Key West: Sophisticated pleasures
from cabaret to literary parties

by Lucy Komisar

On a sultry evening in Key West, we meandered down Duval Street, toward the Gulf of Mexico. Almost at the water, we followed the paths in the gardens of the Pier House that led to a favorite cabaret and a smashing singer, Carmen Rodriguez. Her mellifluous voice gave joyous soulful expression to jazzy piano bar tunes. Carmen is a regular here, and listening to her at the Pier House is one of the sophisticated pleasures of Key West.

Key West is two towns. One is a mass tourism venue that attracts people from all over America and the world. Las Vegas-South. They fill Duval Street at all hours and jam the rock bars and “Margaritaville.” The other is an urbane center of music, art, and literature that draws repeat visitors and winter residents. It’s what keeps me coming back.

The premier winter-season cultural event is the annual Key West Literary Seminar. This past January, more than 30 authors, scholars and critics discussed the expanding boundaries of contemporary literature under the title: “New Voices: Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going?” It asked what does it mean to be a new voice in literature, how does a new voice get heard and what does one sound like? There were new writers and established ones knocking around that theme.

A featured participant was short story writer and novelist Ann Beattie. She writes about the generation of Americans who grew up in the 60s. “Park City,” Beattie's 1998 story collection, chronicles the Woodstock generation from youth to middle age as they experiment with drugs, travel aimlessly, settle down, break up, find resolution. She talked about ambient sound. It was for the literati.

Others at the seminar were Annie Dillard, Edmund White, Robert Richardson, Judy Blume, and Mark Doty. And among new voices, you might have heard Uzodinma Iweala of Nigeria read from his novel “Beasts of No Nation,” the story of Agu, a child soldier fighting in a civil war in an unnamed West African country. We see Agu kill for the first time as his friends give advice.

“Luftenant is saying don't think. Just let it happen. He is saying that the second you are stopping to think about it, your head is turning to the inside of rotten fruit. Commandante is saying it is like falling in love. You cannot be thinking about it. You are just having to do it, he is saying, and I am believing him. What else can I be doing?”

The events take place at the San Carlos Institute, a Spanish colonial-style Duval Street building constructed in 1871 by Cuban exiles of Key West as an educational, civic, and patriotic center. The history is richly drawn in the welcome by Institute president Rafael Peñalver, who then joins participants, including cultural advocate Rita Linder, at a festive party.

Not surprisingly, the seminar is always sold out. In January 2009, with a topic of historical fiction and speakers such as Gore Vidal, there will be two sessions to accommodate the expected subscriptions.

The big seminar finale is the music and champagne extravaganza at the Key West Historical Museum, which this year featured satirical knock-off sculptures of famous paintings, such as the Mona Lisa. 

After filling my plate with key lime pie and chocolate cake at the desert table upstairs, I chatted with resident artists standing near their creations, part of a museum exhibit devoted to Key West painters and sculptors. Among them were Deborah Goldman and Perry Arnold, who both work in wood, but very differently.

The art scene is central here. I always stop at the Studios of Key West to see what the local artists are doing. There are weekly open houses at which artists open their work spaces to the public and welcome them with wine and conversation. Hayes Blinckmann paints with a feminist theme. The titles of the books in her picture include “Joy of Cooking,” “Wicked,” and “Pin-up.” Everything the modern woman should know.

Then there is natural art, the famous Key West sunset which paints the sky over the Gulf of Mexico vibrant pink and red. One night we took a Key West trademark evening out, a sunset cruise on the Liberty Clipper.

The music and the menu were Caribbean, including steel drum as a background to Mojo & Sour Orange Slow Roasted Pork and Jamaica Citrus Rubbed Grilled Chicken, accompanied by flowing wine.

Another day, for lunch we checked out a local-favorite eatery, Rusty Anchor on Stock Island, Key West’s unspoiled slightly seedy neighbor. Here’s what Key West was like before it went upscale. The restaurant’s atmosphere is casual and wood-paneled, with fish and decorating the walls, and the food is down home and plentiful. We tried the specialty conch chowder, mhai mhai and grouper. All worth a return visit.

We sat on the Osprey Veranda  overlooking the pool and noted an interesting mix of business people in serious demeanor not far from guys hanging out at the Gumbo Limbo Bar. We had luscious dishes of  shrimp and fish.

If you go:

You can fly to Key West or fly to Miami and rent a car. Air tickets to Miami are usually cheaper.

Pier House, One Duval Street, 305-296-4600, 800-723-2791. http://www.pierhouse.com/

Carmen Rodriguez, http://carmenkeywest.com/.

Key West Literary Seminar, 888-293-9291, mail@KeyWestLiterarySeminar.org. Some past sessions available by podcast, http://www.keywestliteraryseminar.org/.

Key West Museum of Art & History, 281 Front Street, 305-295-6616, http://www.kwahs.org/.

The Studios of Key West, Historic Armory, 600 White Street, 877-ART-TSKW, 305-296-0458, http://www.tskw.org/.

Liberty Clipper Caribbean dinner sails from Schooner Wharf Tues, Thurs and Sun, 5 to 7:30 winter, 6 to 8:30 summer; Sunset cruise sails Wed, Fri and Sat, 5 to 7 winter, 6:30 to 8:30 summer. Reservations 305-292-0332, http://www.libertyfleet.com/. 

Rusty Anchor, 5510 Fifth Ave, Stock Island, 305-296-2893; 11am to 10pm Mon to Sat, http://www.rustyanchor.com/.

Double Tree Grand Key Resort, 3990 S Roosevelt Blvd, 305-293-1818, 888-310-1540, http://www.grandkeyresort.doubletree.com/.

by Lucy Komisar