GIBRALTAR OF THE SOUTH

There was a time and a man who viewed Key West as the Gibraltar of the South. It was the mid 1930s. The man, Julius Stone.

The 1930s was depression time across the United States. Key West especially hard hit. It was the end of the world. Hard to get to. Little business. No work. Monroe County had filed for bankruptcy.

Julius Stone was the WPA administrator for the State of Florida. He considered things so bad in Key West, that he opened a WPA office there. Only the second in the State.

Stone saw tourism as the way for Key West to improve its economy. He was a precursor. He saw what men like David Wolkowsky would envision in later years.

One of his efforts to improve quality of life in Key West was to have a play locally produced. The Pirates of Penzance.

The historical goodies I share with you I did not find. Credit belongs to snowbird Diana Millikan. Diana is writing a play about Julius Stone and The Pirates of Penzance endeavor. She keeps me informed.

Diana has discovered a rich source of information. The Kennedy Cafe mornings. Elderly conchs meet every morning for coffee and talk. A breakfast club of sorts.

Diana says it is like pulling teeth to get information out of them. She is succeeding, however. A step at a time.

She met Jesse. A woman in her 90s. Her married name she was not able to get. However, her maiden name was forthcoming. Watkins.

Jesse was in attendance at the play on February 19, 1935. She recalled the event vividly. She said George Wills was the leading man. Handsome.

She attended the play with her two older sisters. Diana reported one of the sisters became President of a local bank. Sounds strange for the times. It might have been the woman’s husband.

The write up in the newspaper the next day listed a Mrs. Joseph Cates as seamstress. Diana is trying to find out if the 1935 Cates is a relative of today’s Mayor Cates.

Burt Lancaster was one of America’s great actors. He died at 80 this date in 1994. Lancaster and Key West touched two times.

Lancaster’s first movie was The Killers. The movie was based on Ernest Hemingway’s short story of the same name.

He actually filmed a movie in Key West. The Rose Tattoo. The movie was based on Tennessee William’s play of the same name. The movie was filmed in a house on Duncan Street. Williams lived on one corner of the block and The Rose Tattoo house was on the other.

The Cannonball Run is coming through Key West saturday. Will be on Duval and Front Streets around 3.

The Cannonball is composed of a group of men who own special cars. They like to drive them on strange roads in strange places. Duval not one of those places. However Key West not the destination. The group is headed for Havana, Cuba.

I have a neighbor down the street who participates. He is on in years. The Run is one of the more important events in his live. He has a 1906 or 1914 Rolls Royce. In tip top shape. When last I spoke with him, he had just returned from a run in New Zealand. The cars at some point are shipped to the final destination.

Screwworms on the move. No longer just on Big Pine and No Name Key. Have expanded into Big Torch Key, Middle Torch Key, Little Torch Key, Cudjoe, Ramrod and Summerland Keys. Flies have been found in each place.

The last time there was a screwworm infestation was 30 years ago. Things have become sufficiently bad that the State of Florida has declared a State of Emergency exists.

Tammy for a manicure/pedicure yesterday. Ran into Kate Miano who was getting a pedicure.

Kate is one of Key West’s most dynamic women. Owner of The Gardens. Note that Sunday at the Gardens has opened. Sundays from 5-7. Great music. Good drinks. Excellent company. Mostly locals.

The Judy Wood memorial celebration this evening from 5-7 at Tavern ‘n Town. Sad. Her death continues to bother me. And I did not know her well. Only from the bar.

Afterwards, I shall be off to bocce to watch Don’s Place play. Numero Uno!

Goombay tomorrow night!

The third and final Presidential debate was last night. Trump consistent. An ass. Hillary handled herself well.

Enjoy your day!

 

SARAH IS BACK IN TOWN

Dinner at Roostica last night. The sunday pasta special. Sat at the bar.

Sarah bartending! Back from Greece!

Excited. The trip flowed from her lips. No question she had a good time.

Three days in Athens. The balance of the trip on the island of Crete.

Sarah is a hiker and runner. I was unaware. Her days in Crete were spent hiking through one mountain pass to another and back. Or, up a rocky hill and down.

I would have died!

