RDA Part VII, page 28 ' . 1 " NATURAL FOOTPRINT SANDAtS Don't Head North Without Them! ...footprints 610 Duval Street Old Town The deep green tire of a fine emerald Enhanced by the icy flash of diamonds Fire and Ice. Feel the passion of . . The Jewels of The Caribbean FROM THE EDITOR Hello, Many thanks to everyone—especially the most generous advertisers—for a splendid 10th anniversary issue. At some point I'd like to put together a "Best of Solares Hill" and this past issue reminded me anew of some of the treasures we've had in the paper. My apologies to Benton Hooten who wrote the piece on the cockroaches in April's issue but was denied her by-line. The following is a letter to the editor. Dear Editor Who's the Guru and who's the parrot? On two succeeding days last week, (Wed. & Thurs. Apr. 17-18) there appeared a letter to the 'People's Forum' concerning the reputations of residents on Houseboat Row. Although almost identical in content, the first was signed by 8 of the residents (apparently) adn the second by George Murphy. It reminds one of the old saw, "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" It seems that George Murphy is the author of the one- sided, biased and highly prejudicial attacks on the RDA and one of our loved and highly respected Commissioners, Emma Cates. It appears that the owner/editor of this specialty publication abdicated his editorial privileges and passed them on to the very reporter doing the story. Letters addressed to the Editor were answered by the reporter. Being a former Edi- tor/Publishermyself, 1wrote my own editorials and left the writing and reporting to my staff. When one has a monthly publication that is not timely enough to keep up with current events, it is unfair to produce such one-sided reporting, which in some circles is known as "yellow jour- nalism. " The liberal views of some hippies- turned-yuppies is one thing, but I want to go on record as saying I wish to offer my complete support and praise to Emma Cates and I resent such unwarranted statements by the reporter which should have been stricken from the story by any responsible Publisher/Editor. Good luck Emma. -Vic Dahn Jr. Dear Vic Dahn, Since the first part of your letter involved letters to the editor of The Key West Citizen and not to Solares Hill I had to check with George Murphy. He replied that both letters were handed in simultaneously to Jim Tucci at the Citizen & Jim chose to run them on two suc- ceeding days as is his perogative. George did not write the first letter and chose to write his own because he wanted to amplify on the remarks in the first. The only letter to the editor in recent issues I can -recall was a mammoth letter written by Steve McDaniels taking George Murphy to task for what McDaniels saw as numerous errors and misstatements in George's series on the RDA. As customary in these matters the author of the series responds and George did so effectively. George and I are puzzled about your remarks on his attacks on Commissioner Emma Cates. The only time in a 7 part series he remembers even mentioning her was to quote her, not write any "unwaranted statements" about her. I took issue with Emma in my column and I hope that you don't think that George writes my columns— he's a much better writer than I am & he'd be annoyed to be so accused. Finally George's series in the RDA is the best job of investigative reporting this paper has ever undertaken and I'm proud of it. George calls his articles "commentary" and therefore they con- tain his point of view. This point of view or "bias" as you call it, we call good reporting. His columns have, among other things, cited nu- merous problems with the lease which were later verified by independent study, helped lead to the removal of 2 board members who did not meet residency requirements, & raised issues about the performance of their legal counsel who also is no longer serving. It would seem we were right on target. Our cover this time is by Jason Goodman. Solares Hill is a community newspaper published every month on the slopes of Solares Hill, Key West's highest point, by Solares Hill Company, 513 Fleming Street Room 4, Key West, Florida 33040 Editor BillHuckel Editorial Consultant Bill Westray Art Direction Walt Hyla Digital Typography TypeTech, Inc. With a little help from our friends... Solares Hill Company, Incorporated ©Solares Hill Inc. 1986 Our mailing address: 513 Fleming Street Room 4 Key West, Florida 33040 Phone Numbers are 294-1044 & 294-2400 In Marathon call 872-2915 THIS IS OUR SUBSCRIPTION FORM Save your cover! Send us a postcard with your subscription. Here is $15.00 for my subscription to 11 issues of SOLARES HILL NAM? ADDRESS CITY_ .STATE. ZIP THANK YOU JEANE PORTER by Valerie Ridenour M ention Jeane Porter in Key West circles and for sure you'll be bombarded with such a variety of opinions, you'll wonder who she really is. Some think of Jeanie as an astute businesswoman, running her properties from some lofty social plane untouchable by mere mortal beings. Is she the grande dame of Caro- line Street or just another resident of paradise? The answer is both. Those who are close to Jeanie will quickly tell you that behind those sweet, brown eyes exists a loving, caring woman, whose heart is open to anyone who needs her. The two sides of Jeane Porter come from her impressive heritage combined with a rich exper- ience of living in many exciting environments most of us only read about. Even so, none of the foreign countries and continents where she's visited have stolen her heart, which remains tied to Key West. She says, "You can take the Conch out of Key West, but you can't take Key West out of the Conch." Being a caretaker of history is no easy task. Somebody has to care about our past to assure its preservation for our future generations, whose historians will be enthralled with things from times long gone and forever changed. You might someday gaze in awe at a wedding dress worn by Jeanie's great grandmother, realizing both the artistry and integrity that went into the seams and the abundance of time that was avail- able to the seamstress. Jeanie's travel through this particular uni- verse began in New York. "I wanted to be close to my mother," Jeanie quipped as she began to relate her journey through time, "but I was brought back to Key West within the first month and baptized here in the Episcopal Church. My Jeane Porter father was an engineer in New York. We lived in New York City and Brooklyn. As a little girl I can remember the day and age of the bank robberies and hoodlums. I think to this day I'm afraid of violent noises because a bank was held up very near where I lived, and my nurse pushed me frantically into the doorway of a brownstone for • protection and the machine gun bullets rico- cheted off the walls. We got out of it without damage, but this has always affected me." One morning Mother (Jessie) and I were walk- ing down Telegraph Lane on the way to the telegraph office. Standing on the sidewalk under a cork tree was an older gentleman with shaggy white hair and wearing white shorts and shirt torn off at the sleeves. He was watching a procession of bugs that were hourglass in shape and marked with red and black diamonds. As we passed he looked up and said, "Excuse me, do you know the name of these bugs?" Mother did, and said, "Yes, they're — bugs and they live on the cork tree." He asked, "Do they always do this?" What they were doing was travelling across the sidewalk in a long procession, march- ing up the corktree and collecting themselves at the end of a limb in a large bunch and then, because of sheer weight, droppng off to the sidewalk again. He (John Dewey) shook his head and said, "Looks just like civilization to me: getting itself out on a limb in a bunch and then dropping off." That comment enthralled her, so they introduced themselves to each other and she invited him to come fora drink in the garden, and this became a wonderful long friendship. One of the most interesting aspects of grow- ing up in Key West as a child was the fascinating people from all over the world who came down here—many on their yachts: the Johnstons, the Cramers (who was the father of air condition- ing), the Bentleys and many others. During the early '30s in the deep Depression, Key West became the pilot town for the WPA and FERA (all the alphabet jungle of Roosevelt's New Deal.) Some of the leading artists in the coun- try, ones later called "The Ash Can School of Art" who became nationally and internationally famous came down here to live and work and RIGHT NOW IS WHEN YOU WANT YOUR ISLAND Annual Membership $40. P.O. Box 4250 Key West, FL 33041 296-3280 I N N A INC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP CARD: CLUB I O N LUCKY 13 PRIZE PARTIES Everyone is invited'. May 13 - Michaels June 13 - Ramada Inn Poolside Time: 5:00 - 8:30 p.m. A SOFT TOUCH. . .ALAMO RENT A CAR. . .ARISTOS GALLERY ..-BAGATELLE .. .BAY POINT INN.., BAHIA CABANA (FT. 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MARATHON TRAVEL SERVICE...MICHAEL'S..-OLDE ISLAND RACQUET CLUB...ONE HOUR PHOTO . . .PASTA PASTA PASTA...THE PICTURE SHOW...REEF ROOM RESTAURANT...RICH RICHARDS ...MIAMI SKYWAYS HOTEL...ROOFTOP CAFE...SARA COOK INC...SEA FOX LOUNGE...SOUTH FLORIDA CRUISES...PBA AIRLINES.. .SHADES OF K.W... SIGN OF SANDFORD... SHERATON YANKEE CLIPPER AND SHERATON YANKEE TRADER (FT. LAUDERDALE)...MUNCHIES...STICK & STEIN...RAMADA LOUNGE & TIKI BAR...TOM'S MOM'S CHEESE & WINE SHOP...TREASURE SALVORS. . .TROPICAL RENT A CAR. . .TWIG'S ITALIAN RISTORANTE. . .VOYAGER LOUNGE. . . WAGS...WALKER'S, CAY HOTEL & MARINA (ABACOS) .. .WINDWARD PALMS HOTEL ( FREEPORT, ™ How many ways can it help you? GOLFING THE KEY WEST RESORT The Key West Golf Course is an 18 hole championship golf, facility located just minutes from Old Town Key West. Designed by Rees Jones, this course offers spectacular beauty and golfing fun for golfers of every caliber. Play our course, experience our hospitality and enjoy this tropical golfing pleasure. We invite you to call the Pro Shop for more information. Pro Shop 294-5232 Tee Times Required Rental Clubs Available DIVING FISHING DRY TORTUGAS TRIPS THE KEY WEST RESORT'S Oceanside Marina You'll find a boating and SCUBA paradise in historical Key West at "THE KEY WEST RESORT'S, OCEANSIDE MARINA AND DIVE CENTER," the largest, best equipped facility for sportfishermen, cruising yachtsmen and SCUBA enthusiasts. We are the closest Marina and Dive Center to the many spectacular, prolific offshore reefs of Key West, entering a quiet protected harbor through a clearly marked channel directly from the Atlantic Ocean. Plenty of dock space with all the ameni- ties for convenience and comfort. Also a complete stock of accessories, fishing tackle, bait, marine supplies, fuel and complete mechanic's shop. Our Dive Center is a full service operation as well. Friendly qualified staff give custom classes and reef trips for Snorkelers and SCUBA Divers alike. The safest, most modern SCUBA equipment available and expe- rienced equipment repair shop to promptly meet your every need. At Oceanside Dive Center we ensure pure filtered dry air and daily shuttle service to and from local hotels. You are our most important guest. KEY WEST FISHING Whatever your fishing pleasure—deep sea, reef, wreck, flats, drift or bottom fishing—they're all here for you! Known worldwide for its Madin, Sail, Wahoo, Tuna and Dolphin fishing, Oceanside the largest marine facility in Key West has a large compliment of the world's top and best known U. S. Coast Guard Licensed, professional light tackle fishing guides. Call or visit our Bait & Tackle Shop and charter one of our guides and enjoy a fabulous day of fishing upon the waters surrounding Key West—the fishing capital of the world. DRY TORTUGAS Visit historic Fort Jefferson built prior to the Civil War on Garden Key located 75 miles west of Key West, in the Gulf of Mexico. Named by the Spaniards because of the large number of sea turtles inhabiting the keys, the Dry Tortugas is a fabulous vacationland—excellent fishing, diving, snorkeling, or just lounging on the snowy white sand beaches. Call for details on fishing or diving and snorkeling charters. We invite you to call the Marina for more information Marina 294-4676 Foot of Maloney Ave • Stock Island • Key West ANGEIXTS Takeout and Delivery Service Available. OPEN DAILY'TIL 4 AM 208 DUVAL ST. MEATS 916 KENNEDY DRIVE • 296-9732 FULL SCALE MEAT MARKET Personal meatcutting service Key West's most courteous service VISIT OUR DELI New items High quality in meats and cheeses GOURMET FOODS TOGO —HEAT & SERVE— Chicken Cordon Bleu Stuffed Pork Chops Marinated Pork (Lechon) Beef or Chicken Ka-Bobs Marinated Chicken (Fricasse) Meat Balls Stuffed Eggplants or Zucchini Ham Salad Chicken Salad Macaroni & Bean Salad Macaroni & Veggie Salad —Low Cal Foods— PARTY PLATTERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS established the Art Center on Front Street. Grant Wood was one of its first directors—and one of my first teachers. Adolph Dane, John Marin, Sheeler, Anton Refrigier, Doris Lee and Arnold Blanch, to name a few, all lived and taught and worked here. The Garden and 410 were always full of interesting people—Heming- way and Pauline, his wife; Dos Passos and his wife, Katy. Later on, before and during WWII, many Washington politicos and newspaper people—Elmer Davis, Ernie Pyle and others— and of course, Robert Frost, who used to come for visits and stay in the now named Frost cot- tage; and Gloria Swanson, Tennessee Williams and his grandfather, whom my mother adored, were regulars. Tennessee would bring over all the young playwrights and actors—Tallulah Bankhead and others. Sally Rand, who was an adorable light spirit liked to come and just sit in the Garden—she said it was so peaceful. Part of her act, other than the one with the fans, included a huge seven- or eight-foot python that she'd wind around her shoulders while she danced. One morning she came over wringing her hands. 'Henry' the python had disappeared. It was winter and we were having a cold spell and she was distraught. "What will I do?" she moaned. "He'll catch cold and he's so timid and shy people won't understand him." Well, Henry turned up in gardens all over town. He appeared under breakfast tables. During cocktail parties he would crawl out from under the greenery and people would fly in all directions. Henry, of course, was finally recouped and returned to his famous owner—and back to his 'grind.' In the early '30s my parents bought 410 Caroline, in terrible condition and neglected, as were so many fine old houses on the island. My father started to restore it with Joe Hannibal, one of the finest black carpenters on the island. It can be said that this was the real beginning of Key West restoration and preservation, which mother continued for the rest of her life. Grandfather William R. Porter Joe Hannibal was also a talented musician- there were wonderful native musicians on the island then, and always have been. Pauline Hemingway had given Joe a fine guitar and took lessons from him. He had a friend named "Baby" who lived across the street and played the violin—age 84—and the three of us used to play together on Joe's porch on Thomas Street. I loved it! Joe was my "folk hero" along with Albert Atwell and Mike Coons. Albert taught me to swim and sail and knew all about the sea and fishing and sea crafts. Mike was caretaker of what was then called "The Biological Station," at the head of the island where my family kept a houseboat. Mike, an old bachelor, was full of stories about how he'd been captured by 'the Mexicos' and taken up in waterspouts and he was in love with a mermaid. One evening he said he'd been out checking his traps off Cow Key. It was low tide—a bright, moonlit night—and there sitting on a low bank was a mermaid. She was combing her hair. Her back was turned toward him, he said, so he put his oars deep in the water and very quietly rowed over to her, grabbed her and pulled her into his dinghy. She was beautiful, but began to plead with him—"so pitiful like"—that she'd die if she lived on land that finally he couldn't resist, and lowered her gently back into the water. I can see that mer- maid still so vividly, disappearing down into the water, arms upstretched and face moon-lum- inous and smiling up at Mike as she sank into the depths. "There was another story teller," Jeanie con- tinued, "Miss Irene Johnston, who lived next door on Whitehead Street. Miss Irene was the wife of Braddish W. Johnston, king of the wreckers—known as "Hog" out of envy, because he always got to the wrecks first. They were an extraordinarily handsome couple. Miss Irene still had sea chests full of fascinating things Hog had brought back to her from wrecks and phil- obustering (a term then used for selling arms to both sides in South American revolutions.) In the 1880s international chess games were held here at the Cuban Club on Duval, which had a big central ballroom of black and white tile "The niftiest casual clothes in the Keys . . . T H E MIAMI HERALD "A trendy shop . . . " TIME MAGAZINE "One of America's most exciting retail environments an absolute must for your visit." ENGLAND'S BBC TELEVISION 'Fast Buck Freddie's* 500 Duval Street • Open 10 - 6 Seven Days 9 294-2007 ^u^juyji^jamlD^srx //OPEyoo^e ^==ZTvfSU^£.^'TL JctST\\ 01//I.D/MB A STROAI& CK~̂ Xf JBE A /.tir/.£ dl/£/Zl\/./Z-4.