St. Patrick’s Day Bar Stroll 33

March 20, 2011







St. Patrick’s Day Bar Stroll 33

This year marks the 33rd straight year that the St. Patrick’s Day Bar Stroll has wound its way through the streets and bars of Old Town Key West. The event which attracts hundreds of revelers who make a donation to charity and in exchange get a t-shirt and a card that is shown for a free drink at the official “stops”- various bars that stretch the length of Duval Street and beyond. Starting at noon and going all day on the Saturday closest to St. Patricks Day, the stroll has evolved from its original “Suds Run” race format to the more relaxed and crowded event that it is today.





It is a Key West institution and is still organized by my friend Rick Dostal, who has for the past few years asked me to tag along and capture the fun and mayhem with my camera. I rarely feature guest commentary on this blog, but found Rick’s description of the history of the stroll found on his website so interesting, that I thought I would just include it here. You can read it and find a lot more info on the stroll on the website linked below. Thanks Rick for another successful and fun year!







“I started the St. Patrick’s Day Bar None Suds Run in 1979 with the help of Curly McGinn. Curly owned the Sandcastle Bar (now Michael’s restaurant on Margaret St.). At his request the run ended at his bar and every year that it did, Curly, myself and the Strollers drank the place dry!







Key West artist and muralist Steve Heuel drew the shirt for me using the bar as his easel (see 1st annual t-shirt). For various and sundry reasons certain people were barred from one bar or the other so I got permission from the bar owners that a guy could "get a pass" for the run, hence the name.







It was an absolutely crazy race and everyone who actually ran in it blasted into a bar, chugged a beer, and then "purged" on the fly to the next joint. After a few years of guys and girls running and puking through an increasingly congested Old Town the event had to change to today's format, a "stroll". The last time it was a race it was won by Key West's own Buco (Pantellis) who is the reigning champion. He still bugs me every year to bring back the run! Maybe next year, B! The first year we started at the Full Moon Saloon, the legendary and definitive bar from the golden age of Key West. Gone now but it stood roughly where the Southernmost Hotel is (Tiki Bar!).







Stop two was the Holt brothers' Simonton St. Station, now the Monkey Bar at Simonton and Olivia streets. Then the Blue Boar, which is now just a distant memory; the Lowell C, now Mango's. Then we were off to The Bull and Whistle, Maynard's (now Ricks Bar), Sloppy Joe's, Billy's Bar (now Red Fish Blue Fish), the Chart Room at the Pier House (later we used the Cistern Bar, a very cool little underground bar on their property right beside Duval St. built in - what else!?! - a cistern!), Dills Pickle (now a parking lot on the corner of Greene and Simonton streets). Then off to the Half Shell Raw Bar, and finally finishing up at the Sandcastle!







I remember Dave Dill served Becks Dark but he added green dye, and put a little gerkin in the glass. It was not really what a runner wanted just then. The only bar that was in the first year and has been in every year since is The Bull and Whistle. Rick's came in as soon as they opened (2nd Annual) and have been a stop ever since. The Schooner Wharf Bar has also been in since they opened (as Cafe Diamant!), and is a fine place to unwind at the end of all that strollin'.





We all thank the great bars and their staff that welcome the strollers each year and we welcome some new bars, some brand new to the "Stroll". “
–Rick Dostal, Bar Stroll Founder & Event Organizer



St. Patrick's Day Bar Stroll Site

Field Trip

March 19, 2011

Field Trip



Bat Tower





Big Pine Key is located about 30 miles up US Highway1 from Key West and is a popular place for us to get away and visit a very different part of the Keys. Since our friend and resident artist at the Studios of Key West, Liz Murphy Thomas is currently doing a project on US 1, we thought that it was a good opportunity to take her on a photo shoot for her project.





Kathy & I, thought it best to start at the beach on Boca Chica road and then head on up the Keys at a leisurely pace in time to stop for dinner in Big Pine before heading home. Boca Chica beach is an isolated stretch of beach that runs along the back side of the Naval Air Station along Boca Chica road. It attracts an eclectic mix of characters due to its isolation and is also a popular spot for single gay men to meet. You can almost always spot single men headed to the very far end of the beach and there is a sign about a mile down that warns of nude sunbathing beyond that point.



Of course that was not the reason for our visit; we were there to see if anything still remains of the drift wood and rock house that was built on the beach some years ago by a local hermit. The beach house is located about a mile after the paved road crumbles away (just before the nudity warning).







