Carsten Lane is become a bitter disappointment to me. First it used to have a messed up name and it was impossible to tell if it was supposed to be Carsten, or in the plural Carstens because the signs at William and Margaret Streets couldn't agree. Nowadays they seem to agree on the singular. Very boring:
We still have it listed in our computer aided dispatch as Carstens, long may it stay in confusion. Worse than that is the fact they have cleaned up the back of the old Harris School and now the lane is wide open to the northwest and any air of dark and forest-like mystery has been lost to efficiency:
I mentioned the Harris School in a previous essay (30 November 2008) and it seems no one wants to buy the building, nor the huge chunk of land it sits on so here it is, all cleared and ready for unbridled development. Meanwhile Carsten(s) Lane is no longer a shady jungle of growth, overpowered by the building that used to be occupied by the MARC House.Now its just a one sided alley, but at least it's only the middle piece. The opening off William Street still retains some of that closed in look I am so fond of:
And the overgrown bit still curves wildly as it always has:
Of course there is still a chance that you can rent a house, rent a bicycle and enjoy looking out without missing a thing:
Then there are the attempts at beautification which looks really nice, all symmetrical and tidy and stuff and in the middle of it there is one of those bizarre signs. I wonder why anyone imagines that some dolt who lets their dog crap all over a flowerbed is going to be put off by a vivid little sign:
Besides the sign spoils the effect, but there we are. These signs are all over the place because too many people who walk their dogs, and there are tons of them in Key West, don't pick up after them. I swore after my last dog died I wasn't picking up after anybody's dog ever again, I had bagged tons of the stuff over the years. Twelve years of that is enough and I don't envy people like this lady shown below walking a large, doubtless productive, animal, though I'm sure she was amply armed with plastic bags:
There are better maintained homes on Carstens Lane too,
And there are the castles in the air, with all their different living levels,
And there are projects jealously guarded:
Margaret Street leads away past the ravaged Harris school block which is wide open on that side too:
But taken at a slightly different angle things really don't look so bad, especially if there is a Bonneville in the foreground:
It was a gray afternoon, overcast and promising rain, which never materialized, so I looked up from where I was standing contemplating change and how annoying it is:
Very apocalyptic I'm sure but it's just a photographic illusion.
11 comments:
Dear Sir:
What does the new tach look like?
Fondest regards,
Jack
Twisted Roads
Round, smaller than the speedo and it fits into the notch in the existing matt black instrument panel. Black face white numbers from Performance Triumph $200. I'm going to start haunting Jiri's shop soon, or I will when the cold blast goes away this weekend. 46 miserable degrees driving home this morning was way too cold. Ice on my tea is not acceptable.
ouch ! 46F (=8c). that's going to be our high temperature forecast for today. Yesterday it got up to 12c (=53F) and it felt really warm, unlike where in KW the same 12c feels very cold. Likewise, some pixs of your newly installed Tach when you get your Trumpet back.
I remember in my younger days I had a Datsun 510 and had a SMITHS tach installed. ever since then I had always wanted to have a Tach on every vehicle. Makes your bike go faster
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Didn't you say in your other essay that the building's repair is very costly? I wonder if it is historic, so they cannot tear it down (not that I would want them too). I wonder if it would be feasible to turn it into affordable housing condos? Or mixed use (housing on the second floor, commercial on the first).
Tach pictures to follow of course. I don't see any new construction coming for a while in the Keys. I am not in the industry of construction or sales (note the absence of sales pitches on my blog) so my perceptions are purely empirical, but what I do see is construction projects on hold, no credit and no jobs. A friend hiring a janitorial type job at a hotel had candidates with master's degrees anxious for a shot. I think in a year the Keys will have a much smaller permanent population with much lower value of homes. I have a an essay for Tuesday on real estate prices I've seen.
My feet are cold and I'm shuffling around the house in two pairs of socks. This sucks but it should be over by Sunday.
Similar situation here in Fort Myers/Cape Coral. They are starting to deplete their inventory of "cheap homes" but I suspect a wave will replenish with more foreclosures that come to market.
As for the cold, I have lived next to little space heater with shoes on for 3 days. I cannot wait until the weekend for the warm up.
Thinking about the Keys a lot lately in relation to the economy and using it to an advantage (not that I wish woe one anyone, but I dislike those that don't take advantages of opportunities). there might be the time to move.
A quick glance at the prices in Rappatoni's MLS for the keys. They really have not come down, except for short sales and those are still pretty high in comparison to the rest of the country. Hrmm... new plan needed perhaps.
I walk by the Harris school multiple times on vacation on the way to Five Brothers and often wondered why it remains empty.The building itself looks historic,and worn...but functional..with the lot it sits on,i cant imagine why it resists development.Was it once a indian burial ground? Were santanic rituals performed here? I just dont get it....
Buffalo Bill
I enjoy the closed in look of the lanes with trees and stuff. Have you ever walked the sidewalks in downtown Chicago? It's like being at the bottom of a canyon with walls that go straight up two hundred feet on both sides. That kind of closed in feel I can do without!
Carsten(s)Lane on older maps have it listed as Carsons Lane and many locals prefer to still call it that. I found in the archives room at the Key West Library old maps listing it as Goat Alley. I was told by a library worker that there was a grocery store in that area called Carsten's Grocery named after the owner. I don't know if that is true but would like to find out. I rather like Goat Alley as it gives me a visual of what life looked like way back when.
Excellent! I love this poking around in the past. Goat Alley it is then and Carsten's Grocery a distant second!
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