^L—V Iyou see H ALLEY'S SAW ir arttv. e A ^me ZOO YEAR'S MISSED if THI& £ MET HALL&f'S COMET 3OOMPS p/terry COSMIC- floors and was surrounded by a second floor bal- cony. Human pawns were used in those days, all dressed in elaborate costumes. The champions would stand on the balconies and call down the moves. Miss Irene was always, one of the queens and my grandfather (William R. Porter) as a boy was her page. He said he never minded the long hours of holding the queen's train because she was so beautiful it was a pleasure to stand there and look at her. Miss Irene told Jeanie that she had seen two old pirate maps that located treasure buried in the Garden and showed her a pirate grave dug into the coral rock that had contained human bones, two doubloons and a Spanish dagger. Jeane laughed, "I dug two foot holes all over the back yard as a child. We found coins and crockery from all over the world but never a trove." With twinkling eyes Jeanie claimed "That's waiting for my grandchildren." "I think the Old South was marvelous in the way it passed on history and wisdoms. I was raised with quotes that I still live with, like "Willful waste makes woeful want" and about drinking, "It's not the use—it's the abuse," and "Make the most of what you've got before you ask for anything more." As memories came flooding back, Jeanie told me, "I think one of the interesting bits of forgot- ten history is that we had an African Queen on this island. She was called "Conga Julia" (pro- nounced with an 'h'). She was an herbalist and famous on theisland for her remedies and medi- cines. She lived in a little house . . . I see it somewhere on Solares Hill . . . and its door and windows were all painted what was called "Hail Mary blue." This to keep out evil spirits. She was a very tall, slim austere looking woman and very proud and upright in bearing. Jeane explained Jeane's children: Suzanne, Porter, Renee that island mothers found that 'getting Conga Julia after you' was an effective threat to control, because voodoo was practiced on the island. One gathering spot was a high-grown grassy lot with an indigo tree and Gumbo Limbos in what is now a part of the Fort Taylor property. Conga Julia had been captured as a young queen with almost her entire tribe intact, brought off the coast of Florida by slave ships and then recap- tured by Union forces during the Civil War. All the Africans on board were brought ashore and kept in barrackoons (primitive houses) in Fort Taylor. When the war ended they were all released and so were never sold into slavery. Many of the old black families on the island' come from this source. They had a great deal of pride and wisdom. It is claimed that Conga Julia lived to be over one hundred and twenty years old. When she died they buried her with many of their African totems and drums, which they had copied. As a child, when drums started beating from that area (near the Hemingway House), we always knew we were in for a really bad storm, They would beat drums to lower the pressure. I think it's wonderful the way whites and blacks on this island have always gotten along and respected each other and shared love for each other and their families. "My father had a heart attack and had to retire. We moved down to Key West in the early thirties and bought 410 Caroline Street, which was just around the corner from all the family houses on Duval and Caroline, and started to restore it. From the earliest times I can remem- ber scraping off layers of paint on banisters and mouldings (my job)." Jeanie's residence is one of Key West's oldest and finest. "This house belonged to a wrecker named Captain Carey, whom Mother referred to politely as, also a 'spirit' (liquor) dealer. He was evidently very prosperous, because the house is built in two, really three sections. The original small house is where the dining room is today. Then he added the front part of the house in the late 1830s. It was built by sea carpenters, with wooden pegs and tongue-and-groove beams, all of cypress and 'HE HOWLIN& OF EVERY or ON WlTVi ALL- N -HIM- • FLETCWER on duvci -]—urriiture and /-\< 1022. Duval Street Key West. Florida 33040 (305)294-2032 mahogany and the first virgin pine." About her schooling Jeanie stated, "I went to the Convent here on the island, where my mother had gone before me. We had wonderful friends there, Sister Louis being one of them who had been there since my mother was a little girl. I went there for nine years and many times boarded while my family took trips. In many ways I was imbued with several different reli- gions. The family had been Episcopalian tradi- tionally, but they were not really straight-laced people . . . high Episcopalians by nature. Cath- olicism certainly added tranquillity when I was a little g i r l . . . the idea of sitting peacefully and meditating had a lot of influence. Then there was Scotch Presbyterianism, so I've had an exposure to just about everything." Jeane was sent off to boarding school at thir- teen (a family tradition) to Stuart Hall in Staun- ton, Virginia, which was, "an old school that had been there since before the Civil War, terri- bly straight-laced, rigid and conformist. I had an awful time. I spent the first year in restriction for one infraction or another. I realized that if I wanted to get out of it, which I desperately did, I had to make very good grades, so I studied day and night. The third year my family picked out what they thought was a more liberal school: Fairmont Junior College in Washington, D.C. They moved for the winters down to Ormand Beach where all the WAC military training was going on. It turned out to be a country club and wild as could be . . . the other extreme." Jea- nie's final year of high school was spent at Miss Harris's in Miami, her own choice. "After gra- duation Miss Harris encouraged my family to let me go to Mexico to study art and archaeology at the University there. It was my first burst of freedom." A year at Stetson University where Jeanie amazed her family by making the honor COLE-HAAN assortment inc. 404 DUVAL • KEY WEST The British have landed! Welcome to our new Key West Manager., . Billy Russell! 532 DUVAL 8 WATERFRONT CAMPGROUND & TRAILER PARK IN DOWNTOWN KEY WEST iJAMP 4 WALK 10 OLD 10WN AIIRACIIONS- MOBILE HOMl. APARTMENT. C0T1AGE RENTALS IENI VAN MOIQRHOME & TRAILER SITES- FUIL HWKUPS HOI SHOWERS, DUMP STATION OLD TOWN BICYCLE RENTALS 223 ELIZABETH ST., (305) 294-5723 RESERVATIONS WELCOME CROissaMCs f croissants, and espresso & cappuccino fresh bread & rolls / rye bread / cakes & tarts eclairs / napoleons de france wholesale & retail / open 7:30 am - 6:00 pm closed Wednesdays 816 duval st. / key west / 294-2624 i j GIRL FRIDAY Professional Typing & Bookkeeping Service Temporary Personnel Agency 296-9878 New Address: 444 WHITEHEAD ST., KEY WEST Word Processing Service Please call for appointment 9:00 A.M. til 5 P.M. • Monday thru Friday CONVENIENTLY LOCATED NEXT TO THE NEW POST OFFICE £.«<• BACKYARD Key West's Only Outdoor Oceanfront Restaurant. Indoors or Under The Stars. BHUf WEBBS BAR Live Music • THEilFTERDECH A Transom's Height Above The Water. Enjoy All Of Our Views. 11:30 AM - 2 AM 700 WAODELL • 294-1061 (Vernon & Waddeli Oceanfront) roll caused them to allow her to follow a cousin's suggestion and enroll at the University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley. "I really loved Berkeley," Jeanie remembered, "it was in the mid-late for- ties, and most of World War II had finished. Berkeley was a wonderfully stimulating world." less restricted, however well intentioned the restrictions. Berkeley was certainly a fine prov- ing ground for the gifted young Key Wester. Escape was not 'running away from home' for Jeanie Porter, far from it. She was proud of her father, Wallace Kirke, an engineer with Stein- "Miss" Jessie Porter Newton Escaping from the family was something of an accomplishment. It is harder for a. child of highly motivated, intelligent and powerful par- ents to grow into individuality than for those KJEYWEST ESTATES TOWNHOUSE (2 Bed RMm-2 Baft) •68,500.00 9 . 9 % To Qualified Buyors nmunimsxfMMU" 3231 Harriet Ave. KEY WEST . i ^ , OMEN10-1OAH.Y felted "art»rt«iMbi< nimiiifte. V * MMTAUAVAHJUBU metz in Schenectedy, of whom Jeannie recalls, "He helped design all the underground wiring in New York, but with the stock market crash and all the anxieties . . . had a heart attack. THE PINK VAC SALES - SUPPLIES - REPAIRS EUREKA also KIRBY HOOVER ELECTROLUX PREMIER RAINBOW Thorn & Judy Thompson TeL 305-294-8563 1102 Whitest Key West, FL 33040 RICH'S CAF1 Behind the Eden House is a favorite spot of locals for Breakfast & Brunch till 2:00 in Tropical Ambience Daily Specials, Oven-Fresh Baked Goods . . . Beer & Wine, too! MIMOSA WITH FRESH SQUEEZED ORANGE JUICE 1015 Fleming i JIM PICKING Luani Plaza., The Key West Optician Ph. 294-7411 Hours: M-T-W-F 9 tc 5:30; Thursday I to'9 One reason we came down here was to help him recuperate." Jeanie's mother, Jessie Porter was born in Mobile, and like her daughter was brought back to Key West. "She was the daugh- ter of Grace and William R. Porter. This was an old, old family on the island. I don't think Key West has existed without Porters, Randolphs and Currys." Wallace and Jessie had two daugh- ters, Jeanie and Caroline; and Jessie was an only child. From the grandparents' large families, only a few remain. "This generation has thinned out." After majoring in journalism and English at Berkeley for three years Jeanie realized, "I desperately wanted to paint again. I had stayed away from that temptation, but this was my last year in college. I went to the dean and told her the problem." The dean told Jeanie she really belonged in an art school. With the courage to do so thus supplied, Jeanie dropped out just before graduation to enroll in the California College of Arts and Crafts. "I stayed there a year and a half and took everything I could as fast as I could. My grandfather had supported all my earlier schooling, but being a Southern patri- arch, he felt too much education would ruin a good woman, so I went to school on an inherit- ance from Godparents, the Jones. I had to weigh and balance every penny I had. That's one rea- son I didn't go after degrees, but after things I really wanted to learn. I never knew how much longer I could go to school. You didn't just get jobs and work your way through then, especially in the California region. There were so many people who needed work after the war." In the height of the McCarthy era, 1948, Jea- nie Porter returned to her Key West home and to her first exhibit. "I was to have a show at the Women's Club," Jeanie explained, "which was the only place to exhibit on the island at the SMOOTH OUT THOSE JAGGED EDGES - T - - foriHcaltli LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST 305-294-4463 Sara Cook PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & *SALES A Personal Firm With A Proven Track Record Specializing In Full-Service Management Seasonal & Yearly Rentals 294-8491 52S Eaton St. time. At the members' meeting the week before, a Navy wife stood up (her credentials were "I am the mother of five children") and said, 'I hear the artist to exhibit here next week is a Communist' Because I'd gone to Berkeley, I was a Commu- nist! So much for the McCarthy era. It caused a hoo-rah and made me realize that we needed a place to exhibit on the island that wouldn't have political or social ties; that would just be for artists and their work to show. Joe Allen was just beginning to get a group together to form the Art and Historical Society. We joined him to get the West Martello, which is now the Garden Club, set aside as a gallery." After a few months time and having survived being called a communist, Jeanie felt a need to leave Key West again. "My grandfather was very much alive and very dictatorial. He was wonder- ftilly protective; nevertheless, I realized I needed more room to expand, so some friends and I got on a train for New York. All I really knew how to do to earn a living was to push a brush around. I had a friend with Life Magazine and another who was Swedish, who'd come over to study here. We rented an apartment in Greenwich Village." Jeanie's warm smile broke through her serious countenance as she remembered, "It was on Eleventh Street, and was owned by Wil- liam Phillips, who was editor of the Partisan Review... a wonderful apartment. He had all the nerve in the world to leave his marvelous spot with three young women. It had a library and paintings by Jackson Pollock, David Smith and Calder sculptures . . . just full of fine art pieces. I had talked my way into a job with a textile studio there, Blancs Studio. I hadn't had any training in fabric design, but I had a back- ground in art so they took me on. This is where I met Susie DePoo; later she shared an apart- HERB GMDEH Natural Foods • Vitamins Body Cam • Ho.rhs / Spic&s 10°fo local Discount • /zaiurina * • THE GARDEN KITCHEN • ., . an Tdko,~Oul t Delivery 300 Souttiarcf Si. BASGG assortment inc. 404 DUVAL. KEY WEST ITALIAN SPECIALTIES She Delivers SIDEWALK CAFE 628 Duval Street - 296-7696 Sun. - Sat. ,11 A.M. co 10 P.M. • Sun. - Mon. 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. n & Sons Seafood Atlantic Pride Seafood, Inc. UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP CAPT. JOHN JUNI, OWNER Fresh Local Seafoods Specialties from around the World Daily Specials HABANA PLAZA 3122 FLAGLER AVE. 294-3037 OPEN 6 DAYS MON.-SAT. 10 to 6 VOLPIAN CASH REGISTER A COMPUTER CO. KEY WEST TO KEY LARGO SPECIALIZING IN RESTAURANTS, BARS & GENERAL RETAIL BASIC CASH REGISTERS AND POINT OF SALE SYSTEMS LrsLJ HUGIN SWEDA 1100 TRUMAN AV. 10 EARLY DIMMER STIR FRY Served 5:30 until 7:00. Monday thru f riday CHICKEN, BEEF OR PORK STIR FRIED WITH AM ASSORTMENT OF STRAW MUSHROCWS, SNO PEAS, BROCCOLI, CARROTS, PEAHUTS. SCALLIONS, SPROUTS AND OTHER CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FRESH VEGETABLES. SERVED WITH SALAD AMD FRIED RICE $ 7 . 9 5 SHRIMP STIR FRIED AS ABOVE $8.95 WEUSEMOMSG Champagne and Wine available to complement 1990 M. ROOSEVELT, 294-2188 NOW OPEN 24 HOURS! 7DAYSAWEEK BARKERS CHEVRON Orevron 2440 N. Roosevelt Blvd. 294-9525 (Acm* from FBfp«rs S S i d raent with us. My grandfather had said if I could prove I could earn a living for a year, he'd give me a thousand dollar war bond. I worked for almost a year, and then, through the firm I was working for, that exported to Europe, I was able to get tickets on a freighter. At that time there was little or no trans-Atlantic tourism. I went over with two friends and we spent the summer traveling through Europe that was just begin- ning to recuperate from the war. In New York I had known and worked with William Hayter, who was the father of modem gravure. He and his family had moved back to Paris and helped me find a studio across the street from them on the Left Bank, and near the Cafe Dome . . . a wonderful neighborhood! It had a skylight, and even it's own bathtub (a luxury). A Guggenheim Fellowship painter from Peru, and his wife, shared the kitchen with me." Jeanie made her thousand dollars last. "Once you got settled there, your rents were very reasonable, and you learned how to shop and how to do. I made the thousand dollars last over two years, and came back with some money to face New York." Before Jeanie returned from Europe she stu- died design in Sweden. "I learned how to do repeats and studied design trends. I sent Swed- ish fabrics and designs back to my boss in New York and it started a Swedish fashion trend in the Fifties." Jeanie graduated from the Village to a Penthouse of "a little hotel" across from the RCA building at Rockefeller Center. It was pres- tigious to have this kind of location, so I did," Jeanie laughed. "I met my future husband, whom I'd known during the war here; and we were married in Key West in 1956." Mr. and Mrs. Art Poirier moved to Australia, where son Porter and daughter Renee were born. After three delightful years down under, the young family came home, only to be sent to Paris, where Art's employer, Chevron, was looking for oil in the Paris basin. "It was the time of de Gaulle, and they were having all sort of upheavals. The French were in the last death throes of giving up their colonies in Algeria." After the Poitiers second daughter, Susie, was born, the family moved to Veaucreson, outside Paris. After another trip back and forth they moved to Hol- land . . . "bag and baggage, gerbils and canar- ies. The children always acquired animals. We moved to the Hague and found a nice house right on a canal." "In the winter we'd watch all the children ice skating. They'd blow a hole in the ice for the wild ducks to get water. You'd look out the windows and see everybody skating on the canals and jumping over the water holes. Every now and then somebody would fall in and be fished out, frozen stiff, but surviving. Holland was fun. It was centrally located to get to the rest of Europe easily . . . while I was there I took an archaeological tour of Greece. In 1965 we moved to Connecticut, to the first house we ever bought. It was a lovely old pre-revolutionary house, full of atmosphere. We loved Connecti- cut. I've enjoyed almost every place I've been, really." As the family moved about the world, Jeanie returned to Key West every year or so, always keeping closely in touch with her island home. "With my sister I had inherited the Joseph Yates Porter (great-grandfather) house in '55. I've owned it now for over thirty years. I'd come back to paint or fix it; it always needed fixing. We'd come back with the children to touch base and family roots. Art was transferred back to the U.S. We bought a place in California Get hooked on our seafood salad lunch buffet. The freshest seafood salads, vegetables and soups are just some of the tempting reasons to savor our buffet, served from 10:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Monday thru Saturday. Or choose from other new entrees. Crabmeat and Pasta Salad with Scallions, Pine Nuts, Pesto Dressing. Caribbean Seafood Catch in Key Lime Butter with Avocado and Papaya. Oyster Gratin baked in a casserole with Artichoke Hearts, Spinach, Pernod, Cream, and Parme- san cheese. Please call for reservations: 294-9541. One Duval Street* Key .West, Florida • > "If e KEY WEST BAR & GRILL 11 AM - 2 AM DELICIOUS HOMEMADE FOOD mw/ncvu findhom wain 1970 N. Roosevelt Blvd. 294-4068 Masteicharge Visa American Expresshalf shell fish market FRESH FISH, LOBSTER, SHRIMP, STONE CRABS, CLAMS & OYSTERS