Key West Florida
by Edward Quan
With a reputation as a womanizer, a heavy drinker, all while pursuing high adventure such as big game hunting in Africa, Ernest Hemingway was one of America’s greatest novelists during the 20th century. He was also a highly disciplined writer who even after a long night of drinking, would rise at seven every morning to his private studio above his garage. This is where he composed some of his greatest literary novels, resulting in winning the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
My journey to experience more of Hemingway’s legendary life began with a flight to sun filled Miami, home to some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in America. It’s a four-hour drive across the majestic Florida Keys islands to The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, located in Old Town district of Key West Florida, the farthest southern point in the continental United States. It’s a small island community surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean where you can actually view Cuba, which is only 90 miles away.
In 1928, Ernest Hemingway arrived at this tranquil island haven from Paris with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, an accomplished journalist and contributor to Vogue Paris fashion magazine. The residence was a wedding gift from Pauline’s wealthy uncle Gus Pfeiffer, given to them in 1931.
Built in a Spanish Colonial style, this two-story residence stands in grandeur painted in white with mustard color shutters, framing its large bay windows. Above, roof covered balconies surround the upstairs bedrooms offering a quiet sanctuary from hot summer days. Lush green gardens filled with colorful flowers surround the property, like a rich tropical oasis. It was and still is the largest residential property on the island of Key West. Located across the street from the front gate is the Key West lighthouse, which opened in 1848. This six and one-half story tall white tower was an important landmark for Hemingway personally, as it helped him find his way home after each night of drinking.
As I toured the house, you are immersed with Hemingway’s remarkable literary achievements. Each bedroom commemorates one of his great novels. The rooms are filled with personal mementos such as European hand carved antique furniture, life size trophy heads and animal skins from his African’s safaris and hunting trips from across the American west. He drew his inspiration for his boundless writings from many of these treasures.
Across from the main house and high above the garage Hemingway’s private studio features an old manual typewriter on a rich mahogany table, paired with a sturdy leather-covered chair. The walls are covered with more of his personal hunting trophies. Shelves filled with his hardcover books sit between the floor to ceiling bay windows. You can sense Hemingway’s true discipline as a writer when entering his studio; everything seems to have its place.
The most lavish feature of his residence is the 60 foot long, 24 foot wide, 10 foot deep in-ground aqua blue colored swimming pool, carved from the same solid coral bedrock which Key West Island sits upon. In the 1930’s, no one had a swimming pool, as there was no fresh running water on the island. Therefore, the 80,000-gallon lighted swimming pool had to be filled by drilling down to the salt-water table and pumping the water into the pool. Filling the pool took nearly three days and during the summer months, salt water would only stay fresh for a few days. As a result, each week the pool had to be drained, the pool surfaces cleaned of algae, and then refilled again.
The cost of building the swimming pool was US$20,000, which was outlandish considering that Gus Pfeiffer only paid US$8,000 for the entire property. Hemingway is the one who proposed building the pool, yet he complained bitterly to Pauline about its high expense during construction. Our tour guide shared with us a story of Hemingway throwing down a penny at Pauline’s feet on the pool patio shouting, “Pauline, you’ve spend all but my last penny, so you might as well have that!” As Hemingway’s novels were rewritten as screenplays for motion pictures, Hollywood producers and movie stars were calling and Pauline was determined to host the most extravagant poolside parties on the island. Today, you can view a penny embedded in the concrete pool patio, which memorializes Hemingway’s lost battle with his wife.
As I explored the residence grounds I came across several cats, all named after Hollywood stars from the 1930’s such as Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Hemingway’s household included a six-toed white cat named Snow White, which was given to him by a ship captain. Sailors considered these unique cats to be good luck, as they were very effective at catching vermin on board ships. Today, the only residences of The Hemingway Home and Museum are 47 polydactyl (six-toed) cats and it is believed that Snow White descendants live on the grounds today. Your average household cat has five front toes and four back toes. With the polydactyl gene in their DNA, that allows them to produce six-toed off spring.
Unsurprisingly, Ernest and Pauline Hemingway divorced in 1940 resulting in Ernest moving to his summer house in Cuba with fellow correspondent Martha Gellhorn, soon to be wife number three, for the next chapter of his dramatic life.
