617 Fleming Street #2 - Key West

617 Fleming Street

The Campbell Courtyard Condominiums  are located at 617 Fleming Street just a little over one block east of Duval Street. The location is close enough to Duval Street and the Historic Key West Seaport that you can be in either place in about five minutes or less. But they are far enough away from the hooting and hollering that happens from time to time. Many of the neighboring properties are among the finest examples of the grand architecture for which Key West is known. And there are still some untouched houses that make our Old Town area so appealing. The area is chic but not too chic. CLICK HERE to view a Google aerial view of the location.

The Campbell Courtyard Condos were "developed" or assembled from a group of unrelated buildings into a cluster which share an incredibly inviting pool and garden. The nine units quickly sold, and there has been a slow turnover of ownership since then. The main building shown above was built in the 1920s and the eyebrow cottage (just below) was built in the 1890s. All buildings were thoroughly renovated during the condo conversion.

Unit #2 was just listed, but not by me, at the asking price of $449,000. This two bedroom, two bath unit has 840 sq ft of living space under air plus a private semi-enclosed patio located adjacent to the inviting pool.  The unit has an assigned off street parking spot and is also offered furnished.

 I think this unit would make a wonderfull Key West getaway place or a full time residence for the person or couple who has dreamed of owning a cute little place in the Old Town area. Remember I said this place is furnished - from the furniture to the pots and pans. You need only bring  your toothbrush(s)!  The covered patio is probably where you will spend much of your time. It is located just off the living room. It has a curved lattice privacy wall that permits you to see out to the pool and garden but offers privacy as well.

The unit has two full bedrooms and two full baths. The master bedroom has a wrap around windows of a sort that permits diffused light from the east into the bedroom. The kitchen has windows that look out to the pool. What a pleasant view that is. CLICK HERE to view a slideshow of photos of this unit and the compound.

 
Notable Neighbors include:  Cafe Marquesa at 600 Fleming Street, Sarabeth's at 530 Simonton Street, Eaton Street Seafood Company at 801 Eaton Street, and Monroe County Library at 700 Fleming Street.

600 Fleming Street

530 Simonton Street

801 Eaton Street

Monroe County Library on Fleming Street

If you would like to see Campbell Courtyard Unit #2 or any other property in Key West please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or send me an email at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc.

Naked Man Walking - Key West

There are two things I love about Key West: our wonderful weather and that life never is predictable. Take for example an incident that occurred a few years back when I was riding my bike to the gym. It was very dark at about 6:00 A.M. I was riding on Washington Street just west of the El Patio Motel when I saw a young man in his early 20s walking down the street. He was totally nude. He walked to my left. I looked back. Yep, he was buck naked.. No doubt about it. I thought to myself that's too odd even for Key West. I circled the block and found a public phone at the youth hostel on South Street where I called the police. The officer asked me to describe the naked man. How was I supposed to answer that?

I got back on my bike and rode over to the corner of Reynolds and Washington which was the area where the nude dude should have reached by that point.  I saw a young woman at the bus stop and asked if she had seen the nude man. She had.  She said he disappeared behind some houses and asked me to wait with her until her bus came or the police arrived. I did.

About 5 to 10 minutes elapsed before the police finally arrived. The nude man had totally vanished at this point. I flagged the cops' attention  He got out of his car to ask why I called the police. I started to describe what  I had seen earlier then saw the unclad lad emerge from between two apartment buildings. As I write this I just recalled the guy was then carrying a baseball bat. He did not have that before.  The cop saw him and walked toward him with his fleshlight drawn and said "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" He took the kid to the poky. Later that day I looked at the Monroe County Sheriff's office website. The naked bat boy was being held on a mental health hold.

You never know what you will see in Key West. That's just part of the fun about living in Paradise.

2434 Linda Avenue - Bank Owned - Key West

 
The recently listed Bank Owned house at 2434 Linda Avenue in the Mid Town area of Key West ought to appeal to Key Westers looking for a large family home in a nice neighborhood.  The Monroe County Property Appraiser shows this home has 1476 sq ft of living space. It looks as though a garage was enclosed to create living space for a mother-in-law or an out of work uncle.

Mother in law entrance is shown above

The listing Realtors describes the property:
"Nice family home conveniently located close to everything. This property consists of 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and sits on a large corner lot. Home is moving in ready and waiting for you."

This ranch style house was built in 1952 is CBS construction with an asphalt single roof. Most of the other homes in the immediate area were built around the same time and were of similar design and construction. I walked the block and noted how the yards are all different and how individual owners have added onto the homes.  Many of the neighboring properties have metal roofs, privacy fences in front and rear, and lushly landscaped yards. CLICK HERE to view the mls datasheet and to view listing photos. 

