San Francisco has Golden Gate Park and New York has Central Park, thus Key West has Bayview Park. That would be a city block devoted to open space, greenery and sporting activities.
Compared to the larger cities a block may not seem like much but in Key West it's plenty to be going on with. Bayview Park aspires to the classical roots of public spaces designed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, formality, high minded statuary and nobility of purpose are the watchwords like this formal entryway across from the Police Station: 
In Bayview Park we find a massive stone monument, a block of immutable rock, commemorating the sacrifice made by New Yorkers preserving the Southernmost City for the Union in 1862, and at the opposite corner Jose Marti, Cuba's revolutionary hero is celebrated in marble in a style typical of 19th century statuary.
And at the opposite corner of the park a Czech artist Emil Adamec has erected two statues, a male and female torso expressing he says a gateway between Havana and Key West two cities divided by political barriers. 
Compared to the larger cities a block may not seem like much but in Key West it's plenty to be going on with. Bayview Park aspires to the classical roots of public spaces designed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, formality, high minded statuary and nobility of purpose are the watchwords like this formal entryway across from the Police Station: In Bayview Park we find a massive stone monument, a block of immutable rock, commemorating the sacrifice made by New Yorkers preserving the Southernmost City for the Union in 1862, and at the opposite corner Jose Marti, Cuba's revolutionary hero is celebrated in marble in a style typical of 19th century statuary. And at the opposite corner of the park a Czech artist Emil Adamec has erected two statues, a male and female torso expressing he says a gateway between Havana and Key West two cities divided by political barriers. Bayview Park is a magnet for the dispossessed in Key West, so much so the city administration has removed the park benches, (a couple firmly planted in cement are beyond the Public Work's Department grasp) making it unnecessarily complex for anyone not equipped with their own chairs to enjoy the park. From time to time the city holds public gatherings here but the bandstand is mute most of the time, the lawns, especially this time of year are not enjoyed by anyone much. 
Dogs are prohibited which doesn't mean they don't get to visit the park if they have daring owners, but mostly I see people playing tennis here standing on the courts in the sun knocking that fuzzy little ball back and forth. There is even a pro instructor even to help the amateurs on their way, so there is no excuse for an attitude like mine except sheer bloody-mindedness.I think they forced me to chase too many balls during my youthful imprisonment in boarding schools. 
There is basketball, softball and a set of slides for the toddlers. The softball field looked particularly ghostly in the moonlight Saturday night on my lunch break. In the distance, rising up like a fortress one sees the Harvey Government Center illuminated against possible softball ambushes from the darkened park lands where I lurked:
For everyone there is something in Bayview Park including public restrooms, facilities not to be under valued in a city where the complaint is frequently;y heard that there aren't enough. Even if in this instance Key West seems to favor the institutional-correctional look for its loos:
The restrooms are another reason Bayview tends to get a disproportionate number of residentially challenged hanging around. A few years ago the Salvation Army got permission to install a shower trailer in the Police Station parking lot but even since those facilities were dismantled the park provides determined homeless people a place to lay down:
And you thought bleachers are meant to seat people watching softball? Key West, home to multi-purpose facilities. Even in the muggy night air the aluminum benches looked less than homey to me. Homes alongside the park tend to have the characteristic Key West look to them, old, handsome and frequently just a little run down. At four in he morning they can look vaguely sinister:
Dogs are prohibited which doesn't mean they don't get to visit the park if they have daring owners, but mostly I see people playing tennis here standing on the courts in the sun knocking that fuzzy little ball back and forth. There is even a pro instructor even to help the amateurs on their way, so there is no excuse for an attitude like mine except sheer bloody-mindedness.I think they forced me to chase too many balls during my youthful imprisonment in boarding schools. There is basketball, softball and a set of slides for the toddlers. The softball field looked particularly ghostly in the moonlight Saturday night on my lunch break. In the distance, rising up like a fortress one sees the Harvey Government Center illuminated against possible softball ambushes from the darkened park lands where I lurked:For everyone there is something in Bayview Park including public restrooms, facilities not to be under valued in a city where the complaint is frequently;y heard that there aren't enough. Even if in this instance Key West seems to favor the institutional-correctional look for its loos:The restrooms are another reason Bayview tends to get a disproportionate number of residentially challenged hanging around. A few years ago the Salvation Army got permission to install a shower trailer in the Police Station parking lot but even since those facilities were dismantled the park provides determined homeless people a place to lay down:And you thought bleachers are meant to seat people watching softball? Key West, home to multi-purpose facilities. Even in the muggy night air the aluminum benches looked less than homey to me. Homes alongside the park tend to have the characteristic Key West look to them, old, handsome and frequently just a little run down. At four in he morning they can look vaguely sinister:Or warm and welcoming:
Or massive and well used:
Bayview Park lacks waterfront views, it has no distinguishing features and aside from its monumental monuments it has no structures of historical value. Its just a park and one that tends to get overlooked. I'm as bad as anyone on this, I ride down Truman occasionally into or out of town and fail to really appreciate the simplicity of trees and grass:
And yet my hour long ramble ended all too soon, a couple of dozen photos in the bag, the moon still sinking slowly towards the west and the pool between the Park and the Police Station still as a mirror, in the peace and quiet of the city, slumbering at last:
I like working nights for a lot of reasons but having middle of the night lunch breaks is my secret perk.
