720 Passover Lane, Key West - Just Listed

 

Passover Lane, Key West as photographed in 1973

 

 

I have often written about the virtues of living life on one of the slow lanes of Key West. Passover Lane must be one of the slowest of the slow lanes as possible because it dead-ends about one hundred fifty steps from where it begins across the street from the Key West Cemetery. The gravel lane is but six feet wide. No cars allowed - they would not fit.Three other cottages are sited on this lane. 

This is how the listing Realtor describes this special Key West cottage:
"Tucked away at the end of a quiet, walking Old Town lane sits this beautifully renovated jewel of a historic home. Twice on the OIRF tour, this lovely home has it all. Beautiful finishes highlight this wonderful property with fabulous vaulted ceiling, chef's kitchen and open floor plan making this a true gem. Lovely master suite with loft and ensuite bathroom, bamboo floors and decorator finishes. Granite floors add elegance, stained glass accents and Rick Worth painted doors add Key West charm. Newly constructed rear deck provides perfect outside peace and quiet. Make this historic oasis your own Piece of Paradise."

I dug into my old shoebox and found the above photo taken in 1965 which shoes what i assume is pretty much the original home. Note two gabled roofs met on a common plane where the covered front porch provided access to the home.  Compare the black and white photo to the2919 color photo below which shows numerous additions and enhancements including new foundation,addition extending the living area under the second gable, new porch, and so forth.

The 924 Sq Ft two bedroom cottage has been thoroughly renovated including new windows, plumbing, electrical, air conditioning, roof, plus brick pavers  and fencing. All new interiors as well.

This home is offered for sale at $799,000 or $865 per square foot. It is comparable in size to a Presidents Walk town home but priced less expensively and since it is on one level, it offers more real living space. Five Brothers Coffee Shop is located two blocks away to the north and east. The Historic Seaport is four blocks north. There's a gym and several yoga studios four blocks south. And of course Duval Street is but four blocks to the west.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a showing of 720 Passover Lane. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

1420 Whalton Street, Key West - Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Key West (that's where I work but this is not my listing) 1420 Whalton Street, Key West. This Casa Marina Area home was built in 1954 and was updated around 1997. I happen to live nearby and know this house and this neighborhood quite well. That is why I invoked the plea of kindly Mr. Rogers to be my new neighbor. The area is known for its tall swaying palms sitting on large lots as contrasted to the tighter environs of Old Town. The area was developed later than Old Town and has a variety of mid-century to current new construction. 

The property is an estate sale. The house has been used as a rental for the past couple of years and does not show as well as it could. I will share some photos I took a few weeks ago. CLICK HERE to view the album. The interiors are cluttered and dark. The palm trees have become over-grown diminish the landscaping potential. Don't let the photos scare you.

The Monroe County Property Appraiser shows the house as now having 1,666 Sq Ft of interior living space under air. This includes an enclosure of a former porch area abutting the pool. (Bedroom number 3 in the above sketch.)

Since 1420 Whalton Street is not located HARC it is a candidate for demolition and rebuilding a new home on the 47' x 91' corner lot - see top photo.

Proximity to Higgs Beach and Louie's Backyard are two of the reasons buyers seek homes in the Casa Marina, but there are a thousand and one other reasons as well. I have lived there for nearly twenty-five years. The lots are bigger, the palm trees taller, the skies brighter, the streets less used, the parking more abundant. Many of the homes are second homes. Fewer houses are rented as vacation rentals than in Old Town. Less density means more living space and slower paced neighborhood.

The Casa Marina Area is named after the Casa Marina Hotel built by Henry Flagler. Two restaurants on the beach and one small motel on Washington Street are the only commercial businesses in the area. There is a local grocery store, a new butcher market, and an old time Dairy Queen nearby. There are several gyms and yoga studios within easy walking or biking distance. The Key West Airport is about a five to seven minute drive as are the three local shopping centers. Old Town is also a five minute drive on most days.

The listing Realtor advises that only highest and best cash offers will be considered. The highest offer will be submitted to the Court for approval. CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on 1420 Whalton Street. 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. Let me show you my neighborhood. It's always a beautiful day in my neighborhood.