BEER & WINE MONDAY - SATURDAY 9 - 6 SUNDAY 1 2 - 6 WE SHIP ANYWHERE IN THE U.S. LANDS END VILLAGE FOOT OF MARGARET ST. WHOLESALE • RETAIL • 294-5O28 ©£SIG1VS YOUR FULL-SERVICE JEWELER Visit Us At Our New Location •Customs Designs «Jeweiry Repair • 14 Karat & Sterling Silver Jewelry • Precious & Semi-Precious Stones •Cert i f ied Appraisals «Cut Coins ®Ear Piercing 301 DUVAL STREET, KEY WEST, FLORIDA in what is now Silicon Valley, in San Carlos. I always seem drawn back to California. It has such variety as a state. After three years in California Jeanie and fam- ily made a truly exciting move to Madagascar, which lies in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. "It was a do-it-yourself world," Jeanie explained, "a poor but really beautiful one. Antananorivo, the capital, is five thousand feet up on the spine that runs down the center of the Great Red Island. The Imarina tribe that had settled it in the high plateau region were part Indian-African. They were almost idyllic looking South Sea Island people. It had a matriarchy and a caste system. Madagascar today has twelve queens! It was a very developed and colorful history. They had palaces and had reached a high cultural level. They had running water and aqueducts. They had spices that the French and English needed, and the trade with China went by." One of the interesting connections between continents was that the same pirates that inhab- ited our Caribbean waters also sailed the coasts of Madagascar. "It was like a seasonal thing; preying on the ships over here or over there. There is as much sunken treasure in the waters over there as off the Florida coast—or more." Jeanie was once again in California when her mother's illness called her home to Key West for good. One might wonder how Jeanie sees the town that has always been her home now, as opposed to the Key West of her childhood. "I think Key West has developed for the better except for high rises coming in, which is terrible and must be controlled and stopped. You know Nantucket is three times the size of Key West, and they haven't allowed any more high rise growth foroverten years. They realize they can't have that kind of development and keep their quality and their history. Once you've got these places (large hotels and condos) the quality goes, and you can't recapture it again. New England knows this." Jeanie Porter had a difficult choice to make with her return home. Her husband did not wish to return to Key West. With retirement he didn't want to be tied down. Divorced now, Jeanie decided "I realized I wanted to come back to my roots for this latter stage of my life and do something with property that could be challeng- ing; to use old property in a creative way. I'm in the process of doing that with the Commodore Porter—my great grandfather—House, some- thing that will sustain the house and give to the island as well. I've had to do it little by little, because whatever comes in from the property ROY FOR MEN assortment inc. 404 DUVAL • KEY WEST HI 11 DI'LIVMl! 218 Duval St. Michael's presents a selection of the finest spirits, wines and beers at the best prices in town With Key Wests ONLY Delivery Service Call 294-2820 Next door to Michael's Entertainment Complex .the best Matii Sntaurant in town. The Queen's Table," M.7. Times (Jon. 31. 19S2J Fine Dining THE qUEEN'S TflBLE DINNER 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. LUNCH Noon'til 2:15 p.m. BREAKFAST 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday Brunch Cocktails in the popular WEST INDIES LOUNGE Noon 'til 2 a.m. • ' !401 SIMONTONST. KEY WEST I 12 13 I've put back into it to pay the way." Key West may be surprised to learn that Jeanie Porter is not a wealthy woman. Like her fellow Capri- coms, she has a taler t for business that enables her to maintain her lifestyle by using and recy- cling the income generated by her holdings. Jeanie knows the old Key West 'patch as long as possible, repair but don't replace' techniques well. They enable her to maintain her heritage, which is also Key West's, without a great deal of capital. "To have the buildings support them- selves with mounting taxes and mounting costs is difficult. There are so many outside interests that have come down here who have money from the outside and can afford to do something expensively, but I don't have that. What I have is right here. It belongs to my children with me, now for seven generations." Managing her property has taken so much of Jeanie's time, little is left for her true love, art. But Jeanie believes that when her plans are realized, that time will come to her. "I want to turn 410 Caroline and its gardens into a cultural center, which I would do in Jessie Porter's name. I would like to have her remembered in this way. It's something I think she has earned." Jeanie has directed her energies into creating a place in the Commodore garden for small shops and gazebos in the conch style that sell unique crafts and art works. The China Clipper, owned by Nicholas Miller and Hugh O'Callahan has turned the carriage house into an Oriental Import store of the quality Gumps in San Fran- cisco was once known for. Massage Therapy Center J: rn Migraines and Chronic Headaches Tendonitis/Bursitis/TMJ Tingling & Numbness in Extremities Frozen Shoulder/Runner's Knee Postural problems/Lower Back Pain Chronic Tension/Poor Flexibility Tennis Elbow and other conditions Money-Back Guarantee Arnold L, Hermelin, LMT, Director John Daley, LMT Member of AMTA and FSMTA State License ̂ MMoooo/go (305) 2Q4-82oi/3331 /4 Simonton, Key West, FL 33040 There's Joe De Vito with his hand screened shirts and shorts in the Cookhouse cottage. Gina Barker's Sunshine Jewelry. Richard Perriman's delightful puppets, the KW Glass Blower Michel Dennis, a pastel portrait artist Darrell Blanton who comes forthe season—all of these products represent high standards of workmanship and quality at reasonable prices. Jeane is planning to add an attractive food unit to the Garden soon featuring fresh salads,, sandwiches, fruit juices and desserts. "It will provide tourists and local shoppers a place just off the street to come in, browse and be refreshed in a garden atmos- phere." A future development is to have a really fine book store in the large cellar of the Commo- dore Porter. "It's needed and would be a 'natu- ral,'" Jeane projects. "I'm sending out vibra- tions for this to happen." Another possible dream for the future, one Jeane shared with her mother Jessie Newton: to develop 410 Caroline Jeane at 25 into a Cultural Center. "There is so much talent here on the island," Jeane feels, "artists, writers, poets, historians, journalists, as well as those that come down to visit. I would like to see 410 used as a Center and forum for courses and lectures in all these fields; i.e., a Body, Mind and Spirit Center. Key West has always been a Mecca for the intellectual—the 'doers,' not just escapists. Thomas Edison was here experimenting with anti submarine warfare during WW I and of course, so many presidents—starting probably with Ulysses S. Grant and going down through Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish American War, to Franklin Roosevelt who used to come here and fish when he was Secretary of the Navy. One of the unsung heroes of this island has been my grandfather William R. Porter, who knew Roose- velt and persuaded him to bring in the WPAana FERA when the island was so down and out in Depression times. "Pop" gave the land to the • county to make the Boulevard and its bndie path. He was also the driving force in getting tne Overseas Highway and bridges built. Before that he saw Key West as a deep water port and got government and local interests to deepen tne waterfront area for commerce." I r CHEAP ROOMS Day Week Month TV-AC Off-Street Parking The TILTON HILTON 511 ANGELA ST. 294-8697 43 YEARS IN KEY WEST FRANK & HONEST MADELINE 305 294-3558 BY APPOINTMENT ONLY Past, Present and Future Madeline Williams, Clairvoyant 9-5 MONDAY THRU FRIDAY SATURDAY BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT 1411-A FIRST STREET KEY WEST, FLORIDA Her grandfather, Dr. Joseph Yates Porter, who helped wipe out yellow fever, and was a pioneer in preventative medicine, she says would turn over in his grave seeing the 'cess- pool' caused by inoperable storm drains on Caro- line Street and Duval just across from his house and in other areas of town. These areas must be cleaned up along with the new sewer lines. The Doctors's home—called the Commodore Porter— now has two very uhigue shops: the Commodore Antiques, owned by David Newton and Berle Weinstein, offering museum-quality and collec- tors' pieces, and Don Walker's Tuzen,' on the Duval Street side with beautiful Japanese kimo- nos and jackets. Both shops are high quality and tasteful and reasonably priced. "It's a wonderful way," Jeane says, "to have this fine old house, a National Landmark building, continue in use and style. Jeanie Porter is a deeply spiritual woman, attuned to the universe. "Unity has been a wonderful source of strength and spiritual nour- ishment for me, especially during the last few years. I'm glad there is a Unity group and Church here on the island now. My mother and my grandmother and I have always been drawn to the metaphysical. I try not to do anything that doesn't have a spiritual base, not just a material one. Material wears very thin after a while, and if there isn't a spiritual reason for something there's really no reason to do it. Our Western world has become much more material- istic and left-brained in its attitudes and pur- suits. I think we've neglected the spiritual side of our own growth. America did have a spiritual base when it started out. I think we've lost sight GHURKA assortment inc. 4 0 4 DUVAL • KEY WEST of this. If we don't combine the mental and spiritual sides of our natures I think we're fin- ished as homo sapiens. Key West is a magnet for power. It has always attracted some of the most powerful people on the globe, but Key West has always been built on small enterprise, mom and pop businesses, brothers, i.e., good ethical fam- ily businesses . . . that's what built our island. Key West has always welcomed people and new ideas from the outside while retaining the per- sonal feeling and individuality. Jeanie Porter sees a brighter future for Key West because, "We have people in our govern- ment who want to do things for the island, not just take from it; people who can see Key West as more than a material grab bag. I feel optimistic about our future." a ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR ALL YOUR HARDWARE AND BUILDING MATERIALS SERVING KEY WEST FOR OVER 45 YEARS 5TRUNK LUMBER YARDf INC* ACE HARDMHRE FREE DELiWERY KEY WEST TO BIG PIME §CEY 296-9091 120 Simonton St. MorvFri. 7 AM - 5 PM Sat. 7 AM - noon Florida's Keys Finest Since 1940 its fir ifr 6€fiCHCOM6€R J 6 UU € L 6 R S OFFERING Fine Jewelry China, Giftware and Custom Designs Key Flaza Shopping Center 296-5811 14 Northern Italian Cuisine 615 Duval Street, Key West 294-6565 Our 5th year of Creative, Original: MOAT Lingerie Costumes Suiimuueor Afc>a/ cony ing X-lorge sizes 415 Greene St./Kino Plaza 296-7326 MORPHEUS ASCENDING by Helen R. Chapman H hen it comes to rising from one's bed to greet a new day, there are the fast starters and the slow starters. I belong to the latter group, the zombies. Now, it isn't that I object to greeting a new day—on my terms, of course. It's just that I have sluggish adrenalin. First I have to figure all over again who I am. When I have decided that, I sidle to the bathroom, bumping into furniture. Then I plod on to the kitchen to make coffee. I open the newspaper and glance at the headlines, most of which I misinterpret by transposing letters. So I forget the paper for the time being. I try the television news show, but those people have been up for hours and are bubbling over like game-show contestants. Yuk! Off with the TV. After my second cup of coffee, I am ready to greet the day, once I've concluded what day it is. If it's Sunday and I got up to go to work, suicidal inclinations set in. When I was a kid, I begged my mother not to talk to me at the breakfast table. She never learned and I never remembered a word she said. It took her a half hour to get me up in the first place so her adrenalin was flowing torrentially. She couldn't understand why I was bouncing off the walls. Those of you who suffer from unenthusiastic adrenalin as I do know never to live with some- one of the opposite persuasion. It's bad enough to see them whisking breakfast onto the table, whisking off the dirty dishes, whisking to the shower, and probably whistling. Whisking and whistling, whistling and whisking! It's enough to drive a sane person back to bed. But—and this is an important but—if they talkin addition to all this activity, don't hesitate. Get a divorce, break a friendship, move out—anything! My favorites are the ones who outline their entire day, minute by minute, while I'm still trying to decide what day it is. I once read an article in the paper which gave me hope. It was written by a doctor who stated that because sleep is rejuvenating, a period dur- ing which the body renews itself, people who sleep heavily and awake with difficulty are healthier than restless sleepers who leap out of bed full of energy. I never argue with doctors who are on my side. By noon, I'm totally rejuvenated, ready to take on the world, and by ten that night, I'm really hitting my stride, just when everyone's going home to bed. Ah, the pitfalls of being a healthy zombie! Oh, and by the way, can someone explain to me what a sunrise looks like? i •> 900-904 DUVAL • 296-5558" 15 w j CLASSIC CONCH HOUSE 527 FLEMING STREET (ACROSS FROM FAUSTO'S) Good residential or commercial property Reasonably priced Call Hagan Mgt, Inc. REALTOR 294-0948 SOUTHERN KEYS CEMETERY INC. Now offering above and below ground burials. Newly constructed concrete and granite mausoleum available for immediate or pre-need use For further information call 294-2528 or visit Avenue "A " & 4th Street, Big Coppitt Key VISA AAMCO TRANSMISSIONS MASTER CARd 296-7546Key WEST • FREE Towinq it THE Kiyt • FREE TiuNsiwissioN check • A l l TXPE5 SERVicEd • ONE- b.illroom by Guess. Bern Conrad. Kristy ,in«l local designers. Sec it — You'll h.tvt" lo h.nt1 it 509DUVALSrRLtT GOOD OL' BOYS by George Houtte C onehead told me again—for at least the sixth time—about the big one that would always break lines. As usual, I was at Herbie's, sippin' beer and workin1 on a plate of steamed shrimp. Conehead said, "Ain't nobody gonna catch him, cause you couldn't drag that sucker out of his hole with a rope. You'll have to go down and spear him." Well, I could have cared less but Fat Frank—who was bored now that the dolphin season had passed—must have has his ear cocked from about five stools over, said, "Me, I don't care for divin'. I can't hold my breath long enough to do any good." Cone turned to look. Cone always wears a cap to hide his pointed head. His latest was a bright yellow orange one with 'HAWKER POOLS' in large black print on the front of it. Fat Frank continued, "I'll bet you a case of cold ones I can get him out of that hole with my Yankee rig . . . I'll winch him right out of there." At the time I had an old thirteen foot Boston Whaler, I'd bought from Mike Chase, that was a complete disaster. The transom was loose until I bandaided it with cloth and resin. I also bought an old hundred horse Johnson from Eddie Cribbs, which I overhauled. The motor ran nice and the only thing wrong with the boat was a few small cracks in the transom where I'd made the fiberglass patches. 'You're gonna have to spear him, Frank," Cone said. "Naw . . . You don't have to spear him." And so predictably we went in my little whaler, out to about a mile and a half North East of Som- brero Light. It was flat calm. Cone found the spot easily, having fished over it every day for the past six months, while working as a mate on the Captain's Baby out of the Marathon docks. Frank rigged his Yankee special—two big shark hooks chained to three eights inch nylon rope. He clamped a winch—one he'd salvaged from a rusted out boat trailer—to the bow of my whaler. Cone peering into the water, between sightings on some landmarks, waved me to slow down. "We'll anchor on the otherside of that patch." I steered to the dark area and Cone threw out the anchor. Fat Frank baited each hook with a nice fat fresh mullet. He heaved it over toward where Cone pointed. Fat Frank pulled a little more line free of the winch, then locked it. I started bottom fishing with live shrimp on a light spinning rig. I soon had a snapper on. He ran around down there towards Fat Frank's bait and back again. As I worked the fish up near the surface, Fat Frank yelled, "He took the bait, he took the bait." Cone yelled, "Let 'im take it, let 'im take it." Fat Frank reared back to set the hook. Suddenly he was snapped forward almost overboard, and let the line, burning through his hands, loose. "God! He's a big one," Fat Frank yelled. Cone threw on a mask and stuck his head down in the water. He came back up." That's him. That's him. Crank 'im up, he just can't reach his hole." "I'm crankin', I'm crankin'... I got him. He's comin' up." I got my snapper in, then peered down in the water where the grouper worked from side to side. He was huge. I fell over backwards when the anchor suddenly let loose and we were dragged over to the hole. CHANDLERY WHERE THE CONCH REPUBLIC MEETS THE SEA A ftttl Krtfcfj MIS of duxnifiti MARINE EQUIPMENT 6 ODDITIES from Ku| Wo! S Ifif tat oflki worM & txlusivc ajnils for thi gr«l PATAGONIA ccptiititn doliing. 5 OPEN SIX DAYS 294-7635 901 Fleming Street When you finally see the light we'll be waiting for you at Shades. a sunglass emporium open /days 306 front street There's rumor of perfection... 