2434 Linda Avenue sits on an enormous 7566 sq ft lot. The corner lot is located at the intersection of Linda Avenue and Government Road which leads to the back side of the mangroves and salt ponds to the south.  Click GOOGLE MAP for an aerial perspective of the location and then click the toggle switch for a street view. Walk the street and checkout the neighborhood. There are some very nice homes in this area.

In 2010 this home benefited of over $37,000 in the airport noise abatement program that included the replacement of windows, doors, addition of insulation, and new new split system air conditioning.  Electiric system upgrades included "INSTALL BRANCH CIRCUITRY AND AHH, CU AND 3 SPLIT DUCTLESS A/C SYSTEM, SMOKE DETECTORS WITH ASSOC BOXES AND OVER-CURRENT PROTECTION; EXTEND EXISTING SUB-FEED PANEL TO ENW 100 AMP LOAD CENTER WITH ASSOC CONDUIT AND FEEDERS". This, Dear Reader, is money well spent and it is something a new homeowner will benefit from for years.

The house was in an area that flooded during Wilma. It looked to me as though everything was was replaced on the inside including drywall, kitchen, and bath.  There is new tile and wood flooring throughout. 

In my opinion there is an overly large and obtrusive patio type roof that overwhelms the back of this home. I think a former owner might have used the area as a covered work space. A new owner could rip that sucker off and take advantage of the really large yard. There is an existing small building that a new owner might convert to a pool house or bar overlooking the new pool.  The back area is huge. Use it! The front, side, and back yards would look so much more attractive and provide much more privacy if a nice fence was installed around the property. Finally, a new owner should do some much needed landscaping. This home would look so much better if the hard edges were honed with some soft-scaping.

 I took some additional photos which you can view if you CLICK HERE.  Better than that why don't you call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 and schedule a showing for this nice family sized home that is affordably priced. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West, Florida. 

Florida Keys Waterfront Home - Cudjoe Key

90 foot lap pool overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

You might call this 90 foot pool overlooking the Atlantic Ocean the lap of luxury. The 3384 sq ft home is located at 20874  W 9th Avenue on Cudjoe Cudjoe Key at Mile Marker 20, about a 20 minute drive out from Key West. The house sits just at the end of a canal that provides immediate access to the Atlantic Ocean. The house is located on an 18,960 sq ft lot with all major views oriented toward the water. Click GOOGLE MAP for an aerial view of this waterfront property.

The listing Realtor at Preferred Properties (that's where I work but this is not my listing) describes this incredible property this way:

"On a spectacular elevated vantage point with outstanding panoramic views straight to the Ocean is this spacious home. The true focal point of this home is the vast living/ dining area inside which opens to a covered lanai overlooking a 90 Foot lap pool and hot tub. There is a spacious family room off the large kitchen. There Two nice size bedrooms on one side of the home which share a hall bath, and large laundry room. The Master suite is complete with a large sitting area, Ocean views and an oversized bath room. There is a two car garage and parking for many cars in the semi-circle driveway. Davits for a boat and certainly room for your friends boat as well. Just 20 minutes from downtown Key West."

 From the moment you enter this expansive home your eyes are drawn through the living areas out to the pool and then past the mangroves and finally to the space where the sea meets the sky. This is glorious. The living areas are located in the middle of the home which separates the master suite on the east and the family bedrooms or guest areas on the west. 

Living room

Informal dining area

When I first entered the home my eyes were immediately drawn to the left beyond the bring living area shown above and past the informal dining area to the mangroves and water. Just to the right was the formal dining room and beyond it was the large kitchen with a large window with an incredible view of the pool and open water beyond.

I couldn't wait any longer. I had to step outside to see for myself how wonderful the outdoor space was to be.

The family room is seen above

The spa and 90 foot lap pool

The master suite is larger than some of the two story homes in Truman Annex. And the views are just incredible. The master suite has immediate access to the pool area, but there is an inside spa in the master bath.

The home has its own 125' private dock with two davits

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and to view more listing photos of this luxury Key West area home that is offered at $1,950,000.

If you would like to view the lap of luxury up close or if you would like to see any other home in Key West, I would appreciate your phone call. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West. Please call me Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule your showing.

Chicago - 1968 Democratic National Convention

I was just twenty-one years old in August 1968 when I arrived at Chicago to attend the Democratic National Convention. I had participated in the delegate selection process in Colorado used back then to select delegates to attend the county, state, and national convention. I had been actively involved in politics since age 17 when I formed the Jefferson County Teen Democrats and later became a college director for the Colorado Young Dems.