That Time I Went Postal

It was the summer of 1965 when I went postal when I screamed to high heaven and cried out.

The above photo has nothing to do with me or that era. Obviously. I was a summer employee at the United States Post Office in Boulder, Colorado thanks to the patronage position I got from US Congressman Roy Romer. Earlier that summer I worked as a lineman at the Jefferson County Airport. I fueled small general aviation airplanes. My job paid $1.00 per hour. I had a uniform. That in itself was a first for me. I respected my uniform and was appreciative to have a good paying job for that time. Earlier in my youth I sold all occasion cards door to door; sold Spudnuts door to door; and delivered furniture for Look Furniture Company in Denver. My pay ranged from free merchandise for selling cards, seventy-five cents for selling twelve dozen Spudnuts, and an eventual dollar an hour for delivering furniture.  My job at the airport paid $1 per hour and was a lateral move during the summer before I started college.

Denver experienced the worst flood in its history for four days in June 1965. Several helicopters flew out of the Jefferson County Airport (Jeffco) where I worked. Jeffco was a county airport located about twenty miles northwest of Denver. Several helicopters were using Jeffco for fueling during those four days. I remember the late afternoon when I drove my fuel truck to the helicopter, fueled it, set the brake in my truck, and returned to the office. Shortly thereafter three or four of us in the airport office collectively looked east and noticed the fuel truck had rolled down a slight embankment and struck the helicopter. My heart sank.

We all ran over and I told whoever went inside the truck to check the brake. The emergency brake was set but did not hold. One of the helicopter blades was badly damaged. Later I remember the pilot looking at the damage. I know he blamed me. The only mistake I made was not taking the truck back to where it belonged - maybe a couple of hundred feet away. That is my defense and my excuse. I was not fired.

But I quickly accepted a higher paying job at the Boulder Post Office when it was offered a week or two later. I think I made $2.64 per hour. That was a lot of money then. Do the math. If you ever worked an hourly job, cents matter. I have never forgotten the value of cents.

My job was simple. I picked up canvas bags of envelopes, dumped the contents onto a stainless steel messing table where others workers liked me flipped the mail right-side up and moved it toward the cancelling machine all the time placing the stamp in the lower left hand corner. Later when I was skilled, I got to operate the cancelling machine. I would moved pieces of mail one-at-a-time into the cancelling apparatus which would grab the mail, affix the day and time, and send it on its way. Some other people sorted the mail into outgoing containers. Others sorted local mail for delivery. My job required no skill. I guess I failed at that too because one day, just around noon, I got one of my fingers caught in the cancelling machined. I screamed out in pain. The machine grabbed my finger and would not let it go free.

My supervisor was a short red haired man in his fifties, He ran over, shut off the machine, and got my finger dislodged. It wasn't cut off. I wasn't even bleeding badly - if at all. I don't remember. I was in shock. But I vividly remember my supervisor telling someone to sign me off the clock as we headed out the back door to go to the hospital.

My finger was okay. Nothing was broken. I returned to work the next day and stayed at the Post Office until the week before I entered college. I think that was the last hourly job I ever had. I really liked the men I worked with. They were happy with their lives. There was no muss or fuss or any commotion. Simple routine jobs. 

One final comment about Hurricane Dorian. CNN and the national media has once again scarred the hell out of 20 million people in Florida and their loved ones and others across the world. They all need to chill and wait to go postal about a storm when there is actually a storm coming our way. Twenty million people cannot get in a car and evacuate. Scarring people is not the solution to dealing with bad weather.

Sawyer's Bakery, Key West - Architectural History Preserved in Folk Art

A couple days ago my friend Ronny Bailey pulled his pickup truck across the street from Preferred Properties Key West to show me his newest piece of folk art - his depiction of the former Sawyer's Bakery that used to exist at 913 Eaton Street. Later I searched the Sanborn Fire Map of 1892 and learned the house existed at least that early. I then searched through my old shoebox and found two photos of the property which date as early as 1960 when workers at Southernmost Sign were photographed out front - see below followed by a 2019 photo of the same property.

