Posts tagged "Locals"

Things more likely to happen in Key West Part 1

It all started out innocently enough

Yesterday afternoon Christina and I mixed up a couple of roadies and walked over to Duval St. to do some window shopping and watch all the tourists stumble around. We’re only a block away, but it when we get there, it feels like a different city. It’s amazing the difference between the ‘Duval Key West’, and the ‘Not-Duval Key West’. It was Labor Day weekend (Well technically still is as I write this), so the island was abuzz with people down for a long weekend vacation, and we figured we go get our share of entertainment.

Christina was looking for inspiration and costume parts for her halloween outfit, so we weren’t completely aimless in our journey. The costume she’s trying to come up with is ‘Blind Mag’, a character from Repo, the Genetic Opera. I doubt most of you have seen it, it’s kind of a the Rocky Horror of this decade. Anyways, Blind Mag has these bitchin’ goth outfits, so I suggested hitting the Leather Master store right off duval on a little side street.

I knew before we even went there that it was probably the real deal as far as fetish leather shops go, but I’m not afraid of that stuff, so in we went. Yikes! I’ve been into one adult sex store in my life, Fairvilla up in Orlando, and I thought I’d seen it all… Well apparently not!

My eyes!

I won’t get too graphic here, but if you can imagine the largest scariest dildo in the world, then drop acid for a month while watching David Cronenberg films in a dark room, and then imagine that dildo again, you might get close to some of the things we saw!

Anyway, I’m impressed, and scared, and mentally scarred, but still OK with it.. haha. As long as no one approaches MY ass with one of those things, we’ll all be copacetic, savvy? Live and let live I always say.

The leather room was less shocking, and closer to what we were looking for. They had all sorts of cool hand made leather kilts, bras, pants, shorts, harnesses, whips, cuffs… you get the idea. Christina did find a sweet corset that would work if only it was all black instead of leopard print.. spray paint perhaps. Unfortunately it was pretty expensive.. in fact all the stuff was, the leather gladiator kilts ran around 300 bucks! But to be fair, they were very well made.. and likely to offer years of reliable service when you get that job as a Gladiator Stripper.

And then…

We wandered by the counter and I heard.. ‘hey! I recognize you!’ coming from the back of the shop where a big burley guy was crimping steel studs into a large scary looking piece of black leather. I looked around me nervously, wondering who this guy was talking to.. Christina looked at me like she was about to learn something really scary, and I looked back at him, speechless, worried, and still convinced that I’d been mistaken for someone else yet again.

“you know, From the pharmacy!” Oh crap, it sunk in.. this guy was my Pharmacist! HAHA. I recognized him finally. If he’d been wearing the white smock I’d have gotten it right away. I guess fetish leather craft and pharmacology go hand in hand.. as if there was ever any doubt.

Only in Key West!

If you’re looking for some serious Leather pants, rubber skirts, fetish toys, dildos, videos, testicle cuffs, fantasy fest costumes,anal enema kits, ass trainers, or anything of that nature, I highly recommend a trip to Leather Master.. I have a feeling we’ll be back in there before halloween comes…

Shanna Key Pub

1900 Flagler Avenue – 305-295-8880 – http://shannakey.info/

It’s not much from the outside..

.. but we’d been wanting to hit this place for a while, and because it’s on the other side of US1 in new town it required getting in the car and driving. Well, OK.. it didn’t require driving.. we could have ridden our bikes I suppose, it’s only like a mile and a half away.. but we were in the car anyways because we’d been to the East Martello Museum to visit Robert the Doll. It was just after lunchtime, and hey, it was time for a beer or two.

We wandered in, sat at the bar and ordered up a couple Smithwicks. The young lass behind the bar looked at me strange and asked if we knew each other. Oh oh.. think, think, think… my mind scrambled to recognize her… I got nothing. I told her I was pretty sure we didn’t. She didn’t look convinced. Neither did Christina.

“Where are you from?” she asked. I noticed her irish accent now. “Orlando” I blurted feeling guilty already for whatever it was my doppelganger may have done to her. “Well, we live here now, but originally from Orlando”. She looked at me a little cautiously to see if maybe I was trying to pull one over on her. “Hm, she said, you look just like someone I know. You guys hungry?” She handed us a couple menus and wandered off to take care of a group of folks a little bit down the bar. I have to say that I get this more often than I think I ought to.. Do I really look that much like other people? I certainly don’t think so.. but what do I know.

They have a pretty good menu at Shanna Key, and we’d heard from more than a few people that the food was good. Neither of us was terribly hungry, so we tried to order light. What we really wanted to get were some scotch eggs, but they didn’t offer them. Christina ordered the Smoked Fish Dip, and I ordered the Corned Beef and Swiss sandwich. I’d just made corned beef and cabbage for dinner a couple nights before, and just that morning had used the leftover corned beef and potatoes to make corned beef hash, so I don’t know what possessed me to order corned beef again, but the stomach wants what the stomach wants.