The Hemingway House and Museum gives you a unique window into the influence and legacy of one of the greatest writers of our time. It is well worth a visit during your next trip to Florida.
Key West Ultimate Island Experience
If You Go:
♦ The Hemingway Home & Museum 907 Whitehead St. Key West, Florida. Guided tours available. Hours: 9 am – 5 pm, open every day including holidays.
♦ Key West has an airport, cruise ship terminal and is the start of US Highway 1. Rent a vehicle in Miami and experience one of my top ten US scenic drives; Highway 1, a 113-mile drive over 42 magnificent bridges across Florida’s Keys coral islands. Majority of the highway is only two lanes; allow up to four hours driving time from Miami.
♦ Caribbean hurricane season is from summer to fall, recommend the winter months to avoid rainy days.
♦ Truman Hotel, a trendy boutique hotel in the heart of Key West. Easy walking distance to Hemingway’s House & Museum and Duval Street with restaurants, bars and shopping.
♦ Two local flavors that you must experience when visiting Key West. Crispy conch fritters, a large shelled sea creature and key lime pie made from locally grown limes. No visit would be complete without a visit to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant on Duval St. for drinks and souvenirs.
About the author:
Edward Quan is a fashion and travel writer with a background as a European luxury fashion buyer. He lives and breathes the world of high fashion. From the style capitals across the globe, he shares their influences on designer fashion from art and culture, music and cinema, to history and architecture. Writing exceptional stories on personal style while traveling well, featuring the latest news on the fashion scene, luxury hotels and resorts, fine food and wine and of course, shopping. Learn more about Edward Quan by visiting his fashion column Style Drama that appears in The Bahamas Weekly In addition, he is a guest journalist with Retail-Insider, and member of the BC Association of Travel Writers.
All photos are by LM Quan:
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Old Town district of Key West, Florida.
One of the many photos on display that chronicles Ernest Hemingway’s life and times during his nine years in the Florida Keys.
Pauline, Ernest Hemmingway’s second wife, pursued a luxurious Hollywood lifestyle with extravagant poolside parties.
Ernest Hemingway studio resides above his garage with his desk and manual typewriter surrounded by his personal mementos.
One of 47 polydactyl (six-toed) cats that reside at the Ernest Hemingway House and Museum.
New Orleans is known for many other things: seafood, e.g. crawfish, shrimp, crab and also for its music and musicians. The New Orleans area has the most home grown musicians in the country. They run the gamut from rock and roll, blues, jazz and even classical, from Fats Domino and Professor Longhair to Louie Prima and Louie Armstrong. However if New Orleans is known for anything it is a slogan and an attitude of, “Laissez les bons temps rouler, let the good times roll.” And that’s the truth! Ask any native New Orleanian.
My wife and I visited the city of Slidell and our old neighborhood, New Orleans East and Downtown New Orleans. We had resided in Slidell, Louisiana located about 20 miles northeast of New Orleans from 1978-1984. We lived through two floods and two hurricanes, luckily none of which caused us any major problems, because we had boarded up the windows and battened down everything. The second hurricane was more severe than the first one and we did not get to sleep as the sound of the winds emanating from the storm kept us awake. They were howling at over 110 mph and sounded like a locomotive as the hurricane passed over us.
The Slidell Memorial Hospital on Gause Blvd expanded in January 2011 with the opening of the Regional Cancer Center on Robert Blvd. Slidell has prospered since our last visit. There are many new commercial and business establishments. Some old ones are gone and new ones have taken their place.
We drove through our old neighborhood which seems the less for wear. Talking with old friends and some of our old neighbors we learn that our old subdivision along Interstate 12 was spared the wrath of Katrina. There are new stores, gas stations and Brownswitch road one of the main routes now has a turnabout at Robert Road reflecting the growth in traffic patterns. Ah, progress.
New Orleans East & Metairie was hard hit by water. We drove down Read Blvd through the area where once stood the Lake Forest Mall in New Orleans East. The huge complex is gone, and a building on the Interstate 10 frontage road where I where I was employed for a time is now four walls and gutted. You can see through it, some of the windows are broken. I also remember a restaurant down the street, a Denny’s I believe. It is now gone. Katrina did it all.