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KEY WEST TAEKWONDO INSTITUTE KEY PLAZA 294-3509 S H O P P I N G C E N T E R NEXT TO OLAMA-ftAMA MCN • WOMEN • CHHJDflEH Sanctioned by American Taekwondo Association 18 19 SHAMROCK TYPING SERVICE "We meet deadlines" All-Typing Needs Temporary Office Help Mail Forwarding Light Bookkeeping Transcribing Typing Lessons KEY WEST'S MOST PROFESSIONAL TYPING SERVICE 714 Elizabeth Street 296-7165 NOTARY PUBLIC (WEDDINGS PERFORMED) Member Key West Chamber of Commerce Fat Frank cursed while he cranked like a maniac. He cranked us over the hole, wheezing all the while. "Damn," he screamed, "the mother's in the hole . . . crank the motor and back off. We'll pull that "Stop, Frank, stop," I yelled. "We're gonna go under." We give you credit for your success. S$k Southeast WBank Key West Banking Center 422 Front Street (305) 294-4601 Member FDIC iinai'.rnaia.iij.iiu sucker out." "I don't know, Frank? I don't want to screw up my boat." Cone, with a mask and fins on, went over the side. "Naw, it ain't gonna hurt your boat. Back down slow, an' when I yell, goose it for all it's worth." "Okay," I said. "Pull up the anchor." Even knowing better, when he yelled, I did it. I gave it all the hundred horse had. Nothing. Cone came gasping up from his dive. "I can see 'im in there." He pointed in the general direction of Sombrero. "You've got to pull in that direction. Give it all the slack you have on the winch, Frank." When Fat Frank had all the line paid out, Cone pushed the boat around for the bow to point directly at the light. As he pushed himself clear of the boat, I gave it full throttle. She leaped up like when she's goin' off on a plane and stopped dead in the water. I kept revin' the engine. Nothin'. Then we tried backin' down again. "Hand me a spear," Cone said. "I'm gonna go down and pry him out." He was back up in about a minute. "That sucker's sure in there." I shut down the motor. Cone pulled himself aboard, put on his cap, and we took a beer break. About halfway through the third or fourth one, Cone said, "I'm gonna go down and put a spear in that mother. Then he'll come out. When I jerk on that line you give it all she has." So we sat there. The bow pointing toward the grouper hole, and the stern pointing toward the light. It seemed a long time—but less than a minute—before the line jerked and I poured the gas to her in reverse gear. I thought I felt the fish comin1 out so goosed her a couple of times for good mea- AN ASIAN RESTAURANT & TEAHOUSE vvw Open 6:30-11:00 Closed Wednesday Chinese Stir-fru/s, Indian Curries, Exotic Thai Specialties Indonesian Sataqs,Fresh Local Seafood Where East Meets Keq West! 613V2 Duval (Rear) 294-6230 sure, when the transom was ripped clean from the boat like a cap from a bottle of beer. Geez! I can't believe what I'm seein'. The motor's gone, just hangin' down a few feet under water by the steerin' and battery cables. Oh geez!" I yell. "Frank, you ruined my God damned boat" It was the damnest thing I ever saw. You know, everyone says you can't sink a whaler, and thank God, if s true. Frank laughed hysterically. "Geez, Frank. My boat." Frank sobered for a moment, then laughed again and gasped, "You sure look foolish sittin' there with nothin' behind you." Cone came up out of breath and swam around to the stem. "Holy geez, what a mess, what hap- pened? Damn . . . well, I got a spear in that sucker." What a revoltin' development! All I can think of is I got my last buck into that overhaul on the motor. Cone climbed back on what was left of the whaler. Luckily we had a cooler full of cold ones or it would really have been a disaster. I sat looking forward, sippin' my beer, hopin' I was on a drunk and had just imagined what had happened. Nobody was countin' how many we'd downed when Cone said, "you can have my share." "Mine too," Fat Frank said. "I'd say he weighs over three hundred pounds. At a buck a pound you can get your motor fixed." I'm not the kind to hurt someone's feelin's but I'm tempted to make some derogatory remarks about the kind of jokers I listened to, but didn't. I just kept sayin' to myself, 'you're stupid an' it's your own damn fault.' It was about six hours since we left the dock, when Cone opened the last one. Fat Frank and I both refused a swig on it. The wind had picked up and there was a slight chop on the water. Then, the boat started to move, draggin' the motor behind. The big fish knew where he was goin'. He was on a course headed out to the gulf stream. "Throw out the anchor," Cone said. "No," I said, "the anchor '11 get hung up and he might pull us under." "What the hell are we gonna do then?" Fat Frank said. "He's headed straight out. . . want me to cut the line?" "Geez," I said, "nobody '11 ever find us once we get out in the stream." Cone shrugged. "Well, we only got about a quar- ter of a mile left before it's too deep for your short anchor line . . . why don't we drop the hook, and Fat Frank can cut the fish loose if the anchor hangs up on a head and it looks like we're gonna go THE WATER SPORT PEOPLE For all of your water sport needs SCUBA DIVING BOARD SAILING • RENTALS • RETAIL • 508 South Street • 296-4546 Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum A Registered National Historical Landmark OPEN DAILY 9:00 A.M. TO 5:00 P.M. 907 WHITEHEAD STREET, KEY WEST, FLA. Take a leisurely tour of the home and gardens of the late Nobel Prize winner, Ernest Hemingway. It was here that Mr. Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, Green Hills of Africa, A Farewell to Arms, The. Fifth Column, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and The Macomber Affair. Mr. Hemingway was the first important wriferto dis- cover and make Key West his home. He owned the home from 1931 to 1961. Covers One Acre Including Pool & Guest House Restaurant Francais "It's the small touches . . . " NOW SERVING LUNCH 1007 SIMONTON ST./294-7100/OPEN 641 P.M. DAILY La CrSperie • Steak • Seafood • Wine / Beer 124 DUVAL ST. 294-7677 6 nights 6-10v closed Sunday FRENCH CHEF/OWNER 27 YEARS IN KEY WEST CLEANERS A N D L A U N D R Y 1OO1 Truman Avenue Telephone: 294-1818 IfilS "one of a kind designs" Quality Costume Jewelry & Accessories Tailoring & Dressmaking Clothing Special Gifts Fabrics Greeting Cards Fine Art Cosmetology & Couture Consultation THE BEARDED IRIS "A year 'round Christmas Shop" PROPRIETORS . William C. Sours and Richard S. Mu ml y 12O7 DUVAL ST. • 2 9 4 0 5 S 9 F; 21 20 IIGHTHOUSF JL-J i V i i f l i i l ital^Hi ^mmmmmm1 mWM J§L_J SOUTHERN ITALIAN DINING 917DUVAL 296-7857 KEY WEST LUNCH 11:30-2:30 MONDAY - FRIDAY DINNER 6-11 EVERY NIGHT v-^ infK, p of Key West, Inc. • 3 bedroom 1 bath renovated Conch home on deep lot $165,000 • Duval Street restaurant plus owner's apt Victorian classic. $330,000. James A. Blum Licensed Real Estate Salesman Seasonal rentals of exceptional calibre. Sales & Management. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1737/Key West, Florida 33041-1737 Located at: 400 Simonton Street/Key West, Florida (305) 294-3600, 296-7766. and Home: 296-4578 under." "Hell, throw it over," I said, (cause by then I'd had it and I didn't care,) "let that big sucker pull." So Cone threw th anchor over the side and it dragged awhile, then caught, and the little whaler stood on its end like a bobber on a trout fishing rig. Me and Cone hung on and Fat Frank's under to above his waist, flailing his arms around in the water. Cone yelled, "cut the rope, cut the God damned rope." Frank got too busy hangin' on with both hands. He gasped as the fish made a do or die attempt to pull us down. His eyes bugged out as he spit out a stream of water. Then what was left of the boat popped out of the water. Fat Frank yelled, "we got 'im," and stood up wavin' his fat chunky arms. Cone leaped into the water to retrieve our only paddle and the empty cooler. As the whaler veered off on a new tack, Fat Frank almost waved himself overboard, yellin', "I bet we got a friggin' world's record fish here." The anchor line tightened, we started going around in a circle, and finally slowed down. When the fish stopped swimming, Cone went down to take a look see. He came back up after a minute or so. "He still has my spear in his neck. He's just restin' on the bottom. Why don't you try winchin' him in slow, Frank?" Frank started crankin' real slow so as not to excite the grouper. I saw a lobster boat coming toward us hauling pots in the distance and figured it might be Eddie Cribbs, as we passed many lobster pot bouys with his markin's on them. Fat Frank finally got the fish to within about five feet of the boat. "He's dead. I think Cone's An International Marina and Beach Resort Special Water sports Discount Bonus This certificate entitles you to a r 10% discount on all Galleon watersports of your choice for today « J 2 S ^ 5 ? * w SURE J E T * P A R A S A I L • WATERSKI • FISHING • SNORKEL/SCUBA • HARBOR SADL • WINDSURF • SEAPLANE • GLASSBOTTOM BOAT • MOPED/BICYCLE RENTAL Additionally, if you tour the Galleon Resort you will receive a 10% discount on all Galleon watersports for one week VALIDATED UPON COMPLETION OF TOUR BY CERTIFIED GALLEON VACATION CONSULTANT 296-7711, ext. 1725 617 FRONT STREET, KEY WEST, FL 33040 THIS ADVERTISING MATERIAL IS BEING USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF SOLICITING SALES OF TIME-SHARE PERIODS.1 „ YOU CAN EA" DINNER BUFFET — 5-9 PM — WITH A CHOICE OF LOCAL FISH • BABY BACK RIBS ROAST CHICKEN • ROAST PORK • ROAST BEEF CONCH CHOWDER • CONCH FRITTERS 5 HOT VEGETABLES FEATURING ALL YOU CAN EAT STEAMED SHRIMP FULL SALAD BAR AND DESSERT BAR VARIOUS FRESH BREADS COFFEE, TEA OR SODAS ONLY $9.95 Bacon Home Fries Grits Chipped Beef Gravy Biscuits Fresh Fruit Mix Coffee BREAKFAST BUFFET Scrambled Eggs French Toast Corned Beef Hash Blueberry Muffins Prunes Orange Juice $5.24 Sausage Hot Cakes Baked Apples Sausage Gravy Rolls Pineapple Chunks Tea BREAKFAST BUFFET: 8-11 AM Mon.-Sat. • 8-2 PM Sun. OPEN 6 A M - 9 PM DAILY WE ALSO SERVE LUNCH All major credit cards accepted 1405 Duval Street 294-2727 fD€|fl 22 YUZEN KIMONO FUTONS Lightweight 100% Cotton The sleeping solution from Japan for you and your guests. On a platform or the floor, folded away for the day. Choice of colors. Due to the current strength of the dollar, I have been notitied of a temporary PRICE REDUCTION: i984 1985 Single $130 $115 Double $170 $145 Queen $195 $170 Prices include delivery to your door in 10 to 15 aays. Y U Z E N KIMONO PORTER HOUSE Comer of Caroline and Duval 10 a.m. io 5 pm, 7 days - 294-4323 spear must have finally killed him." Cone came aboard, put on his hat, and took off his fins. "Boy, that's some fish." So we sat, watchin' the sunset. Soon I was sure it was Eddie Cribb's boat comin' toward us. I wished it would have been someone else as I had recently quit workin' for him when he quit drinkin5 and let his wife talk him into gettin' bom again. Him that could really down it. Well, I wasn't about to give up my beer, and when he said we couldn't carry beer on the boat anymore, that was the last straw. He didn't get mad or nothin'. I think he understood. Well, it was Eddie. He had his I told you so smirk all over his face as he looked us over. We sure attracted a lot of attention as we were towed up to the Johnson Fish House dock. They weighed our fish in at four hundred and twenty- two pounds and said it was only good for animal food. So at thirty-five cents a pound, I got a hundred and forty-seven dollars and change for it. But let me tell you, Cone and Frank, are good ol' boys. They stayed up with me all night tearin' that motor down and cleanin' it all up. Fat Frank helped me fiber glass the transom back on the boat. Now it looks like a whaler with the scabies, but I'll tell you, that little boat sure can go. , • • • • * The New York Times says it's "exceiCenl" TheNewYorkTimes says it's "consistent" The New York Times says it's "popuCar" The New York Times says it's "spe&aC' You'fX fuuf it speciaC too. ztjemuceny 1208 Simanton/Key West 305-294-0717 The Art Department of Florida Keys Com- munity College will sponsor the first of what is hoped will be an annual happening—an out- door art and craft festival of work done by stu- dents and faculty of the Art Department of the Community College, Location of this year's event will be the Key Lime Square area, the new location of the College's "Downtown Center." The show is open to the public and there will be a range of art and craft items for sale—oil paint- ings, water colors, drawings, prints, photos, pottery, and sculpture. There is no fee to set up but exhibition is limited to art faculty and stu- dents who are currently registered in courses at the community college. The festival will be held on Friday, May 2nd from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and spaces will be given out on a first come first served basis. Anyone interested in participating in the festival should contact either Gloria Shaw at 294-7333 (or 296-9081 Ext. 223) or Malcolm Ross at 294-8301 (or 296-9081 Ext. 313.) Starting the 1st of May the Community Pool will be instituting and Aquacise class for adults under the tutelage of Lee Thompson with Claire Lacy instructing every weekday from 12:15 P.M. through 12:45. Knowledge of swimming is not required and the exercise class is free to the public. The Community Pool is open seven days a week from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. at 300 Catherine St. Telephone 294-5490. Western Union lets you send money from Peacock Plaza to anywhere usually in 15 minutes or less! YOUR PERSONAL SERVICE CENTER I L O O H B Private Mailboxes / Money Orders / Passport Photo* Notary / Rubber Stamps / Keys / Laminating Carpet Cleaner Rental / Xerox Copies / Packaging / Zip Mail Gift Wrapping / Boxes / Stamps / United Parcel Service 294-9952 Open 9-6 Mon-Sat / 819 Peacock Plaza (Searstown) (Near the Cinema Four) THEFASTESTWAYTOSENDMONEY. 23 BOCA CHICA BEACH ROAD by Mary Beaver J he threat of two widely disparate T's— terrorism and trash—is being invoked to deny public access to one of the few remain- ing natural beaches in the lower Keys. It's not much, just a few thousand feet along Old Boca Chica Road behind the Naval Air Sta- tion, but it has a history of use by local Conchs going back several generations. The beach is a bit seedy, much like everything else in the Big Coppitt-Geiger Key-Boca Chica area. There are a few tourists. You can't buy food or drink. You can't rent a float or snorkle. There's not enough space to play volleyball and watch the girls jig- gle. As a group of locals know, however, you can have a picnic, find coral heads within snorkling distance of the beach, explore some of the best tidal pools in the Keys, fish from two tidal creeks, enjoy bird watching, and be on a real beach. The beach is small and sometimes splotched with seaweed, but it is real—not trucked in or dredged up at great expense. It's been there for decades and represents the origi- nal Keys in microcosm. In the old days cars headed for Miami from Key West crossed a causeway from Stock Island and used this State Road 941 on their way north. Since U.S. 1 was built, of course, it has seen much less traffic and when the Navy built the new ordnance magazine in 1968 the western part of the road and beach was closed to the public. Hurricane Kate gave it a swipe last November that undermined a short length, and in a few spots a couple feet of the the shoulder collapsed which required closing it temporarily. But why close it permanently? The Navy said that it is a dagger aimed at base security—a highway for terrorists. The federal government recently bought what little property remained around the roadway, but since the road itself was not in the purchase Base Commander Cap- tain R. L. Sullivan, referring to "recent events in the Mediterranean," asked the County Commis- sion to close it. Sullivan's first letter, dated December 4, 1985, asked that the road be blocked just east of the Navy's back entrance gate onto the road opposite runway 13/31. The terrorist main target that Sullivan men- tions in his letter is the complex of ordnace bunkers located at the westernmost point of the road, almost three miles west of the barrier. The rest of the base is separated from the road by a chain link fence, which is backed up by salt ponds and mangrove marshes. A neighboring family who live on the road almost opposite the back gate and proposed barricade, wrote Sullivan and asked that for the sake of the many people who use the area, the barrier be moved further west so that civilians could still use the beach area. The wife pointed out that a petition to keep the beach available had been signed by over 1300 people. With the barrier in the location she proposed, the buffer zone to the ordnance bunkers would still be over two miles. The Captain responded by agreeing to move further west, with two barriers—the first to limit vehicular traffic, and a second to close the road off completely. His proposal would move the closure 3000 feet to the west, but, unfortun- ately, would still close the best parts of the area including the two creeks. Those parts begin where he proposed his final barrier, and run west another 1500 feet to where the road peels away from the beach. The Captain's compromise suggests that he is not worried about an attack on runway 13/31, since it is quite open to view from his proposed vehicle barrier. Why he was willing to compro- mise as he did but decline to go the extra 1500 feet is unclear. The residents' proposal would still provide a buffer of over two miles between the barrier and the ordnance magazine area, would prevent vehicular traffic over that portion of the road damaged by Kate, and would keep open that portion of the shoreline with the greatest appeal to the public. While the Captain has the major problem, he has been wiling to listen to and reason with his neighbors. Not so the County Administrator. The neighbor's letters to Sullivan and the com- missioners are models of clarity. Her position on the whole issue is likewise clear. But in a sur- prisingly testy memo to the County Commission members, the Administrator accuses her of "completely confusing the issue." • The memo stated that the land around the road belongs to the Navy, that civilians using the property could be accused of trespassing, that to repair the damage from Kate would cost $200,000, and that the road material when dug up could be used as cover at the Cudjoe landfill and save the County $100,000 in fill costs. What a beautifully simple package, eh? The memo therefore recommends that the County, when POIIMCIANA LOUNGE LET'S GO COUNTRY . $ • ' • ; ' • \ The only country music f: club in Key VVest!! \ LIVE MUSIC by CORAL COUMTRY TUESDAY SATURDAY Open 9 am - t •.