So, tell the truth: you want it all, you want a home in Key West within walking distance of the bars, you want your own pool, an indoor/outdoor breakfast nook and porch, lots of tropical greenery and a two car garage to keep your Vespas and Bonnevilles out of the corrosive climate. Well its all there readily available. If you have say three million to spend. US dollars; less if they are Canadian Loonies, even fewer if they're Euros and just one and a half million British pounds. Have at it and you might get lucky these days and find something for a third that.
It surprises some people to discover Key West has distinct neighborhoods, quarters as they might say in foreign parts. I like The Meadows best, then there's Bahama Village ("the Village"), some people prefer the modern homes on larger lots in New Town, other wouldn't consider living outside Old Town, and Realtors have invented a new area called Mid Town, but if you can claim an abode in Casa Marina, why that is something to boast about. Not really, but some people drop their quartier into conversations like you or I might be impressed.
Casa Marina is on the south side of the city, and its boundaries may be a little vague but you'll know when you are there. Look for nice lawns, lots of plants (for some reason all the wealthiest neighborhoods everywhere have the most greenery, as though hoi-polloi don't deserve trees). The heart of the neighborhood is here:
What Henry Flagler did as he built railroads down the east coast of Florida, was he put up destinations for his trains, a series of luxury hotels for people to spend the winters in. His extension to Key West ended at Trumbo Point, which his engineers built from landfill to accommodate the ships that went to Havana. But many of his passengers wanted to spend the winter in Key West, and this is where the well heeled did just that, at Reynolds and Seminole Streets:
If a night at the Casa doesn't do it, perhaps the El Patio in the middle of all this opulence will. Its a classic 1950's motel done up with all the palms and stuff that fails to disguise its plebeian roots. I like to take a "short cut " past El Patio when I'm in the neighborhood just because it is such a cool relic, and so unexpected. Yup, its still there:
And across the street there are some people getting a good deal on a pricey neighborhood. Key West is rarely all of a piece and even amidst expensive homes, rentals lurk:
Expect to pay around $1200 for a one bedroom apartment in town (I mention that as a guideline I have no idea what these places on Washington Street go for). However getting back on track to pursue the hunt for a nice home with lots of bedrooms, bathrooms and all that tropical lifestyle stuff:
Everybody loves the Conch cottage look, the porch, the gingerbread trim, the white wood and the pointy roof. But even though these homes are available on a larger scale than what I would, in my plebeian way, call a cottage, there are lots of different architectural styles to choose from in Casa Marina:
And check this one out, campy Hawaiian anyone?
I envy this home its rather cool brickwork which I'd like to see covering my gruesome pea rock some day when I care enough to pay to get it done. Looks nice to me though (the bricks not just the Bonneville):
And talking of the Bonneville I was moved to a moment of artistic introspection that produced this reflection of I don't know what. 
In Casa Marina not all houses are big, or at least as big as their property lines. They can have big trees, big yards and big fences:
Others have big walls, this one with the ventilation slats (for want of a better term) are quite popular:
Others have big hedges, really big hedges:
Or big roofs:
And finally a study in contrasts, the big old McMansion with all those appurtenances and elsewhere in the Casa a home that must have been built around the time I was born:
Its a slice of Key West, all jumbled up and getting along side by side. Makes for a nice ride though, Casa Marina.
