Key West Lou / STEVE THOMPSON ON A ROLL…..A TOUCH OF LOUIE’S BACKYARD AND THE OLD KRESS BUILDING

Steve Thompson is on a roll. Today a brief recollection of Louie’s Backyard and the old Kress building.

TACOS paragraphs 7 and 8.

There are just a few bricks left around the front door / And some of the foundation under the floor / An actor used to live right there on the sea / In a nice little house quiet as could be / A cook named Signorelli lived upstairs next door / He wanted his own restaurant on the first floor / So he asked his neighbors for permission / And got them to sign a zoning petition / The actor was furious he said, “No way!” / Put his house on a barge and sailed away / He said he’s going as far as he can get / It’s now Louie’ Backyard and the Afterdeck.

We would go to the old Kress store all the time / It looked like the original five and dime / It even had a soda fountain still / now it’s the bar at the Margaritaville.

The old Kress building came to house on the first floor the finest department store in all of Key West. Fast Buck Freddies. Fast Buck’s now gone. Replaced by a CVS.

The top floor/roof became David Wolkowsky’s penthouse home. Magnificent! With David gone, rented now to tourists.

The Hemingway Days Run of the Bulls yesterday afternoon. The some 70 Hemingways Look-Alikes actually raced constructed bulls. Those watching on Duval ran every which way to avoid being gored. It was Pamplona all over again.

A local wrote the “affinity for the famed author was ‘no bull.’”

The contest for the Look-Alike was down to 25 last night. Don’t know who won. Too late for me. On top of which the Key West Citizen does not have a Sunday edition.

Florida has enjoyed many firsts in its history. The most recent not one to be proud of. Florida leads the U.S. in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The virus is moving with significantly increased speed. The Delta variant the reason.

Washington is considering a national mask mandate. Governor DeSantis is walking around bragging if it happens, he will have a law passed giving Florida permission to ignore the Washington mandate.

An ass! I don’t even know if legally it can be done.

Whatever, DeSantis is the man the Republican right want as their Presidential candidate in 2024 if Trump does not run. God help us!

South Carolina has achieved a “distinction ” of sorts. In June, 90 percent of COVID-19 cases and deaths were of persons unvacinated.

Steve Harmon was a 34 year old Californian living just outside Los Angeles. He was a non believer and refused to be vaccinated. He utilized social media to share his convictions.

Steve will never see 35. He died Wednesday in a Los Angeles facility where he had been hospitalized because of the virus.

U.S. athletes in Tokyo no better at respecting warnings than Steve. It was announced yesterday that many are unvaccinated. When confronted, many had the same response. Whether to be vaccinated is a matter of “personal choice.”

Should any of the athletes become infected and die, the tombstone of each should read: “I knew no other way to be me. I only knew I had to be me. It was my personal choice to die.”

Enjoy your day!

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