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Here is the nail in the coffin of Jimbo’s, Miami’s weirdest bar which has existed in a state of quasi-legality for almost six decades.
We couldn’t believe it when we heard that founder Jimbo Luznar’s daughter was exercising her power of attorney over the ailing 85-year-old man to close the Virginia Key joint. And we wondered if Jimbo was on board.
According to a letter he signed and sent to Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado yesterday, he is indeed resigned to the closing.
There’s something of Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech in this letter, which we obtained from the city.
“The time has come for me to retire from operating Jimbo’s, as I am no longer able to be on the site on a day to day basis,” it reads. “I would like to give the site back to the City of Miami to become a City park for public use.”
He added that the family “would like some remembrance left at the site for future generations to keep the memory of Jimbo’s alive.”
And then the man who battled the city for decades to keep his bizarre beer-fish-and-bocce haven open on protected land does something crazy, and gracious. He thanks the municipality for “supporting a unique Miami attraction, Jimbo’s.”
Here’s the letter:
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