Appelrouth Lane is a convenient short cut from Duval Street to Whitehead but it has oddities that might or might not be worth pausing for, depending on your tastes. Let the visitor beware!
Appelrouth used to be known decades ago, according to J Wills Burke as Smith Lane and in 1981 it got a new name, in honor of a man described by the author as a Jewish merchant by the name of Billy Appelrouth. We get no more information on the man but I can't help but wonder if his appreciation for the peculiarities of this street would delight or appal him. From Whitehead Street Appelrouth is closed to traffic as this is a one way from Duval:
Walking the wrong way one passes a guest house which according to friends who know better than I, prefers the company of men (though others are not excluded I am assured):
I could hear the sounds of cheerful female laughter from behind the stockade as I strolled by...and made my way towards the back of the San Carlos Theater, the old center of Cuban culture in Key West. It had the air of a Spanish mission church in the early morning light, a touch of California I thought:
Across the street is the abandoned remains of a funky old German restaurant called Martin's which is now in a spanking new modern building on Duval. I liked the funky slightly askew diggs that Martin's used to enjoy on Appelrouth:
But closer to Duval things get a little kinky...which isn't something I am too knowledgeable about and if I were I probably wouldn't admit it here. Just thinking about a hairy man wearing these makes me feel a bit off kilter, but it does happen:
I managed somehow to miss this festivity, though friends that take great pride as it were, in doffing themselves up for these events say you can see the most surprising people being led round the event on a leather leash...
But if you feel the need for a leather, nail studded, speedo, Leathermaster can oblige:
I am told this is also an excellent place to bring your bourgeois leather goods for repairs, bland things like sandal straps and handbags and the like. There are limitations though:
There is also a handy rack on the street filled with straight, gay and lame publications for you to pick up and check out:
And if all this leather fetish nonsense isn't enough there is a rather nasty place further up the street called Zoo, or something Teutonic like that:
I have to rely on the word of friends who tell me you can meet perfect strangers here and take them home with you, if you like that sort of thing. It's not as seedy as the commercial parts of Amsterdam but you get the idea. They have a long "tasteful" spiel in the window if you need more clues and need to feel reassured that you can explore in comfort the more bored parts of your personality. Across the street is Virgilio's a clubby sort of bar and restaurant where everyone keeps their clothes on as far as I can tell, but I guess you might stand a chance of taking someone home from there too. Why else would you be in Key West? To enjoy the scenery? Only simpletons like me do that.
And then happily you pop out onto Duval Street:
And there's the cheerful converted cinema, formerly The Strand, now called Walgreens, selling sun tan lotion and mugs with "Key West" printed on the side. Not a leather jock strap in sight, and thus safe browsing for the most reticent of visitors. Caveat hospes!
Appelrouth used to be known decades ago, according to J Wills Burke as Smith Lane and in 1981 it got a new name, in honor of a man described by the author as a Jewish merchant by the name of Billy Appelrouth. We get no more information on the man but I can't help but wonder if his appreciation for the peculiarities of this street would delight or appal him. From Whitehead Street Appelrouth is closed to traffic as this is a one way from Duval:Walking the wrong way one passes a guest house which according to friends who know better than I, prefers the company of men (though others are not excluded I am assured):I could hear the sounds of cheerful female laughter from behind the stockade as I strolled by...and made my way towards the back of the San Carlos Theater, the old center of Cuban culture in Key West. It had the air of a Spanish mission church in the early morning light, a touch of California I thought:Across the street is the abandoned remains of a funky old German restaurant called Martin's which is now in a spanking new modern building on Duval. I liked the funky slightly askew diggs that Martin's used to enjoy on Appelrouth:But closer to Duval things get a little kinky...which isn't something I am too knowledgeable about and if I were I probably wouldn't admit it here. Just thinking about a hairy man wearing these makes me feel a bit off kilter, but it does happen:I managed somehow to miss this festivity, though friends that take great pride as it were, in doffing themselves up for these events say you can see the most surprising people being led round the event on a leather leash...But if you feel the need for a leather, nail studded, speedo, Leathermaster can oblige:I am told this is also an excellent place to bring your bourgeois leather goods for repairs, bland things like sandal straps and handbags and the like. There are limitations though:There is also a handy rack on the street filled with straight, gay and lame publications for you to pick up and check out:And if all this leather fetish nonsense isn't enough there is a rather nasty place further up the street called Zoo, or something Teutonic like that:I have to rely on the word of friends who tell me you can meet perfect strangers here and take them home with you, if you like that sort of thing. It's not as seedy as the commercial parts of Amsterdam but you get the idea. They have a long "tasteful" spiel in the window if you need more clues and need to feel reassured that you can explore in comfort the more bored parts of your personality. Across the street is Virgilio's a clubby sort of bar and restaurant where everyone keeps their clothes on as far as I can tell, but I guess you might stand a chance of taking someone home from there too. Why else would you be in Key West? To enjoy the scenery? Only simpletons like me do that.And then happily you pop out onto Duval Street:And there's the cheerful converted cinema, formerly The Strand, now called Walgreens, selling sun tan lotion and mugs with "Key West" printed on the side. Not a leather jock strap in sight, and thus safe browsing for the most reticent of visitors. Caveat hospes!