Play tourist and enjoy the ambiance of what New Orleans has to offer. There is a different feeling about visiting downtown New Orleans as a tourist compared to living there and visiting. Stop at historic Jackson Square and enjoy. It was originally known in the 18th century as “Place d’Armes,” and later renamed in honor of the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson. It is a timeless attraction in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. There is a different view, tourists are everywhere, we walk through the cobbled streets and stop and listen to a jam session featuring a group of Jazz musicians performing, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Canal Street is still vibrant and St Louis Cathedral is peaceful. We visit Harrah’s Casino to try our luck. We pass by a familiar face, the Superdome still intact, looking like a gigantic flying saucer. It is good to see some of our old memories.
Chaco Canyon National Historical Park sits in Northwestern New Mexico and was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1987. According to archeological studies, 4,000 to 6,000 Hopi, Pueblo, Navajo and other Indian tribes passed through this canyon. From 850 A.D. to 1150 A.D., the Anasazi lived within great houses often oriented to solar, lunar and cardinal directions. There seems to be an unending fascination about the Anasazi’s and their use of sophisticated astronomical markers, water control devices and Chacon “roads.” At the Chaco Canyon visitor center a video program is shown hourly about these ancient inhabitants as well as a small museum displaying artifacts, maps and a small outdoor observatory.
Self-guided tours are also available to the grand Pueblo Bonito, (Spanish for Beautiful Town) the largest Anasazi ruin, Casa Rinconado (Great Kiva) and Una Vida (another great house). For longer treks, there are at least a dozen trails leading to the top of the mesa for views of the entire Chaco Canyon network of ruins. Most are fairly easy with little elevation gain, the longest trail is a little over six miles. We chose the Pueblo Bonito Rim Overlook trail. After a steep one and a half mile climb the ruins of Pueblo Alto greeted us as a setting sun shadow danced across the canyon walls.
Canyon De Chelly National Monument resides in Northeast Arizona and is west of Chaco Canyon. Numerous overlooks of the canyon are accessible by driving a two-lane road that meanders along the rim. My favorite overlook was Spider Rock. Today, only two tall spires of red sandstone stand alone in the middle of the valley floor depicting Spider Woman’s home where she helped her People move into the fourth world by hiding them in the reeds and then floating them down to dry land.
The Second World according to Waters was called “Dark Midnight” and was destroyed by cold and ice. Again, the kivas kept them warm and dry. Once the destruction stopped, they climbed up a ladder into another world. This was the Third World. Dissension broke out quickly among the People and this world was destroyed by flooding. However, this time an appointed caretaker named Spider Woman saved the ancients by hiding them in reeds and floating them to dry land into the Fourth World. The Fourth World, according to Waters, was called “World Complete.” This world was unlike the previous three, where the ancestors were provided for. The Fourth World had harsh deserts, never ending marshes and mountains of violent weather. This World was to be a time of awakening, realizing how we affect each other and that we are all one. Sounds like what might be happening now, doesn’t it? The Hopi say we are now living in the Fourth world which is ending and that the Fifth World is beginning.
Further south of Canyon De Chelly lies Casa Malpais Archaeological Park. This National Historic Landmark also has evidence of underworld activity within the ruins. Intact pottery was discovered here as well as a 8 X 4 foot panel depicting human like figures with tails which may have represented ancestral beings before they emerged above ground to the fourth world. These petroglyphs offer an inkling about the Zuni and Hopi clans that lived and held ceremonies here six hundred years ago. Archeologists propose these drawings came from the Parrot Clans because there is a parrot spitting rainwater onto a corn plant. According to Hopi legends, this indicates that the Corn Clan and Parrot Clan went their separate ways.
Perhaps answers can be found within the stars. In the early evening at Chaco Canyon, the park rangers open up the observatory. Summer evenings are pleasant here as a warm gentle breeze sweeps the desert floor with the fragrance of sweet pinion and sage. A waning moon allows the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Cassiopeia and Milky Way to shine more brightly.
Parking was almost impossible on Main Street, so my husband Kent and I circled around to one of the back streets. We found ourselves behind the Old Blacksmith Shop dating back to 1897. We began to explore.
