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SARASOTA, Fla. - USA Today set out to find the best bars in America and a watering hole in Sarasota has earned a spot on the list.
The Gator Club in downtown Sarasota has been named among the top 27 best bars in USA Today’s inaugural Bars of the Year list.
The bars were selected by the newspaper’s network of food writers from across the nation.
USA Today vowed to choose establishments that represent the best neighborhood taverns, the finest cocktail meccas, the coziest wine bars, and the ‘beachiest’ beach bars.
The Gator Club is a two-story bar and nightclub with more than 100 years of history, including bootleg whiskey, illegal gambling, and an upstairs brothel.
Now, DJs play pulsating music on the dance floor that used to be a second-story living room. Past the dance floor, a bar sells high-end liquor next to the "madam’s teller cage and the setting for The Gator Club’s scariest ghost stories."
The Flora-Bama in Perdido Key was the only other Florida bar to make the list.
The world-famous bar is on the Florida-Alabama line.
Since 1964, the down-home beach bar has attracted the likes of Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett.
The bar's wooden walls are full of Sharpie signatures and a line of well-worn bras hangs over the main stage.
Live music is the bar’s main attraction, but its annual events include the Interstate Mullet Toss and a Thanksgiving potluck dinner.
Click here to see the full list of USA Today’s Best Bars of the Year list.
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