I had the honor of living on Key West and working at Sloppy Joes Bar and as a power lineman for City Electric for 20 years. Stone Crabbed the near shore waters and lobstered the Marquesas. What a grand time of my life and to be alive. Al Merbeth
Amazing to see this. Moved to Key West in the early seventies so this documentary is like a time machine for me since there's very little publicly available footage of Key West from this era. So lucky to have been a part of it.
I lived there from 1976 until 1985. I treasure my time there! My favorite job of all was working in Staff Development for the Monroe County School Board, with the irascible Pete Simpson. Pete was a brilliant eccentric who happened to be a quasi professional Irish tenor. Our office was, for some reason, housed in the old Reynolds School building. When I was hired in 1979, the entire first day, Pete kept chuckling to himself and asking me if I needed a bathroom break. When I finally decided to avail myself of the facilities, I understood his mirth. As I entered the only bathroom on our side of the building, I was greeted with tiny, kindergartner-sized toilets and sinks! Unless you wanted to walk the breezeways ALL the way to the other side of school property, you had to crouch like a contortionist, hovering over the bowl, HOPING that your aim was true! I finally put a small stool in there, so that I could thoroughly wash my hands, avoiding being placed in traction! Another position I enjoyed was managing the Office of Maintenance and Engineering at Florida Keys Community College. I have never laughed as much in my life! Two of the employees were trying their hands at writing comedy, whilst I had recently returned from LA where I had an absolute ball hitting open mike nights at comedy clubs. We would get tanked up on STRONG Cuban coffee and write comedy sketches. Every time I left that office, my tummy muscles would ache. For two years I was the Head of Admitting at Florida Keys Memorial Hospital. I met great friends there. The Key West in which I lived (first apartment was 330 Duval Street, upstairs; Clara and Elwood Carbonell owned the home and lived downstairs) was a far cry from the over-commercialized, exclusive, OVERPRICED playground for those with disposable income.
I can't believe I found this. I lived in Key West at this time (1968 - 1981) when my father was stationed at NAS Boca Chica. No place in the world I would have rather grown up! We rode our bicycles all over the entire island and our parents were never worried about us. I was well known in Key West baseball circles by the mid 70's and Key West was BIG on little league baseball. So many stories!....
I moved to Key West a few a few years after in '74 so we were there at the same time. A lot of my childhood friends lived on the Trumbo Point Annex and attended to Harris Elementary School where we all met. Yeah Baseball is like a religion in Key West. I played midget league in the mid-seventies. Funny to think I probably saw you around those fields back in the day.
@@chriswebb5736 Trumbo Point was an AWESOME place! I must have had baseball practice close to 100 times on the baseball fields at trumbo point over the years. Some of them right on the ocean. Great fishing too at the submarine pens. The Navy definitely owns the most awesome property on the whole island! It was good to be a navy brat and have access to everything.
Born in Key West in 1955 and then raise there this video has a lot of memories. However it saddens me to see the way things now. Over fishing which has depleted most of the shrimp and lobster(crawfish). The almighty dollar and the need to build right on the beach has destroyed this tropical beauty. Sure it’s a great vacation spot, but since the mid-70s the changes have restructured the entire island. Growing up I had a giant avocado tree in our yard, Several tropical fruit trees, oranges and key limes. Northern folks don’t understand how massive our avocados used to grow. As a kid I would walk to the bakery in the morning to get fresh made Cuban bread or to the little Cuban convenience stores to get milk etc. We never worried, locked our doors or windows. In my 67 years I never had one problem down there until after everything changed. Tourists coming into your yard taking the fruit, climbing the avocado tree with pillowcases stealing avocados and then at one to another extreme with the drug trade.
Back when anyone could afford to live there. I live there from 1979-83 and it was magical, fun, and cheap A 4 bedroom apartment I live in was $200 a month total.
This is crazy. I subscribed to your channel last night and now you putbup a doc on my old home. Crazy! Key West is the most 'different' place in the US. Different rules. Different code of ethics for sure. Never knew there was a Star fort there! Part of the planetary grid and Templars mechanics maps.
