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West Isn't a City, It's a State of Mind
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Key West Isn't
a City, It's a State of Mind
by Christina Tourigny
Being a "Conch" is a state of mind, a condition of the heart
and a foreclosure on the soul. Many Key Westers wear that
epitaph proudly.
This is a city that three times has threatened to secede
from the Union and establish its own republic. It's a city
whose former mayor water-skied all the way to Cuba to
emphasize the importance of the U.S. Navy's presence. (And
whose current one faces a federal charge of corruption.)
It's a city whose melting-pot character permits a large,
liberal base to mingle with crusty natives (called Conchs)
to mingle with Miami wheeler-dealers, out-of-work smugglers,
and assorted other scallywags.
Key Westers take all of this in stride. They thrive on
eccentricity as much as diversity. This is a city that is or
has been a haven to poets and novelists, Anglos and Cubanos,
rum-runners and treasure hunters, pirates and preachers; all
of whom manage to live more or less peacefully on a 3.5-mile
long sandbar the chamber of commerce types call
"Paradise."
This is the southern-most city in the continental United
States (Cuba is 90 miles off its bow; the Tropic of Cancer
is half that). Its history can be traced to the Spanish
sailors who, for no currently known reason, called it "the
island of bones." It can be traced to pirates and "wreckers"
who preyed upon foundering merchant ships and for a while
made this the richest city in America. And more recently, it
can be traced to the spirited Conchs (pronounced "konks")
who in 1982 fired a cannon, declared their independence,
then immediately asked President Reagan for $1 billion in
foreign aid. The President politely turned down their
request.
For the hurried or inexperienced, Key West can be little
more than the Holiday Inn and a stroll down Duval Street.
But those who bite that bait miss the real Conchville. The
Gardens Hotel is a shade-drenched treasure on Angela Street,
off Duval. Dating to the 1870s, the estate was bought 65
years ago by Peggy Mills, who bought neighboring tracts as
they came available and eventually had more than one-third
of a city block in the historic Old Town district. Mills
planted orchids, bougainvillea's and crotons; pony tails,
gumbo-limbos and black bamboo - dozens of species in a
fertile patch that became her life's passion. Mills used
century-old red bricks to build walks, added fountains and
brought tinajones, 2,000- pound earthen cisterns, from Cuba
just before Castro's rise.
Eventually opened for public tours, Mills' estate became a
flagship of the less commercial side of Key West. But after
her death in 1979, it changed owners twice and frequently
was left vacant for vandals. Bill and Corinna Hettinger
bought the estate in 1992 and restored it to its birthright:
a showplace of historic rooms, courtyard suites and gardens
that would make Mills proud.
The Pelican Path tour is another less commercial side of the
city. Go by car, by trolley, or, if you're hearty enough, by
foot on a sightseeing tour of some of the more than 3,000
historic buildings in Key West. A guidebook that's available
throughout the city and tour markers - A Pelican's
Profile - lead the way to a celebration of the past. The
Donkey Milk House is one of the tour's stops. It was owned
by U.S. Marshal "Dynamite" Williams, who saved his home and
several others from the "Great Fire of 1886" literally by
blowing up Eaton Street. Today it has a delightful,
two-story collection of antiques and period furnishings.
The Harry S Truman Little White House Museum is another. It
includes original furniture, a narrated tour of Florida's
only presidential vacation home and a video of Truman's
years in the White House. A few blocks away, on Whitebread
Street, the Ernest Hemingway House remembers the life, times
and work of one of the city's most notable characters.
The cultural side of Key West grew out of the influences of
Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John James Audubon and many
other writers and artists who spent part of their lives
here. It's a culture that's enriched by literary seminars,
theaters such as the Red Barn and the Waterfront Playhouse,
galleries such as The Guild Hall and Haitian Art Company and
dozens of museums. The Wreckers Museum, located in the
oldest house on the island (1829), is rich in lore about the
men who rescued passengers and salvaged cargo from ships
that wrecked on the offshore reefs.
The Maritime Heritage Society exhibits some of the riches
Mel Fisher's company, Treasure Salvors, Inc., brought up
from wrecks such as the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, one of a
fleet of Spanish galleons lost in a 1622 hurricane. The
Lighthouse Museum on Whitehead Street is a history book
about the people and events at Key West's lone lighthouse,
which has been a sentinel for passing ships since 1848.
Another side of the city is the glitter of Duval Street, the
tourist Mecca that on Saturday nights bears a resemblance to
Mardi Gras. This is the heart of the party culture - sun,
sea, showmen and saloons like Durty Harry's, Hog's Breath
and Capt. Tony's. The latter, the original Sloppy Joe's, is
where Hemingway honed his two-fisted drinking skills as well
as his vision of life around him.
Mallory Square, at the north end of Duval Street, is the
island's most unusual theater, an improvisational stage
where cruise ships dock and the asphalt begins to sink into
Turning Basin. It's a place where dwarfs juggle fruit, aging
hippies sing Janis Joplin and a young woman swallows flaming
swords. But the headliner is a gentle Frenchman named
Dominique. He begins each act with a warning: "Go to your
seats! We are sending out the felines!!" And out they come -
house cats, jumping through rings of fire, walking tight
ropes and performing other flawless feats of daring that
only highly trained felines can perform.
Some say once you've tasted Key West you may never want to
go elsewhere, a point emphasized by the island's cemetery.
It's as strange as it is crowded, lending credibility to the
notion that Key Westers keep their senses of humor - even in
death. The epitaphs on the headstones include: "His
beautiful little spirit was a challenge to love."(For a
Yorkshire terrier buried alongside his mistress.) "Now I
know where he's sleeping at night." (For a wayward husband
deserving a proper send-off from his wife. "I told you I was
sick." (For a woman who apparently had a trouble getting her
friends and physician to listen.)
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Choose
a Hotel by Location
Beach
Lovers
Key West is surrounded
by water, but the beaches may not be what you
expect.
Romantic
Getaway
Romance abounds in this
tropical paradise. There are numerous places to stay if
you're visiting Key West with that special
someone.
Leisure
Traveler
If your choice of lodging is a
bed and breakfast, you're in luck.
Families
Although some lodging
facilities prefer adults, many offer kid-friendly
environments.
Gay
Traveler
Key West is one of the most
gay-friendly cities in the U.S.
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