Top News

AUGUST IN KEY WEST IS HOT. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE thinking: Key West isn’t special — August just about everywhere in the country is hot. Yes, Death Valley may be setting records for three-digit digit temps, but Key West’s humidity is positively brutal. We’re talking walking through molasses, stopping at every other bar just for water (an act so blasphemous you know we […]

Peruse any guidebook that chronicles the top attractions in the Florida Keys and it’s a guarantee that the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson will make an appearance near the top of the list of must-see sites. A mere 68 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dry Tortugas is one of the most spectacular (in my […]

If you walk into the swanky, nook and cranny, Berlin’s Lounge at the A&B Lobster House on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday around 7 p.m., there’s a good chance you’ll find bartender Gage Beaulieu serving up of high-end whiskies to a discerning crowd of cigar smokers and connoisseurs. Berlin’s is a modestly sized bar with leather club chairs and enchanting […]

Following its Key West debut at Mary Ellen’s Bar in April, the Data Recovery Project returns to Key West on Wednesday, Aug. 22, to perform at Sidebar at Aqua as a benefit for the Sister Season Fund. There is no cover to see the show, and everyone who gives $5 or more to Sister Season at the venue will receive […]

It’s midway through the tour of Key West’s stunningly pretty Audubon House and Tropical Gardens that the truth comes out: John James Audubon — famed naturalist painter, whose lifelike paintings of bird portraits line the walls of the museum — never actually lived in the Audubon House. But don’t let this spoiler keep you from visiting; indeed, a visit to […]

N INTRODUCTORY NOTE: IF YOU’RE OF THE OPINION THAT “real lobster” has two big ol’ pinchy claws and is properly pronounced “lobstah,” then this article may not be for you. If, however, your crustacean preferences are a little more liberal, allow us to enlighten you on the clawless wonder that is the Florida spiny lobster — a delicacy so prized […]

Key West may celebrate itself as the southernmost point in the United States, but during the Civil War, Key West found itself defending its coastal borders against those dastardly enemy ships representing … the South. Yes, despite its location at the very bottommost edge of the nation, Fort Zachary Taylor — the city’s massive coastal Navy fortress — had already […]

Twenty-some years ago, Erin Odom was watching the house band at a small dive bar in Key West called Boston Billy’s where she worked as a waitress, when she met the young aspiring guitarist playing that night, Carl Wagoner. Today, that bar is called the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon, and they both work there to this day, she as the assistant […]

It’s midway through the tour of Key West’s stunningly pretty Audubon House and Tropical Gardens that the truth comes out: John James Audubon — famed naturalist painter, whose lifelike paintings of bird portraits line the walls of the museum — never actually lived in the Audubon House. But don’t let this spoiler keep you from visiting; indeed, a visit to […]