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...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: BUFFETT & ‘THE MARGARITAVILLE MOVIE’
If you hung out at the Chart Room, Full Moon Saloon or Louie’s Backyard in Key West during the late 1970s and early ’80s,...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: SPICY MEMORIES
More than 40 years ago, my father Joe and my then-boyfriend revolutionized the Key West dining scene. This was not a good thing; some...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE STARFISH THEORY OF MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Decades ago, early in my Key West life, I discovered the starfish theory.
It evolved from watching long-standing island survivors — because back in the...
