When you think of Ernest Hemingway’s time in Key West, you’re likely picturing the famed novelist hunched over a typewriter in his studio or perhaps deep-sea fishing on his boat, the Pilar.
But when exploring the grounds of his former residence — now known as The Hemingway Home and Museum — one of the most unique artifacts you’ll find isn’t a first edition or a fishing rod. It’s a porcelain urinal he actually dragged home from a bar!
Hemingway’s souvenir
In the late 1930s, Hemingway’s favorite local watering hole, Sloppy Joe’s, was undergoing renovations. Not one to let a good piece of plumbing go to waste, he let owner Joe Russell know that he’d be taking one home after a night of drinking, reportedly exclaiming that he “pissed away” so much of his money into that fixture over the years that he essentially owned it.
According to My Florida History, Russell helped carry the porcelain to Hemingway’s home, placing it right next to the pool that cost an exorbitant $20,000 to install. In fact, it was the very first in-ground swimming pool in Key West and the only one within a 100-mile radius at the time.
Still in the garden today
Unsurprisingly, Hemingway’s wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, was less than thrilled about the new addition. She got creative and covered the urinal’s base with decorative Spanish tiles and disguised the edges with masonry. It would eventually be rigged with a water source to run through a Spanish olive jar and transform into a garden fountain that serves the property’s most famous living residents today: nearly 60 cats!
The Hemingway House and Museum is known for its population of six-toed, or polydactyl, cats that roam the grounds. Many of them are direct descendants of Snow White, a six-toed cat gifted to Hemingway by a ship’s captain. They were believed to be good luck charms by sailors due to the extra toes giving cats better grip and balance on rocking wooden decks.
While thousands of literary fans pay a visit to the site each year to walk the very halls where he lived from 1931 to 1939, many don’t know about the tiled trough in the garden that often gets the biggest laughs.
You can find The Hemingway Home and Museum at 907 Whitehead St., Key West, FL, open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more on their website.
