Before my recent trip to Key West, I asked a friend, who had been there, his impressions. My friend, who grew up in New Orleans, replied "It's a low rent Bourbon Street." I certainly get the comparison. But you can't discount all the party spots in American simply because they are not New Orleans. Certainly, it's true that other spots pale in comparison to the Cajun Queen, but they have their own merit nonetheless.
Such is the case with Key West. L, our son A and I just returned from 5 days in Key West. I have to say, the food was a bit of a disappointment. Mostly beach food, nothing truly outstanding. The best dinner we had was at Maison de Pepe, a fun, touristy cuban joint located right in the heart of Mallory Square (where the nightly sunset celebration occurs). When eating in Key West, focus on fish and cuban food and you should do fine. (Don't, as my husband did, order a pasta dish at a seafood restuarant. That's just dumb.)
What's fun about Key West is the whole surreal-ness of it all. I think most islands develop a certain surreal quality to them. It takes a certain personality to choose the island lifestyle. Key West embodies that attitude. The history of Key West is marked by a fierce sense of independence. I think, at one point, Key West tried to secede from the US and named itself the Conch Republic.
The main attraction in Key West is Old Town, or more specifically Duval Street which consists of a mile and half of endless bars, restaurants, offensive tee shirt stores, art galleries, and other opportunities to buy crap that says "Key West" on it. But it's fun. People are REALLY enjoying themselves. Certainly, I was raised not to have a cocktail before 12:00 pm, but in Key West, I was in the minority. Every morning when I walked by a bar and saw someone sitting there drinking a beer, I'd have to check my watch. What time is it??
It's not so much the bar scene that made it surreal. It was a series of other things: it was the friendliness of the homeless alcoholics. If you're going be a homeless alcoholic, Key West is the place to do that. Since everyone there is in some state of intoxication, the homeless alcoholics feel a little more like part of the team. In normal society, they are ostracized. Not so much in Key West. So they join your conversation as you walk by, or they start random conversations with you. They loved my son and wanted to know all about him. They were not at all afraid to ask personal questions about his background.
We also loved the drag queens, who really rule the town. To say this town is "gay friendly" is an understatement. (But all good party towns are!)
One night, L & I got a sitter so we could do some partying on Duval Street sans two year old. We heard about a "clothing optional" rooftop bar so we decided we had to check it out. Upon entering the bar, we were greeted by a group of fully dressed patrons all watching a smaller group of naked couples dancing. Naked drunk couples in their 60s. Who had been in Key West for a LONG time. Now I doubt these people had just randomly come up to the bar and took their clothes off and started dancing. I'm pretty sure that the bar paid these people (probably in alcohol) to dance naked every night. Regardless, I felt like I was in a Stanely Kubrick movie.
Another surreal incident occurred one afternoon when the three of us were walking downtown to catch the sunset celebration (surreal in itself). As we were walking, we heard a loud crash, followed by loud moans and the sound of glass breaking. We looked to our right, and saw a guy riding a bike had just smashed into a car parked on the street. We asked him if he was ok. He didn't even look at us (and we were 3 feet away). He grunted "yeah" and got back on his bike and sped away. It was 5:30 in the afternoon! Man, that was a surreal incident that scared the crap out of me!
I think the most surreal event was watching the Catman's show. As I mentioned before, every night at sunset, a celebration ensues in Mallory Square (located at on the pier on the tip of Old Town.) Street performers amass and shows go on all over the square. But the best show, the only one to see is the Catman.
The Catman has been performing in Key West for quite a number of years. He looks just like Mr. Burns on the Simpons, only with long, shaggy gray hair. He has a thick accent (French, I think) which makes him somewhat indecipherable. Well, it could be that he's talking nonsense and that's why it seemed indecipherable. He was a certifiable mad man. His show involved his cats jumping through hoops, and catching treats in their paws, and culminated with the cats jumping through rings of fire. (How the hell do you teach a cat to do this??) Both my son and my husband were entranced with the Catman. I thought my child was going to have seizures of delight watching the Catman's bizarre antics.
Go to Key West, the carribean New Orleans. You'll sure to be entertained!
