The Seedy Side of Key West
 

Recently returned from a visit to Key West that did not begin auspiciously:

http://polloplayer.wordpress.com/201...y-in-key-west/

I will say, however, that we did end up enjoying ourselves there and despite this rough start I would say it is a must-see when in FL.

You need me to be your Key West tour guide Katydidnt. That construction has been a pain in the arse for a couple of years now but suppose to be done yesterday. I hope you went to Hemingway's house. I have never set foot inside the Hard Rock in KW. We went to the first one opened in Orlando but that was enough. KW has so many great places to see off of Duval.

Hi flpab,

Well I wish you HAD been our guide - with just a precious two days there we should have spent the first one better. But yes, next day we went to Hemingway House - I will do a post on that next week.

Where do you think the best place to stay in KW is? The Westin was good, I would have loved to stay out on Sunset Key but very expensive and for our first trip there it was better for us to be in town.

The charm of Key West is in the small inns that are run by the locals... too many people look for key west at the Chain hotels and that has zero ties with Old Town... some of the old can be found at places like www.historickeywestinns.com and at The Gardens Hotel, Marquesa House, but even these properties have modernized...

katydidnt research and ended up falling into the Tourist Trap that is Key West today... only about 20% of the charm of Key West from 25 years ago remains after the big money moved in...

even Sloppy Joes is not the original location, just a commercialized money machine down the street from the tavern that Hemmingway parked at...

In all, the Westin, Hilton, Hyatt and any chain there is NOT anywhere you should stay in Key West... you might as well be at your local mall... try a place like the Chelsea House, where you can get a room overlooking the Nude Sundeck (if they still allow it)...

We stay on Trumbo point. That huge fly Navy building you see when you come into town is Trumbo. We can stay there, condos or trailers. We are retired Navy and my husband was stationed there in the 80's. We ride our bikes everywhere but have our local stops and over on Truman annex have a beach on the Navy base that has the true southernmost point. I always tell people to stay at Truman annex in a rental but there are some great B&Bs as Gary22 said.

The Truman Annex area looked very appealing! If we go back I will definitely check on staying there.

I also saw what looked like a large inn on a beach point not far from the Sourthernmost Marker, I believe. I didn't see the name of it but it looked interesting from the outside.

Next time, try The Gardens Hotel. It is just a little bit of Heaven on earth. I recommend you try Michaels, Deuce's Off the Hook Grill, Seven Fish or Sarabeths. All great places to dine.

charsuzan - looked up the Gardens Hotel and it does indeed look like the place to stay! Thanks for the tip!

Garyt22 says it all. If you want to stay at the Gardens, book early!

We stayed at the Mermaid and Alligator B&B and it was the highlight of our trip

I see nothing seedy about Key West in your trip report.

I loved your comment that the only class you saw on Duval was the gay bars. There's a reason for that. (And yes, before I get slammed let me say my tongue is firmly in my cheek -- although there is a bit of wisdom in my comment). Most gays love to feel that we're classier than most straights. In Key West the straights tend to make that a pretty simple goal!

Patrick... we can let you have that one... this time...

My favorite drag show of all time was some years ago at LaTiDah on Duval... so many of the walk in tourist crowd had no idea what they were in for... and got "thoroughly entertained"...

NeoPatrick - touche! :-)

I gather you missed the weekend nights when all those upper class people from Miami head down for the weekend and "drag Duval" in their pickup trucks.

Dukey, thanks for providing a good example of what I meant about making the goal pretty simple.