He found Key West to be the perfect solace for writing.

Joe "Josie" Russell, owned Sloppy Joe’s.  This was the Sloppy Joe's that Ernest Hemingway discovered during his first trip to Key West in April 1928. Josie Russell cashed a $1,000 royalty check for Hemingway when a bank refused, they became close friends.   

Josie Russell and Ernest Hemingway would leave Key West for extended fishing trips to Havana.  Josie charged Hemingway $10 a day charter fee for the Anita. On one of these trips Hemingway met a Cuban fisherman, Carlos Gutierrez, who was an excellent Marlin fisherman, they hired him on as a mate. He had been catching marlin for nearly 40 years and was, to Hemingway, an excellent storyteller. He was the prototype for Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea.

Josie is forever immortalized as "Freddie", the captain of the Queen Conch and the owner of Freddy's Bar
Hemingway describes 
428 Greene Street 
in his book To Have and Have Not,
as Freddy's Bar.

Some other locals at 428 Greene St. were inspiration to Hemingway and are forever immortalized in his writings.

Charles Thompson who ran a local hardware business was immortalized as Karl in Green Hills of Africa. He took Hemingway on his first fishing trip off the Florida Key's.

Eddie "Bra" Saunders, a charter boat captain, ran a local charter boat business and took both Hemingway and Charles Thompson on their first trip into the Gulf Stream, 30 miles off the coast.
He also gave Hemingway the story for "After the Storm" -
his own life story.

George Brooks, a local lawyer and politician, was characterized as Bee-Lips in
To Have and Have Not.     

Hemingway's out-of-town friends would meet annually for several weeks of fishing and bar hoping. 
This circle of friends included Max Perkins, editor for Scribners; Henry Strater and Waldo Pierce, painters; John Dos Passos, who introduced Hemingway to Key West; and Hemingway's childhood friend Bill Smith, who is "Bill" in Hemingway's Nick Adams stories.

In December 1936, Hemingway met a writer, Martha Gelhorn at Sloppy Joe's Bar, 428 Greene Street (Captain Tony's Saloon) when she paid Skinner, the 300 lb. black bartender $20 to introduce her to Hemingway. 


(Skinner, Papa Hemingway & Sloppy Joe Russell, 1933 painting by Erik Smith)

They sat in Sloppy Joe's drinking 
Papa Dobles*.   
They met again a year later in Spain. Both were covering the Spanish Civil War. They shared affection for the loyalist, and their relationship grew.  
Martha Gelhorn became his third wife. As a result of his romance and subsequent marriage to Martha Gelhorn, his Key West friends, who were good friends with Pauline Pfeiffer, his second wife, cooled towards Hemingway. Shortly thereafter, Hemingway left Key West and moved to Cuba with Martha.   

Hemingway's drink of choice was Teacher's (a cheap scotch) and soda. But on occasion, Skinner, the 300 pound black bartender, would enjoy preparing Papa Dobles* for Hemingway, though Hemingway
preferred the scotch and soda.

Hemingway loved the bar and he loved the urinal in the men's room, a trough.  He always told his buddies that if anything ever happened to the place - he wanted the urinal.    

"The End of The Best Ten Years of
His Life (1928-1938)"
In 1938 Hemingway leaves Key West and takes up residence at the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana, Cuba.  Although there were several sporadic brief visits after this, for all purposes, his life in Key West  was over.

In conclusion, since Hemingway lived in Key West between 1928 and 1938 and since Sloppy Joe's Bar was located at 428 Greene Street during this period, it is obvious that

"Captain Tony's Saloon"
is
"Hemingway's Sloppy Joe's"

*Papa Dobles -two and a half
jiggers of white Bacardi, juice of two fresh limes, juice of half a grapefruit and 6 drops
of maraschino all molded into a rusty electric blender.