Even older than the Dowling House is the 1820’s The Old Stockade at 208 Perry Street. Originally a log building, The Old Stockade was a result of preparing for an attack during the Blackhawk War of 1832.
On September 13, 1860, a crowd of over 15,000 rallied in front of the DeSoto in response to a “Grand Republican Mass Meeting” in support of Lincoln’s presidential bid.
A walk over the Galena River (it joins the Mississippi further downstream) brought us to General Grant’s House. A group of tourists were standing on the main porch awaiting the next tour. A Grant House guide in period costume came out to greet us. She conducted a narrative tour of the main floor with some interesting asides: Julia, Grant’s wife, was the FIRST “First Lady”, both of Grant’s parents were alive when he was president and, the silverware on the dining room table had also been used in the White House. The upstairs bedrooms are self-guided. Tours begin on the half-hour. What a living history experience of mid-19th century America!
“That was one of the best dives I’ve ever done,” Kathryn proclaimed after surfacing at Cozumel’s Tormentos Reef. Comprised of coral pinnacles towering approximately 20 to 30 feet high and interspersed with wide, sandy areas. The colorful coral heads are adorned with purple and orange sponges, brain and whip corals. Tormentos is a veritable ocean garden where the reef’s maze of twisting tunnels, overhangs and barrel sponges provide shelter for marine life. Teeming with shoals of bream fish, French grunts and yellow snappers, I lost count on the number of blue tangs, pork fish, trigger fish, black durgon, file fish, big eyed jacks and parrot fish we saw. Lurking within the ledges, nooks and crannies were Caribbean king crabs, spiny lobster, giant hermit crabs, juvenile spotted drums, spotted moray eels and delicate-looking arrow crabs. Grey and French angelfish seemed unwary of the divers in their midst as were the barracuda seen hovering over the patch reef on the hunt for their next meal.
While our dive at Tormentos Reef was quite literally off the scale, we equally enjoyed our dives at other well known Cozumel dive sites. Interestingly, we seemed to be seeing more large animals on every dive than I could recall ever seeing here over two previous trips. Nurse sharks, sea turtles, Southern stingrays all seemed to be in greater abundance. Our decision to bring our family to Cozumel for Christmas and New Years felt entirely right. This year, the gifts were indeed under the sea.
San Miguel’s quaint downtown zócalo (Plaza del Sol) extends for about eight blocks along the waterfront and for several blocks back from the water. The tiny municipality exudes a casual relaxed ambiance with excellent shopping, superb night life, an exceptional number of fine dining restaurants, more than 200 gift shops, souvenir stalls and jewelry outlets that sell everything from T-shirts to fine silver jewelry, pottery, wood carvings, leather goods and tourist kitsch. While prices tend to be fixed when cruise ships are in port, bartering is relished by shopkeepers on the side streets located as little as ½ block in from the water. In fact, the potential for striking a great bargain increases the further you stroll back from the waterfront.
On Christmas Eve our trip got off to a festive start with a delicious dinner at Pepe’s Grill, followed by bananas flambé for desert, which is simply to die for! After some shopping at some waterfront shops we attended Midnight Mass, which the Mexicans call “la Misa Del Gallo” or “the rooster’s mass,” at the beautiful Cathedral of Corpus Christi. One does not need to be religious to appreciate familiar Christmas carols or a church service performed entirely in Spanish. Curiously, we noticed several church patrons were carrying and hugging a baby Jesus doll. We soon learned the building of the “El Nacimiento” or “Nativity scene” is a seasonal tradition here. During the holiday season, most Mexican families construct a Nativity scene in their home. At midnight on Christmas Eve, a figure of baby Jesus is placed in the nacimientos to commemorate the Lord’s birth.
Another notable feature that sets Cozumel’s waters apart from other Caribbean dive destinations is the Yucatan current offers endless opportunities for drift diving. These continually flowing ocean currents are often less than half a knot and tend to flow in a south to north direction. Sometimes the current can be fairly strong, attaining velocities of two knots or more. Essentially, the dive plan for drift diving is simple. The dive tender drops you in the water and follows your bubble trail, standing by to pluck you from the water when you surface.
