41 Years and a Day Later Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday No. 37

from 9-16-2015 - Redacted from a longer blog

My First Job

 

Yesterday was the 41st anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Guests on Morning Joe were citing their recollections of the man, the band and its impact on our lives.  The blog follows.

I went back to Denver at the end of July to attend my 50th high school reunion. I drove by the places of my youth which included this group of buildings located at the corner of 44th and Yates Street. I started working there in 1960 at age 14 and stayed until 1965. Back then this was known as LOOK FURNITURE STORE. This was my first job.

This area is located at the northwest corner of Denver near the famous Lakeside Amusement Park and former Lakeside Speedway. The old Denver Tramway crossed over Cherry Creek and made its way eventually heading north on Yates Street where it jogged two blocks west and ended at Lakeside Park at 46th and Sheridan. This was the end of the line and also the end of  Denver until just after World War II when the western suburbs began to emerge just west of Sheridan Boulevard. Before the War and even afterward to some extent, many people did not have cars. They relied on their feet and public transportation like the Denver Tramway. Little neighborhood convenience stores and theaters were the forerunners of shopping centers that popped up in the 1950s. The corner building (top photo) was originally a drug store. The gray monster to the right used to be the Coronet Theater. The buildings that front onto Yates Street were small stores. 

Denver Tramway car at 40th and Yates C. 1910

Danny Ferguson was the owner of Look Furniture.  He made doorway openings between the separate spaces to create one very large retail space. The main entry was in the middle on Yates Street. It looks like a subsequent owner removed the doorway passages and turned the spaces and buildings into separate entities. The former main entry (below) is now an abandoned showroom of some sort. Most of the other store fronts appeared abandoned.

One of the buildings on the Yates Street was where we sold new and used appliances. In addition to helping load and unload furniture, I would dust the furniture, mop the floors, and clean used appliances so that they would look clean for resale. I got pretty good at it. When I turned 16 I got to help deliver furniture. My pay went from fifty cents and hour to a dollar an hour. I saved my earnings and used them to pay for my trip to Europe in the summer of 1963 where I got to see President Kennedy in Berlin and to run through the cobblestone streets of Salzburg Austria on a rainy Saturday night. I worked for below minimum wage. But I worked and I learned the value of money and of saving. I paid my way through college and law school. I did not do a lot of the things other kids my age did. There is a trade-off for that. Looking back I don't know if I made the right choices. But I can't change the choices I made. 

In August 1964 I had to drive a big truck to downtown Denver to deliver furniture. I had to go past the corner of Colfax at Broadway. That was a mistake. The BEATLES were staying at the Brown Palace Hotel about two blocks away. I got caught up in traffic hell. There streets were flooded with girls. Traffic was stopped in all directions. I found one photo that shows the chaos around the hotel and another that shows the crowd at Red Rocks Amphitheater located about 12 miles away at the foot of the Rockies. These photos show the way girls wore their hair back in the mid 1960s. They all looked alike.  This July when I walked into the registration at my reunion, the women all had gray hair or white hair. One woman was in a walker. You have no idea how depressed that made me feel. No way whatsoever - unless, like me, you are over 65.

Scotty's Lumber Legacy in Key West

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key West has been a tourist town for decades dating back to the time Henry Flagler brought his railroad to town. While the population remained fairly static during the same time frame, tourists and later second home owners put a strain on available housing. The town expanded south toward the Atlantic Ocean and east toward the point US 1 enters the island. Both areas had previously been barren coral rock mixed in with salt ponds. There were two principle sources of lumber and hardware - Lindsey's Lumber located at the corner of Simonton at Truman. Stunk Hardware was located at the opposite end of Simonton Street near the Gulf of Mexico. Consider this - Key West is an island located 120 or so miles from firm US soil. Lumber and most building supplies are delivered to Key West by truck. Having a single source of one style of kitchen cabinet made sense back in the day.

Scotty's lumber was located at the corner of 700 Catherine Street - just east of First State Bank. I recall Scotty's relocated back to the corner of Simonton at Truman. See photo below. 

Scotty's then moved to 2801 North Roosevelt Blvd in Key West. That building was built around the same time the adjacent Walgreens. I read online that Scotty's was a Florida based lumber yard with locations across the state. In later years Scotty's added discount pricing to a variety of goods to compete with Home Depot and Lowes. Locally the new Manley deBoer Lumber Company offered premium lumber in Key West. Scotty's was razed in 2004 and replaced by a brand new Home Depot.

That's not the end of Scotty's legacy, however. A few weeks ago I showed visiting buyers a few homes that were built in the early 1990''s. I pointed to the kitchen cabinets. I had seen the same cabinets in Truman Annex, 1800 Atlantic Condominiums, Windward Park Town Homes, and countless single family homes in Key West. Scotty's was the primary provider kitchen cabinets for years. Here are some examples. The first photo is an active listing.

The same cabinets were even in my house when I bought it.Today Home Depot offers a variety of cabinets in many price ranges. Hansen & Bringle Cabinets and Millwork make custom cabinets in Key West while other stores sell special cabinets from other areas and states. Scotty's legacy lives on.