She had a wonderful time. I have to dine at Roostica more often to get caught up re the entire trip.

The Debate. I kept waiting for the shoe/bomb to fall. Never did. Donald was generally good. The result of the debate was a tie or I’d give Donald the edge.

I remain anti-Trump. His being a thug and bully evident. The man is not qualified in any respect to be President.

Trump and his team say the tape is of no consequence. Eleven years old. Bill Clinton’s shenanigans are more than 20 years old.

Fantasy Fest around the corner. One of the top events each year is Headdress Ball.

This year Headdress will be held under a gigantic tent at Truman waterfront. Tom Luna the emcee. Christopher Peterson and Terri White making special appearances. And of course the Headdress participants.

This years’ event will be the 34th. A record!

I know Headdress Ball from its Pier House days. On the beach. Thousands of people all over the property. Great show. A fun time!

Larry Smith was active with Headdress for many years. Some as Director. Always did an excellent job.

Headdress Ball is held on thursday night. There is another prime event that evening. Sloppy Joe’s Toga Party. Which spills out of the bar and covers 2-3 blocks of Duval. The ladies occasionally showing a personal body part in exchange for beads.

Between Headdress Ball and Toga Party, thursday night my favorite Fantasy Fest time.

Now my enjoyment will be limited to Toga Party. The Waterfront site is too far away for me to make both. I am not complaining, however. I am a voyeur at heart. Toga/bead exchanges more than enough to make my evening.

My bocce team continues to do good. Actually, excellent! Won all three games again thursday. Now 11-1. Tied for first with Hell’s Rangers. The best of the best for years. An interesting match when the two teams meet.

Again, I point out the team is doing better without me than it did with me.

Most of the Atlantic beaches devastated by Matthew are gone. Especially dunes. Have to be fixed. I  observed correcting such a beach problem following Wilma. Key West’s Smathers Beach. Smathers had no dunes, however.

The surge blew the sand across the road. Piled it high between curb and the treeline behind. Like 20 plus feet.

The area stunk. Smell horrible. The sand replete with dead fish and I don’t know what else.

The beach correction a simple process. Two fold.

First, the sand piled on the other side of the street was filtered. A huge screen. Lets the sand pass through. The dead fish and everything else held by the screen.

The sand spread over the former beach.

Still not enough sand. Sand had to be brought in. It is purchased from elsewhere and driven in in dump trucks. The sand dumped on the beach and spread.

Voila! Smathers Beach was as before.

I am trying to recall where the sand came from. Something tells me Bermuda. I could be wrong.

The worst Vice President of modern times was Spiro Agnew. He resigned this date 1973 from the position. After pleading guilty to income tax evasion. The tax evasion charge was based on his taking kick backs while Governor of Maryland and continuing to receive them while Vice President.

I never liked Agnew. He was a law school graduate who never really practiced. Became an Allstate claim adjuster. Allstate claim adjusters back then were not nice guys.

During the campaign, Agnew spoke in extremely disparaging terms about those protesting the Vietnam war. Venom fell from his lips.

The man was a bully. I thought a little crazy, also. He got what he deserved.

Oh, he ran as Vice President on Richard Nixon’s ticket. Nixon resigned less than a year later. Birds of a feather.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

TONIGHT, TONIGHT…..

The Presidential Debate this evening is going to be fantastic! West Side Story’s classic song words have been running through my head all morning: Tonight, tonight won’t be just any night…..

The shame of it all is that the subject matter won’t be what it should be. Sex should not form the basis of one’s vote. We have heard extremely little in this campaign re issues.

A corporate America type activity took place yesterday that could have had disastrous consequences. I refer to the Notre Dame/North Carolina State football game. Played in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the midst of Hurricane Matthew.

The bottom line the motivation for the game to proceed. Money. Not the health and safety of the players.

I watched the game awhile in the afternoon. The field in most places was covered in water. Appeared at least six inches in many places. Heavy rain off and on. Players falling and sliding all over the place. A broken leg or arm possible. Fortunately, one did not occur.

The young men on the field had talent. Some big time talent. Notre Dame’s quarterback DeShone Kizer is expected to be the #1 pick in the draft. A serious injury could have negated his professional career.