We left the house at 5 am, I dropped my wife off at the doctor's in south Miami at 8:30 and i arrived at Pure Triumph an hour later. I waited for the shop to open and was first at the service desk to sign the paperwork and get back on the road to south Miami to pick up my wife. Things went a bit wrong and I was told the motorcycle might not be ready by closing time even though I had booked ahead with that stipulation. 170 miles each way adds up to a lot of mileage for a return trip. I got a bit snotty I'm afraid and the owner ended up promising the bike would be done before closing. I left angry that I'd had to make a scene. I hate drama and being the cause of it makes me hate myself.
Thursday afternoon I needed to get out of the house, so in addition to going to the Post Office and the bank on Big Pine Key I took a ride north towards Bahia Honda. Even though I know this road quite well enough I just wanted to see what might appear in the lense of the camera. Flat water it turned out; the waters between the mangrove islands was looking as they should in summer, all flat and mirror-like. The effect wasn't even spoiled by the hazy skies covered by indeterminate cirrus clouds. I rode and I photographed.
That last picture I took of the Bonneville in a parking area on the south end of the Bahia Honda bridge. I went just to poke around and lo and behold I found yet another little piece of Keys back country previously unknown to me. I've been by here a million times too...
Apparently other people have already discovered this small corner of wilderness:
I'm sure i don't know what he found to dive on, and swimming with a regulation dive flag indicates he knows the rules, I just wondered if he was doing some reconnaissance for next week's mini lobster season, the annual summer massacre of lobster by amateur hunters, that precedes the official commercial lobster season. The area in back of the parking lot was easily accessible to divers or walkers:
And I cut across a block of Bahama Street towards Eaton. That put me fair and square in front of Fausto's Food Palace, the downtown grocery store that claims to be a social center as well. It is a good place to pick up a twelve pack too, and if you are so thirsty after a week's labor you can empty one bottle into a plastic cup right there in front of the store to fortify yourself for the trek home:
If you are a pigeon refreshment is more easily accessible and cheaper in a gutter if you are so inclined. This guy bathed in his drinking water which I though was a bit much:
Amidst the complaints about the disappearance of old Key West, the signs of past glories are still visible, like these louvered shutters.
This house is pretty obvious but across the street I saw a sight I've never noticed before which is the actual name of La Concha hotel on the Duval Street side of the building. 
I've never stayed at La Concha but to me it's the coolest hotel. The rooms are small, which matters to some people, but it just has the attributes I love in hotels when I travel. Its the antithesis of modern convenient motels, with its long carpeted corridors, heavy dark furniture and spacious tiled lobby, and its right on Duval so it can be noisy.
And alongside the alley I found a truly peculiar tree, with this sign nailed to it. Who would take up residence in a tree I wouldn't know, but there it is:
Taking a stroll along Bahama close to Eaton Street you come across the back of St Paul's and their parish hall. I like the notion of a "parish hall" it has the sound of an old fashioned community center, which is a bit unlikely in Key West:
At the corner of Bahama on Eaton there is an old theater still standing long since unused, unloved and uncared for. It has more than its share of ghost stories attached to it and the Ghost Tour stops by and spreads the gossip with glee. One thing they tell you, and I've never seen contradicted, is that local residentially challenged citizens never spend the night in the doorway:
All of which may or may not be true, and I'm forced to wonder how this building survived the recent housing boom. But it does have a cool tower which someone other than me appreciates, because they've been doing some work to that part of the building:
And it just so happened I got see a genuine rat bike parked on the street an MZ, formerly an East German brand that gained a world wide market with the fall of the Berlin Wall. This one still runs apparently despite the disappearance of the Miami importer of these obscure bikes:
I sort of doubt the owner would have bought a new seat had one been available. I like a motorcycle that gets well used up. I'm still working on the Bonneville, but I bought a machine with a solid, I hope, dealer base.