Signs Of Key West

 I love walking around Key West after the bars close at 4 am and before daylight starts waking people up around  seven am. One does run the risk of being swept away by a speeding bicycle but I got away with standing around in the middle of Lazy Way Lane this time...

 I like the silence, the empty streets, the weird other-worldliness of  Key West uninhabited. Oh, and the shiny bright signs.

Then there was the automated teller machine that wasn't automated at all. Out Of Service.  Lucky I didn't need any cash.

At that hour of the morning Duval Street definitely does not look it's best.  The debris from the night before reaches epic proportions. You wonder how they manage to create this Augean Stable of trash in just one evening of epic drinking. But they do, over and over again.

I was stone cold sober but this sign just got away from me. Each line is uneven and the hours are just to crammed in to make any sense.

The former county mayor was a most capable self promoter and here she still is, a decade on. Amazing. 

Cheyenne knows where the cat food bowls are and i make sure she only gets a taste. The cats need it more than she does.

 Two survivors...

 Kids stuff. You don't see window displays like this dedicated to youngsters that often. Its mostly t-shorts about matters sexual cheering up passersby in Key West.

Call me odd but I found this combination of signs somewhat disquieting. The Hyatt presents itself as what iut is, an expensive waterfront resort. But here they are begging for customers with some crappy happy hour special deal. The two just don't seem to go together to me. But this stupid notion of happy hour has become  so entrenched that we find it everywhere. A  bar without "happy" hour is inconceivable. Drink hard, drink fast and please don't drive. I'm on my motorcycle out there.

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Old Seven Mile Bridge

It's been a while since I've been out on the old Seven Mile Bridge and if I have to be honest I didn't get far on it this visit. I did get some pictures...

 The parking lot at the Marathon end of the bridge is formed by the approaches to the bridge though nowadays...

 ...it's open for pedestrian traffic only. Bring a bicycle if you prefer.

Though access to Pigeon Key is not allowed from the bridge, and access is now allowed only by boat.

Cheyenne was thoroughly unimpressed by the bridge and refused to walk any further which I found disappointing especially as it was a relatively cool, dog friendly overcast day. The hand rails are made from the original Flagler rail tracks laid in 1911.

When the State of Florida purchased the rail line in 1938 it had lain dormant for three years after the storm of 1935 tore up the track and rendered the already unprofitable railway beyond repair. Imagine in this era when conservatives know the cost of everything and the value of nothing if such a government purchase would ever be allowed, and imagine then, the loss to future generations had not a road been built over the rail bed and bridges... Trains were kept down to a supposedly safe 25 mph on the bridges and the ride from Miami to Key West took 12 hours. I remember driving the old highway in 1981 and that trip took five hours to get to Homestead on the awkward narrow road.

 They built a park at the foot of the bridge those spendy government types and very nice it was too.

 There is well preserved pump station for the water line that was built (at government expense) to bring water to the Navy Bases in World War Two. It was the first time Key West residents saw piped water in their city. The new road in 1982 also brought a new larger pipe making the old system obsolete. There is a similar pump station structure next to the Bahia Honda Bridge, though that one is open to the elements and serves informal duty as a rather noxious public toilet for anglers.

 We sat and contemplated the meaning of life, my dog and I.

There is a website aimed at preserving the bridge that was built with Flagler's Standard Oil fortune. He was fond of saving that were it not for Florida he would have been a rich man. His desire to build the Over The Sea Railroad was driven by desire not a profit and loss calculation. He hoped trade with Cuba, tourists for pineapples would make money but it never did.

Link: https://friendsofoldseven.org/  Luckily there were architects with vision in those days  and they left behind objects of utility for people at large.

I wonder in our disposable age if the robber barons of our time will ever gain the vision to create objects of public worth to no profit for themselves. Not so far.

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Boca Chica Beach

I have been reluctant to come back to Boca Chica Beach not least because the Navy was threatening to hack down more trees to open up approaches to their runaway. Besides that this place can be an absolute hell hole for no-see-'ums and mosquitoes but I managed to get there recently on a cool windy day and Cheyenne and I enjoyed this popular dog walking spot almost by ourselves.

The weather was threatening rain and wind which created some rather interesting colors but in the event we were done before the heavens opened up. 

The good part about that was the absence of people. In winter this place is crowded with cars and vans and it is abuzz with people hanging out which leaves me feeling awkward about letting Cheyenne loose among people who may not be interested in wet Labrador snouts inspecting their feet or nether regions.

It's the sort of place that attracts people who devote their lives to creating an informal park out of a strip of dead end road and they are the people who get small monuments inscribed to their memory:

Check it out, donated furniture:

And no cars:

The Navy uses Boca Chica as a training base where Navy fliers practice touch-and-go landings to get proficient enough to land on aircraft carriers and not drown. The noise from the endless landings and pretend dogfights in the air over Big Coppitt and Key Haven get some residents vexed. I choose not to live under the flight path and because I know this kind of noise that drowns telephone, TV and radio would drive me nuts I will always avoid living in this neighborhood. Seems obvious to me.

Cheyenne used to allow herself to be persuaded to check out the rough trail that meanders along the shore Boca Chica Walk but these days she stops at the barricade marking the end of the driveable portion of Boca Chica Road.

This road used to be open to traffic and the barricades used to be out of sight in the distance but one of the hurricanes in the devastating seasons of 2004 and 2005, I forget which one, washed the ocean up here and tore the road to pieces leaving a rather picturesque bike path...

What's left is good enough to keep Cheyenne happy and that's what counts.

Sleepy dog when we finally get home. Bed  after  breakfast.

Truman Waterfront

I like coming down to the waterfront at night and feeling the breeze and...finding murals I hadn't previously noticed:

Kafkaesque is I think the word for that. Sturdy normality is the word for the USCG Cutter Ingham, now a floating museum and the prime spot to watch the sunset of an evening.

The city has had these 34 acres for more than a decade, handed over by the Navy to use as the city wishes. Indecision has kept the land empty and unused.

I fear any changes will hardly be an improvement considering the city's track record of overdeveloping and pandering to the moneyed classes so I hold my breath and hope that things just stay the same for a while longer.

The outer mole across the Navy Basin, all lit up, waiting for a cruise ship or a Navy ship, whoever comes next:

The shipyard condos, former Navy officer housing now worth millions. From 2008: Truman Waterfront Then

The city has a plan to connect the Westin Hotel waterfront to Truman waterfront across the gut of water called Admiral's Cut, thus creating a walkway all the way to the ferry terminal on Grinnell Street. I'd love that but of course that's nowhere in sight.

All change, nothing changes for once. I'll keep coming back to remember this delightful gift of open space filled with nothing.

Nelson English Park

I knew there had been construction underway at this Bahama Village park but I had no idea what a nice job they had done of restoring it.

The park is named for a former postmaster by that name whose photo I found in the Florida State Archives:

Apparently during his tenure the great fire of 1886 destroyed the old post office on Front Street and it was rebuilt roughly in its current location at Whitehead and Caroline. And he has a parked named in his memory which includes the community pool on Catherine Street:

I got a peak inside and it looks very nice. I used to come swimming here during my lunch breaks when I worked on Duval and the place was rather more utilitarian. The pool weirdly is upstairs and the changing areas were downstairs so you could catch ocean glimpses from the sunbathing deck next to the pool.

The park is fully fitted out for all sorts of uses.

The children's play area is much more comprehensive than it once was.

From 2008, this picture from my blog:

And now, after a $1.1 million makeover it looks fantastic:

Promptly at eleven when the parks and beaches around the city close for the night the lights went off.

And I moved myself and my Vespa along.