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...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE LURE OF THE LIZARDS
Decades before Key West became an accidental haven for iguanas, the island was populated by another breed of lizard: engaging bright-colored critters of all...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: TALES FROM THE AFTERDECK
Apparently I wasn’t the worst-ever cocktail waitress at the Afterdeck, the ocean’s-edge bar at the legendary Louie’s Backyard, but I was pretty bad. Yet...
KEY WEST BACK IN THE DAY: THE PUPPY WITH NO SHAME
Somewhere in Key West’s Old Town, there’s an elderly man cursing the soul of Calico Jack.
I don’t mean Calico Jack Rackham, the infamous Caribbean...