^';•:-;r.-:::--::;•:-/-.-'---:.::!;^.-; :,^^--V-- ;-:y .v ; : . . H a | i p y H o u r 4 t o 7 '. ; • ;:'••:••• ^ • ' • ' • •A- : - ' 3432 DUCK AVENUE 294 6800 • - " . - • : : • • : • - • ' • • • ' . . • • : : . ' . ' : • ' • • • • • • ' ' - : ' ' • . • ' ' • ' • ' • • • ' • ' • ' • ! ' : • ' . ' . ' : ' - ' - ' • • . • • • • . ; . ; . ' • • • • . " • ' - • : - • • • ' • ' • • ' , • ' • ililiii "lit • - * « — "} HOLIDAY ene 626 Duval Street Mexican Food & Cocktails Open 12-12 Monday - Saturday 1-12 Sundays 50914 Duval 294-9215 THRIFT STORE • Men's Clothing • Shoes • Women's Clothing * Accessories Children's Clothing • Books • Furniture • Dishes • Appliances • Utensils • Toys • Collectables 1926 Flagler Avenue 294-6505 awarded ownership of the road by the Florida Department of Transportation, should imme- diately transfer it to the Navy. According to the County, a public hearing on such a transfer will be held in the near future. But it doesn't appear to be quite that simple. One problem with the Administrator's postion was uncovered by resi- dents in consultation with legal authorities. It appears that the road has right-of-way of 50 feet, or 25 feet on either side of the mid-line. The road is so narrow, and so close to the water along most of the stretch under discussion, that the mean high water (MHW) mark falls within this 25 feet. By state law and constitution, the land below the MHW line belongs to the people. If the road remains County (and therefore public) property, civilians could use this stretch with- out trespassing. Another problem with the memo is the contention that the County can give the road away and then dig it up. Sullivan's proposed barriers are gates which could be opened for Navy use, which indicates he still wants the road for patrol use and as a quick way to respond should there be some sort of intrusion. The biggest problem with the County memo is the refusal to address concerns of the people of the County. This attitude appears to be that if the Navy wants it and the County budget will benefit, nothing else should be considered. In his letters, Captain Sullivan also voiced concern about trash dumping, and about crime that occurs because of the remoteness of the area and its thick vegetation. Everyone agrees that these are problems, but if Monroe County begins to close roads based on these factors, it would have to close many, many miles of back roads. In fact the people who live along the Old Road are now keeping a close eye on the traffic, and taking license numbers of those who dump refuse there. They are prepared to help clean up what is there and help prevent dumping in the future. Sheriffs cars must patrol the area any- way and their presence would add to Navy secur- ity. Many people now picnic there. Many snor- kle, many bird watch, many fish. There seems to be a new sense of community and shared concern among those who spend time there, an increased awareness of just how much the area means to them. An aware and watchful citizenry along with Sheriff patrols are more effective than fences in keeping out crimi- nals, trash and even terrorists. The Navy has accomplished part of its program already, and moving the final barrier another 1500 feet west- ward would make everyone happy. Let the Navy have the road west of the beach but let's keep this very small remaining section of natural beach open to residents and other citizens. Opening Soon KEY WEST N U R S E R Y Native Landscape Plants for the Florida Keys. We're Taking Orders Now. 296-4621 or 296-3334 901 FLEMING STREET 25 What's So Great About Key West An Ex-Patriot Ponders the Impossible By Kathleen J. Hargreaves I t's been over two years since I left Key West with a truck full of furniture and a car full of cats. I love in New England now. On the New Hampshire border in a 100 year old "saltbox" farmhouse that's a stiff walk from its nearest neighbor. Quite a change from claustrophobic Key West. My house sits at the foot of a hill and is shaded by giant oaks and sugar maples that dance through the seasons in skirts of lemon and lime and copper and crimson. When spring arrives with its unexpected splash of soft sun I plant early peas and iceburg lettuce, acom squash and hybrid corn. Summer brings with it bouquets of wild flowers picked from riverbank fields and overgrown meadows. Autumn is wood fires of fragrant pinebow kin- dling that chase the damp and turn cheeks sweet cherry red. Winter is . . . winter; some good, mostly not so good except those rare late night blanket snowfalls and all-day ice storms that coat the road and trees and telephone lines with crystal all the more brilliant in the next day's clear sky. I am, as it sounds, content with nature's toy box in New England. And yet sometimes (I never know when until it happens) I grow so lonely for Key West I wish I'd never left. It took seven years to give it up and even then it was tough. My walking shoes were hard to find that time. My enthusiasm for what lay ahead was greatly dim- inished by the knowledge of what I was leaving behind. Heft Key West, because I ran out of reasons to stay. Always before, when I thought of leaving all I n*ad to do was play the pro and con game. As long as there were pros the inevitable departure was indefinately postponed. But as the years went by so did my reasons. They became harder to find and harder yet to justify. At first I was willing to stay for no better reason than the climate. It was always warm in Key West. But that changed. Somewhere down the line I decided it was only warm some of the time. The rest of the time it was hot. Looking back I realize I spent fully half my stay trying to escape the heat. I took a job with the County and worked through lunch and often well after five because the office was air conditioned. From there I went to The Citizen where the computers, much like the staff, refused to function when the tempera- ture rose above 80. At night instead of bettering my bank account with an occasional freelance article, I dropped at the Hukilau, the Moon, the Frog Pond at the old Sands and just about anywhere else that promised cool air, breezy conversations and iced drinks. Ah yes, there was one more place: Tony's; dark as a cave, it was the best spot I ever found to kick back and chill out. Hard as I tried to avoid it, the truth ultimately won out. Maybe there was something great about Key West. But the weather wasn't. I arrived at that conclusion one sweltering mid-summer night when the electricity went out—as always, for no apparent reason. Laying in bed, staring up at a useless ceiling fan I admitted that not even I could swallow my Pol- lyanna attitude about the glorious weather any longer. I either had to move on or find a better reason to continue hanging my hat in Key West. CLIFF SAWYER & COMPANY NOW APPEARING AT The Tiki Bar Poolside "B-B-Q" SAT. & SUN. 3 TO 6 P.M. RESORT INN SAT. - SUN., 4:00- 6:00 HAPPY HOUR DAILY 5:00 - 7:00 A1A on the Ocean - Key West - 296-5671 ..the best Motel Restaurant in town, The Queen's Table," -N.Y. Times (Jan. 31, 1982) Fine Dining THE QUEENS TflBLE DINNER 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. LUNCH Noon'til 2:15 p.m. BREAKFAST 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday Brunch Cocktails in the popular WEST INDIES LOUNGE Noon 'til 2 a.m. AI THF SANTA MARIA MOTFI 1401 SIMON TON ST. KEY WEST HO.t 2 NIGHTFALL What would you call a canvas shaded island bar on a fourth floor terrace with a 180° panorama of the ocean, the city and the bay? The breeziest, highest and most romantic place in Key West for watching the sun disappear. How about "NIGHTFALL"? Secluded and remote, but under a canopy as high and wide as the heavens. Nightfall is the sunset bar overlooking the world from the top of The Reach, the beautiful new resort on Simonton at the ocean. There's music and food too. At Nightfall and then by starlight. From 4 to 10 P.M. nightly. A WYNDKAM RESORT Simonton at the Ocean • 296-5000 26 Key West Gonch Jewelry FRONT w ORIGINAL DESIGNS hand crafted in Key West 111DUVKL 294-7092 Open everyday 10-4 • VTSA,MC,AMEX Unable to sleep I sat on the front porch, swat- ting mosquitos and watching a huge pumpkin- orange full.moon rise over a pitch black Garrison Bight. The moon was well overhead before I seized upon a new rason d'etre. Key West was a great place to live because it made people into survivors. I turned the idea around and around in my head, looking at it from every angle before concluding virtually everyone I respected was a survivor. I presumed those who weren't fast asleep were sitting there in the dark cursing CES just like me. Who said no man is an island. Look at us. Granted we hadn't fine tuned every point but we certainly were capable of generating our own electricity, catching our own food, even making our own clothes (assuming we were willing to pay the price at Key West Hand Prints.) Unfortunately, self-sufficiency—the answer I thought would save me—fell by the wayside Christmas Day, 1981, the day I invited 50 peSple over for a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I distinctly remember that the power went out (again) before the birds went in. I lost many friends that holiday. But I survived. For the next few years I rolled with the punches. I took life as it came. When it gave me lemons, I made lemonade (with bottled water because the stuff that came out of the tap in those days could poison a catfish.) And every June 1 was growing one year older. Strangely enough the island was doing just the opposite. Everywhere I looked there were new hotels, and modem designer houses hidden under the shell of tin-roofed cottages that for nearly 200 years sheltered families who had inter-married so long and so frequently that it jvas no longer possible to separate one clan from another. Before I left Key West I began to make frequent, solitary trips through the streets of Old Town. I think I was trying to memorize things as they were so I had a solid image of what I was leaving behind. In quiet times I compiled mental lists of peo- ple who, for one reason or another, I thought exemplified that unique, intangible quality that made Key West so different from anyplace I'd been. People like Norm Berg, Asta Snider, and Martha Menendez. Willie Ward, Marion Stev- ens, Tony Terracino, Walter Ashe, Kim Romano, Bill Manville, George Garneau, Julie Perrin' Larry Thompson and Barbara Bauer. Bill Huckle] too. But knowing Bill he'll take a red pen to his name long before this piece ever sees print. Some of those people were my first introduction to the island. They made a lasting impression. Many of them still live there. Others left for good, for a season, for better pay, or a better foothold. Still others, like Stan Windhorn, Gitta the Seamstress and Peter Webber left Key West only when death forced it upon them. Ultimately tapped out, I turned to less com- plicated forms of life—homeless kittens, mal- nourished dogs, and two-legged lizards. I mar- velled at bougainvilleas and wild orchids that grew unencouraged into towering trees. I savored the scents of night blooming jasmine and ylang-ylang as if I'd never smell them again. To this day I cannot think of the island without also remembering the philodendron, king of Key-West plants; their leaves as big as dinner platters and roots so massive they reminded me of the beanstalk Jack climbed to escape into the clouds. cJlLcls Charbroiled to your taste )RIM] Open 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. for dining Also Late Night Menu after11 p.m. 528 FRONT STREET 294-3829 The Oldest Newstand in Key West L\̂ lladares 6 Son Featuring A Selection of Over 3000 Paperbacks NEW YORK TIMES - WALL STREET JOURNAL OUT OF TOWN NEWSPAPERS . PAPERBACKS - MAGAZINES 1200 Duval Street In their own disjointed ways all these things were important/but none was strong enough to bind me to the island. In the end I had to go. I live nearly 2,000 miles away today, near the northern terminus of A1A. I have almost ad- justed to the brusque northern attitude and its no-nonsense work ethic. I enjoy sleeping under quilts and sharing my bed on cold winter nights with my Key West cats who, too, have made friends in New England. I can travel hundreds of miles on a dozen different highways and never end up in the same place twice. I have all the diversions I lacked in Key West; concerts, mountain scenery, 50 different movies to choose from on any different day, the country, the city. It's all there for the asking. Yet sometimes, like today, I am filled with a melancholy that only a trip to the island can cure. I look up from my work. My mind relaxes and wanders like the river out my window and comes to rest on the swallows and hawks and ravens that travel in seemingly purposeless flight from one perch to the next. And I realize I am still asking myself the same weary question I have for nine years. What's so great about Key West? The most I can say is that there's something magic about the place. It's not much of an answer but it's the best I've come up with yet. Until I can think of something better I'll settle for that. I know it's vague but at least it begins to explain my fascination with a place I've loved and sometimes hated since the first day we met. It helps me understand why I can't wait to go back every opportunity I can. Maybe I keep returning for the same reason I left. Perhaps I'm still looking for an answer that can't be put into words. Island City HOUSE "A Unique Place to Stay" 411 WILLIAM STREET ON OLD KEY WEST! 294-5702 816 duval key weil THE ALTERNATIVE T-SHIRT STORE EXCITING T-SHIRTS & SHORTS! 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Available at A WORLD FOR CHILDREN A Children's Department Store 4Oi Duval • Old Town Key West -tkt. COME ADOPT ONE OF OUR NESTLINGS. LAaqEST VARIETY of ixoTJc Awd h»wd4td b»by b inds ST7 FLEMING STREET - 2?6 »89O SuppllES iNcludiNq ctqfs, Toys, SEE io EVANS SPORTING GOODS SWEAT SUITS SHIRTS & PANTS (COLORS) Reg. $1200 each, NOW *800 EACH ZIPPER SWEAT WITH HOOD Reg. $2000 each, NOW $14P0 EACH SWIM TRUNKS REDUCED Reg. *5°0, NOW $2°° BALL CAPS (Asst. Colors) NOW *2°° (EVERLAST PRODUCTS: 1/2 PRICE) 509 Southard Street 294-2504 I think in less than a month I shall be able to send off the typescript of Browser's II, and how sweet it will be to get it off my hands, the etymology is all but driving me away from poetry. However long it takes me to get Browser's III finished, it will be at a much slower pace that leaves time for first things. Let me give you a fascinator (to explain, in part, why I can't resist this stuff): In XIV English kerse meant "weed-any weed." In XV, by a metathesis I cannot explain, the form became cress, now spe- cific to the mustard plant, of which water- cress is a relative, but then meaning any weed, the old prob. continued to say kerse. The altered young took it to be curse, and proceeded to change "I don't Affordable Transportation when you need i t . . . MAXI-TAXI 294-2222 The lowest share-ride taxi fares in town. Great for families and groups! SUNCAB 296-7777 The lowest private cab fares in . Key West. For1to3 passengers. LIMOUSINE 296-0000 Available for your special occasions or as elegant taxi service in style! 