A Bit Of Front

One of the reasons I write this blog is that things are always changing around here and I want to record the Key West I know, as it evolves. There are days when change just gets your knickers in a twist and this feeble plastic chain is one such example.The message is unmistakable: no more free scooter parking at the end of Front Street. "In the good old days" (I hate that phrase and it's so common in Key West), you could roll up to the parking lot and roll your powered two wheeler into an approximation of a spot. I asked the attendant and he said it's now only free if you eat at a place on the water, which has always been the rule for cars. It seems that in these straitened times the owner of the lot figured he could rent those two spots out to a couple of cars, which would net him all of what? ...if they aren't parking to go and eat, in which case it's free anyway. Go figure. I know, it's a privilege that becomes an expectation but still. I park the Bonneville here to get half price appetizers at Alonzo's with my wife and now I'm going to have to remember to get a receipt. By the way there is still free scooter parking on the street, if you can find a space, as you can see this place is popular for two wheelers even in the low season. Pedestrians too:

Anyway this blow to my list of not-so-secret parking spaces set me to wondering how much this block of Front Street will change over the next few months or years (or hours even!). So I did what I had to do and whipped out my camera. If you, like me, prefer hotels to the intimacy of bed and breakfasts there are major chains littering the waterfront:
And it seems the services on offer can be fascinating:The Hyatt owns a ton of land in Key West, an entire city block resembling the Berlin Wall attests to that fact. One wonders what unspeakable acts go on behind that impenetrable wall, that bland facade? The other side of Front Street is full of interest, storefronts and the like:I go to Kermit's as I prefer my Key Lime pies without fish.Clothing boutiques...

I am struck by how this piece of Front is cleanly developed like shopping centers anywhere in America.

It's the paradox of small town America in Key West; the family outing: The drinking establishments....
And then there is that funny little anomaly, the Bottling Court. It faces on Simonton Street around the corner but the back entrance always fascinates me, an Arab souk rendered in American:One of my fantasies was to have my own small business, a cobbler's shop by preference where I could mix the smell of shoe leather and glue, like the cobbler in the village of my childhood where I grew up, and I'd want to do it in a business garden like this:I wasn't the only one taking advantage of this quiet corner:
The pleasure I got from the play of sun and shadow, palms and architecture soothed my ruffled feathers from the new pay-to-park fiasco.