While speaking at the Key West Literary Seminar poet
Mark Doty said that although “he was never actually here,” Hart Crane
“loved Key West.” Crane loved Key West because by all reports it was the
opposite of Ohio.*
Hart Crane
A while back I watched HGTV's Urban Oasis giveaway of a sleek high rise condo at Miami's Paramount Bay. I
mused
about winning the $900,000 condo and then thought to myself "Self, if
you win, you will have to pay income tax on that thing. Do you really
want to own a condo in Miami where people get shot and killed
daily for no reason? Do you want to live in a place
where most people don't speak English and have a culture that is alien
to you? Do you really want to live up in the sky?" I must confess that I filled
out the online registration. I figured if I won I could sell the condo
and make a few bucks because I really, truly, would never want to live in
Miami just as much as I would not want to live in Ohio.
If you live in Ohio, please don't be
offended. I'm sure that a lot of nice people live there. I sold houses to two
different Ohio couples in the past. They area really nice people who really
didn't
like living in Ohio in the winter when it was so cold and miserable. And
they didn't like Ohio much more in the summer when it is so muggy. No,
they dreamed of owning a little house in Key
West where they could live a much more comfortable climate and a lead a less harried pace of life.
One young
couple bought a house I wrote about in my blog. I
saw the mom and the two girls in their stroller one Sunday morning as I
was taking photos for my blog. I asked how things were going, and she
responded "I'll never leave Key West!" The other couple is older and
don't have children. They bought a house a quintessential Key West cottage. I saw them driving their Key West
convertible with the top down. They were in the turn lane at White and
Truman. I asked how they were doing and they said something like "loving
life".
Another
couple from the northeast decided to buy a big lot in the Casa Marina
area where they built their dream home from scratch. They hired a noted Key
West architect, an accomplished landscape architect, and a very competent
builder to turn their vision into reality. The photos above show the
view from their master bedroom and the new pool and gardens. The pool view is a dramatic alternative to the view from the high rise Miami condo. Which place do you think Hart Crane would have preferred? If you are thinking about buying a place in Key West, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let me help you find your place in Paradise.
*CLICK HERE to read this most interesting account about Hart Crane written by Key West's Mark Howell in ABOUT THE BEATS.