I believe it was late March 1968 when I drove from Ft Collins, Colorado to attend a speech  in Denver being given by Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was running for President.  Kennedy spoke at the old downtown arena which has since been torn down. After the speech I got to go to a special area where I got to meet him personally. He was so thin. His hair was very gray and his gray suit was crumpled. I still remember him as being distracted or not with the moment. He seemed aloof or not wanting to be where he was.

A couple of weeks later Kennedy had to cut short his campaigning to announce the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the crowd that had assembled to hear Kennedy speak in Indianapolis.  A month later Kennedy was assassinated. The country had gone mad, or so it seemed. King's death prompted riots across America. Kennedy's death was like the straw that broke the camel's back. How much more violence could we as a people endure?

I think it was late June or early July when I received a phone call inviting me to meet Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in his hotel suite at the Denver Hilton. I supported Eugene McCarthy, but I couldn't pass up the invite. Humphrey on that day was the opposite of Kennedy. He was very much in the moment. He was campaigning for every vote he could get at the convention which was weeks away. He was gregarious and at least acted like he really cared that each person in that hotel room mattered to him. I left still supporting McCarthy.

Eugene McCarthy attended the Colorado State Convention which was held in early summer at the Moby Gym at Colorado State University.  Robert Kennedy's Colorado supporters were divided as to who they would vote for at the convention. Some had moved to support McCarthy while others planned to go to Chicago to support Kennedy even though he was dead. The party loyalists supported Vice President Humphrey believing only he could actually get elected. They saw McCarthy as a spoiler and a losing candidate in a contest against Richard Nixon. Everyone in attendance that Saturday afternoon, however, gave Eugene McCarthy a rousing welcome. It was after all Eugene McCarthy's near win in the 1968 New Hampshire Democratic Primary over sitting President Lyndon Johnson that had first spurred Kennedy to seek the nomination and then I think led to Johnson's decision not to run for a second term. Period.  McCarthy had given hope to so many people during the very dark days of "nineteen hundred and sixty-eight". 

I arrived at the Convention on Friday afternoon in the sweltering heat and humidity for which Chicago is famous. A buddy and I had reserved rooms at the downtown YMCA. Oh My God, what a nightmare. The single bed room had no air conditioning. Instead of a window, this interior room opened into an air shaft.  I had to share a bath with a group of very strange men. I was scared out of my mind. What was a little nerdy suburban boy like me doing in a place like this?  I told the "adults" I was with about my plight, and I got invited to share a room with a couple of Colorado delegates who were staying at the Executive House.  I got to see them in their skivvies - not much better than the oldies at the YMCA but at least I didn't fear getting raped.

On Sunday before the Convention began the Colorado delegation attended a brunch at the lakefront home of Lt. Governor Mark Hogan's family. (I later worked as an intern in his office.)  Afterward a small group was invited to meet with Senator George McGovern at his suite at the LaSalle Hotel.  He was a very gentle man. Unlike Kennedy months before, McGovern was engaging, not aloof.  But he had not a chance in hell of getting the nomination let alone getting elected.

At the end of the afternoon I got to meet Senator Eugene McCarthy. He had just spoken to a group of Jewish voters. We attended the speech and managed to go backstage where met him in person.  I already admitted to being a nerd. Now I must admit I was a total idiot for believing for a moment McCarthy could have got the nomination. Things like that don't happen in real life. But in that moment I thought I had shook the hand of the man that would become the next President.

The Convention began on Monday night.  I had an alternate badge which meant I was not allowed to sit with the Colorado delegation unless a delegate left the floor. That lasted about fifteen minutes. Have you ever seen a Democrat sit down and shut up?  They moved about and caucused and caused commotion. That's what Democrats do. So I had plenty of opportunities to go on the main floor where I sat with the Colorado delegation for a few minutes. Then I got up and roamed around like the rest of the folks. Later I made my way to the hallways behind the television broadcast booths that overlooked the floor below. Then I found the McCarthy convention headquarters. Posters of McCarthy covered the walls.  Back then there were no computers or portable phones.  Some people had walkie-talkies but most communication was done in person or via messenger.

(Photo by Lee Balterman/Time  Life Pictures/Getty Images)

I was a political science major in college. The sight of all of the Senators, political figures, and newsmen was for me like being at the Oscars. In fact I did have an Oscar moment.  Paul Newman was standing in a huge hallway by himself smoking a cigarette - trying to be alone. I walked right past him, doing my best impression of not noticing somebody really famous.