8 comments:
Dear Sir:
The red light district in Amsterdam is nothing compared to the Raperbahn in Hamburg. I did all my Christmas shopping there one year.
Interesting photography and commentary tonight.
Fondest regards,
Jack
Twisted Roads
sort of reminds me of some parts of Vancouver (not that there's anything wrong with that). I'm shocked that you would be aware of such things, but perhaps something "your friend" told you
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
I will be happy to lead Riepe by the nose ring to Appelrouth in May and take photographs. "my friend" is an amalgam of gay men I know who talk to me about "stuff" about which I would otherwise be happy to remain ignorant. I have yet to go to any of the downtown bars on Lower Duval, not because I am a prude but because I am easily bored by loud noise and hail fellow well met drunks. That sounds more frumpy than I mean it to...
The wife and I decided to do a KW trip for an extended weekend. To split costs of travel (we drove down) with a good friend of ours (similar to your friends, he is gay), also along with another couple that we are all good friends.
So it is a birthday celebration for him, and a wedding anniversary celebration for us on an extended weekend.
In an effort to do stuff for his birthday one of the nights he asked if we would go to a couple of gay bars (on Duval).
All I can say is Oh My. If a straight bar ever played the hard core porn or had kiddie pools with a stool in them (next said pool is a salad bowl of new condoms, lube, and oil) I don't think they would be in business very long.
Yes, strange days and hedonistic adventures could await you in the lower Duval gay bars if that is you thing.
Not mine. The four straights asked that next time we visit we don't go to so many of the gay bars.
I will say this, drinking in bars on Duval is expensive. One of the "bars" was actually the cheapest and cleanest of all of the KW bars I have the pleasure of being separated from my green backs.
As a gay male, I find some activities somewhat odd. However
as much as with the non-gay population we are all different in our own way. Wearing of the hides
is something that must be earned, some of us prefer the atmosphere and the safety among those of our own kind. I wear leather on and off the motorcycle, it is me. However too there are times I wish to be quiet, and hidden, so I dress as others. One does not have to go to KW to be among the gay population. We are everywhere, one simply has to know how and where to look. Appearance is often the starting
point; old age for most gay people
is from forty and beyond.
Happily many of us realize life begins are forty and continues. Being single and gay is not a handicap, rather simply of way of
life, for me.
My wife and i have strolled Appelrouth lane many times,Virgilio's is one of our favorite haunts!! One of the nicer pubs than some on Duval.Great drinks,i recommend Lucifer's stepsister..some kind of chocolate liquer and they rim the glass in cocoa...mmmmmmm..I have yet to get the courage to enter Leather Master.By no means do i consider myself a prude.I guess im not the leather type.
Buffalo Bill
Leather Master is for sale if anyone is interested!!
an aficionado of leather that I know told me there had been a falling out among leather crafters but I thought the survivor was planning on keeping the business?
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