Key West Trivia No. 2

 

The photo above shows Jose Marti speaking from the balcony at 1125 Duval Street in 1883 urging Cuban independence from Spanish domination. The house became celebrated and referred to at La Terreza de Marti. The original house still stands today but has been altered several times over the years.

 

The above photo taken in 1960 shows the second floor porch roof and balusters were removed. A 1950's era wrought iron railing replaced the porch. Several large columns replaced the original first floor turned wood columns shown in the 1883 photo. The original wood siding was covered with Indian Block - a man-made cement siding manufactured in Key West which many locals used to "modernize" their homes in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1960s most of the vestiges of the original house had been removed.

1965

 1973

I found the two above photos of 1125 Duval Street in my old shoebox. Both were taken in 1965. I also found the photo from 1973 taken by Ed Swift (Historic Tours of America). The 1973 photo shows the property around the time Key West was being discovered by gays and and particularly by Larry Formica. The Monroe County Clerk of Court records show that Formica purchased 1125 Duval Street for $101,000 on October 1, 1978. He also purchased the vacant lot to the south as well as 509 Catherine, 511 Catherine, and 513 Catherine Street shown below.

 

All of the buildings were renovated and a new two story building was constructed on the corner of Duval and Catherine Streets. The 1912 historic Sanborn Fire Map showed a large cistern located behind 1125 Duval Street where Formica constructed a pool surrounded by lush vegetation. The ramshackle assemblage was turned into a boutique gay hotel named LaTeDa which had two restaurants and bars. It became one of the main attractions for gay visitors to the island as well as a watering hole and dining venue for locals of all persuasions.

A series of decks connected 1125 Duval with the new building to the south where there used to be a car lot. The rear building at 513 Catherine Street was renovated. It became the kitchen and a guest room. 511 Catherine was substantially renovated and expanded - it originally was one story. It became two story plus a large room was added. A series of interconnecting stairways and walkways led to the rooftop sundeck called "Nosebleed". 

I spent the second week of my first trip to Key West in the second floor front guest room in 1985. This was the same room from whence Jose Marti emerged a hundred plus years earlier to give his famous Cuba Libre speech. The guest room back then was a plain old bedroom with 50s era bathroom. The hotel was like no place I had stayed before. The day we arrived we left our bags at the reception desk and had lunch poolside. I sat in amazement when a woman sitting at the table next to us stood up removed her sarong, and stepped into the pool - naked. She swam to the other end and returned. She emerged from the pool, wrapped the sarong around her body, and sat back down at the table. Over the years I saw others swim nude in that pool but never saw a restaurant patron do a dip like that again.

The first floor restaurant was noted for its decor including pink table cloth and napkin, white bud base with pink carnation, white china ash tray with a small pack of LaTeDa cigarettes and matches, water and wine glasses. Music always played creating a party atmosphere. The first floor restaurant served three meals each day with memorable dishes often served by very slow moving and sometimes forgetful waiters.

Larry Formica

There was a bar right off guest registration in the front of the building, another bar located midway to the rear, and a third bar on the second floor. A fourth bar would pop up on Nosebleed during tea dances on Wednesday and Sunday afternoon from 5:00 to 7:00 PM when the music would stop and the bars would close. Patrons would walk a couple of block to the Atlantic Shores Resort for Tea by the Sea. The LaTeDa restaurants would open and serve dinner shortly after the guests left the premises.

Here are two Trivia Questions 

First: What was the name of the Asian restaurant on the second floor which burned up?  

Second: What was the name of the new restaurant that replaced it? The photo above shows the replacement which is now the cabaret and piano bar.

2008  Note the Indian Block siding was removed and replaced by wood siding. The first floor porches were enclosed. The second floor balcony was restored.

2010

2013

2015

Current Day

1202 Seminary Street, Key West - Back on the Market

I first wrote about 1202 Seminary Street, Key West right after it was listed  It quickly went under contract and the process of loan qualification began. Sometimes that can take months. Sometimes loans do not get approved. This property is now back on the market.  Let's take a look.

This home was renovated about twenty years ago. The entry was relocated from the front of the house through a gated portico that opens into the pool area. Multiple sets of French doors on both sides of  the living room allow abundant daytime light to bathe the area with ambient light. This place is cheerie. The kitchen was recently updated and new floors added. 

French doors from the family room (located center) and both bedrooms open out to the rear deck with recently added Trex decking. The two bedroom, three bath home has 1,502 Sq Ft of living space under air conditioning and sits on a large 4,698 Sq Ft lot.The home was built in 1928, nearly one hundred years ago. The renovations give the place a much more contemporary feel.

The house sits across the street from the National Weather Service Building located at the Corner of United and White Street. I remember the old trailer park in the same location until after 2000. The top photo shows the Ruth Hargrove Methodist Seminary and below its well groomed and behaved Methodist children. The black and white photo with trailers is dated 1963. Seminary Street runs west to Reynolds Street and east to First Street. The MARC House is located one block to the east.That is where we all go to buy tropical plants and Christmas trees. This is a very quiet location except Saturday morning when people to to the MARC House to buy plants.