Mayor Daley - Defiant

The two major items on the Wednesday agenda was the vote on the party platform,  but primarily the Viet Name plank, and the Presidential nominations.   The Colorado delegation drove to the conventional hall in our two buses just like we did on Monday and Tuesday. The peace initiative plank sought to establish a cessation of offensive actions by the U.S. and to establish a withdrawal date of American troops. The Party regulars voted that proposition down. They did not want to embarrass the President with any unneeded or unwanted advice. Even after that defeat of the peace plank, I still believed that McCarthy had a chance in getting the nomination. Paul O'Neil later wrote in LIFE magazine "President Lyndon Johnson used last week's convention to preserve his hard policy on Vietnam. Chicago's Mayor Richard J. Daley used it to demonstrate his personal sovereignty and iron control over his city."

As I recall the scenario that followed the Convention Chairman cited Chicago city rules which forbade any kind of placard or banner to support a candidate whose name had been put into nomination.  The McCarthy people took the Chair at its word and no demonstration was planned.  Guess what, Mayor Daley changed the rules and allowed the Humphrey delegates onto the floor with placards galore. Humphrey signs were everywhere.

I went up to the McCarthy headquarters and told the people what had happened on the floor. I asked if I could remove all the McCarthy posters from the walls and take them to the floor to be distributed when McCarthy's name was placed in nomination. Of course I could. And I did. Those posters were the extent of McCarthy's demonstration save the people waving and shouting and carrying around of the state standards.

Throughout the day and into the night tensions were mounting between the 10,000 or so yippees assembled in Grant Park.  The police charged the protesters. What transpired was photographed and documented for all to see. Television crews weren't quite as agile then as they are now, but they got plenty of footage of cops beating people. The people being beaten responded by calling the cops "Pigs" and yelling "Seig Heil!".  That enraged the cops who let their aggression explode. Later, the Walker Commission would term the conduct of the Chicago Police Department a "Police Riot".

Word started to spread throughout the convention floor about what was happening in the streets of Chicago.  Senator Abraham Ribicoff used his nomination speech of George McGovern as a vehicle to tell the convention floor (and those watching the proceedings at home) about the violence in the streets. He said "with George McGovern we wouldn't have Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago". The drama grew more intense after Colorado Chairman Bob Maytag (that Maytag, the washing machine Maytag) got control of an open microphone and said "Is there a law by which Mayor Daley can be compelled to suspend the police state terror...." His microphone was cut off.  The voting followed. Humphrey was selected as the nominee. That was not the end of the events for Wednesday, August 28, 1968, however.

After the convention adjourned for the night, the Colorado delegation went back to our buses. We got inside and everybody was talking about Maytag's remarks, the defeat of the peace plank, how Humphrey just lost the election, and so on. Then we all started to notice that all of the other buses had left the parking lot. A young lawyer named Steve Heady got off the bus to ask what the delay was. A cop ordered him to get back inside the bus and shut up and announced nobody would be leaving the parking lot until he decided it was time to go. So we sat there for maybe an hour. Some women were crying. A lot of the men were very angry. Every other bus had left the area. Finally, our bus drivers were allowed to leave. We drove back to the our hotel. But my night was not over.

I have no sense of time as to when we got back to the Executive House. My buddy Don S. and a few other people decided to walk down to the Hilton Hotel where the McCarthy headquarters was located.  I was not prepared for what  was to come next. When we got near the hotel we could smell the awful odor of tear gas.  Not just a lingering whiff. No, this was a massive presence, the kind of stench you may have experienced if you ever drove past stockyards in the hot humid summer. A stench so bad you think the person next to you just vomited all over the place.  No matter where I went, the odor was there. The closer we got our eyes started to react as well.

Injured inside the Hilton Hotel

When I got to the hotel I went everywhere looking for another friend who  decided to work at the McCarthy headquarters rather than attend the convention. I went up to the McCarthy floor looking for her.  Everywhere I went  I saw people in blood stained bandages. I saw boys and girls my age and younger and older all bloodied.  It seemed everybody was bloodied and most were bandaged. The hotel lobby looked like a scene from a World War II movie full of wounded warriors just back from the battle. Except this was America. And this was not World War II.

In 1968 I got to watch on TV as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. I got to attend the Democratic National Convention which turned into  debacle as the TV networks showed the Chicago Police Department wage a police riot against American citizens. For seventeen minutes viewers at home got to watch the police take out their aggression on American citizens as the people being beaten shouted "The Whole World is Watching".  I got so fed up with the Democratic Party and its convention that I left Chicago the next day and went back home by myself.