24-HOUR RADIO DISPATCH Charters, Excursions and pre-arranged services are always available. All vehicles air conditioned with stereos. . . . ready to serve you! give a kerse" to be "I don't give a damn." How can one resist such stuff? May all your curses turn into fresh crisp -watercress and damnation shrivel like the late weeds. My admiration and high regard • to Peter. My love to you both. John Goodheavens! That sounds as if I excluded you from admiration and high regard. I do not. John would invent a limerick at the slighest provocation: March 5,1984 Dear John, My Ciardi disc is in the TRS-80, and the file today is named "John/M84:l" . . . April 2,1984 Dear Elly: There once was a gal from Kaintuck Whose TRS-80 got stuck On an X-rated scene And became so obscene She screamed, "Peter! It's running amuck!" He was dedicated to his wife Judith and their children, Jonnel, Myra, and Ben, wrote volumes of poetry to them and about them, and, always, they were in his letters: JUDITH IS ON THE VERGE OF HAVING another wedding anniversary. God, wives get married for a long time! I woke recently on my birthday and found myself trapped in a 67 year old body. My first thought was, "Help! What am I doing here/somebody get me out. But there was no answer. Probably a good thing. I ended with a quotation he sent from a 12,000 word autobiography he was trying to write for Gale Research: The actuarial tables give me plus or minus ten more years, perhaps a little longer if I stop smoking, but having been a chain smoker for almost fifty-five years now, I am satisfied to die of my own bad habits and pray only to escape my death as a result of someone else's. Beyond prayer, I claim survivor's rights, at least some of the rights would in any case have been mine had I been the one to wave from that smok- ing bomber forty years ago. I am an obso- lete word freak with all debts paid up and a little time left—my time. It need not come to much to be all there is. I wouldn't have missed it. RICHARD WILBUR I first knew John Ciardi when he was 30 or so and I was in my middle twenties. We taught together at Harvard as assistant professors of English; in our leisure, we took each other on in bitter games of anagrams; we showed our early poems to each other, hoping for unqualified praise but consenting to becritiri^djp^mng the early 1950's we lectured on alternate summer days at the Bread Loaf School of Writing, pre- tending to differ more than we really did. He played it earthy, and I played the aesthete. After those years, Charlee and I were always in loving 32 TAKE HOME YOUR PHOTOS, NOT YOUR FILM! ONE HOUR COLOR PRINT (C-41) PROCESSING LAB MAY ENLARGEMENT SPECIAL 8 ft -w "I A H FROM 35MM A l U COLOR NEGATIVES $2.99 EACH KEY WEST INSTANT IMAGES, INC. 408 DUVAL STREET, KEY WEST (INSIDE PHOTO-SONICS) 296-5450 THE WATERFRONT PLAYHOUSE BULLSHOT CRUMMOND A PARODY OF GRADE "B" DETECTIVE MOVIES Written by: House, White, Sherman, Cunningham, Neville, Andrew Directed by: Rae Coates MAY 12-25 Box Office Open One week prior to play, noon to 4:00 Performance week, noon to 8:30 curtain Tickets: $7.00 294-5015 COURTESY OF SAMUEL FRENCH INC. ~~ PRESENTED BY THE KEY WEST PLAYERS, INC. touch with John and his wonderful wife Judith, and for the last decade we were near (and close) neighbors during the Key West winters. With such an old friend one develops a habit of almost daily inward conversation. In any week of my latter life, "I have often felt moved to talk or write to him about some matter of taste or fact or language (especially language) and see what he might say. During the days since his death, that has continued, and I have repeatedly had the experience which Wordsworth describes in his sonnet "Surprised by joy"—I've turned to speak with him, and he has not been there. I suppose that this will go on for as long as I live. When a man's life ends, and he stops chang- ing, it becomes safer to generalize about his qualities and achievements. Let me say one or two little things about him. He often came on as a hard, aggressive guy with a big voice. Some- times the aggression was real: he didn't agree with everybody, he didn't love everybody. Yet those who knew him knew that he had the softest of hearts, the most loyal and remember- ing of hearts. To his great credit, John did not moderate his strong-voiced assertiveness during the late 1960's, a period in which babes and sucklings were thought to know it all, and per- sons of authority were expected to hang beads around their necks and be concessive. It did him honor to lose the directorship of the Bread Loaf conference through a refusal to muffle his con- victions and appease the times. John did not present himself as an ethnic type, but he preserved in himself the best of his inheritance. He had the lapsed Catholic's serious and wistful view of faith; the Italian acceptance of death; a joy in Italy's language, arts, and literature; Italian feelings about how food and drink and friends should be treated; and Italian devotion to his family. Sometimes he liked to play Mafia. I used to say about him, and to him, that he had a romance with practicality and tough realism. Many of us have heard him say that poetry was a racket, and that he meant to get rich in it. Well, he did make some money, honest money, in certain spin-off activities like lecturing. But lfet it be said that he was really a stubborn purist. He never cheap- ened one line of his verse in the hope of pleas- ing the great public and swelling his sales. John was good to hear on public radio—the voice was splendid, and the substance charm- ing. He was to the end a deservedly popular figure on the lecture and poetry-reading cir- cuits. He wrote a good column. He put together a truly stimulating text book, a fresh anthology of his contemporaries, a number of delightful and curious ventures into etymology. He earned his prizes as a prolific writer of children's verse; he was always one of the best poets of his genera- QQSSSNew Summer Menu! TURTLE KRAALS RESTAURANT at Land's End Village Open Noon - 2 a.m. Daily tion; and he gave the English language its very best translation of Dante's Commedia. If it were human to be satisfied, John might have been well satisfied. I want to end by reading one of his short I poems—and then by reading another short one which caught my attention as I was waiting to speak, and which is perfectly attuned to this occasion. The first poem is the best from his last book The Birds of Pompeii. He knew it was the best poem in that book; I know that because he had it printed on the back of the jacket. As he said of the latter poems of Wallace Stevens, this poem is metrically limber, and based "on a reminiscence of the pentameter." It has the natural movement of developing thought or unfolding talk. Its language is about how the most precious truths cannot be proven; how we miss out on them if we ask for proof, since such truths call only for belief. "True or False" Real emeralds are worth more than synthetics but the only way to tell one from the other is to heat them to a stated temperature, then tap. When it's done properly the real one shatters. j I have no emeralds. I was told this about them by a woman who said someone had told her. True or false, I have held my own palmful of bright breakage from a truth too late. I know the principle. That is beauty. The other poem is called simply "Poetry," and it ends with the gutsiest possible definition of poetry—as an "echo from the ice." 33 Woody ATTENTION PLEASE! A NEW SERVICE HAS BEEN ADDED: Competitive Analysis Bring us your OLD life insurance policies or any NEW proposals . . . we will GUARANTEE that our computer illustration will help you make the BEST choice. There is no obligation or charge for this service. CALL TODAY APPOINTMENTS AT YOUR HOME OR OUR OFFICE WOODRUFF & ASSOCIATES 1229 MacMillan Drive Tel: 296-2687 "Poetry" Death is everywhere. Yet it may be the most act of not- dying. Listen when there is time. Make time till it is still enough "to hear across water and time the tilting band of the Titanic nearer my Oom to Pah! The tuba pumping behind prayer over and over. The North Atlantic already in their shoes. But one more time long as there is time over and over, the music holding to itself, holding everything not long, but for its while, forever. The comets throwing their lifeline high and clear over the cold bald misted curve nowhere, the tuba pumping Recover Love . • - Recover Joy. . . Recover Serenity. . . To recover from addiction to drugs or alcohol means to rebuild . . . and to reclaim what was yours. It means reclaiming trust, recovering hope and rebuilding relationships. The quickest way to recovery is through treatment... treatment or alcoholism or drug addiction. If you or someone you love has a problem with drugs or alcohol, call us for help at 294-5531. We're DELPHOS: The Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center at Florida Keys Memorial Hospital. 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STEPHEN OPPENHEIMER, OPTOMETRIST Hours Mon.-FrL 9-5 Sat. 10-2 SEARSTOWN 294-5503 the prayer behind the prayer, an echo off the ice. Oompah! PHILIP BURTON One of the privileges that has been mine as a result of 1 iving in Key West is that I have come to know in person some distinguished authors most of them only winter-residents, and the one with whom I have spent most time was John Ciardi. For a few seasons it became customary for him to come over to my house for an after- WEST F1O¥1SIOM FOR MOTHER'S DAY: LAMB: LGS, RACKS, LOINS SERRANO BONELESS HAMS SMOKED BONE-IN HAMS FRESH PORK HAMS WHOLE PIG FOR ROASTING STANDING RIB ROAST PHEASANT • QUAIL DUCK • ROASTING CHICKEN GOOSE • TURKEY Plus complete line of groceries for every day! GETYOURCOOKOUT MEAT HERE! PHONE AHEAD FOR YOUR ORDER TO BE READY 804 White Street, Key West 296-9051 HOURS: Mon.-Fri, 8 to 4 • ~Sat. 8 to 2 \ noon most weeks, but in this season which is just ending he came for only one afternoon, because he was leaving to go on a lecture-tour. I always enjoyed his visits. He inscribed the copies of his books which he gave me. It would make me blush to read some of those inscrip- tions, but in one he wrote of "the pleasure of touching minds." John always had to have an audience. Even when he grumbled-—and he grumbled a lot—he did so with such wit that my response was not a sigh of sympathy but a chuckle. His brilliant extempore wit was the secret of his success as a teacher and lecturer. Some of you were probably here when he gave a lecture in this very hall early this season; you will remember how entertaining he was as he re- vealed some of his astonishing discoveries about the English language. I knew some of John's work long before I met him. More than thirty years ago I read his trans- lation of Dante's Inferno, the first volume of the complete translation of The Divine Comedy. I knew two other translations, those by John Sin- clair and Dorothy Sayers, but for me John Ciar- di's surpasses them. He was uniquely equipped for the task, for he was a master of both Italian and English, and in addition he had the sensiti- vity of a true poet. In recent years his main interest had become words, their origin and meaning, but he was an etymologist of a curious kind. This is what he says about it: "I became an obsessive etymologist when I realized, after forty-five years of trying to write in the American language, that I simply did not know enough about my own tongue. So far, I have compiled my findings into two volumes, of which this is the second. If I am. left time, I hope to compile at least a third, and perhaps a fourth. If I have had no serious purpose, I have piddled away more than ten years. Yet I have no serious claims I care to assert. I may have been doing nothing more than beachcombing to see what shells I might turn up. When the shells were ordinary or badly broken, I tossed them aside. The inner directive has been simply, 'Hey, look at this one!—and this one!—and this one!' This beach is covered with specimens too good to leave ungathered. Nor have I any ambition to be a conchologist, and to give up collecting in order to classify what I have collected. The longer I beachcomb, the more I sense what the sea is doing and has been doing inside itself. But the collection is for its own sake." The result of this search was A BROWSER'S DICTIONARY, which he describes as "A Com- pendium of Curious Expressions and Intriguing Facts." It was a surprising success, so much so that ASECOND BROWSER'S DICTIONARYwas published, and this he described as a "Native's Guide to the Unknown American Language." It didn't sell as well as the first volume, and for this John blamed the publishers; they had assumed Us to Because, if you're in the market for commercial insurance, your business is our business. So, in order to determine just which coverages you need, we'll lenrn everything we can about your operation. Only then will we recommend live program that's best tor you. Hut it won't take loivjj- Alter all, we've been doing the same thing for small and medium-sized businesses throughout the local area for many years. And we're backed by the full resources of business specialists at one ot America's leading insurance and financial services organizations. You and us and C'KJ.XA. that's quite a team. We represent the C'KiXA Companies. But we work for you. 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On the fly-leaf of the volume he speaks of his poetry: "I write only unimportant poems. The smaller the better. Perhaps small enough to be life-size. That is never much, but all there is, and therefore every- thing." The inscription on the copy he gave me is characteristic of him: "For Philip Burton, probably to bored by, but let me spare you by insisting that you make no comment—then if you choose, reasonably, not to read, I will not know . . . With respect and admiration." The poem I'm going to read is entitled ALEC. It's about an uncle of his and reveals John's respect for his Italian roots. He has a word about Uncle Alec in the introduction to the first BROWSER'S DICTIONARY: "My uncle by marriage, Alessio DiSimone, migrated to America at age seventeen. He lived to ninety-seven without acquiring more than rudimentary broken English. Yet with it he invented the fascinating all-purpose tense was-be. 'Gian,' he would say to me, 'you was-be good boy.' Depending on the context—and in context it was always clear—that could mean 'you are/you are being/you have been/you had damn well better be a good boy.' There was Personal Banking Services available now on Summerland Key! The Marine Bank has added a full service branch location to their Personal Banker Network at M.M.25 on Summerland Key. ...with all the Personal Banking services you expect, including our 100% Free Checking Our Summerland lobby hours will be: 8 A.M. - 4 P.M., Monday-Thursday & 8A.M. - 6 P.M., Fridays. GENIE, our drive-up Automatic Teller is there 24 hours a day. Whatever your banking needs, we take your business personally, now at 7 locations in the Keys. THE MRR1NEBRNK OF MONROE COUNTY Ktyloroo Plantation K»y Marathon Shores Marathon Big Pine Key SumnMxkmd 461-2012/664-5507 852-4500/664-8105 743-7300 743-2231 872-2237 745-2739/872-9509 294-9593/872-4197 WEMBOEFR F O I C ANDHOME OF; 10O% FREE CHECKING even a conditional tense. If I looked up at the sky and said, 'It looks like rain,' he would squint at the sky and answer, 'Could was-be.' The lan- guage convention allows us to know who is native; any workable language solution, in or out of the convention, allows us to know there is a mind at work." Here's the poem: Atnintey-seven my uncle found God heavy. "My legs, "hesighed, "May I go before they do." So small an ambition: could it be asking too much even from a universe? It or luck spun him the answer he wanted. Sometimes we win. I was in Asia and missed the funeral, .all but a postcard C/O AM. EX. BANGKOK Ibought a golci leaf andrubbeda Buddha for him, My shoes at the door, with feet left to put in them. His name was DiSimone, which is "of Simon." He could not read, but his family legend whispered of a turned Jew centuries back. He married my mother's sister and passed as Alec the Barber, though really Alessio. The gold leaf crumbles. It makes sparks on the floor like lathe-curlings. But some of it sticks. In time the God turns gold and we are all one family. Back in my shoes, Ifedbeggers in his name for the plains-wide days he walked me for quail or pheasant or what comes in or out of season "God," he would say "sends birds, not calendars." He was right a while, but calendars come, too. I must have loved him, and did not know it till I fed beggars for him and gilded an unfinished god in its vault. JOHNHERSEY I thought it would be appropriate this morn- ing to honor Judith, John's beautiful, lively, warm-hearted, cool-weather wife of many years, by reading a poem John wrote in her honor. It is entitled "Men Marry What They Need.": Men marry what they need. I marry you, morning by morning, day by day, night by night, and every marriage makes this marriage new. In the broken name of heaven, in the light that shatters granite, by the spitting shore, in air that leaps and wobbles like a kite, I marry you from time and a great door is shut and stays shut against wind, sea, stone, sunburst, andheaven fall. And home once more inside our walls of skin and struts of bone, man-woman, woman-man, and each the other, I many you by all dark and all dawn and have my laugh at death. Why should I bother the flies about me? Let them buzz and do. Men marry their queen, their daughter, or their mother by hidden names, but that thin buzz whines through: Limm mm »&• "-•if. | 1r • T Tostados T J ^yaostaditasl^ f ELLORO VERDE A GOURMET MEXICAN RESTAURANT Incredible Salsas Frescos Serious Soups & Salads Tacos, Burritos, Nachos Authentic & Affordable Specials Open Mon-Sat, 11am-10pm Hininn Dn^m f\t T/II/A/M AUlllll iy KUUlll 01 laKcOUI 404 Southard/296-7298 m . m m -• f - - - * • ; • • - • • • . 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ARNOLD SUNDGAARD Over the years one hears literally thousands and thousands of voices on the radio and televi- sion, but the voice I remember most vividly was John's voice on National Public Radio speaking from Chautauqua on a summer afternoon some years ago. We turned on the car radio and the speech was already in progress, but instantly, as if electrified, we both shouted, "John Ciardi!" And we listened to him all the way to Albany where we had gone to meet a friend. On the way back to Williamstown the radio had turned to opera, and we cast John in some of the roles we thought he would have been good for if he had chosen a career in bel canto instead of that of poet, etymologist, and writer of child- ren's books. Falstaff was our first choice because in his later years he had both the stature and the wit for it. Boris Godunov was another. And for some reason I can see him now as Rasputin mesmerizing the Romanoffs deep within the Kremlin. His tracking down the origin of just one word—revolution—would have held them spell-bound. And then by connotation I am reminded of Shamrayev speaking the first act of The Sea Gull. He tells of going to the Moscow Opera to hear the basso-profundo, Silva, in one of his greatest roles. When Silva hits his lowest note there is great applause, and then from the gallery a singer from a local choir shouts out, "Bravo Silva"—one whole octave lower. John was the only man I knew who could actually have done that. It was the deep, reson- ant music of his voice that I will always remember. I wish I had the power to say, "Bravo John!"