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Bill Kalfas and son, Wes Kalfas |
"Soon after I first Came to Tallahassee in 1940 as political editor of The Miami Herald, I learned the Silver Slipper was the exclusive club for the movers and shakers of our political world.
"In those days on South Monroe Street, The Slipper had all the graduations for seating of, say, New York's Stork Club: the rank and file generally went to a big, open area. The next level were given rooms on the east side if these were available. The truly preferred Slipperites had their special room on the west side.
"Those rooms had doors opening to the outside, so that a telephone call to Jimmy Kalfas would result in the inside door being closed and venetian blind dropped on an inside window. Thus, the patron could drive up and enter without being seen by others in the Slipper.
"There was a saying, an exaggeration of course, that some of the significant bills of a legislative session were first passed (or defeated) in one of the Curtained rooms at the Slipper."
--Allen Morris, Clerk of the House, Dean Emeritus, Capital Press Corps
For half a century the Silver Slipper has been tied closely to Florida politics. It has been a favorite meeting place of governors, legislators, lobbyists and VIP's from around the state.
Governor's races have been planned here... election victories celebrated... key appointees decided for the incoming administration.
But the Slipper is most famous as a meeting place for legislators and lobbyists. For many lawmakers, it has served as a private club... a place to unwind and relax in privacy after a hectic day in the Capitol. Merely by closing a curtain to a private dining room, a legislator could escape being button - holed by lobbyists and reporters.
It is said that a great part of the legislative process is conducted after hours. If that's true, a substantial part of Florida's legislative history has been written at the Slipper. Political alliances have been formed... legislation initiated... compromises made.
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Governor Fuller Warren holds a press conference at the old Slipper |
The original Silver Slipper was built in 1938 as a "dine and dance club" on South Monroe Street about a mile from the Capitol. The original owner was Pete Mouches. The first Silver Slipper consisted of 10 private dining rooms - five on each side with a center section for dining and dancing. Each private room was designated by a girl's name - in honor of the various girl friends of owner Pete, a bachelor with a roving eye. The practice of naming dining rooms after women was gradually phased out after the late Jimmy Kalfas became sole owner in 1947. Mama Kalfas, you see, had old fashioned ideas, and she didn't like the idea of Papa Jimmy naming rooms after women. In any case, the tradition ended with the 1974 fire that razed the old Slipper.
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The old Silver Slipper on South Monroe Street -- it burned down in 1974 |
The story of the Silver Slipper is really the story of the Kalfas family. In 1920, a penniless teenager from Greece arrived in Tallahassee to seek his fortune. Young Jimmy Kalfas could only speak a few words of English. He began as a dishwasher at the old Busy Bee on Monroe Street, one of two restaurants in town. Tallahassee was at the time a backwoods community with less than 4,000 residents.
For six years he did everything there was to do in the small cafe. In 1926, he quit the restaurant business and headed north to work in the steel mills of Ohio and West Virginia. In 1942 he returned to become manager of the Silver Slipper. By 1944 he owned a partnership. In 1947 he became sole owner. And the Slipper was well on the way to becoming a Tallahassee legend. For the next 27 years, Papa Jimmy devoted his life to the Slipper. His Command post was the first table in the main dining room, where he could greet his customers and keep an eye on operations. From the Governor on down, virtually everybody who came to the Slipper stopped by to chat with Papa. The era of Papa ended early on the morning of Sunday, February 17, 1974, when the old Slipper burned to the ground.
Papa died shortly after, but not before he moved the Slipper to temporary quarters in the lower level of the Northwood Mall. At the time of his death, Jimmy was working on plans to build a magnificent new Slipper. As it turned out, the Slipper stayed at its "temporary" site for another 10 years before the new home of the Silver Slipper was finally built in 1984. Although the building is new, the Kalfas tradition lives on. Chris Kalfas, the eldest of Papa's six children, is the controlling partner and general manager. And two of Papa's grandchildren - Bill and Jimmy - have key roles in running the Slipper.
