Suncrest Drive, Stock Island

I don't have  a lot of tolerance for endless post card pictures of Key West as though life is all margaritas and sunsets without the need for places like Stock Island to keep the facade functioning. The other half of this street I didn't walk as we ran out of time, but Suncrest in both directions is one block long each side of Cross Street and it's pretty gritty.

It just happens to be in neighborhoods like this that business gets done. South of Highway One as you approach Key West...

They call it light industrial if it is being classified, but it's where cars get repaired and where electricians and plumbers keep their supplies. 

For someone like me strolling by the greenery and bright sunshine make it look nicer than leafless gray streets Up North in the clutch of winter but working on a car outdoors in 90 degree sunshine can't be easy.

There is room to park stuff and unload stuff and store stuff out here.

And to accumulate projects, or spare parts.

I called this "an actual shade tree mechanic" on my Instagram picture. Rusty was intrigued.

No matter how tatty the exterior there is a liveable space in there and I'll be it's being used. You have no choice in a housing market like this one.

There are always palm fronds to remind you where you are, even if your surroundings don't remind you of Mallory Square.

And no matter where you are, parking issues rear their heads.

Duval Street this ain't. But without the services of Stock Island Duval Street couldn't exist.

Heading back towards our appointment to pick up the Ford with the repaired door handle - a Stock Island specialty is repairing cars! - Rusty startled this parrot. My little brown dog has no interest in birds, be they chickens or sparrows, but the squawking parrot shook him up and got his rapt attention:

The towering art in front of the ReCycle Bike Shop makes a suitable monument I think to the hands on work that takes place in these parts. 

And soon enough the Fusion's door handle was replaced and all was well with the world. Rusty found some grassy shade and we both got to watch Stock Island at work for a while.

Golf Course Community

Great good fortune came to some thanks to the city's decision to annex north Stock Island for the greater good of all concerned. The exact date of the annexation is nowhere to be found online but the Florida Keys Community College on College Road was founded in 1965 and the buildings opened in 1968. This was just after a 1964 referendum called to incorporate Stock Island as a city failed by 47 votes to 36. One has to assume that sometime thereafter Key West took over the northern part and agreed to put the community college there.

On the eastern end of the arc that is College Road on north Stock Island lies the gated residential community at the golf course. The entrance off College Road gives access to the golf club if you turn right immediately as you turn off College Road while straight ahead is the guard house which I photographed from inside the community (above).

The golf course streets are built by the same developer who built Truman Annex, the other gated community in Key West and the similarities are obvious. There are community rules apparently and one friend of mine who lives in here says even here there can be disputes over parking spaces. 

The advantages of life here includes easy access to golf if that is of interest, there are no bums and no outsiders as the gate is guarded all day and all night. To get in to visit a friend I had to give her name, her address and have my license plate photographed. It's the kind of peace and quiet you won't find in Old Town Key West, which is one bridge and 15 minutes away depending on traffic.

Golf courses raise their own environmental issues with use of water pesticides and all that. On the other hand in a bunch of islands where grass is as rare as hair on a bald man's head the neatly trimmed links makes for a pleasant view:

And the trees in the distance are a thick sound barrier to Highway One traffic just beyond them.

On the other hand you are living in a  tightly regulated, neat community which is not always appreciated by the more anarchic elements still left living in odd corners of Key West, the gentrification city. Humor is present too, though:

The homes themselves are mostly attached town homes though I am told there are a few free standing units. Prices are around half a million dollars, more or less and interior space is restricted. By mainland standards these are decidedly not McMansions. 

By Key West standards however they are extremely functional.  They offer all modern conveniences  including modest yards, parking, weatherproof construction and central air. Nothing to boast about in modern North America but in Key West where roofs don't always align with walls and windows often don't close properly this is first rate living. As long as you can cope with being a car drive away from easy drinking in Old Town while always being overseen in your habits by the community rules...

It's either a Norman Rockwell or a Stepford Wives picket fence community:

Spaces are small, typical of Key West, but they lack for nothing and especially for a person or couple who plan to travel away regularly the security and ease of use is a giant plus. 

So there's another way to have a Key West address that is actually in the city...

The Golf Course is hardly noticeable on the north side of US One as you drive east across Stock Island. The cyclist was in Monroe County where I took this picture on the south side of the highway., while the trees are in Key West:

The Avenues, Stock Island

I do believe the Avenues of Stock Island will be exempt from the development plans being enacted for the rest of this working class island. I was out early one morning, after yet another downpour that filled low lying land, seen here at Bernstein Park looking more like Bernstein Lake.

The Avenues are where people buy own and hold private homes on actual lots unlike much of the housing on Stock Island which tends to be a mixture of apartments, public and private and trailer parks where the land is currently slated for development.

There are of course lots of trailers here with some concrete block houses and manufactured homes on stilts as well. 

Its quite an urban setting for all that Stock Island is unincorporated, lots of homes packed into the street.

There are dogs on chains on Stock Island and I have seen them outside some homes much to my discomfort but I saw none this day (Yay!). However I did see this which gave me a shiver imagining its former occupant:

Mind you, not all humans live a whole lot better which is worth remembering when animal cruelty crosses your path. To me this rates as a hutch with air conditioning:

There are newer homes here and a few years ago you'd be hard pressed to but one for less than half a million dollars.

The neighborhood in question is shown in this screen capture:

Address that are numerical streets, 1 through 20 are in New Town in Key West. Numbered avenues are on Stock Island.

Rusty is enjoying urban environments more and more:

The flag flying proud over someone's castle:

And then we find the picket fence delineating the aerial manufactured home.

The wing mirror dilemma as shown below. I ask myself why wing mirrors that get knocked about are absolutely impossible to re-rig onto the car. Clearly this owner gave it the old college try to no avail:

I like wandering the avenues especially early in the morning before the Le Mans style Grand Prix starts up with everyone launching theirs cars into the street for their commute.

It is a place of eccentricity and personal style, outdoor living and letting it all hang out. It's way too intimate for me.

I have a friend who lives here and in the six months since they moved in their dogs found some kids breaking into their back yard over a tall fence. Another friend says her boyfriend won't allow them to live here for fear of what fate worse than death might befall her.

To me it's noisy vibrant diverse and annoying in the Avenues in equal measure. I love walking around here but the idea of living her fills me with dread.

Dogs barking, engines revving, furniture being abandoned, its a real life West Side story or Eastenders played out in Spanish and English Creole and Spanglish.

My idea of gardening is hiring a landscaper but I am also a keen transporter to the dump of my outmoded unconsidered trifles. When I see a few too many bits and bobs piling up I start twitching, hitch up the trailer and haul them off to the dump where they relieve me of eleven dollars and I go home feeling it was money well spent. Not everyone shares my enthusiasm for lightening the clutter.

If Rusty were to tell the story he'd point out this is a neighborhood filled with smells.

Because I'm human I smell nothing but I see cars everywhere, like used car lots.

I just don't see how even the most hardcore of developers could buy up all these lots and turn this into something hotel or resort-like. Perhaps its wishful thinking but I hope the chaotic run down avenues will be a thorn in the side of gentrification for years to come.

I will continue to walk here from time to time and enjoy the sometimes astonishing view of life as it is lived on Stock Island.