—one octave lower. Jonathan Swift wrote his own epitaph in Latin, and Yeats once said that single line might prove to be more immortal than all else that Swift had written. The line is: "He has gone where fierce indignation will lacerate his heart no more." I recall John's column in the Saturday Review many years ago. Often it was written out of fierce indignation. I hope he has gone to join Swift—and perhaps his beloved Dante—where fierce indignation will lacerate his heart no more. THOMAS SANCHEZ I was not a close friend of John Ciardi's, hav- ing only met him five years ago, but I do con- sider myself an intimate member of his large audience. I tracked John for twenty years before meeting him in Key West, stalking him through the pages of his own poetry, his masterly trans- lations, and his essays in the Saturday Review. When I finally did meet him it was like connect- ing with an "old friend." There was no other voice like Ciardi's, and I mean by that not simply the timbre and tenor of a man who delivered of himself in near Shakespearean tones. He could be dramatically lyrical as Dylan Thomas, pontif- ical as the first Italian pope, capable always of making teardrops into musical notes, musical notes into human syllables. Ciardi existed in our time as a link in the great chain leading back to the original cantaors, those ancient singers of original poetry. For this reason I have woven from the works of the Spanish poets Garcia Lorca, and the 16th century Don Luis de Gon- gors, a meditation, a slight medley of senti- ments which summon for me the tradition of spirit which John Ciardi so exemplified. "I DO NOT THINK ANY GREAT ARTIST WORKS IN A FEVER. Even the mystics get to work only after the ineffable dove of the Holy- Spirit has already left their cells and is losing itself in the clouds. One returns from inspiration as from a foreign country. The poem is the narration of the voyage. Inspiration supplies the image, but not its dress, and to give it that dress one must observe calmly and dispassionately, the quality and sonority of words. THE FIGURE OF THE CANTAOR IS FOUND WITHIN TWO GREAT LINES, the arc of the sky on the outside, and on the inside the zigzag that wanders like a snake through his heart. When the cantaor sings he is celebrating a solemn rite, as he rouses ancient essences from their sleep, wraps them in his voice, and flings them into IE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SA Gifts, Toys Games Greeting Cards Foolishness The Little Store with the BIG Ideas 515 Duval St., Key West, FL 33040 305-294-5408 WE ARE CLOSING OUR FRONT ST. STORE. UP TO 7 5 % OFF ! UP TO 5 0 % OFF SALE NOW IN PROGRESS AT GOOD TIME SPARKY'S COME VISIT OUR LOVELY NEW STORE AT DUVAL & CAROLINE 40 the wind. He has a deeply religious sense of song. Through these chanters the race releases pain and its true history. They are simple medi- ums, the lyrical crest of our people. They are strange but simple folk who sing hallucinated by a brilliant point trembling on the horizon. They are prodigious interpreters of the people's soul who destroyed their own hearts in storms of feeling. Almost all died of heart attacks; they exploded like enormous cicadas after populat- ing our atmosphere with ideal rhythms. THROUGH THE EMPTY ARCH COMES A WIND, a metal wind blowing relentlessly over heads, in search of new landscapes and unknown accents, a wind that smells of baby spittle, crushed grass, and jellyfish veil, announcing the constant baptism of newly created things. This is the mythological landscape Don Quixote was dreaming of at the hour of his death. An orderly countryside where poetry measures and governs its delirium. THE POET IS THE SAVAGE BUT DILIGENT observer of the uncertain forms of the moon." It is a honor to honor this day John Ciardi, a man of poetic measures who left a legacy of language which indeed will govern well. •••X COULC SPoT IT A MILE IT WAS ANOTHER Q*E °f THoS£ • oVJ DOWN, P/RTf, P E D KAM'V j o g s - •••THE CUSTOMER WAS MESSED SffNr A WAP OF Do ... His PRINTS HAD BBEN OVER By A B^HCH OF REAL GQOHS • ••I TOLD Hir<\ Key Weft* M « J-oPs IS QUALITY, L"W iNPklcE- KEHHEPY Srv DELIVERS THE GOODS- BE Stntpftf CH'TcH OH- (KENNEDY STUDIOS] Key West's Lowest Priced Picture Framers 7i6DuvalSt. 296-7251 41 I •iiii rO ^U J < W <. I r- y NO ADDrtVES • NO PRESERVATIVES ESGUJSHE HANDCRARED NATIVE & AMERICAN CREATORS 515 Fleming • Key W&st lust one block off Duvol O~M&L CoU t 3 }k i . 1 3 1 X. z \ 1 General ConetrucTton and HoU Drill in a also _ ^ J>A< ^ Una Clearing f̂ \\ J^k IracTor V/orK pfe-5dr\ool aS5«S \nsu.re t'\ Haulm< BOCA CHICA BILL 79 5 KE-YWEST y* 42 r GTON'S FRAME SHOPPE & GALLiERY COMPLETE LINE OF ARTISTS MATERIALS • ORIGINAL WORKS BY KEYS ARTISTS • MARIO SANCHEZ EDITIONS • AUDUBON BIRD PRINTS • ANTIQUE MAPS a CHARTS • MUSEUM-QUALITY MATERIALS • NEEDLEWORK FRAMING • ALL WORK DONE IN OUR SHOP CUSTOM WOOD & METAL FRAMING 71 1 DUVALST. 294-691 1 FREE PARKING IN HEAR • MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED LOWEST PRICED PICTURE FRAMING KENNEDY STUDIOS 716 Duval St. 296-7251 GALLERY HOPPING by Gordon Lacy At the end of the season, it seems to me that this year has been a big one for the performing arts. As a Gallery column I feel perfectly free to name names. That the Red Barn is capable of transmitting such delights as "Irma La Douce" is pure gain, to say nothing of "Souvenir." Rae Coates' rollicking, vulgar, never-let-up produc- tion of "Women Behind Bars" was a dotty, offensive, completely successful evening at the Waterfront. "Evita" at Jan McArt's Cabaret thea- tre was notable for it's smooth professionalism and suffered not at all by comparison with the original except that one was considerably more comfortable in the beautifully re-modeled con- vention hall than at the Prince Edward Theatre in London. McArt had just bought a house which says much about her feelings for Key West. "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" came off araucous nasal-Gothic Texas hi-jink with the most wonderfully repulsive language and images in a season of prostitutes (the three a-fore-to mentioned works.) VickiRoush and Chuck Rea- soner made their almost love scene eloquent. Roush has learned nuance as an actress and her perfect pitch and impeccable pronunciation give her performance a clarity that should be model. Deadline does not permit me an option on McArt's spoof "Nite-Club Confidential,""but let's all go and see! Nicest things to have sur- faced this theater season will be Kathleen Elgin's reviews. A gap has been filled. My last month's column got ripped apart, some of it tacked onto Vaughn Gibson's article. ROSE LANE ANTIQUITIES Pre-Columbian Pottery &. Gold Primitive Art from Africa Noon to 5 P.M. Or By Appointment 524 Rose Lane* 294-1873 ( J I M oil ilu- i iVHI .wk . i l I l i i . aH fQCDf ARISTOS G A L L E R Y Barbara A. Cooper (305)206-0218 2I9SIMONTON / OLD TOWN KEY WEST, FLORIDA 3304O Especially upsetting was disappearance of any mention at all of two of Gingerbread's most important shows, those of John Kiraly and Ron Clemons. I can only try to make amends by stating that John's imposing and romantic show was a sell-out and his new series of serigraphs highly successful. Ron's show was bright and stylish and full of humor, high-lighted by his papier-mache ladies up to all sorts of naughti- ness. Our apologies to artists, gallery owners and readers. You can all see Gingerbread's stable of painters 11:00 A.M. - 6:00 daily. Fred Gros is having a sort of continuing sale of his own paintings and various things he has collected over the years. He is selling his stock at what seems laughable prices. I have been led to believe that Fred will be painting in his gallery all summer, but he is full of suprises FREE MEMBERSHIP DAYZ/S ^VIDEO RENTAL! Video — v — Rental Movies & Sales 924-A KENNEDY DRIVE 294-4830 WHITE STOEET GAUJBRY 901 WHITE STREET SUMMER SCHEDULE: Monday-Friday 11:00 - 5:00 STABLE Baj, Germond, Gibson,Gregogna, Henocque, Lorjou Soisson, Telemaque Terry these days. More surprises; May will be Karen's last month on Duval. She's going up north for the summer and when she gets back will set up Artist's Warehouse in a new Simonton Street quarters where it will be business as unusual. Ned at Farrington's is offering a 2 for 1 deal on his Frame House Artists' signed prints or a fram- ing break on same. This series is "very designy," plus marine-scapes, so if you are redecorating or installing a business or office have a look in here. The key word is Tasteful and the parking is free. Judi Bradford at the Guild says that they will continue to show Gary Zimmerman's painted mir- rors, a handsome "Catch of the Day" in stained glass by Viann and Fritz Stang, and Judi's soft- sculpture of Hemingway-with-cat can be seen at Hats and Hammocks on Whitehead near South- ard. Ann Irvine and Cappy Seiler are continu- ing their weekly four hour field trips and the resulting works, totally uncharacteristic of these ladies, may now be viewed at the Guild. The Key West Art Center will be showing the watercolors of Fay Peterson from the 29th of April through the 11th of May and those of Delia Vandercloot from the 12th of May through the 26th. Lots of birds and flowers and seascapes I am told. Both are local artists. The Lucky Street Gallery is closed for the summer, which is to say open by appointment, featuring Rankine's wall hangings and John Martini's sculpture and jewelry, plus the gal- lery's artists. Thomas Colbert, Grillo Demo and ceramacist, Steve Howell. The Haitain Co. is practically into reporting journalism with Arbonite paintings by Jn. Imraanuel on the recent revolution there that depict Flag Day, Chaos and Revenge and works by Voltaire Hector also on the revolution, Mar- tial Law and Liberation, dated and paraphrased. Timely is the word; the paint is hardly dry. Jack Baron is very hard at work on next year's show, the follow up to his "Wedding." I pre- sumed logically that it would be "Divorce" but he assures me I am not only wrong but unfeeling if not downright degenerate. Alice Terry will be showing some of her work at Art Unlimited and is busy packing for her Ogunquit opening. Sandford's window on Simonton is one of the best in SoMo and she sells most of her hand- done bags in other parts of the world. She does 'keep some in stock, and they go into a washing machine perfectly. East Martello has the annual children's show on Sunday May 4th from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., a carnival atmosphere with candies and pop- corn and, Lee Dodez informs me, more prima donnas than one can imagine. On the usual Tuesday, the 6th, there will be a reception for the members to view the children's works. Lee himself has recently served as auctioneer for the financially very successful Marc House auction held at Gingerbread, and two days later the Navy Wives' Auction. The first is a fine endeavor but more than one artist has complained that 7 auctions a year for deserving charities is rather steep even for the good-natured, especially when their prices are not respected. There should be a reserve on the prices equal to the artist's going rate. Speaking of the East Martello, Joan Dwyer, Marge Smith, Judd Dolles, Jack Baron, Richard Fowler and Gary Blum were elected board members, and Marsha Gordon resigned, due to her impending voyage, I presume. The White Street Gallery has been very erratic lately but Hycon has finally got the street work in hand and we are again open 11:00 - 5:00 Monday through Friday, showing our stable and some never before seen Lorjou lithographs. This great artist died in February in Paris and will have a retrospective show at this gallery next season. Also showing Alice Terry, Vaughn Gib- son, Henocque and Gregogna. The Burgess-Meinster, always worth a visit for John's collages and some of the best paintings in town, will be sporting a Mexican air by the time this hits the streets. Unless I'm wrong. Aristos Gallery will show Henri La Chapelle's latest oils as this season's last one-man show on April 30th. Barbara says that she will throw a big party for all her artists and their friends mid-May. Jim Moseley reports that Rose Lane Antiqui- ties is going to remain open all summer with the usual high quality pre-Columbian objects, and that he is gearing up for an Autumn show. Joe Pais, one of SoMo's cleverest collectors, asked me the other day if The Arts Council could not work out a group health insurance for our many artists who have none. Any ideas out there? c 43 Red Barn Theatre PRESENTS ARTICHOKE A COHEDY BY JOANNA GLASS MAY 14-JUNE I IRMA LA DOUCE UNTIL MAY 4 SHOWS: WED.-SUN. CURTAIN: 8:30 P.M. CALL 296-9911 FOR RESERVATIONS BOX OFFICE OPEN 12-5 EXCEPT MONDAYS 319 DUVAL STREET (REAR) ONLY $ 5 5 DOWN $ 55 PER MO. (APR 17%) ONLYAT MENTION SOLARES HILL AND RECEIVE A FREE RIDING CAP WITH ANY PURCHASE BICYCLE - MOPED - SKATE BOARDS • GO KARTS 1720 N. Roosevelt Blvd., Key West, FL 33040 296-2300 The Montessori Children's School of Key West invites you to attend A Night of Variety Entertainment at Mary Spottswood's Backyard Garden 220 Simonton Street Saturday, May 10, 1986 8:00 to I I J O O P M . —A Free Prize for Everyone!— $10.00 per person tax deductible Refreshments, Hors d'Oeuvres & Door Prizes C a s t . . . 4* Children's Show Martello Gallery and Museum 3500 S. Roosevelt Blvd. (at Airport Entrance) West. Florida 1 44 45 KEY WEST MAN HOLDS UP BANK WITH LIVE BARRACUDA A man successfully robbed the Sunny Florida Bank today, using a live Barracuda as a weapon. Bank teller Lola Co- burn told us, "This man walked in, shoved a fish in my face, and demanded all the money. That thing was growling and snap- ping its teeth at me . . . so naturally I gave the jerk what he wanted. I was really scared!" Police Chief "Pepe" Trader was confident of an early cap- ture. "The bank security cam- era gave us a clear photo of the thief caught in the act. Our men are on the lookout for a man of medium height, black shaggy hair, protruding teeth, and four eyes. We'll get him." PLUMBING IN KEY WEST KEY WEST WOMAN WINS WORST LOBSTER R 1CIPE CONTEST The annual Florida Lobster Recipe Contest was held today, but there were no winners in any of the six categories with the exception of Dee West, who took the prize for Worst Lobster Recipe. "I was elated," said West. "I've never won anything before. My Grandma passed this re- cipe down to me, and made me swear to keep it a secret. But when I heard that the first prize in this category was American Bald Eagle Recipes, I said what the hell . . .go for it." For our readers who appreciate something truly different, here is her recipe — Lobster and Scrambled Eggs Put 4 fresh eggs and a live lobster into a cast iron skillet. Cover tightly and place on a hot barbeque grill. Cook 30 minutes. The lobster will scramble the eggs. Add fruit cocktail. AMERICA'S FUNNIEST LOBSTEj Richard Watherwax ^LOBSTER AND CAT CAUGHT TRYING ON THE BABY'S CLOTHES, -^PEEKING 1 46 ART and CONTROVERSY by V.K. Gibson » rt and controversy. It seldom strikes two people in the same way, and is often a matter of semantics. I'm reminded of the famous story of the U.N. diplomat who asked in a speech: "What's on the road ahead?" The trans- lators, totally belwildered by this question (made peculiar in the speaker's native tongue,) trans- lated: "What's on the road, a head?" (Humor is socially acceptable controversy—usually.) Try this quote on for size: "Art must affect us like a disaster; It must wound and stab us; It must be the ax for the frozen sea inside us."—Kafka. Pretty strong stuff! What's Kafka talking about, the shower scene in "Psycho"? Those ideas are in direct contrast to what we usually think of when we say "art." Make a visit to Key West galleries (or those in most cities, large and small, for that matter.) You may see things which you consider to be disasterous—but do they affect you like a per- sonal disaster? Do they wound you? We can think of certain local artists (Ron Clemons, Craig Biondi, John Kiraly) as we con- sider this question. Ron's work often conveys strong irony and amusement. Craig has a classi- cal, almost pagan sense of style. Both have a love of the abstract power of paint as expressed in realism. John Kiraly's work seems to be nos- talgic of the Key West past, but is actually a romanticized portrayal of the way Key West is becoming. I think it fair to say that, regardless of what you think of these mentioned artists, none of them take an ax to "the frozen sea inside us." Offhand, I can think of only one local artist who does that regularly: Jordon Meinster. Not all great art is bedecked with steaming guts and glowing with travails of the soul. View- ers can be awed by technical genius without being dragged kicking and screaming into a hell of human revelation. One recalls Watteau's happy world (the Indian Summer prior to the Revolution, when it was too late for artistic controversy or anything else to inspire humane change.) Even the classicists Ingres and David, who employed dramatic historical subjects, subordinated their themes to the prowess of the brush. Controversy also occurs when evolved tastes clash with classical values. Contrary to widely held opinion, the masses tend toward classical values which are situated in a broad band of cultural expression that embraces everything from Beethoven to Fats Domino. In this sense Mr. Domino has much more in common with 47 Hardly better , than pumping it! PraASng drinking wtUr by truck In botttM xwra Ittlk battw Uun providing It by a m i ki «o*t skin, tha w>/ttiay dM kiandMitEfjwt At I M M U M Egyptians h*d i k n M ie Iwul tha goat ikkvi woundl Ttwr*I(*battar way to batter wotar, and ft'i called th» Everpw*® Drinking WatarSrttMn. •Bottle Quality Water on Tap (for as low as 9 financially or otherwise. (SIGNED) George Halloran - F JflLOWEIKS AND BALLOONS MOM WHH BOUQUET BALLOONS! Unique Exotic Beautiful 706 ©uval St. 294-3321 mm ©ELIWSY OOB'SfSGMIffY Key West's Favorite Aunt ANNOUNCES NEW SUMMER HOURS: Open Tuesday thru Friday 4:30 to 70 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 5:30 to 10 p.m. Closed Mondays The staff at Aunt Rose's would file to thank everyone fer their support & we hope to continue to grow along with Key West. 1900 Flagler Ave. Phone: 294-6214 continued from pg 29 mander of the Boca Chica Naval Air Station announced that if the city didn't exercise its option to purchase the Truman Annex that the Navy might choose to keep the base. Sullivan was not sure why Navy Secretary John Lehmen had given an indication of possibly taking