St Paul's Cathedral

It occurs to me it's time I took a few pictures inside the big white wedding cake at Eaton and Duval.


It's a really cool thing that this church in the middle of tourist town's crazy nexus is kept wide open.


The church has an air of permanence untouched by the passing of the ages yet St Paul's has been knocked down by hurricanes in it's history.


It's an Episcopal church yet it appears to my formerly Catholic eyes as being about as gussied up as the churches I knew in my youth.


The Wendy's across the street is a gathering place for the helpless and hopeless who come to Key West to sit on the sidewalk and beg. Hence my continuing surprise that the people in charge of St Pauls's hew so sturdily to the principle of openness that churches traditionally adhered before the advent of over arching fear of liability, desire for self preservation and the dominance of insurance requirements.


I love checking the plaques that line these churches, the old practice of buying salvation much decried and here preserved.


Organ recitals are a lunch time feature at St Paul's and when I worked downtown during the day I greatly enjoyed taking a break here.


Restoration is in full swing.


Of course this huge space is not climate controlled by artificial means.


Curry is a familiar name of long standing on this island.


Lovely isn't it?


I mean, where else would you go to find this art on daily view if not here?


The history geeks in town have recognized the value of this church and the efforts to maintain it.


In the Bible it says, as I recall, that those who give in secret get their reward in the kingdom of heaven. But buying indulgences publicly have their own reward I guess.


Coming out of the serenity of the church we find ourselves abruptly back in the world.


Time to go shopping, and eating and drinking.


I heard one tourist remark to his companion, as they passed me in the crush of sidewalk walkers that there sire are a lot of goddamned churches on this island. Yup, and bars too.



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Chicken Mania

Key West chickens roam the streets and are a constant source of wonderment to everyone who comes across them.


This rooster had worked out a splendid party piece, perching high above the crowds.


He sucked me in along with a few others strolling by...


I stood at the back of the line and clicked away.


Later I spotted the cock-of-the-walk down amongst us mere mortals.


As always the performers have to come back to Earth after their strutting is done.

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300 Block Duval

Evening on Duval Street though not yet late enough for the drinkers to be swarming.


I am astounded by these trinket stores that pay rent in the tens of thousands of dollars each month and sell "unique" crap to bored visitors shuffling by seeking a unique purchase to remember this unique island.


Really a strange name for an unlikely concept. Unique should be added to the list of unnecessary words in vogue.


"Personal" is my current unique favorite bugaboo. Take "personal" out of any sentence and nothing changes. My personal motorcycle. My motorcycle.


I have never been much of a shopper, though many heterosexual men make that claim. Women shop, men stand around feeling useless. In my case my wife has always made more money than me so the other stereotype about signing checks for her doesn't stand either.


Here's another "unique" store a few doors up from the last one. I cannot begin to imagine what Chinese sweatshop workers must think of us.


Somehow in the midst of this shopping frenzy an honest-to-goodness attraction showed up. The island's Oldest House. However the gate is not so terribly welcoming!


Only in Key West does a visitor attraction carry No Trespassing signs at the entrance. "No Trespassing. Use other gate." Naturally the other gate also has a No Trespassing sign. Catch-22. Personally I have no idea what it all means.


Kelly McGillis starred in Witness and Top Gun playing desirable women on the silver screen and she traded those 15 minutes into a life on this island for years and years. Though she no longer lives here her name lives on, also shouted out periodically by passing Tour Guide drivers. Fame rubs off apparently. Personally I couldn't care less.


I wonder if this sidewalk wallah is selling unique stuff. Personally...


When I see people checking the menu I wonder what they expect to find in a restaurant on the main tourist drag with a focus on one time diners?


You get food with a view where you can be seen. Personally...


This lot sell lottery tickets to win vehicles using the proceeds to help victims of drunk driving. Which wouldn't be necessary were medical bills not the issue they are. I wonder how they cover the rent on this premium spot.


Linen and a view.


Not a violation but a parking permit. Ride a scooter and treat it as though it were a car. There is in fact ample free scooter parking a short walk from everything.


Umm...


After six pm loading zones are free for two wheelers along Duval. Motorcycles rule!



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Southernmost Everything

Visitors ask where the Southernmost Point is and one is forced to reply that it is at the end of South Street of course.


The Southernmost Point of the Continental United States has spawned a whole bunch of side industries busy making money off the spot. The southernmost southernmost everything. Check it out:


This confection claims to be the Southernmost house and it belongs to a family of long time residents, noblesse oblige doesn't come into it and they fight like squires of old to maintain their southernmost birthright.


Perhaps this modest dwelling across the street, kitty corner to The Point is the southernmost southernmost southernmost?


Ah, probably not. There's The Point and there's the southernmost southernmost house.


These people don't seem to care who lives closest to The Point. They want their picture for their vacation album.


Trash is integral to the common experience. There are city trash cans nearby but the common sense of doing the right thing falls away in the face of the Southernmost. It makes you wonder why anyone would scramble to live next to this monument to bad taste.


Feast your eyes men.


This is actually more interesting, it's the place where the old Western Union telegraph wire came ashore from Cuba, decades ago.


But The Point is just one more notch in the tourist belt.


Funnily enough the actual point is on the Navy base behind the fence. The dish array spies on Cuba and having a daily trek of trash toting visitors would interfere with this last remnant of the Cold War. I listen to Cuba on my car radio, 950am Radio Reloj, Cuban news twenty four hours a day clearly audible here 90 miles away.


Southernmost rental scooters:


Southernmost Point Guesthouse and the southernmost angry parking sign.


It's a big place this guesthouse, stretching all the way back to Duval Street. The Gato name goes back to the cigar industry in Cuba that came to Key West. Gato long since left and took his business to the cheaper streets of Ybor City in Tampa. But the name connects the house to this city's well known past.


That's the southernmost game, sell the word and sell the thrill of being South. Hawaii has the actual US southernmost point and all they have according to pictures I've checked online is a marker on a dirt point on a spectacular cliff overlooking the Pacific. Key West is rather more crass.


Take a pretty fountain and fill it with a ticket seller. Like I said noblesse oblige doesn't come into it.


Take a private home and stick the world's southernmost nude statue in front of it. Or something.


And here is the southernmost Triumph Bonneville in the US. The entire Point is blotted out by the mirror!


Normally resident at Mile Marker 27 it's still quite a long way south, thank you. Kiss my ass.



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