Caribbean Club on

Key Largo Key Largo () is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by U.S. Highway ...

, northernmost of the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

, was developed and built by auto parts and real estate promoter Carl Graham Fisher in 1938. Carl Fisher, considered a genius as a promoter, had conceived the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

, the first road across

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in 1913. Fisher had helped develop the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

and

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean an ...

and had at one time been worth an estimated $100 million. He lost his fortune in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. One source indicates that during the years before his death, Fisher was living in a modest cottage on Miami Beach. His last project was the development of the Caribbean Club on Key Largo as a

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

club for men who were far from wealthy. Eight years after his death, the Caribbean Club became famous as a purported " on location" filming site for the 1948 film ''

'' starring

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

and

Lauren Bacall Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), professionally known as Lauren Bacall ( ), was an American actress. She was named the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the America ...

. In fact, only that film's initial exterior shots were filmed in the Florida Keys, and the rest wa
filmed
in the Warner Bros. studio. After Fisher's death, the club was turned into a casino. In 1990, the

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

reviewed the sources of the rumours about the filming of "Key Largo" in an article titled "Who Cares if Bogie and Bacall Never Set Foot Here". At that time, the property was described as a motel with "modest rooms and cottages". By 1948, the property was owned by the Krone family in 1948; it was extensively damaged by fire in 1955 and it was rebuilt in a different style. The Caribbean Club was acquired by Ruth and Lefty Whitehurst in 1963; fire again caused damage in 1971 and repairs were completed. As of 2021, the business was operated by the couple's children and grandchildren. The family's website was reporting that exterior shots for "Key Largo" were filmed here.

References

Books

*Fisher, Jane (1947) ''Fabulous Hoosier'' R.M. McBride and Co.; New York, New York *Fisher, Jerry M. (1998) ''The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Carl G. Fisher'' Lost Coast Press; Ft. Bragg, California *Foster, Mark S. (2000) ''Castles in the Sand: The Life and Times of Carl Graham Fisher''. University press of Florida; Gainesville, Florida

External links

*
Top 50 Most Influential people in Florida History websiteLincoln Highway Association official website''Newsday: Mogul of Montauk''''American Experience series: Carl Fisher, "Mr. Miami Beach"''Fisher Island official websiteCaribbean Club Official Website2004 article
in the

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

{{coord, 25, 8, 41.97, N, 80, 23, 48.56, W, scale:2000, display=title Buildings and structures in Monroe County, Florida History of Monroe County, Florida 1938 establishments in Florida