There is a real benefit from having the National Weather Service as the neighbor across the street - no pool or house parties and the yard is always well maintained. 

Fausto's Grocery and the DQ are located one block to the north.

 

The White Street Pier and Higg's Beach are located a short stroll or bike ride to the south.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet for 1202 Seminary Street, Key West is now offered for sale at $999,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing. i am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. I have lived in this area for 25 years and love it. Let me introduce you to the neighborhood.

 

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday No. 22

From August 16, 2016

The Game of Frowns

A couple of days ago a fellow Realtor told me the story of a recent sale where the agent represented both the seller and the buyer in a real estate transaction. The house sold for a whole lotta money.  The seller's attorney had approved all contract documents including an addendum that itemized personal property the seller was leaving in the property including four TVs mounted to the walls. There should have been no surprises at or after closing. But there was. It seems the seller's moving company removed the four television sets and took them far, far away.  When the agent discovered that the TVs were gone, calls to the seller to return the TVs fell on deaf ears. So the agent bought for new TVs to make the buyer happy. The Seller was happy. The Buyer was happy.  The Realtor was a couple of thousand dollars poorer and wore a frown all week long.

Number Two

Somebody obviously made a mistake. And, no they did not buy too large a roll of toilet paper.

I was recently invited to see a newly renovated house in the Historic District of Key West. I was ready to be impressed. I went inside and was greeted by a wall of sliding glass doors that open out to the new pool with waterfall. And then my heart sank.

I looked out the living room window and saw the pool on my right and the pool equipment directly to my left. A four foot concrete wall with decorative glass block tiles wrapped the pool with a waterfall. The view of the pool equipment killed the pool for me. I spoke to one of the workers who told me he tried to get the architect to move the pool equipment to a different location. The architect said it was too late. 

I went thru the rest of the house and saw several features I really liked. Then I got to the second floor where the spaces were reconfigured. Two bedrooms shared a Jack-and-Jill bath. This is normally  a really good use or space. It was here as well. Both bedrooms had queen size beds and built in nightstands for lights and drinks. This was a good use of space. But then I realized neither bedroom had a closet. The worker told me the owners were going to use the house as a vacation rental. There was not even enough room for a hotel luggage stand.

I remember a very expensive house in the 500 block of Margaret Street that a different architect renovated for a seasonal owner. The architect did not provide closets in that house. It had everything else - a guest cottage, beautiful pool, expensive Italian light fixtures, sleek Viking Kitchen, but no closets,

I will give this house a solid two in design. 

 

 

 

 

Moving Day in Key West

The house at 1003 Seminary Street looks a bit different this week than it did a few months ago. The owner planned to renovate the house and to add a pool. The house sat about thirty feet from the public right of way - further back than most other houses in the area. He got permission from the Historic Architectural Review Commission and the Key West Building Department to move the house forward on the lot which gave him space to do the other renovations he sought.

The front porch was removed but the roof of the porch remained. The porch will be rebuilt later during the renovation. Forms were built the forward part of the lot where the house would be relocated. piers. 

This past Monday morning house movers from Miami arrived. They jacked up the house and built new beams which they attached to the house. The house is located in the X  Flood Zone but will still be elevated just a bit to surpass new FEMA standars. A solid foundation in a new location!

That little green Bobcat moved that house forward onto the new piers. Workers on the sides moved about adjusting long pieces of lumber as the old house inched forward. The house movers were finished by the end of the day.

The piers visible at the front will support the porch which will be rebuilt. The front entry is being relocated to the right side of the house where a new entry hall leading to the new rear addition and pool at the rear will be visible from the front door. The driveway also will be relocated to the right side of the house. The pool is already installed at the rear. The garage visible are the left rear has been converted into a guest cottage with private bath. The piers at the rear will be replaced by new piers upon which the new addition will be built. Stay tuned to see how all of this turns out. 

 

 

 

It Is Over

I was in Miami a couple of days ago helping a customer buy flooring for a house he is building in Key West. I was driving through miles and miles of traffic with cars and trucks speeding by at horrifying speeds. Siri was directing me to drive to our next destination, all the while I had my right hand on my horn prepared to honk to avoid a possible collision. I remarked about how I feel abused in Key West when I have to wait for a traffic light to cycle twice before I cross a street or when it takes me longer than five minutes to get to the grocery store. Driving twenty minutes to go from one store to another at sixty miles an hour was insane. When we got out to the car I said "At least we didn't get shot!" That happens a lot up there - random shootings.

I asked my customer who I have known for several years if he is a US citizen. Yes, he said. I knew that, but for some reason needed to reinforce the fact in my mind. Then I said "America didn't used to be this way" as if I was apologizing for the gun violence, the intolerance between various parts of society, the self-obsessed Snapchat - Instagram generation, the outrageous cost of homes, the scarier than hell traffic, TRUMP - all of it - every last little bit of the way we live our lives in 2018.

