The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-08-25

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"Southernmost and to then
most interesting, an island city o.
Iold world charm.
Key West, that two by foul
little island, where every breeze
is a sea breeze and Spanish is the
language heard on the streets
claimed the hearts of your Mont.
gomery travellers as the mos
fascinating spot in 1900 miles oil
wandering around among the su.
lperlatives of Florida. They ar.
rived late Monday afternoon still
lstarry-eyed from the beauties Of
the Overseas Highway and found
the town a little sleepy looking
a little shabby looking and not
too prepossessing. No use de-
nying-they were let down.
Settled in a lovely hotel room
the cool breezes remember they
were 275 miles farther south than
Cairo, Egypt, and a thousand
miles south of Montgomery be-
gan to lift their spirits. But il
must have been during dinner
that they began to fall in love
with Key West. What dinner
lobster cocktail, green turtle
yellow rice with enchilados, that
crusty Cuban bread that comes in
long leaves one breaks off, avo-
cado salad, and a delicious desert
of preserved guavas and cheese
all cooked In the inirnitabie Span
ish way that would make an old
rubber heel fair eating and turns
good food into something to send
kilograms about.
Outside again the once Tired
Society Editor and the once
Weary Statisitician found them.
selves succumbing fast to the old
world charm of this tiny island
city. A full moon, as round and
yellow as tropic moon can be
lighted the brilliant flowers OF
the bougainvillaea, the hibiscus
and the poinciana growing riot
ously over the weathered old
houses. And in its bright glow
stood out date and cocoanut
palms bent by the wind, bread
fruit, tamarind, sapodilla and ma.
hogany- exotic trees of an exotic
island. The streets were throng-
ed with Cubans. their sonorous
language filling the air. You're
right, Key West had them in the
palm of its hand after only one
evenings acquaintance.
This was lucky trip for these
two Montgomerians. A chance
lstop in a tourist bureau next
morning brought them the ac-
quaintance of an altogether
charming young man who spent
most of the next two days show.
ing them about his native city
The palm-lined streets; the
unique houses, sturdily fashion.
ed by ships carpenters to with.
stand the gales and made some.
times of solid mahogany or cedar
remnants of the old Key West
which was well known to sea-
faring men when Jacksonville
was known as Cow Ford and
Miami was a nameless mangrove
swamp; the Turtle Crawls where
300 Founders are landed before
being made into steaks, soup and
"turtleburgers" they saw them
all and more.
IF you read Ripley you've
heard of the sharks trained to cal
out of child's hand. They heard
the youngster call these man
eaters by name and watched
them grab for the bits of lobster
and mullet held in his hand
They climbed to the top of the
lighthouse and looked far Out
over the Atlantic and the Gulf,
then down on the home of Ernes,
Hemingway and heard first hand
tales of his fishing and story tell
ing around Key West.
And they enjoyed more Span
ish delicacies Cuban sandwiches
made of ham rivalling Virginia's
best, and any number of un-
familiar ingredients piled onto
that wonderful Cuban bread; ice
cream made of fresh cocoanuts,
and that famous Cuban rum, Of
course.
Then they went deep-sea fish.
ing with an old Cuban seaman
who rolled his ragged pants high
over his bare feet and looked
like a pirate but knew exactly
where the big ones were biting
For hours over a coral reef, miles
out from the southern tip of thi:
country, they caught huge fight.
ing fish as fast as they could haul
them in. eyes, we're talking
about two girls who never went
fishing before In their lives)
Key West is q wonderfully un.
ciuttered town. The tourists jus,
must not have found it yet and
the Use. and the VS.. almos-
hoped it could stay that way. Blu,
mot too optimistically-it seemed
of them that it had everything
i Miami THAT city over-run wifi