Yesterday was work, work and more work…cleaned house, listed sales items and work on a new marketing gig…..what did you do…went to see a movie….worked a job….read a book?
Now back to Key Weird
Along this end of the street you’ll find the Bagatelle http://www.bagatellekeywest.com/ on the left, a trendy restaurant residing on the porch and some small inside rooms. Setting on the porch is my favorite. Duval provides a great dinner show.
On the right (thru the banks parking lot) is The Hog’s Breath—a small, http://www.hogsbreath.com/keywest/ yet famous bar whose name came from the founder’s grandmother who use to say “Bad breath is better than no breath at all.” Where the hog came in at I have no idea. Do hogs have bad breaths? They serve food and drink (the bar not the hogs) in an odd shaped building with the bar proper in a sheltered court yard area. In fact their t-shirt shop next door is about as big as the bar proper.
As we continue to dodge crowds and religious groups who are allowed to sell T-shirts on Duval, while the non-holy aren’t because the holy are protected by both God and State while the rest of us are pretty much on our own it seems.
At the corner of Greene things get interesting.
On the right is Sloppy Joe’s and on the left, about ½ block away on Greene is Captain Tony’s. These two bars are famously linked by one man and his bar and made famous by a writer who looms above most in the legends of this town.
Joe (Sloppy) Russell owned a bar called—yeah Sloppy Joe’s http://www.sloppyjoes.com/ which was originally in a building which was in another life an ice house and morgue. At this bar in the 1930s was a larger than life writer who ended up in Key West accidentally and decided to stay. The writer Ernest Hemingway helped Russell moved his bar from the building that now houses Captain Tony’s (another legend but not this time around) http://www.capttonyssaloon.com/ to its present location (along with some other patrons) when the first location’s land lord raised Russell’s rent $50. So everybody just carried everything from one building to another less than a block away and it’s remained there for over 70 years and is now a landmark.
Russell was a member of Hemingway’ group of friends in Key West and was made immortal by him in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. Which was the only novel Hemingway wrote that was set (at least partially) in the U.S. His body rest in the Key West Cemetery, another place with a real Key West atmosphere.
Hemingway enjoyed the island for many years and his former home http://www.hemingwayhome.com/ , provided by his wife’s wealthy relatives is now a tourist attraction. While here he wrote mornings and then spent the rest of the day drinking, fishing, sparring with various fighting partners and drinking some more late into the night with friends. He met his 3rd wife at Sloppy’s and later left Key West to be with her in Cuba. He committed suicide, like his father, in the 1950s.
Today the bar makes more money on Hemingway’s face on everything from mugs to t-shirts than they do to the multiple bars. Though I spend little time in the touristy place a lot of the natives I speak with say they go there when a new good group shows up to rock the place.
An Irish Pub (Kevin’s) http://www.irishkevins.com/ on your left has loud college-humor type entertainment and is usually noisy and active. Rick’s http://ricksbarkeywest.com/ on your right is a complex of bars including the Red Garter (topless). This is the area where a few years ago 4 patrons/staff were killed in by an ex-employee gone postal (very unusual where there is little in the way of major crimes let alone murder).
As you walk along the street you’ll probably notice an increase in people which denotes that you’re in down-town Key West. Here you’re with in walking distance of the cruse ship docks and the passengers swarm like disturbed ants into this area from their mound like ships.
As you walk along you’ll find artsy shops, restaurants, more bars and hundreds, probably thousands of t-shirts. There is a Woman’s Club with a brick covered lawn and a playhouse to the rear—one of several in the city that parties with culture.
Now we’re at Caroline Street. there’s a building on the east/west corner a 3 leveled establishment that use to be a grocery store with owner’s residence above it.
The first floor is The Bull. http://bullkeywest.com/ WHISTLEcoupon.asp This is an old looking bar with murals of the Keys, including Fantasy Fest revelers. You use to be able to set at tables at the windows but now there’s a long bar affair with stools to allow you to watch the Duval people parade go by. They have been known to discourage people from dancing in the windows however they tend to let a few of us do so—I’m one of those weird non-conchs they like.
On the Second Floor is the Whistle. This is a local’s place in the evening and is largely deserted during most days. The high light of this smaller bar is the porch overlooking Duval and Caroline. This is a great spot to observe the action below.
Finally there’s the third floor The Garden of Eden which is a bar on the roof which provides lounge chairs for clothing optional sun bathing…I would like to recommend an age limit–say no one over 80 as that seems to be a common age here.
There’s one more in this group a little beyond this building down Caroline is The Lost Weekend—owned by the Bull. It is a liquor store. You order at a door on the front porch of this tiny establishment. Easy walking from all down town areas.
Stayed here all season
With nothing to show but this brand new tattoo.
But it’s a real beauty,
A Mexican cutie, how it got here
I haven’t a clue.