My customer is probably ten years younger than me. He grew up in eastern Europe under Soviet rule. I view him as having left an oppressive environment for the utopia America was portrayed as in the movies and TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s. I grew up in a suburb just west of the Denver County line. The Colorado Rockies emerge out of the ground about six miles west. I always knew where I was because the mountains were located to the west. It was more that, though. I knew this place as my home - what to expect - we were alike even if we were each different. It was a whites only world by law. Most of my world was confined to twelve blocks in either direction from my house. My grandmother and my church were five and seven blocks to the east. My grade school was one block west.

I had a quick flashback to a conversation I had with a very close friend a few weeks before. He and I were watching a movie on Netflix when he said something I thought remarkable "I wish I could go back for a week!" The movie was taking place in the 1960s when he was a kid or young teen. Then he amended his wish "No, a month!"  I got it. You could not possibly cram enough of the life we used to live in just a week. It would take a month at the minimum to recapture the essence of our lost lives.

I started this blog three years ago but never finished it. I will do that today. I met with my doctor yesterday. He is older but not as old as I am. I told him we're not going back to the way life was fifty years ago. It is over. He nodded in agreement. It is over.

 

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday No 21

From March 31, 2018

Key West - Is that all you got?

 

I think a lot of people think selling real estate is easy. A Realtor simply sticks a sign in the ground, puts pictures in the MLS, and buyers show up to buy a house.  A Realtor then sends the contract to the title company and a big fat check is wired to the agent. That would be great. But that is not what happens.

I remember the time I had a particularly bad day. (Wait, as I write this I had a flash - when is that not the case? I have so many bad days.)  I got a call from my clients. They had decided to follow my advice and asked me to go to their house to sign the contract I had presented to them much earlier. Many things had happened during the intervening time period, none of which were good, and many which were predictable. I decided to meet with them in person to get the contract signed to reduce the chance of change of heart. I got in my car and headed to my clients' house.   

Key West was particularity busy that day. Tourists were everywhere - in cars, on bikes, walking in streets with go cups, jay walking into traffic taking selfies and dragging kids behind. It was bedlam.

I was sitting at a red light behind a car with tourists. The light turned green. The tourist-mobile did not move. The driver had her left turn signal on and seemed to wait and wait and wait for all the traffic from the opposite direction pass. That is the proper thing to do. Then there was no traffic. Yet she waited. Maybe she had not noticed there was no traffic. I gave a short "beep" as opposed to a blast from my horn. She edged forward but paused long enough that I would have to wait for the next light. She finally turned and stuck her left hand out the window with the middle finger pointed toward God. I accelerated and went strait through the intersection before the yellow light turned red. I simply laughed and said to myself "Is that all you got?"

I got the contract signed and eventually got my commission. I went through a small amount of hell along the way to get that deal done. Some readers will gripe that Realtors make too much money for so little work. When I was a kid I worked hard for every dollar I made. Physical labor is so easy compared to the stuff I go through now.

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday - No 20

From March 19, 2018

The Key West House I Did Not Sell

I made my first trip to Key West as a visitor thirty-four years ago this month. I have written in my blog about that life changing trip several times over the years and won't bore readers to tell that tale again.  I fell deeply in love with Key West and decided to make this my home. It took a few years, but I made it happen. During the time of the first trip and my move to Key West, I stayed at several different guest houses. Those experiences taught me how difficult it must be for a home owner to lived next to or even near to a guest house.

(The business card above is from years ago and is not the guest house or the location I am writing about today. Besides, most places in Key West now have hot and cold running water.)

I found a particular guest house I really liked and stayed there on almost every trip I made to Key West. The guest house eventually grew from nine rooms to over forty rooms. The owner  purchased adjacent apartment buildings and a couple of single family houses which he illegally rented nightly. He paid the state bed tax and got away with it.

Several years ago a fixer-upper house located very near my favorite guest house was listed for sale. I wrote about that property in my blog and showed it to prospective buyers. It was purchased by couple from New York who had renovated other properties before. They did a total renovation on this well located house for which they were awarded a ceramic star. They sold the place a year or so later and moved on to a new project.

I showed their renovated property to several potential buyers. One couple really liked it. We looked at the place at least twice and maybe three times. They were considering making an offer. I suggested they check out the house at different times of the day and night. I sensed something was not right but did not want to sabotage a sale in the event I was wrong. The ultimately decided not to make an offer and later bought a home through me in a totally different part of town.

Some other buyer bought this particular place. And another bought it a couple of years later. And another someone else bought it. Three different buyers bought the place in a seven year period after it was renovated.

Last week I saw the photo at the top of today's blog on the internet. The photo shows a Dee-jay spinning records at my favorite old guest house where college kids were enjoying spring break.

The real estate axiom "location", "location", "location" is so true. I am so happy I did not sell the single family with the problematic location adjacent to a sprawling forty unit guest house complex to my customer. They would be listening to the music along with the spring breakers and probably the rest of the year as well.

May 2021 UPDATE - I just looked at the MLS records on this particular house. It sold eight times since it was originally purchased as a renovation project. And it sold twice after I originally wrote this blog. Tell me something is not wrong with this location.