I am not fond of gated communities. I cannot stand the idea of being told what to do by a block committee. I find the notion of hiding out behind locked gates rather caddish, as though the rest of the world is simply too awful to commune with. But another gated community has sprawled it's way onto the eastern end of key West: 
It is a whole bunch of developments imaginatively called:
And happily decay and decadence is already penetrating the manicured perfection of the place:
They drove out Houseboat Row so this place could get built and overlook Cow Key Channel without being bothered by little people living on boats.In that, they were only partly successful:
The complex has bunches of high rise buildings grouped around a central traffic circle (roundabout):
There's the Grand Key Hotel equipped they say with a nice pool and bar open to locals at no hassle:
Las Salinas consists of more-or-less affordable apartments: 
And the newer Seaside Court apartments lining the entrance off South Roosevelt Boulevard:
These are not designated affordable, not in the least. They were charging something like 1.4 million dollars when land speculation was at it's height a few years ago and these units are not terribly spacious. Imagine paying that much for an apartment you use but a few weeks of the year...
But they are within spitting distance of saltwater:
I had planned to do a little exploring especially as I like to know the lay of the land when I'm at work sending officers out to these places in the middle of the night. But peeking through the gates gave me the idea that short of a few Stepford Wives there wouldn't be much to see:
I should have liked to have seen whatever it was that caused these spectacular skid marks...
I was quite cheered up to see an actual person walking an actual dog in this place:
If anyone has a notion to buy into this community there is a real estate office ready to serve on the premises:
There is also a deli in the little business complex next to the traffic circle:
In looking at the building and then the sign advertising it's presence I find it to be a perfect irony that the symbol they use, a houseboat, had to be destroyed to make way for this clump of buildings:
Houseboat Row is gone: long live the memory of houseboat row!
Fifteen miles per hour was too slow to escape this manicured place.
It is a whole bunch of developments imaginatively called:And happily decay and decadence is already penetrating the manicured perfection of the place:They drove out Houseboat Row so this place could get built and overlook Cow Key Channel without being bothered by little people living on boats.In that, they were only partly successful:The complex has bunches of high rise buildings grouped around a central traffic circle (roundabout):There's the Grand Key Hotel equipped they say with a nice pool and bar open to locals at no hassle:Las Salinas consists of more-or-less affordable apartments: And the newer Seaside Court apartments lining the entrance off South Roosevelt Boulevard:These are not designated affordable, not in the least. They were charging something like 1.4 million dollars when land speculation was at it's height a few years ago and these units are not terribly spacious. Imagine paying that much for an apartment you use but a few weeks of the year...But they are within spitting distance of saltwater:I had planned to do a little exploring especially as I like to know the lay of the land when I'm at work sending officers out to these places in the middle of the night. But peeking through the gates gave me the idea that short of a few Stepford Wives there wouldn't be much to see:I should have liked to have seen whatever it was that caused these spectacular skid marks...I was quite cheered up to see an actual person walking an actual dog in this place: If anyone has a notion to buy into this community there is a real estate office ready to serve on the premises:There is also a deli in the little business complex next to the traffic circle:In looking at the building and then the sign advertising it's presence I find it to be a perfect irony that the symbol they use, a houseboat, had to be destroyed to make way for this clump of buildings:Houseboat Row is gone: long live the memory of houseboat row!Fifteen miles per hour was too slow to escape this manicured place.
2 comments:
Once upon a time I moved to a better neighborhood hoping to escape rude riffraff lowlifes. Then, as a cop, I busted my next door neighbor for drug running.
A gated community seems a good way to be trapped with the people who reside there. In other words, a bad idea! Like Groucho Marx said, "I'd never belong to a club that would have me as a member!"
Dear Conch:
What a dreadful place! Anyone who would pay $1.5 million for a shitty little apartment, in an ugly building of no architectural significance should get it in the ass, in Macy's front window, at high noon. The streets of this place can best be described as "sterile."
Not two miles from the house I live in were constructed ten palaces -- 5 or 6 bedrooms, 7 or 8 baths -- overlooking the most boring golf course in the history of that pointless sport. These were priced at $1 million to $1 million and a half. Each house is a good 60 feet from its neighbor. (If someone farts, you will hear windows close the length of this block.)
I nearly had a fit when someone told me these were prime residences, are highly desirable because they were on a golf course. PT Barnum could have made a killing selling real stupid apartments in Key West and these pasteboard McMansions on this golf course.
You rcently depicted a ramshackle house in Key West, owned by some old kook of a woman. That house, fully restored, with a bit of property around it, and citrus trees to add fresh character to rum drinks, would be worth $1.5 million.
I am amazed at what people with money think is a good idea. If I had a million and a half dollars to piss away, I'd have a Hobbit house built in the Adirondacks, on 200 acres of property. I'd have a moat built around the house and stock the property with free-range tigers.
Than I'd invite some people I know to come up and go camping. I'd sit on my porch, gazing out over the moat, smoking a cigar, and listening to their screams.
Screw this stuff. How is the BMW over in Italy?
Bobskoot has been crying ceaslessly since you left. Please brig him a hat, with Mickey Mouse ears on it when you return.
Fondest regards,
Toad
Twisted Roads
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