This was my wife coming round College Road in the Ford Fusion bringing the dog for an outing into Key West. I had delivered my wife's Vespa to her school so she can ride it around town while at work and she picked me up in the Fusion as I waited in front of the Florida Keys Community College. 
While my wife shopped at Publix supermarket before we started on the 25 mile (40km) journey home I took Cheyenne for a walk in New Town.
16th Street is typical of the breed of streets that sprang up on the eastern side of the island during the construction boom of the 1950s and 60s. Searstown, the first modern shopping mall appeared in 1964 and many Conchs sold their homes downtown to be able to afford a decent sized tract of land to build modern houses with all modern conveniences.
Much has been made of the fact that many Old Town homes were built of salvaged ship materials during the wrecking era of the young city's history. It's a romantic notion but the picturesque houses that remain in Old Town may not be the most expansive or comfortable and a sturdy ranchette house like this may look attractive to someone looking for ease of living.
Stick a few trees and bushes around the concrete block structure and you take away a lot of the visual harshness of modern construction.
Palms always seem to be in good taste in this town.
Around here there is generally a lot more room for stuff and a lot fewer visitors clogging the streets up.
Cheyenne spotted something of interest across the street: a fenced in dog yakking wildly.
She usually ignores other dogs and happily carries on sniffing her way down the street. I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been to her to have spent eight years not being allowed to wander pretty much at will; she is making up for lost time with me.
I am quite fond of Bahama type shutters.
These low walls remind me of Caribbean homes I have seen. 
The only two storey home I saw on 16th Street towering over it's neighbors.
A lovely bunch of bananas dangling in my face. 
Despite the fact these homes are modern I find the layout and landscaping to be very enticing. And I am also fond of central air and windows that don't leak. 
A magnificent tree house under construction. 
Trapped dogs- you can just see them longing to come out and play with my indifferent dog. 
Even here in the urban jungle the sunset produces a certain effect. 
You just have to stand still long enough to notice it.
While my wife shopped at Publix supermarket before we started on the 25 mile (40km) journey home I took Cheyenne for a walk in New Town.16th Street is typical of the breed of streets that sprang up on the eastern side of the island during the construction boom of the 1950s and 60s. Searstown, the first modern shopping mall appeared in 1964 and many Conchs sold their homes downtown to be able to afford a decent sized tract of land to build modern houses with all modern conveniences.Much has been made of the fact that many Old Town homes were built of salvaged ship materials during the wrecking era of the young city's history. It's a romantic notion but the picturesque houses that remain in Old Town may not be the most expansive or comfortable and a sturdy ranchette house like this may look attractive to someone looking for ease of living.Stick a few trees and bushes around the concrete block structure and you take away a lot of the visual harshness of modern construction. 
Palms always seem to be in good taste in this town.
Around here there is generally a lot more room for stuff and a lot fewer visitors clogging the streets up.Cheyenne spotted something of interest across the street: a fenced in dog yakking wildly.
She usually ignores other dogs and happily carries on sniffing her way down the street. I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been to her to have spent eight years not being allowed to wander pretty much at will; she is making up for lost time with me.
I am quite fond of Bahama type shutters. 
These low walls remind me of Caribbean homes I have seen. 
The only two storey home I saw on 16th Street towering over it's neighbors.
A lovely bunch of bananas dangling in my face. 
Despite the fact these homes are modern I find the layout and landscaping to be very enticing. And I am also fond of central air and windows that don't leak. 
A magnificent tree house under construction. 
Trapped dogs- you can just see them longing to come out and play with my indifferent dog. 
Even here in the urban jungle the sunset produces a certain effect. 
You just have to stand still long enough to notice it.
11 comments:
You seem to like New Town. How come you chose Cudjoe over it?
I like New Town because it is non tourist Key West. Most people who visit never get to see this part of town.
There are fewer issues out here-parking, noise, drunks sleeping on sidewalks , drunks staggering home at 4 in the morning singing and vomiting panhandlers etc...
I like living on a canal. I think living outside town is more of life lived the way it should be down here, away from street lights on the water.
Unfortunately it costs money to drive and it seems stupid to be driving(riding) whenone lives close to an eminently cyclable town. My commuting, which I enjoy, seems an indulgence.
I am obviously not addicted to bars.
Sixteenth Street... Outside a tidy, quiet community on the edge of the nation’s east coast tropical resort. Yet one wonders what goes on inside those nearly shuttered houses, lost behind a chaos of greenery?
In photo #3, the house appears empty, but a man is kissing a woman for the first time. They have dreamed of this moment forever... It will come as a shock to her sister, who is the man’s wife.
In photo #4, the occupant, a middle-aged accountant, has finally figured out the Rubik’s cube he got as a stocking stuffer for his 12th Christmas... He now wonders how he became 45-years-old, and what he will do next.
In photo #6, the house is silent as the piano lessons have ended. Ted never got beyond lesson number three, but has been playing it six times a day for the last 38 years. The lady of the house has just brained him, still sitting at the keyboard, with an axe. She will cut him up later, put the body pieces in the piano, and dump it off the reef in the moonlight tonight.
In photo #7, the house is the quiet backdrop for photography, as little Billie Furtnurt is taking pictures of his first hard-on with his mother’s cell phone while she sleeps. He will hit “send” by accident, transmitting it to all 48 members of the Lower Keys Conservative Action Committee. Three will try to order it online.
In photo #9, Stosh Kawalski sleeps in his boat’s cabin, exhausted from a night of fruitless fishing, not realizing the boat is on the street and not in the canal.
In photo 19, the dogs have gone feral, eating the old woman who found them as strays on Ramrod Key, where residents have been known to trade pets to medical laboratories in exchange for cheap wine that comes in large boxes.
And while this interpretation of today’s pictures is total fiction... Who’s to say what goes on behind closed doors in the Keys.
Presented gratis by
“Crossed Keys”
The Ultimate Key West Blog Interpretive Resource
Dear Crossed Keys. I spent a couple of days with your cousin in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago. He said to let you know that when you get out of the slammer to please not call him. Stiffie threatened to send your cuz to TSA school to touch people's junk if you show up in east Goshen.
Thank you for your insights.
Dear Conscooter:
There are times when you baffle me. I signed on tonight, and went immediately to your blog, as I craved a taste of the "life untaintaed," from Key West. There I find myself loosely targeted as the accomplace of some well-spoken anonymous reader who got far more from your transparent observations than I ever could.
Thank God I am not thin-skinned. By the way, the anonymous reader may be right about some things, as there is police crime scene tape around the house in photo #17, where I understand a short-tempered police dispatcher was found with a pair of pink crocs stinking out of his ass.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Fantastic!
I think Anonymous has a nice story line going... much better than anything Riepe could come up with.
zing!
Mr Conchscooter & Anonymous:
I'm smiling. A real slice of life in the Keys
bob
Wet Coast Scootin
OMG! I am ROFLMAO! (I don't normally talk in text, but this was so hysterical I had to go to shorthand! Please, more interpretations from Anon!
Diana
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