Old Town By Night

At night in Key West, in the early hours of the morning as the bars close and whatever crowds are left start to disperse, a certain lassitude falls over the 911 center. Well, I thought some fizzy caramel water loaded with caffeine might help. Especially if to get it I have to take a brisk ride in the fresh night air. 

That involved stopping along the way and looking at what there was to see under the occasional, strategically placed street light.

 Wherever you look in Key West's old town, especially  if you look through the lense of a camera.

Decorations of all sorts spring up, as though to counteract the irritatingly loose electrical installations, wires boxes and junctions danglig everywhere. 

 There was a for sale sign on the cottage below, and then they added a sold sign. Done and dusted.

 Catherine Street, a portent of summer, Spring Break is over and the kids have gone home. Lovely.

 The gates to my bank looking surprisngly medieval. The ATM next to it is quite modern. 

 Duval Street looking south from below Truman.

Empty as it should be at 4:30 in the morning. Back to work...

Conch Homes

It was a lovely afternoon and I was in town and Rusty needs to practice urban walking without fear of every least noise...so off we went.

Above the Banana Cafe a French place that has thrived in its newer larger digs. I remember it fondly when it was across the street in a little hole in the wall that felt like it belonged in Martinique. However the food is still good and worth a visit.

Above we have an eyebrow home of which I have spoken often and which I found discussed on this Architecture Blog at some great length. Below we see the official permit required by the city to rent your home out for short periods ie: less than 28 days at a time. They chose 28 to make monthly rentals legal on even the shortest month of the year...for the useless information file.

While we were walking I snagged a few pictures here and there of houses that appealed. This one was not exactly when you think of when you picture Old Town Key West. Interestingly this one looks like an old Florida home, the outdoor terrazzo tile and jalousie window makes it all quite cool in its own way.

This is what the punters line up to buy in Key West and hang their Conch Republic flags from to show their credentials to all the world. For Rusty a 90 degree afternoon was proving to be a bit of a burden which surprised me a bit. I expected him to be better acclimated to Florida summers. Life on the streets must have been tough for him, and its lucky he has an air conditioned room with a couch to retreat to these days. Lucky for him and for me.

I keep wondering how the city is going to overcome it's housing shortfall for working people. Highway One is jammed every day now and I have to suppose in part that is thanks to endless tourism year round these days. But I also see a lot of single occupant vehicles on the road during commute hours and the commuters are coming from as far as Big Pine Key, an hour away.

These little homes with no parking and no garages within a block or two of the noise and bustle of Duval will sell form perhaps three quarters of a million dollars. Add amenities like parking or central air or even a pocket sized swimming pool and the prices go stratospheric. Which doesn't give a working stiff much of a chance.

The little seafood shack on Catherine Street has been here forever but I have never seen it staffed and I've never seen  much in the way of advertising. Until now.

Check this out, clear and to the point. A proper family enterprise.

Back home my hot dog stretched himself out and dreamed of all that he has seen in the past couple of months and what he has yet to see on this strange adventure we call life.

Colors On Catherine

I was out last weekend collecting pictures for use here and I saw a collage of colors fall into my camera on Catherine Street, not far from El Siboney Cuban restaurant. The sun was rising under an angry gray sky and as it rose it illuminated this bright yellow Conch cottage. That got me started and slowly I started to see primary colors all the way up the street as I trailed my Labrador.

Catherine runs from George Street in New Town all the way to Bahama Village and it's a broad street, unusually wide in fact, for most of its course. As winter approaches and we get crowded out by the seasonal crowds who stick to the obvious routes, Catherine becomes ever more important as a back road across town. 

Posted with Blogsy