Key West Lou / DAVID WOLKOWSKY BUYS THE KRESS BUILDING

David Wolkowsky one of Key West’s greats. The father of modern Key West. We were friends. Unfortunately, we only got to know each other the last 10 years of his life.

David made and remade Key West. He built The Pier House and The Reach. And so many other places and things. On this day in 1978, he bought the Kress Building at 500 Duval Street from Norman Artman. The purchase price back then $210,000.

The building became the home of Fast Buck Freddy’s on the first floor. Key West’s finest department store without question. Jimmy Buffett’s offices and the Sheriff Department offices were on the upper floor.

Wolkowsky turned the top floor/roof into a penthouse for himself. It was the most beautiful place in Key West. New York City style. Many the party I attended at the penthouse.

David had a strange habit. Depending on the type of party he intended, he served champagne and potato chips. For a more formal affair, he added hot dogs. Such was David!

Larry Smith and Christine Cordone are in the news today. It was on this day in 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York. It was a watershed event in American music and culture. More than 460,000 attended the 3 day event. Once you got in, you could not get out. It was that crowded!

Larry and Christine performed. Made friends. Had a good time! They were with some of the great musicians of that time.

My landlords are Steve and Cindy Thompson. A Key West story unto themselves.

Steve began in Key West in the early 1970’s. Yes, he was here when it was the time to be here! He opened a taco shop across the street from Sloppy Joe’s. Made money. Opened two others in Key West. Eventually he owned 13 throughout Florida.

Cindy’s job I suspect was more fun. She started working for Jimmy Buffett at the Margaritaville Restaurant on Duval next to what became Fast Buck Freddy’s. Soon Buffett moved her upstairs to his offices on the second floor of the Kress Building which Wolkowsky had purchased. She worked for Buffett some 35-40 years. Those offices now closed. However, Cindy continues to be called upon to do something for the Buffett operation locally.

A cancer center will return to Key West. Baptist Health and the Miami Cancer Center will open the facility. Time and location not announced. A lease is presently being negotiated.

Zelensky is having a field day. Now that he has a bit of an air force, he is bombing Russian air fields. Putin deserves the treatment.

Henry Ford’s initial dream was a car in every driveway, Cheap, easy to use.

He succeeded. The cheap car is no longer cheap today, however. Such is life.

Ford’s second big idea was a plane in every driveway! He even had a prototype made, the Ford name in big letters on it, and a photo taken of Ford standing beside the plane with an air cap, etc. on. He was made to look like a pilot.

Unfortunately, the prototype crashed during a test flight. Ford not the pilot. Ford scrapped the whole idea.

America is still waiting for a plane for every driveway.

The Associated Press predicted in December 1958 “the woman of the year 2000 will be more than 6 feet tall,  wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver.” The AP also predicted, “She may even be President.”

Nothing happens timely. I doubt any of the preceding will occur overall, except for a woman Presidnet. And it will have taken till 2024 for it to happen!

A 1995 student PSA 5th graders from Helena, Montana, correctly proclaimed: “By the time we’re in college, the internet will be our telephone, television, shopping center and working place.”

Bright kids!

When the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, officially ending the First World War, French Marshall Ferdinand Foch said, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.”

The Second World War started in 1939.

Another live and learn for me. Most cartoon characters only have four fingers. Yes, from Mickey Mouse to the Simpsons to nearly all of them.

Understand, cartoon anatomy is etched in stone. One of the commandments is the fingers shall only be four.

Why? One reason design. When doing frame by frame animation, one finger less is easier. Walt Disney thought five fingers like the human hand was too crowded. He did Mickey’s hand first with five fingers. He said it looked “like a bunch of bananas.”

One country has refused to go the four finger route. Japan. It is an ethical thing with the Japanese involving superstitions and societal meaning.

Enjoy your day!

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