The beach was virtually deserted when we arrived, save for a few single men who headed to the far end and a few people walking their dogs, we were the only people on the long stretch of beach. The Naval airfield was very active though with military jets and larger planes practicing touch and go landings on the runway that is mere feet from the beach. It made for some very loud interruptions of an otherwise fairly silent and beautiful walk along the beach.







The old hermit house is still there. Deserted but intact, it stands a little worse for the wear, but relatively in the same condition as when I last saw it a few years ago. It is fairly evident that other than an occasional squatter, the place sits empty most of the time. After checking it out, we were headed back up the highway towards our next stop.



The bat Tower on Sugarloaf Key is another out of the way icon of the Keys. The bat tower is located at MM 17 and was built in 1929 by a local fish lodge owner as a way to combat mosquitoes in the lower Keys, Unfortunately bats never made the tower a home and it has stood empty from that time till today. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only 3 bat towers of its kind still in existence. It also makes an interesting subject for a photograph.







Finally we drove on up the Keys to Big Pine, where we watched Key Deer frolicking around people’s yards as we made our way to the popular No Name Pub to eat. The No Name Pub is on Big Pine just before the bridge over to No Name Key and is hugely popular for being so damn hard to find. The food is pretty decent as well and we gorged ourselves on their delicious pizza before returning to Key West





Bruce & Susan

Erin, Beth & Bruce

One other fun event that I attended over the weekend was the Solstice Party held by my friend Bruce at his new home on Stock Island. Bruce recently relocated to Key West from Estes Park and he is currently in the process of building a huge catamaran at a boatyard on Stock Island along with our mutual friend Rick. Bruce and his girlfriend Susan have made an awesome home at one of the spaces at the yard, transforming it in a matter of a few weeks from a dump into a funky artsy Key West abode. They hosted a great little party/ cookout to celebrate the Super Moon and Spring Solstice.

The Land of Sunshine

March 17, 2011



Liz Murphy Thomas

Michael, Liz, Kathy & Kathy

The Land of Sunshine

St. Patrick’s Day this year happened to fall on the third Thursday of the month, which just happened to coincide with the monthly Walk on White Gallery walk. We were especially interested in the walk this month because our friend Liz Murphy Thomas was having the opening night of her photography exhibition at The Studios of Key West, “The Land of Sunshine”- which meant that before we could head out to Finnegan’s Wake for some Irish Shenanigans, we had to stop in to see the exhibit.

Mike, Jay & Kathy



Sherry

Liz’s show featured a collection of 24 photographs from her recent series that focuses on US Highway 1 in Florida. She has traveled and photographed extensively along the coastal highway, which was at one time the central route along the East coast of Florida and remains an integral part of the Florida mystique. Her work seems to be heavily weighted toward the disappearing aspects of old Florida with many images of woebegone hotels, roadside attractions and relics from a different age. It is a great collection of work that she hopes to collect in to a book at some point.





For the time being, the work is only able to be seen at the Studios. In spite of it being a major holiday, Key Westers turned out in good numbers to attend the showing and the entire Walk on White was another success. Kathy & I, along with Aunt Kathy waited for the crowds to clear out before snagging Liz and leading her over to the headquarters of St. Paddy celebrations in Key West at Finnegan’s.

Liz & Kathy



The street was blocked off as usual and there was a great Irish band rocking the place, which had a good crowd, one that seemed slightly more manageable and less raucous than in past years. We were able to score a table and get a food order placed with relatively no waiting, which was great.

* Photo by Liz Murphy Thomas





Speaking of the land of sunshine, there is perhaps no place in the Keys that better represents that ideal than the beautiful Dry Tortugas National Park. Earlier this week, Kathy arranged a trip out aboard the Yankee Freedom ferry to the park for her Aunt Kathy and Liz. Kathy is enjoying her spring break from the preschool and with our visitors here, she figured it was a great time to head out to the park- which is a small series of islands located about 70 miles west of Key West and accessible only by boat or seaplane.

Liz



* photo by Liz Murphy Thomas

The ferry takes a couple of hours to arrive at Garden Key, home of the magnificent Ft. Jefferson, the massive brick fortress that was began in 1846, yet was never completely finished in spite of the more than 16 million bricks that were hauled out to build it. The massive fort remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War, used most famously as a prison that housed the likes of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was
convicted in assisting in the escape of John Wilkes Booth after he had shot Lincoln.





The Fort today is the centerpiece of the beautiful National Park which also features some of the most pristine beaches and coral reefs in the Keys and is popular for fishing, camping, snorkeling and diving. It is also a pretty decent site for photography.







Liz Murphy Thomas Website