If It's Monday, It Must Be Laundry Day in Key West!

Last week I blogged about a new listing on Chapman Lane. I mentioned the laundry hanging from the front porch. That would be an oddity in most places in Key West today, but it was common place half a century ago. I decided to rummage through my old shoebox to see if I could find similar photos. I did.

Undisclosed Key West location. Taken in 1962. 

1209 Packer Street in 1965.

This same property sold in  2017 for $1,2000,000.

801 Virginia Street in 1965. No recorded sales.

1009 Windsor Lane in 1965. 

1009Windsor is currently listed for sale for $3,477,000.

1202 Royal Street in 1965. Rear unit. Probably front porch.Sols in 2021 for $1,100,000.

 

1115 Margaret Street in 1965.  Sold in 1995 for $199,000.

1207 William Street rear unit. Also photographed in 1965.

1207 Willliam Street is part of a small condominium complex of historic cottages. One unit recently sold for $625,000.

The house at 731 United Street actually had a clothesline in the front yard in 1965. The house is still there and has a Conch paved front yard. No annoying grass or shrubs to attend to.

724 Caroline Street in 1965. Renovated and transferred by private sales.

This laundry is in the side yard at 1117 Flemig Street as photographed in 1965. The house is till there today. This property was recently offered for sale for $1,250,000. It is still a fixer. nd it is located next door to a resort property.

 

This is a test. Do you recognize this location? It is 535 William Street. The wrap-around awning no longer exists and the first floor plumbing store is now apartments. The doors have been replaced by windows.

 

 628 Catherine Street also in 1965 This property was razed. The land is now part of First State Bank.

 

You probably walked past this house at 624 Whitehead Street on your way to visit The Hemingway House This property is now professional offices. It is located near the Monroe County Courthouse. 

1102 Duval Street in 1965. Today it is the Grand Vin - fancy wine store.

This is one of several small cottages at 720 Elizabeth Street. A one bedroom cottage sold in 2020 for $565,000.

910 Elizabeth Street in 1965. 910 Elizabeth Street sold in 2021 for $2,470,000.

644 William Street also in 1965. This place looks about the same today.

724 Ashe Street as photographed in 1965.This house was renovated and sold in 2004 for $1,245,000. Then it became a short sale. The lucky new owner only paid $690,000. It is probably worth $1,300,000 or more today. He was my buyer. I had to talk into buying it. He thought I was tricking him. He was from New Jersey. Not everyone is crooked.

 

This is 1101 Simonton Street as photographed in 1965.The first floor retail space is now office space - very expensive office space.

God made many great things on Earth and man made drop-off laundries in Key West. There is no more need to air your clean clothes in public. I started to write today's blog on Sunday morning. I spent too much time looking thru all the old photos and missed attending an open house to see a new listing from Saturday. It went under contract last night. I should have known better. No more dawdling.

 

715 Chapman Lane, Key West - Just Listed

Just Listed, but not by me, 715 Chapman Lane, Key West. Buyers looking for the charm of an old home and the convenience of contemporary stile need to see this place. But before we go inside, let's look back at the no so distant past.

I found this photo of 715 Chapman Lane in my old shoebox. I have a bunch of similar photos showing laundry hung from the front porch of houses all over Old Town. Times have changed. Most people have washers and dryers and air conditioning now. That was not always the case.  

The above photo was taken in August 2019 while the renovation was being done. The photo below was taken in December 2020 before all the renovations were completed. Most of the homes on Chapman Lane have undergone the same renovation to varying degrees. This new home fits perfectly into this historic old neighborhood.

Let's start from the front door. Notice the detail from street inward. The front porch sets the tone for the rest of the house. All windows and doors are impact resistant. The shutters are there for style and nothing else/ Look up and notice the down-lights. Look down and see the TREX decking.

The master bed and bath are located just off the front door which was moved to the left side of the home. The hallway leads to the living area at the rear. This little change made the space usage so much better. Moreover, take a look at the style the owners brought to the new space. There is a tub and shower in this extraordinary bath. I remember the old place. It wasn't anything like this.

The original has was added onto several years ago. The addition included a spiral staircase that lead to the second floor. But that addition did not look anything like how the house appears now. What an incredible difference. New wood seamlessly transition out to the TREX deck and pool. The original kitchen had a wood door in the center that opened to back yard. Today doors disappear into the wall. I would love to see the reaction of the former owners if they could travel forward in time to see their home. The original home functioned for them and in their day. This home will meet the needs of a modern buyer - probably a person looking for a second home.

The loft bedroom runs the length of the original house. Opaque glass is provides privacy when viewed from below. The laundry room is hidden behind similar opaque door on the first floor. Lots of consistent details everywhere.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and many photos of 715 Chapman Lake Key West offered for sale at $1,799,000. Then please text me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing of this home. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

 

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday No. 36

From June 19, 2011

Ï Hope You Are Not French!"