Universities are run like corporations. Been this way for at least 40 years. The schools playing yesterday receive hefty pay from TV for performing. Reschedule the game and who knows to when, whether advertising fees will be the same, etc.

So everyone from TV to league officials to university leadership opted to play.

Sports writer Keith Arnold said it best, “An act of God is no place for a football game.”

The final score was North Carolina State 10, Notre Dame 3. The game  not representative of the talents of either team.

Another great dinner with Liz! Hot Tin Roof.

The Hot Tin roof is different without Joseph. Probably just me. I sensed his not being there.

Amazes me. In spite of every negative thing impacting Trump this past week, Liz is still voting for Trump. My sense is not because he is the better of the two. Rather because she is a die hard Republican.

Oh Syracuse, my Syracuse. Another bad football day. Syracuse lost to Wake Forest 28-9. Fortunately, the basketball season is less than two months away.

I watched the Syracuse game when I got home last night. Caught the last quarter.

Key deer continue to be in the news. The screwworm problem. A killer. The disease easily transferable from one animal to another.

Key deer are small deer. Tiny. A subspecies of white tailed deer. Only found in the mid Florida keys. In the area of Big Pine, No Name Key and a few small islands off the keys. No where else in the world.

In the 195o’s, Key deer were close to extinction. Only 25-50 left. The federal government considered them an endangered species. The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957. Key deer were protected.

Today, there are more than 1,000 Key deer. A far cry from the 25-50 of the 1950’s.

The screwworm has invaded the Key deer refuge. Already 50 euthanized. Eight since last Sunday.

There is a cure. Sterilized male screwworm flies. Successfully tested and used over the years to rid an area of the problem. Safe for humans, other animals and anything that grows in the earth. Planes will start dropping the flies this week. 2.5 million of them. Then 1,000 more a week for several weeks.

I wrote about the screwworm problem a couple of days ago. Repeat it today.

With an additional observation. The sterilized male screwworm flies are not genetically modified. Merely radiated. Nothing added. The male flies shoot blanks.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

 

TWO SPORT DEATHS

Two stars of the sports world left us in recent days. One retired, the other beginning. Arnold Palmer and Jose Fernandez.

Arnold Palmer, an all time sport great. An outstanding golfer.

Eighty seven at the time his death.

Palmer brought golf to the attention of the masses. His first professional win in 1955 in the Canadian Open. The mid 50’s were also the time when most American homes began having a television set. A marriage occurred. Viewers loved Palmer. Most viewing never played golf. Nevertheless, they were glued to their sets watching Palmer.

Jose Fernandez’s death even more sad. Palmer completed his professional and personal life. Fernandez just beginning. Twenty four years old. A star player with the Marlins. Team leader. A father to be. He died in a boating accident.

His team mates held Fernandez in high esteem. I watched them on TV this morning. Everyone from Manager Don Mattingly through each team member openly crying. Grown men.

Tonight is a night of nights! The Trump/Clinton debate. First one. Considered important. The candidates are close in the polls. It is expected to have a huge viewing world wide.

Some one made a comment on Morning Joe this morning that some consider tonight as one to save the Republic. Applies to supporters of each candidate.

Interestingly, television’s first Presidential debate took place on this date in 1960. Kennedy/Nixon. Kennedy won the TV phase. He took to the camera like a natural. Nixon came over terrible. His responses were right on. His appearance not. He kept sweating and the camera picked up every drop.

I spent most of yesterday lying around continuing to read Orange Is The New Black.

Three dead bodies were found floating early in the weekend off Islamorada. Twenty three miles out. Two men and a woman. A boating accident.

A sad announcement. Key West Lou COMMENTARY will be no more. The column presently on the stands is the last that will appear in KONK Life.

I have been doing the column ten years. Loved doing it. Nothing is forever, however. It was time to put the column to bed.

This weekend was the first in years that I  had to myself for other than the column. Which means I had nothing to do saturday and sunday. I enjoyed my first lazy weekend in years.

Guy de Boer publishes KONK Life. I thank him for the opportunity to write. I shall be eternally grateful. He never questioned content or positions taken. I was a free agent at all times.

Enjoy your day!