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Mrs. and I lived there 5 years, just moved (almost) three ago. I still have an office on Duval. Well, my name is painted on the glass.
Anyway, if you want shoot me a pm and I'll give you my cell. We mostly a) worked all day, b) had boring homebody lives while we were there, but I do have some "must eat" spots that aren't as touristy.
Damn, I wish there was some way that we could have not sold that house.
Spent the majority of my weekends up through college drunk fishing, boating, and diving in the Keys. You knew everybody down there back then, so you could be unruly and nobody gave a shit. My folks still own a place in Cudjoe Key that I get down to once or twice a year. Our new family hangout house is now down in the Abacos (Bahamas), so the Keys can be a little redundant.
Key west is cool, but A) stay on the beaten path and B) dont mess with the fuzz. They are not very tolerant of tourists. Gotta do the usual, Hogs breath, Capt Tony's, etc..But there are some other very cool out of the way places. But, once again, tourists stand out like a sore thumb, so be cool, and everybody else will probably be cool as well. Above all, just kick back.....
Take your nasty hangover to the chart house brunch, and eat up the shrimp benedict. Then go sleep it off.....You'll thank me!
Shawn
Damn Keith, I probably stumbled past you a couple of times...LOL. My best friend in high school (in Miami) moved there when we graduated to work at the Fisher Museum. he had a killer loft, with NO FREAKING A/C!! Good times though.
Tourism money not only fuels the service industry, but the court system as well. So Shawn is correct, you can't expect to get away with what you can in, say, New Orleans.
When I'm there for a day or two, A&B Lobster House and/or Alonzos (first and second floors of the same building) is a must. If you do Alonzos and get a bald waiter named Josh, tell him I sent you.
Italian, do Abondonza (sp?). Cuban, do El Siboney (sp?). BBQ, the Meteor. The meteor is next door to (drumroll, please) the Parrot.
You must do the Parrot. It is a law.
Corner of Whitehead and Southard. Map is here http://www.greenparrot.com. Caddycorner from the courthouse where I spent many many many many hours. Whitehead is Attorney's Row, so all the offices are along there. Mine was the big yellow two story at Fleming and Whitehead, right next to the post office. Now my name is on the door way down at Duval Square, where you'll find New York Pizza (okay) and Square One (GREAT food.)
Oh, and sushi? Little place (old house) called Ambrosia. Make a reservation, it fills up early and stays that way.
You might enjoy the East Martello tour. It is JUST outside the airport, a civil war era fort never pressed into service except for target practice. Tour cost about $6 a few years ago, it is walk at your own pace.
Have you seen those 'haunted places' shows? Remember the spooky haunted doll? That is a Key West story, and the doll is (now) at East Martello.
Do the Hemmingway house, too, if you get the chance. Maybe the Mel Fisher museum. And the Customs House (REMEMBER THE MAINE!!!!).
Crap, I didn't realize it, but I'm a regular freaking tour guide. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
If you do get arrested, call Roberta. http://robertafine.lawoffice.com not only is she an absolute RIOT, she sends me lots of work. She was also our next door neighbor when we bought our house in new town.
But try not to get arrested. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Damn Keith, I probably stumbled past you a couple of times...LOL. My best friend in high school (in Miami) moved there when we graduated to work at the Fisher Museum. he had a killer loft, with NO FREAKING A/C!! Good times though.
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Mel was a real sonofabitch. I never met him, but he went through lawyers like poop through a goose, so I heard lots of good stories.
I cannot imagine living there without AC. We lived in an oceanside apartment in Summerland during Georges, and I thought we were going to die from the heat and stench after the hurricane. Don't even ask about the 4am scorpion sting.
Oh, and if you're not hungover, do the Sunday brunch at the Casa Marina.
[img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]
Keith
p.s. JUST TODAY I was talking to a good friend of mine down there (the only competent computer tech in town) about trying to get him to give me his Les Paul. He said over his dead body. I offered to put that in his will. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Will be headed down there end of June, then 3 weeks in the Abacos. have been going since I was 6. I think I was born in the Bahamas to Bahamian parents, given skin bleach, given up for adoption, then raised in Miami Beach. I am all about blue water.
i have played down there at the green parrot. i like key west, but for me, i try to hang out in the little out of the way places along the way.
i remember liking islamorada quite a bit.
but yes, be very careful around the local police...remember, there's only one way out of the keys, so they WILL catch you...unless you have a private plane or boat :-)
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so they WILL catch you...unless you have a private plane or boat :-)
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I doubt that would help, Marine Patrol is pretty sharp. And if you screwed up bad enough that they got the USCG to help, then I know you'd be screwed.
Which reminds me of a story.
Not long after Titanic took all it's Oscars, I boarded a commercial puddle jumper to Miami, and this dood got on board in a leather coat, straw hat, and beer. He had a 1/2 dozen buddies with him. Unremarkable, except that it was like 80 bazillion degrees outside. Leather coat?
When we landed in Miami, they put us all on the bus to take us to the terminal, and I caught the eye of a teenage girl sitting across from me. The transit busses are the ones where you sit back to the wall, facing each other.
I was terrified. She looked pale, and her eyes were glazed. Her face was a little puffy like she'd been crying. My heart stopped, I swear I thought she was about to die. And remember we were close to each other, our knees about to touch.
Shaking, she took a small notebook from her bag, and a pen. She cautiously handed them to the punk in the hat and coat, without saying a word. Some nonverbal had been going on here, that I'd missed.
He took off his sunglasses, looked her in the eye, and flashed a HUGE smile for her. Then Leo DiCaprio signed her book, and handed it back.
I've thought he was an okay guy ever since.
Keith
ps That night, Extra! was talking about how Leo had been in the Bahamas, maybe even Cuba. Guess he was going home.
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