We have always walked by the Custom House in Key West and I always thought it looked like a cool building, but we never got around to actually going inside until this past visit. It’s definitely worth the effort! The Custom House is home to the Key West Museum of Art & History, which contains a treasure trove of fascinating exhibits and artifacts that include Ernest Hemingway, Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway, the USS Maine, the great folk art of Mario Sanchez and much more. Don’t miss it!
Florida Keys
Blue Heaven
A Key West landmark, Blue Heaven is our favorite breakfast spot on the island. I had the lobster and cheddar omelette, which was outstanding! Another one of my recommendations is the lobster BLT benny. Don’t leave without sampling the incredible banana bread. Blue Heaven is located just 2 blocks off Duval at the corner or Petronia and Thomas streets.
Fort Zachary Taylor
We rode bikes to one of our favorite Key West spots, Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. Normally we just relax on the beach, snorkel and swim to the rocks. However, this time I decided to take a self-guided tour of the actual fort itself. Very rewarding!
Key West Bars
Nothing beats the laid-back atmosphere, great drinks, and eclectic live music that can be found at Key West bars! We have many favorites with Schooner Wharf Bar at the top of the list!
Eden House Key West
We spent three night at the Eden House at 1015 Fleming Street in Key West and immensely enjoyed our experience! Great location, friendly staff and perfect amenities, including a tropically landscaped pool, hot tub and tiki bar. Highly recommended!
Geiger Key Marina
A hidden gem (we drove right past the exit and kept cruising down the Overseas Highway the first time we tried to find it!), the Geiger Key Marina, RV Park & Fish Camp lives up to its reputation as “the way the Keys used to be.” We stopped here for lunch on our way to Key West. Great waterfront view, good drink selection and outstanding food (I highly recommend the Seared Tuna Nachos). Oh yeah, we bought some cool T-shirts as well. In fact, this place was one of the highlights of our Keys trip!
Make Voyages
“Make voyages!—Attempt them!—there’s nothing else!” – Tennessee Williams
East Martello Tower Museum, Key West, 1956
“A Civil War Fort, in Florida. Now a Historical Art Museum.”
Tennessee Williams in Key West
“I went down to Key West because I love swimming . . . It was January, and I had to go someplace where I could swim in the winter so I came down here because it was the southernmost point, and I was immediately enchanted by the place. It was so much more primitive in those early days.” – Tennessee Williams (1911-83), quoted in Pop Culture Florida (2000) by James P. Goss
“Williams chose Key West as the first place to settle down after his newfound fame. A visitor to the island in 1941, he moved there after Glass debuted on Broadway and lived briefly at the La Concha Hotel, where he is thought to have finished the first draft of another highly personal play, A Streetcar Named Desire, set in New Orleans. In 1949, he bought a home at 1431 Duncan Street, the only residence he would ever own outright.” – Florida Artists Hall of Fame Bio
“Tennessee Williams visited and lived in Key West from 1941 until his death in 1983. It is believed that he wrote the final draft of Street Car Named Desire while staying at the La Concha Hotel in Key West in 1947. He established residence here in 1949 and in 1950 bought the house at 1431 Duncan Street that was his home for 34 years. He was part of the literary movement that resulted in Key West and the Florida Keys being recognized as the cultural and historical location it is today.” – Tennessee Williams Museum Bio
Logun’s Lobster House
“On the south end of Duval Street, just before you hit the water, there used to be a restaurant flanked by red fringed umbrellas with a thatched tiki bar inside. ‘Logun’s Lobster House’ the sign read, and if you wandered into the seaside lot on the right night in the early ’70s, you might have heard a long-haired young Jimmy Buffett play with his band.
‘The first gig we did as the Coral Reefer Band, we did at Logun’s Lobster House, and it was a dollar a ticket,’ says Jimmy Buffett. ‘David had a table on the front row, and at the table was Truman Capote, John Malcolm Brinnin, Dotson Rader, and a few other people.’
The ‘David’ in question was David Wolkowsky, longtime friend and patron of Buffett’s. A few years before the Logun’s gig, in 1968, Wolkowsky opened the Pier House Resort at the north end of Duval Street. The Miami Herald called the opening ‘the turning point in Key West’s transformation from washed-up military outpost to funky tourist destination.’ Wolkowsky recognized the glitter of Key West under the grime of neglect and economic depression. And he recognized something special in Jimmy Buffett. ‘One of the great attributes of his was his tolerance of crazy people … me included,’ he says.” – Keys Weekly
Wandering Florida 