Saturday, August 25, 2007

This Week on the Island 08/26/2007




'This week on the Island' is written by Doug Bennett and is an update to friends about happenings in Key West last week. Everything is true except for those parts that are lies.
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The picture this week is Sassi, Wyleigh and me on Veterans Beach at MM40. We took a road trip to Marathon and on the way back home there was a bad wreak at MM38 and traffic was backed up to the 7-mile bridge at MM40. We stopped at Veterans Beach on the Atlantic to kill some time while the traffic got moving. It is a nice little beach just after the 7 mile bridge when heading south. A car headed south was passing on the 2 lane road and ran into a car north bound after sideswiping another car into the mangroves. (1 dead, 3 injured.) Closer to Key West was another accident with a motorcycle under the front end of a SUV. ( Please be careful, we will be here when you get here. Slow Down This Isn't the Mainland)

The books this week was 'Greek Myths' by Jacqueline Morley and 'Greek Mythology' by Michelle Houle.

The Weather: Hurricane Dean passed south of Cuba and drew a cool breeze across Key West.. It was near 90 degrees, but the wind felt cool. After Hurricane Dean hit Mexico, it started pushing hot humid air to the north. It is still near 90 degrees, but the air is very humid.

August and September are our slowest months (few tourist). Hurricane Dean has made this week even slower than normal except for all the cruise ships. Since they cannot go to their original destinations, they are coming to Key West. Duval is packed, but they usually leave by 3:00 PM.

Destruction has started on the old Jabours Trailer Park behind Schooner Wharf. The buildings are coming down. This includes the VFW and Century 21 on the corner of Caroline and Elizabeth. (Rumor has it that a large number of full bottles of liquor were found under the sand pile out back of the VFW.) Some of us sat a Schooner's on Thursday morning to watch the last wall of the building on the corner of Williams and Lazy Lane come down.

The T-shirt shop on Duval in front of Irish Kevin's was demolished Wednesday morning. Sassi, Wyleigh and I were sidewalk supervisors.(We watched)

Last week I mentioned 'Key West' the TV series. Well, I thought you may be interested in some of the movies filmed in the Keys.
1940 - Island City Republic
1942 - Reap the Wild Wind (John Wayne)
1944 - To Have and Have Not (Bogart, Bacall, Robinson)
1951 - The Frogmen
1954 - Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef (Robert Wagner, Ty Hardin, Terry Moore)
1956 - Rose Tattoo (Burt Lancaster)
1959 - Operation Petticoat (Tony Curtis, Cary Grant)
1960 - All Fall Down (Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Angela Lansbury)
1962 - PT 109 (Cliff Robertson)
1963 - Escape from Hell Island (Mack Stevens, Jack Donner, Linda Scott)
1974 - 92 in the Shade (Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, Margo Kidder)
1978 - Hunters on the Reef
1979 - Cuba Crossing (Stuart Whitman, Karen Kaye, Robert Vaughn, Woody Strode)
1979 - The Final Countdown (Catherine Ross, Martin Sheen, Kirt Douglass, Charles Dunning)
1985 - Running Scared (Billy Crystal, Gregory Hines)
1986 - Russkies (Peter Billingsley, Leaf Phonix, Stefan Desalle, Whip Hubley)
1988 - License to Kill (Timothy Dalton)
1991 - Mantinee (John Goodman)
1993 - True Lies (Arnold Schwartzener, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold)
1994 - Drop Zone (Wesley Snipes)
1995 - Up Close and Personal (Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford)
1995 - Executive Decision (Steven Seagal, Kurt Russell)
1995 - Blood and Wine (Jack Nicholson)
1996 - Zeus and Roxanne (Steve Guttenburg)
1996 - Speed 2 (Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Defoe)
1996 - Spanish Prisoner (Steve Martin)
1997 - Assault on Devils Island (Hunk Hogan, Carl Weathers, Shannon Tweed)
1997 - Tomorrow Never Dies (Pierce Boseman)
1997 - Murder of Crows (Cuba Gooding, Tom Berenger)
1998 - Office Space (Jennifer Aniston)
1998 - Dance of the Dolphins
2000 - The Crew (Burt Reynolds, Richard Dreyfus)
2000 - Nawa Shiban (Rope Art)
2002 - Red Dragon (Ralph Fiennes, Ed Norton, Harvey Keitel)
2003 - 2 Fast 2 Furious (Paul Walker, Tyrese, Eva Mendes)

Gloria Estefan is in town for a free concert at the Westin on Saturday afternoon.

The Miss Hawaiian Tropic - Key West took place on the 300 block of Duval (in front of Hard Rock Café) on Saturday night.

Key West, You have got to love it
'Meet me at the end of the road' - Conky Tonkin'- Jimmy Buffett
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.5597N, Long 81.8016W
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