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Papa Jimmy and
Mama Kalfas |
Dancing was a big thing in the early days of the Silver Slipper. And why not? The Original Slipper was built as a dine and Dance place during the height of the big band era when jitter-bugging and "slow dancing" were in their heyday. In the old days, the Silver Slipper's dance floor was in the center corridor between the 10 private rooms. The dance floor was phased out in World War II to make room for the hundreds of GI's who flocked to Tallahassee on passes from nearby Dale Mabry Field and Camp Gordon Johnson. On weekends, hundreds of soldiers and airmen would wait in line for hours for a chance at a real charcoal broiled steak. The luckier GI's were in the company of pretty coeds from the Florida State College for Women, now Florida State University.
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Silver Slipper's
1938 Logo |
In the first 25 years of the Silver Slipper's operation, Leon County was "dry" or "semi dry", which meant no hard liquor could be sold. The Slipper was licensed only to sell beer and wine - hardly the stuff for legislators and lobbyists in the travails of the biennial legislative sessions. To get around the law, the custom developed at the Slipper and several other Tallahassee eating places for patrons to bring their own bottles in a brown paper bag. The Silver Slipper was only too happy to provide the setups. This worked well for many years. Then one day in the mid 1950's, law enforcement officers swept through the Slipper and confiscated all hard liquor brought in by legislators, lobbyists and other patrons. No arrests were made but legislators were indignant. The first order of business in the Legislators the next day was to enact a law to permit "brown bagging" of liquor. In a matter of hours, the bill breezed through both houses,thus insuring no interruption of imbibing at the Slipper that night.
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Papa Jimmy with
Governor Charlie Johns
and friends (1955) |
One of the many famous people to have dined at the Slipper was Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, father of the late President John Kennedy. On returning home from a visit to Tallahassee, the Ambassador sent Papa Jimmy a picture of his son, John, then a U.S. Senator, to hang in the Slipper's photo gallery.
On the back of the photo, the Ambassador wrote: "If my son ever comes in here, please don't serve him." Some time later, Senator Kennedy showed up for dinner. After some good natured kidding from Papa Kalfas, he was duly served in "VIP" style, as befits a future President of the U.S. The old Ambassador returned several times before his death.
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JFK was one of the many
VIPs who frequented
the old Silver Slipper |
The only private dining room at the old Silver Slipper not named after a woman was the "Admiral's Cabin," named in honor of Rear Admiral Philip Ashler, a "regular" at the old restaurant who held many high offices in state government. The "Admiral's Cabin" occupied much of the second floor and was the largest of the private meeting rooms. It was the most private of all the private rooms. To reach it you had to go through the kitchen. Its decor included the Admiral's military flags, decorations, portrait and other memorabilia. All was lost in the fire that destroyed the Slipper in 1974
Between 1938 and 1974, there seven additions made to the old Slipper building. But despite the debris and dislocation of construction, the Slipper was never closed for a single day of regular operation. The reason was that the late Jimmy Kalfas just didn't like the idea of losing any business revenue for any reason, including major construction. He solved the problem very simply. As soon as the workmen had knocked off for the day, he would quickly install plywood partitions to block off the construction work area from the dining room area. And if necessary, he would hang up temporary lighting. The patrons thought it was great fun and kept coming... and the cash register kept ringing to Jimmy's great delight.
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Silver Slipper menu
from WWII era |
A great many famous people have dined at the Silver Slipper over the years. Distinguished guests include at least four U.S. presidents - John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan - as well as former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. Movie stars include Robert Taylor, Burt Reynolds, Efram Zimbalist, Jr., Chill Willis, and Hugh O'Brien, Even TV's "60 Minutes" team of Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner and Morley Safer have been here at one time or another. But the big majority of our distinguished guests have been politicians. Every important state political leader over the past 50 years has been our quest. If you look in the hallway of the new Slipper, you'll see signed photographs of many of these VIP's. Most of the photos are of fairly recent vintage. That's because dozens of priceless photographs burned up in the 1974 fire that destroyed the original Slipper.
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Governor Bob Graham
spent one of his "work days"
as a Slipper waiter |
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