Outside my kitchen window last year - hoping I'm not French

 Many of my readers and customers who send me emails know that I have a terrible sleeping problem which stems from a fall I took a couple of years back while showing a bank owned property in Key West. I ended up in the Lower Keys Hospital with a concussion. I'm okay, now, but I did take a big spill. Damned cheap banks that don't take care of their bank owned homes! Anyway, if you have ever suffered a concussion you know that one of many symptoms can be a sleeping disorder. That is my long term and seemingly ever-lasting legacy of the tumble. For a while a would go to sleep around 6:00 to 7:00 PM and then wake up at midnight or shortly thereafter. Now my sleep is finally getting back to normal but I continue to have regressions to early evening beddy-bye. But I guess I am doomed to be an early riser forever. Last year I awoke way too early. I had already had coffee and decided to make breakfast at a time some Key Westers were probably getting ready to go to bed. I went back into the kitchen and saw the frog shown above. He was clinging to the outside of the kitchen window watching me. I found my camera and took his pic so that I would not forget him. 

A few days ago I was again awake way too early for any sane person. I had left the kitchen door open and a frog had found its way inside the kitchen. He saw me and jumped onto my stove. He was a bit too eager to be eaten in my opinion. Were I French, he would be history. Instead, I decided to ignore him. I poured another cup of coffee, turned out the lights and left him. The next time I returned, the frog was gone and all I had were memories of the tiny creature. Frogs are strange creatures. I guess they are always here, but unless you have a murky pond or needy pool, you just don't see them and certainly don't hear them. But they reappear annually in late Spring. If you are an early riser like me you can hear them croaking come May. I don't recall how long they stay because they just stop their noise and disappear into the flora and fauna only to reappear the following year.

An iguana inspecting my pool

 

I don't want to scare any potential buyers by reporting on the little animals that live here. My experience have been harmless. A few years ago I was having some work done at my house. Two of the workers were from Nicaragua. They saw a 3 foot iguana walking around in the backyard where we were working. They tried to catch it. They couldn't. The lead carpenter was from England. He picked up a large 6" x 6" post and hit the beast on the head, killing him instantly. The time was 11:45 AM. He took the Iguana home at noon. He returned at 12:30 and announced he had thrown the Iguana into a pot and was making Iguana Soup. I wasn't home at the time and would not have allowed that to happen.

Later that day after everyone had left I saw a baby Iguana about 12 inches long walking by my pool. He wasn't even afraid. I thought buddy, you better move or you could get thrown into the pot with your dad. The next day the carpenter retold the story of his slaying the Iguana and reported on what a tasty tail the beast had. "Best Iguana I ever ate", he said.

I live in the Casa Marina area of Key West. My house is four or five blocks from the beach. It's an easy walk or bike ride for me. One Saturday afternoon several years ago I found a large blue crab swimming in my pool. I found an old five gallon bucket and scooped the crab out of the pool and thought the poor thing was lost. So I rode my bike with the bucket-o-crab back to the ocean where I returned him to the sea. Later someone told me the crab was probably horny and was walking around looking for a mate. He said that crabs leave the ocean and move inland when they want to do it. Little did I know I was messing with the crab's sex life. 

One Saturday afternoon I was taking a nap. We had left two packages of baby back ribs on the kitchen counter to defrost. I got up and decided to get them into the oven for a long slow bake. But when I went into the kitchen there was just one package. I looked everywhere. I remember having seen two packages on the counter. I looked in the freezer and the refrigerator. I looked in the oven. I looked high and low throughout the kitchen. I even went outside trying to figure out where the second package could have gone. I could not find it. Our baby back rib night was less filling than planned. Maybe a week later I found the opened cryopak in the back yard. Something had made its way into the kitchen and stole the package and took it outside where it opened the package (taint easy either). The meat was 'all gone'. Nothing left inside the package. The store label identified the package as my stolen dinner. I don't have a dog or a cat. The carpenter that ate the iguana and the Nicaraguans were no longer working at my house. We do have some homeless people that walk the streets from time to time, but they don't come inside my property and surely none of them eat raw pork. I did see a raccoon in my yard once. Maybe he was the culprit. No way to know for sure.

I have a small apartment at the side of my house. A few years ago a really sweet young couple (Sean and Jen) lived there for nearly five years. There was a fish pond near their entrance and that had some creepy fish that lived inside. I decided to clean up the pond, buy a new pump, and make the pond look even better by adding some large Koi. I went to the pet store and bought three good sized Koi and some small feeder fish. I introduced them to the newly cleaned pond and felt proud of myself. Note to self: don't feel proud of yourself because vanity will do you in. The next day I was driving home from work and saw this big egret walking around at the corner. I never see egrets walking around my house. I got worried and ran over to Jen's apartment. She came out and said "Gary, they ate the fish!" My three Koi were gone. I had not created a place for them to hide. Little did I now that egrets had such good sense of sight or smell or whatever it was to find fish in one day. If you are looking for a place in Key West and are up for a little backyard adventure or two, CLICK HERE to search the Key West mls database. See if you find a place that interests you. If you do, please consider contacting me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a buyer's agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West. I am not French, and I don't eat frog legs or other living creatures that I have found in my yard.