Fleming Street

It was a man called John Simonton who bought Thompson's Island from a Spaniard called Juan Pablo Salas, a Cuban merchant with interests in St Augustine. Salas sold his island twice but Simonton had influence in Washington and his claim stuck over John Geddes's who swapped Salas a boat for Cayo Hueso. The island's first American name, for a secretary of the Navy didn't stick, but Simonton sold quarters of his strategic possession to John Whitehead, and two others who sold their quarter to Pardon Greene. The fourth quarter went to an Englishman settled in Mobile Alabama next door to Simonton's business interests. He was called John Fleeming, whose name in the passage of time was reduced to Fleming. Anyone with any knowledge of Key West knows that those four names represent major streets in Old Town. Yesterday I cruised Fleming Street with my camera.Fleming Street begins behind the county courthouse at Thomas Street, which is currently under construction as the county is building itself a new center next to the long standing buildings.The old courthouse and administrative buildings are in brick, in the Southern style, and the new ones we hope will not jar our sensibilities. So far so good. The old building from the front still manages to look dignified:And if you chose to work your way past the courthouse security those arches up high offer an private and unparalleled view across old town, with tables for a secluded picnic.

For some reason, which I cannot find out why precisely, Mile Marker Zero was placed at Fleming and Whitehead Streets. One would think that the Southernmost Point at Whitehead and South Streets would have worked better, or possibly (given the city's inclination to move monuments from time to time) somewhere near Mallory Square . Instead the zero is plonked down at this inauspicious corner. The request has gone out that the state move the marker to the lamp post to make photography easier. These two were coping:
This next photograph shows Fleming Street heading northeast towards Duval from Whitehead, with on the left the bulk of La Concha Hotel looming over Duval Street. La Concha close up spreads out on the 400 block of Duval with shops, a bar, a Starbucks (one of two in the Keys, the other is at Mile Marker 99.5 in the Upper Keys). Fleming Street is one way out of town and is thus a useful street to escape Duval direct to White Street:Across from La Concha lies the redoubtable Kress building long since given over to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe and Tony Falcone's store:Tony Falcone, one of the founders of Fantasy Fest (an antidote to the low season blues he says), owns Fast Buck Freddies, an eclectic department store.I worked there a few months years ago in the shipping and receiving office as if to prove my lack of suitability for the world of retail. Fast Bucks deserves an essay of its own.

Between Duval Street (named for Florida's first American Governor) and Simonton Street, named for the island's first American owner, there are a few shops lining Fleming Street. I've always wanted to like Island Books as I prefer independent bookstores but unless you are on their insider list you will be treated abominably by their staff of grumps.Call me an arriviste but I patronize Voltaire Books a few blocks away on Simonton Street, newer, friendlier and less cramped. Fleming Street is just packed with notable local businesses including the delightful Fausto's Food Palace, and the current owner is the founder's son in law. Jimmy Weekly served as mayor for years and was always to be found, like today, working in the store, wearing an apron and frequently wielding a knife in the deli.My wife loves Fausto's deli where she loads up with picnic items with a decidedly non traditional flair- dolmas, seaweed and octopus ceviche to name but a few. Faustos is also advertised as a crossroads for one and all in town:But as we know Key West is home to all types of people, shirtless, in uniform or all buttoned up... I don't know which is tougher, hauling letters in the heat of summer...... wearing a suit on a blazing street corner......or dragging your offspring behind you on your bicycle (actually these last two looked pretty cheerful)...Tourists cruise Fleming Street in the gruesomely slow Conch Train:Or the slightly more sprightly Old Town Trolley, which is also owned by Historic Tours of America:I have to say the tours (around $22, I think, for 90 minutes) are quite worth while though the identically repeated narratives drive home owners quite mad, and the 5mph speed of these contraptions make drivers crazy. Ride the train and pretend to ignore the scowling locals (me included I'm sorry to say).

The other big landowners in this tiny town have a hefty presence in this area:This family name spells mad development with a capital D, though rumor has it Beachside isn't doing so well and the proposed massive Convention Center at the entrance to town across from Beachside has hit a few snags in the current uncertain financial climate.Which spells tough times for construction workers as well of course. No issue seems clear cut when one reaches the wisdom of middle age. Hate that development, love them jobs!The Spottswoods have a death grip on the tourist economy and they take their bows in the simpering Conch Color magazine every now and again- noblesse oblige. They own this building too and keep offices in it to promote their various multi million dollar enterprises, employing God knows how many locals:I know I was never born to be a businessman because I don't really understand the drive to build. Entropy seems so all encompassing to me, the idea that a new building will make a better city seems a little off kilter. I prefer making the old new, maintaining the look or the feel of the past with the modern conveniences of the new (Think Triumph Bonneville year 2007 model!). The tear it all down approach leaves me cold. I wonder when they will have enough of moulding Key West to their rather sterile vision though I doubt I shall be alive to see them say stop, enough. So one turns away and keeps looking northeast on Fleming to find examples of old preserved:

Take this church for instance, a few blocks up Fleming at William Street:Old refurbished to look new. And all those wires; its amazing power flows as reliably as it does in this windy city. Conch houses of course abound, with all their Conch details, like this breezy figurehead:And these lovely old/new homes, just two on a street filled with such examples:
And then there is the public library, Florida's oldest at Elizabeth and Fleming, with of course a passed out residentially challenged citizen sprawled uncomfortably on the planter:
And in the shade a young person sucking up knowledge:The Library comes with a delightful garden alongside, a place I used frequently to escape Fast Bucks on my downtown lunch breaks (the other favorite was the cemetery, though some considered me eccentric for preferring to share my midday meals with the dead):And this being Key West, there is a convenience store before you journey too far, and one should note the dog friendly white water bowl outside the doorway: Then we find Bubba's an outdoor restaurant that replaced an eclectic Asian place known as Monsoon Cafe, which was a place where I liked to buy curries and sit out watching the stars. Bubbas I don't yet know (that dog had been refreshing itself at the previous dog bowl a few minutes earlier, so even though it looks stressed it is just a maldajusted moment captured by the camera):Then there is the Eden House a hotel that took a starring role in a movie shot there, Criss Cross, from 1990. Nowadays Eden House, named for its owner Mike Eden, not the mythical garden, slumbers in the summer heat with its guest bicycles clogging the bike stand in a way that is spectacular to my mind, even by Key West urban cycling standards:There is also the Island House for Men in this area, and if you're gay you already know about it and if you're not you need know no more. I used to work with a colleague who enjoyed his lunch breaks there, though I draw a veil over what he said he ate for lunch on those occasions. He moved Up North, though I cannot imagine his life in Central Florida is nearly as stimulating.

The rest of Fleming Street to White is common or garden Key West, trees, houses and a dead end.
A metaphor for life perhaps? No, that's way too heavy a burden for this delightful urban artery.