the property off the market. However, given the current political turmoil in the Carribean—as well as increasing possibilities of military action against terrorists worldwide, the option to improve Naval operations in the region may prove more valuable to the U.S. Government. A few days later, it was suggested that the Navy might only by interested in the Truman "Little White House." Nonetheless, many Key Westers agree that, if this were to happen, they would welcome the return of a stronger Naval presence in the city. "It would mean jobs, real jobs, good jobs" said Commissioner Jimmy Weekley. Occidental Land Development Group repre- sentatives Lynn Kephart said at last Friday's meeting that he would be back at the RDA's next meeting with additional information about that company's bid to lease and develop the property. George Perrin, of the Engineering firm Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan and the current Secretary of KWHD implied that he too might be back with proposals since doors had now been "re-opened to any and all proposals." Cook Inlet Region, the Alaskan Indian Group, is watching the progress of this sale and, given both their admirable track record with other historic property developments and their repu- tation for outbidding the competition, the city would be wise to seriously consider speaking to them about what they might do should the property go up for public auction. One of the more unusual possibilities comes from Key West newcomer Robert Card of Mar- garet Street who, earlier this month, proposed a grass-roots fundraising effort to buy the pro- perty for the city. At last week's RDA meeting, he claimed to have been in touch with a large corporation which he suggested might be inter- ested in purchasing the entire Anrjex property but which was really only interested in possible uses of Tank Island. The entire remainder of the mainland property, he said, might be donated back to the city for tax purposes. Card said that, if his negotiations were successful, a bid an- nouncement would be made this week. There can be no doubt that numerous other developers have been waiting in the wings but have made no formal bids since the RDA has been legally tied to the KWHD deal until now. The Great Hueso Hope The apparent foot-dragging and lack of com- munication from KWHD over the past month seems to some to have been a great disservice to the city—as if the message they were sending was that, if they couldn't have it, they'd wait until the very last minute and make sure none else could have it either. After all, the default was based on the fact that KWHD hadn't even bothered to say "no." They just didn't call. Others see this as a blessing in disguise. It certainly makes for a stronger case to the GSA 51 that the city and the RDA were acting in good faith and that now, with the deadline here, both are over a barrel, but still working diligently toward some solution. One option which RDA Boardmember Robert Kruse says he has heard voiced more than any other is the option for the city to purchase the land itself. As we suggested last month, if KWHD had been planning to sell-off development rights to numerous other companies, the city could cer- tainly do the same. "The ball is certainly in the city's and the RDA's court right now," says Kruse. "With the right economic and developmental expertise, the city could purchase the property itself and I can't imagine that, managed properly and with a long-range lease, it wouldn't pay for itself—without it being a terrible burden to tax- payers. In fact, it could be the greatest single boon to the city in years. "Properties two blocks away on Duval Street are worth about $1 Million per acre. As times change and, if the city can find the vision to look at this transfer in terms of long term uses and benefits, I have no doubt that the return on $13.8 Million would be at least in the range of $50 - 60 Million . . . enough to pay for city improvements which otherwise will be placed on tax-payers. "The businesses and artists renting space now are important to the city. Had this deal gone through, they'd be facing huge rent increases or evictions. We need to recognize the value of attracting people like this and making it possible for them to stay and survive. The extremely low rents could be somewhat in- creased. We could offer longer leases and encour- age people to make their own improvements for credits. Many of the businesses there have said clearly that they'd like to have a chance to buy the buildings they now lease. "Mel Fisher doesn't want to leave and I don't think the city wants to lose him. "The existing parking lots alone generate $75,000 each year. We could open more space just for parking, alleviate the congestion down- town, and put the moneys towards the lease payments. We could create a Recreational vehi- cle campground, bringing RV tourists to the city and generating $300,000 - 400,000 a year. "The Customs House is in a prime commer- cial area. I can't imagine that someone wouldn't want to lease it for offices or shops. "The city could sell small parcels for worth- while endeavors to make the mortgage pay- ments and, in time, it would be ours. "There's so much to be done and what we need now are fresh ideas—from everybody. We need expert financial and legal advice, accurate assessments of properties and possible sources of income, and the willingness of the citizens and the city officials to look to the future rather than bicker over differences of opinion. GSA: "It's Not Over Yet!" Last month, we reported that, according to Earl Jones, Commissioner for Federal Property Resource Management for the GSA in Washing- ton, the GSA, even if it did not give any more extension on this sale, would be willing to listen to proposals by the city. Last week, Barney Maltby of the Atlanta GSA office reiterated that position to RDA board- members saying that it would be early Fall before a public auction would take place and that, if, in the meantime, the city or the RDA could work out an alternative deal, they would be receptive to it. Otherwise, if the GSA did not get a public auction bid of $13.8 or more, they would be forced to re-assess the property, go back to Con- gress for re-approval and start over again them- selves—a process that could take them a year or more. Since they have a mandate from the Rea- gan administration to unload the property as a means of decreasing the national deficit, they'd rather take a sure offer from Key West than take the risk of opening the bids and possibly finding less then they wanted. But there's even better news than that: Representatives of the firm Cahill, Gordon & Reindel of Washington D.C. came this month to Key West and studied the procedural documen- tation of the RDA-GSA deal and found that the GSA itself had failed to follow required govern- mental procedures: 1. In 1983, following Navy decisions to change the size fo the property to be disposed of and Navy "freezes" on the sale, a revised offer for sale came forth. The GSA, as required by statute and regulation, did not provide notice to the city government which has jurisdiction over zoning, to allow the city to zone it in accordance with local comprehensive planning prior to it being offered for sale. As such the price determined by the GSA for the property was 'wholly inconsis- tent with the existing comprehensive plan and the zoning intentions of the city." According to an affidavit from Key West City Planner Art Moseley The RDA's proposal "con- templates development approximately twice as dense . . . as that in existence elsewhere in the . city of Key West." In addition, the report clearly documents that the price was based on errone- ous comparisons with various properties else- where. and 2. the GSA also failed, as mandated by Sec- tion 2 of the National Enviromental Protection Act, to prepare a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement about the environmental consequences (e.g. sewer and waste effects) to the city. The memorandum, sent to the GSA this week, asks for a 90-day extension so that these legal matters may be attended to. Given all of the above, "Square One" may be a great place to be. 52 From the Key West Garden Ctub The Naturalist in Key West by Cynthia Edwards B eware of some moth caterpillars that are hatching out in May—they may sting. Nothing really serious for most people, though; the stings usually cause minor skin irritations and only extremely sensitive indivi- duals experience more severe reactions. Sphinx caterpillars are green with jagged white bars along their sides and each has a horn on its posterior. Toxins are contained in hair- like projections on the body. Other common names are tomato worm and tobacco worm. The Sphinx moth is 2W - 3 inches across, gray, speckled with black or white and can be seen flitting around lights at night. Concealed by its gray or light brown "fur" are the stinging spines of the puss caterpillar. The moth is a black and white night flyer. Quarter-inch stinging spines cover the io moth caterpillar's body, which is an eye-catching chartreuse green with a longitudinal russet stripe and a parallel white stripe. It is about VA inches long while the adult moth is a huge, three inch, fuzzy dark brown thing. Migrating monarch butterflies usually fly over Central America on their way north, but strong, cool northwesterly winds can blow them off course and down over the keys, where they are frequently seerv^ Fragile-looking zebra butterflies will be lay- ing eggs this time of the year. The butterflies are about 2 - 2% inches across, wider than they are long, resulting in an ovoid silhouette, and nar- row yellow stripes arching over a black back- ground. A giant swallowtail butterfly has been drifting among the orchid-festooned walls of the West Martello Tower-Joe Allen Garden Center. Its yel- low and black markings compliment perfectly the early morning sunlight and shadows of the tropical garden. "Swallowtail" refers to the long, streamer-like appearance of its lower wings. Overall length of the giant swallowtail may be up to five inches. It's caterpillar, the 1 orange dog caterpillar, is unpopular with some Keys gardeners because it favors citrus plants, but many are willing to tolerate a certain amount of damage in order to enjoy the beauty and grace of this butterfly sharing their natural world. A mounted and labeled butterfly collection is on display inside the fort at the center, which is open, free, to the public during the day from Wednesdays through Sundays. That heady, very sweet scent wafting on the breezes throughout town is jasmine, classic scent of the tropics. It blooms several times a year here, and May is one of them. It seems to intensify with the soft dampness of settling evening dew. Even the slightest breeze will set off the whispering of the dry light brown pods filling the still-leafless woman's tongue tree. Their tiny, pinnate leaves will be coming out later in the spring. Silky new spring-green leaves have been pushing off the old ones on mahoganies all over town. Dead old leaves can be seen on the ground beneath the trees which are never bare—in the spring the old foliage is simply displaced by the new. The grove at Bayview Park shimmers with delicate verdure. Dynamite trees in Bayview Park also have fresh new leaves. The name of this tree is derived from the exploding sound of its. hard, circular seed pods when they fall to the ground and pop open to release the seeds. The tree can be identi- fied easily from its strange bark which is covered with short, nasty, hooked thorns on small, pimply bumps. Two pairs of blue-winged teal were seen feed- ing with an American coot at the salt ponds, where, only a week earlier a flock of about 20 was seen. The spring duck migration is drawing to a close. A lone merganser hunkered plumply on a shallow mangrove spit nearby. Soon the resident herons and egrets will have the place to themselves again. Looking like a punk rocker with wildly spiked hair, a reddish egret in full breeding plumage stalked the shal- lows, the wind ruffling the long russet feathers standing up on his head and along his neck. A nearby Louisiana, or tricolor, heron winced.at low-flying aircraft but held his ground. The dis- tinctive longitudinal white stripe down the front of its long blue-gray neck sets it apart. The common nighthawk and the Antillean nighthawk look very similar but the Antillean breeds only in the Florida Keys. They're both about nine inches long, a mottled dark, dark brown with white wing patches, long pointed wings and slightly forked tails. At dusk they can be spotted flying about in open spaces chasing bugs. Birders say the best way to tell them apart is by their call: the Antillean nighthawk says a bright "kiddle-dee-dee;" the common nighthawk emits a vulgar "phfffft." People come for miles to see the mangrove cuckoo in the Florida Keys. The ocean side of Sugarloaf Key is considered to be a prime loca- tion for this shy and rare bird. Least terns have just arrived on Key West and can be seen on Higgs Beach where, beginning in May, they will nest on the flat marl. These small, slender seabirds will choose any flat place for their nests, including alongside Route One and the roofs of a building, such as Sears or sheds at Truman Annex. Noisy, brilliant green flocks of wild parakeets streak from treetop to treetop in the morning and evening, startling resident and tourist alike. These long-tailed exotics are a real pest in South Florida because they love to eat the fruit in orchards and make a squawky racket during their peregrinations. By contrast, the beautiful trilling of mock- ingbirds has been heard less and less as mates are found and nesting begun. Soon the whining of hungry young mockingbirds will replace their parents' songs. As spring greenery phases into summer colors, Mother's Day in Key West is marked by bloom- ing of the spectacular royal poinciana, the umbrella-shaped trees with feathery leaves. The streets of the town will be canopied with every shade from bright orange to velvety red and the ground carpeted with soft flower petals. 53 We specialize in "Matching People and Places' 294-5155RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT PROPERTY REALTY^ INC. YOU'RE INVITED! to visit our office In the "Oldest School House" building 336 Duval (comer of Eaton Street) Edward B. Knight, Realtor S, Roosevelt 8c Bertha condominiums by the sea 294-4770 ADVANCED Medical Service»Sales»Rentals Formerly . . - > A THE CONVALESCENT Now Presents Our New Line BRRCO UNIFORMS Along with Our NuigeMat SHOES 294-3326 927 White St. Family and Health Services EMERGENCIES Ambulance 296-2401 or 911 Fire 296-2828 or 911 HELPLINE/Latch Key Program 296-HELP, 294-LINE Missing Children 1-800-342-0821 Poison Control (24 hours)... 1-800-282-3171 Police 911 or 294-2511 Rape Victim Advocacy Program 294-5531 x4766 Sheriff 296-2424 EDUCATION Adult Education 294-5212 Child Find (FDLRS) 296-7541 Downtown Center, FKCC 294-8481 Exceptional Student Education.... 296-7541 Florida Keys Community College.. 296-9081 Monroe County Schools 296-6523 Parenting Skills Classes 296-5911 RECREATION Armed Services YMCA 296-6616 Boy Scouts 745-3987 City of Key West Recreation Dept... 294-3721 Girl Scouts 745-3737 Monroe County Public Library 294-8488 CHILD ABUSE Child Abuse Office, FKMH 294-5531 Child Protective Services, HRS 294-9513 Child Protection Team, FKMH 294-5531 Coalition Against Child Abuse 294-5531 Guardian Ad-Litem 296-7518 Parenting Classes, FKMH 294-5531 Parents Anonymous . . . 296-HELP, 294-LINE Puppet Show 294-5531 Reporting, HRS . . . 1-800-342-9152,294-1050 Volunteer Child Advocacy Team . . . 294-5531 NAVY Counseling & Assistance Center 292-2533 Family Advocacy 296-2461 Navy Alcohol Safety Action Program 292-2555 Navy Family Service Center 292-3152 Navy Relief 292-2196 DAY CARE See Yellow Pages listing for day nurseries and child care. SOCIAL SERVICES Big Brothers & Big Sisters 294-9891 Commodity Food Bank 294-8468 Community Control 294-1059 Developmental Services 294-1059 Domestic Abuse Shelter 296-HELP, 294-LINE Juvenile Alternative Services Program 296-7465 Monroe County Food Bank 294-8468 Monroe County Social Services . . . . 294-8468 HEALTH Al-Anon 296-6616, 294-5531 Ala-Teen 296-6616 Alcoholics Anonymous 296-8654 Blind Services 1-800-342-1828 Chemical Dependency Unit, Delphos 294-5531 Childbirth Education .. . 294-3490, 294-4536 Easter Seal 294-1089 Family Planning 294-1021 Hello Baby 294-5531 Helping Hand Stroke Club 294-5531 Hospice 294-8812 Improved Pregnancy Outcome LaLeche Foundation LaMaze 294-1068, MARC House - Detox Mental Health Care Center Monroe County Health Dept Narcotics Anonymous Nutrition Program Ostomy Support Classes Overeaters Anonymous Up Front/Drug Information .. 1-800- Well Baby/Medicaid Clinic W.l.C. (Women, Infants & Children) 294-1021 745-2274 294-4218 743-6551 294-5237 294-1021 296-7999 294-1021 296-8659 294-5183 432-8255 294-1021 2941021 MISCELLANEOUS Adoptions 294-9513 Birth Certificates 294-1021 Family Resource Center, FKMH.... 294-5531 Foster Homes: Information & Licensing 294-9513 Legal Services 294-4641 x358 National Switchboard for Runaways 1-800-621-4000 Red Cross 296-3651 Salvation Army 294-5611 Single Parent Hotline 1-800-638-9675 Victim Witness Assistance Program 294-5165 Welcome Home Ministries 296-2366 Zonta 296-4357 FABRIC WORLD ViAnn Stange 613 Simonton St., Key West, FL 33040 305-294-1773 Robert W. Douville, M.D. , P.A. KEY WEST EYE CLINIC HOBEET W. DOUVILLE, M.D. Eye Physician and Surgeon 1111 12th Street, Suite 107 Key West, Florida 33040 (305)294-8494 GIBSON APPLIANCES BOA'S SERVICE "B&st Service In Town" 825 DUVAL STREET KEY WEST, FLORIDA 33040 "WE SERVICE AIL BRANDS OF APPIIANCES" 305 296-2403 JOHN'S MOBILE AUTO REPAIR SERVICE ON THE SPOT CALL 294-1724 Low Hourly Rotes Certified Mechanic Off lleu ttunznt Saton

1986-05 Solares Hill Newspaper, Vol. 14 No. 5, May 1986

Publication

Florida Keys History Center

Name/Title

Collection