Atmosphere

While waiting for our food, we finished our first beers and ordered up a second round while I checked out the decor. Shanna Key will certainly win no competitions for traditional Irish Pub furnishings. No heavy wood beams on the ceiling, no intricate wood work on or behind the bar, the walls sported no fancy-framed beer mirrors, relying mostly on sports posters to fill the space. Shanna Key calls itself a sports bar, so I guess the posters are de rigueur. Maybe I’m just not familiar with Irish sports bars, are they typically less-decorated than Irish pubs?

In the bar area up front, there are a few large, round, wooden bar-height tables to sit around, Some televisions hanging on the walls, and a few stools and such. There’s a sit-down dining room near the back of the place, I didn’t see anyone in there, but being 2:00 in the afternoon I wouldn’t expect it.

All in all, it’s pretty boring inside as far as the decor goes, so if you’re looking for a traditional dark Irish pub, this isn’t the place for you. What it does have, (and this is based solely on our one visit) is a healthy dose of interesting regulars. One of my favorite haunts back in Orlando; Casey’s on Central was the same way. No gimmicks, no fancy decoration, just good food, cold beer, and interesting conversation. The gentleman sitting next to Christina had just made a batch of home made salsa, and he’d brought a tupperware bowl of it and a bag of tortilla chips in to share with the people at the bar.  Very cool.. and the salsa was good!

Shanna Key is definitely a locals neighborhood sports bar first and foremost. I like it. I can see myself going back often.

The Food

The food was very good. My sandwich was made with shredded corned beef (Not sliced deli processed crap, but real boiled corned beef brisket), melted swiss, and Guinness mustard piled onto a toasted soft hoagie roll. It came with a big pile of yummy french fries. It was very tasty… very.

Christina’s Smoked Fish Dip was superb, and I don’t even like fish. I’m going to have to go back and order up some more food when I’m hungrier to see if everything else stacks up to these initial delights.

I give this bar  3 out of 5 beers, only losing one beer point because it’s really not decorated like an irish pub ought to be, but in all honesty, who the hell cares! The food is great, the beer is cold, and the people are great.. you couldn’t ask for much more. Well except maybe some some strippers, but that’s a story for another time….

If you’ve been to Shanna Key, let s all know what you’re experience was like!

Schooner Wharf Bar

202 William Street – Ph: (305) 292-3302 – www.schoonerwharf.com

So far this is my all-time favorite bar on the island. Schooner Wharf is the first place we stumbled upon on our very first visit to Key West years ago, and it remained the first stop on all subsequent visits.

It sits right on the marina and is full of a wonderfully eclectic hodge-podge of detritus no doubt scavanged from many a tall ship or reeled in on the end of a fishing line.

It’s a great place to go have a couple of cold beers while waiting for a sunset cruise (and of course after the sunset cruise), do some tourist (or local) watching, and listen to some of the ever-present live entertainment.

I haven’t been to anywhere near even a quarter of the bars in KW yet, so I can’t say for certain, but my guess is this is one of the true local hangouts, and if you want to get a real taste of what life is like in KW, you absolutely must come here and strike up aconversation with one of the old salty dogs sitting around the bar. Locals might look scary sometimes, but my experience has been they’re mostly pretty harmless.

The staff is friendly and quick, and the food is not too shabby. I absolutely LOVE the clam chowder here. Clam chowder is one of those things I order everywhere I go to see who has the best. I can say with certainty that Schooner Wharf has the lead where the chowder is concerned. I don’t know if they make it from scratch or buy it straight from the devil himself, but I wish I could buy it in bulk from them.

Personally Oysters are something I’ve yet to gain an appreciation for, but Christina loves them, as do some of my other friends we’ve brought here. The verdict is super-yummy.

The only issue I’ve ever had with the food has been the last couple times I’ve visited. The fried shrimp was overcooked. I ordered them again the second visit to see if it had been an anomaly the first time, because usually the food is so good. I still believe it was probably a case of someone falling asleep at the fryer, and will give it another shot next time around to decide for good. Barring that small gripe, everything else we’ve had here has been fantastic. Schooner Wharf  is after all a bar, and not a fine dining establishment, so judging by that standard, I’d say the food is better than average.

There is an upstairs ‘poop deck’ that gives a better view of the marina, this is by far my favorite hangout at Schooner Wharf… unless it’s raining. The live music in the courtyard on the ground floor can get a little loud for me sometimes. Of course a trip to the bathroom from here requires a walk down some stairs, so plan accordingly…. nothing more embarrassing than tumbling down some stairs in front of a group of people eating. Trust me.

Speaking of bathrooms. I hear the Women’s restroom isn’t bad (Can’t say for myself), and while I guess the mens room isn’t as bad as many I’ve seen, the journey to reach it is an interesting one.

Also, no visit would be complete without a trip to Frank Everhart’s Magic Bar in the back corner of the ground floor. Frank is a true sleight of hand aficionado.  He’s a very entertaining guy, I highly recommend you spend some time at his bar. He gets there around 9:00 nightly.

Schooner Wharf has a webcam that looks out over the courtyard toward the stage. We spent many an evening in Orlando watching this while we were trying to dream up ways to move to Key West. It was like a little bit of heaven right there in our living room. Check it out, you’ll probably see me sitting at the bar quaffing draft Key West Ale!

Cheers!
Mike