Ronny Bailey is a fifth generation Conch from the Roberts family line who immigrated to Key West from the Bahamas. He was a carpenter and roofer in his younger years. He started creating these folk art depictions of our older homes and businesses after he retired. He re-purposes salvaged wood which he cuts and cobbles together to make these miniature buildings. He carves the chickens and folk figures like "Nana" inside the store. Ronny gave me a brief history of the property dating back to when it was home with the adjacent house. Later the owner updated the front of 91e Eaton with larger windows so that so that passers by could look inside to see the hats that were for sale. Some of the most important homes in Key West were located on Fleming and Eaton Street back in the late 1800s.

Ronny is a man of faith and always adds what I call his three watch words to each of his pieces of art: love, peace, and joy. If you study the cake in the window above you will see the word joy. Peace is written on the yellow bench. And I Love Cake is on the top of the building.

Stop and checkout the underside of the roof. It's painted blue to keep bees from nesting. The places looks as old as the real thing. That is fresh paint made to look ancient. Inside Ronny's humor can be found on various signs including the yellow sign that reads FREE CAKE TOMORROW. Ronny recreated an actual sign advertising Key Lime Pie for five cents a slice. Check the spelling for accuracy.

Some of Ronny Bailey's folk art can be viewed and purchased at his online Etsy Store CLICK HERE.

If you are in the market for a real house in Key West, please contact 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 Key West . I also bring joy to the world for people who realize the dream of owning a place in Paradise.

527 Fleming Street, Key West - Transient Licensed Property

 

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Key West - 527 Fleming Street, Key West. This historic property is located in the Historic District just one-half block east of Duval Street. While it is referred to as a "mixed-use property" which includes retail space on the first floor, an apartment on the second floor, and a guest cottage with a valuable Transient Rental License at the rear, it has been "home" to the current owners for more than thirty years. If you are a buyer and get a chance to see the inside, you will appreciate the care and attention to detail the owners have put into this property. I say "chance to see inside" for good reason - I expect this property will be purchased within a couple of days of hitting the MLS.

I dug down into my old shoebox and found the three black and white photos above which show 527 Fleming Street in several decades ago. The top photo was taken in 1965.  It shows the house when the second floor front porch was screened. The middle photo was taken in 1940 from the La Conch Hotel looking eastward down Fleming Street.  The bottom black and white was also taken from the La Conch Hotel looking down Fleming in 1965. One of the two houses to the west of 527 Fleming Street was relocated to Key Lime Square in the 600 block of Duval Street.  The eyebrow house presumably relocated to another location. Fausto's Grocery appears for the first time in the lower photo.

The street presence cannot be understated. It is magnificent. This Revival style home is the archetype would-be buyers aspire to own. The first floor has been a needlepoint shop for several years. The interior includes Dade County Pine walls, high ceilings, and two-over-two windows. The original interior staircase was removed years ago. The owners occupy rooms at the first floor rear including a bedroom with French doors that open out to the pool. An exterior staircase was added on the right side of the house which provides access to the apartment on the second floor. There is an interior staircase in the apartment that leads to the third floor bedrooms and bath.The previously screened second floor porch is now open. The first and second floor front porches provide lots of people watching opportunities.

The property across the street at 532 Fleming Street was originally the Louise Maloney Hospital. Folk Artist Ronny Bailey created the artwork featured above depicting the building in earlier times.  CLICK HERE to read my blog about that property.

I was simply awed the first time I entered the second floor apartment.  It's sort of a throw back to the the interior renovations made during the 1980s and early 1990s - a time before quartz counter-tops, vessel sinks, and designer this and that. The original Dade County Pine walls have been white washed or painted and framed by custom trim work, crown molding, and high base boards painted crisp white.

I checked the Historic Sandborn Firm Maps to determine the age of the building. The 1889 map showed a grocery store was located at the corner of Fleming and Simonton Street. The black and white photo shows a gas station at that location in 1965. Today that space is a Chinese restaurant. 527 Fleming Street remains in place and looks better than ever. CLICK HERE to view more photos of 527 Fleming Street Key West.

 CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of  527 Fleming Street, Key West, offered at $2,675,000. Then contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to arrange a personal showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.