In the era before Cigarette boats, Cap's Place in Lighthouse Point was a top spot for rum running. This speakeasy near Fort Lauderdale dates back to 1919, just before the Roaring Twenties.
The powerful Hillsboro Light (for which Lighthouse Point is named) made it easy for the owner, Eugene Theodore "Cap" Knight, to pick up whiskey from Bimini, just 50 miles away from the Florida coast. Plus the heavy vegetation and isolation of the area made it perfect for the task.
The fact that Cap's brother was the lighthouse keeper and used to flash a warning of Coast Guard maneuvers made it easy for him to escape detection. That his boats were faster than those of the officers helped, too.
Today Cap's is a seafood restaurant with its own shoreside parking lot and boat launch to spirit diners to its private island spot. The focus of the meal might be exquisite seafood, but the highlight of the experience may be riding back into the Flapper era. (Here's more history.)
Cap's has a distant relative, literally and figuratively. It's called Cap's on the Water in the Vilano Beach neighborhood just north of St. Augustine.
