KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: SHRIMP BOATS, ‘DOG TAGS’ & HALF SHELL HARMONY
Before Key West earned its reputation as a must-visit tourism destination, there was a waterfront bar and restaurant that locals made their own —...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: TRUMAN AVENUE & THE TWISTED HISTORY
Back when I was a 20-something hippie enchanted with my Key West home, my friends and I had a lot of time on our...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: ISLAND STILL GOING TO THE DOGS
Key West is a great place to be a dog.
Still true today, that statement was particularly accurate in the 1970s and early ’80s.
Back then,...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE JALAPENO FIASCO
Working as a Key West food and cocktail waitress in the late 1970s, I learned several important life lessons. They weren’t about waitressing techniques,...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE ANGELS OF DUVAL
There’s always been something magical about Old Town Key West at night. It can still be sensed today, but it was especially apparent in...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE DAY ‘FAT ALBERT’ FLEW AWAY
Before Fred the Tree sprouted on the Old Seven Mile Bridge, becoming an iconic landmark for drivers traveling along the Florida Keys Overseas Highway,...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: BING & THE CHAINSAW RAMPAGE
The guard dog’s name was Bing, and he was a supposedly intimidating German shepherd. Something had gone wrong with his genetics, though, because he...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY — THE ‘OLD’ PALATE OF ORDINARY TIMES
There are foodies who can taste a dish and instantly discern its ingredients, or who have such sophisticated palates that they can distinguish between...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY — THE OLD NICKNAME GAME
Everybody had a nickname — except me. At least, that’s how it seemed in Key West some 40 years ago.
There was Patty Doe, the...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE SEA MONSTER IN THE LIBRARY
In the early 1980s, sparked by a passionate love for my island home, I became obsessed with Key West history. But I never dreamed...