Went through the Army SF Underwater Operations school in KW in 1985 then located on Trumbo Point. Got to meet a few locals and heard the stories of the island in the “pre Jimmy Buffett” years. Glad as hell to graduate the course but was an incredible experience to say the least. Think I even saw some of the characters Buffett mentions in his books!
That's awesome. I grew up in Key West and know that school along with a few of the cadre who have long since retired. Key West in '85 still had a lot of what's in this documentary. Still does but definitely has changed a lot.
@@chriswebb5736 Thanks for the reply I was a 22 year old USAF PJ (Pararescue) in 85 is why I was going through the school when we had time off we were checking Duval n everything else. Wild as hell to us back then. I have flown small aircraft to the keys many times in the years since and I remember through the 90s there was a bar right in the airport that always seemed open. Flying a Seminole down the keys then landing in Conch Republic is just something never forgotten.
@@jimjohnston526 So cool! Back when SFUWO School was still part of the PJ/CCT pipeline. Saw a lot of PJ t-shirts around town back then. I went to an AFJROTC school in Melbourne and got to hang around the PJ's at Patrick for a few afternoons in 85-86. Those guys were very cool to take the time out for us. Duval was WILD in and out of the bars. That bar at the airport was called The Conch Flyer and you're right, it was open later (and earlier) than every other bar in town. Seminoles are rad.
@@MileZeroFilms Small world. I was a Patrick PJ for 15 years 1993-2009 both ART an TR before that I was Portland 304th 88-93. The reason the gap between pipeline and Portland was I had to do Kirtland twice long story there lol. Patrick was a straight active duty unit then and a lot of guys came to reserve in Portland one was my roommate I’m sure you met him then. Back in 85 PJ and CCT were completely separate as CCT had no SCUBA qualification. Anyway doin a family vacation in summer n staying on Trumbo so I’m hoping the cadre will let me in to take a pic of my old class plaque. Peace.
@@jimjohnston526 What a journey! Kirtland twice? Wow, that's intense. Trumbo is one of my favorite places. Lot of great childhood memories. Have fun with the family in Key West. I hope you get the pic with your class plaque. The airbrushed posters were cool too.
Lived in Key West from 1977-1980. Bought an 8-unit trailer park on Big Coppitt Key for $11K in 1978, sold it in 1987 for $60K and thought I'd made the best real estate transaction I ever would. Turns out to have been the worst. Go figure.
I lived in southern Florida in the late 1960's. Our family made a tourist trip to Key West over New Year 1968 or 1969. We left Florida in February 1970. I wasn't impressed with the sleepy worn out dirty little town. It looked more glamorous in this Discovery show!
I grew up in East St Louis, IL when I was 20 in 1984 I read about Key West in a National Geographic magazine. In 86 came down to check it out, fell in love with the island life style, relocated & never looked back.
Drove straight there years ago taking a break from law school, working steel mill for a summer, then back to law school but only after a few days in Key West, BEAUTIFUL place, lively no for me as it was 40 plus degrees and February maybe and my locale was a VW bug for lay down back seat sleeping, but that was very unusual. Thanks, Periscope for the weather, but great memories. Periscope, another day for your wares. We pay enough for accessibility to internet. 78' or 79' era. And, (a North/South designated spot), where did you get that information from and when? The bridge system there was/is fascinating. Fishing, sight seeing, climate, yes! Sharks, for Jacques Cousteau maybe.
I know where that group of islands came from and how North/South designation happened, just a Fort Jefferson, and coastal defense was the strategy. Interesting when providing education of the best heritage of mankind to our young people.
Read your history. Look up "red legs." Thousands of Irish died building the canal & levy system of NOLA. They'd work in the alligator & malarial swamps for a dollar a day. When a Black slave cost over a thousand dollars the slaveowner isn't gonna risk sending that investment into the swamp. With more Irish coming every day let them risk their lives, right? That was the truth of it.
I had the honor of living on Key West and working at Sloppy Joes Bar and as a power lineman for City Electric for 20 years.
Stone Crabbed the near shore waters and lobstered the Marquesas.
What a grand time of my life and to be alive.
Al Merbeth
Amazing to see this. Moved to Key West in the early seventies so this documentary is like a time machine for me since there's very little publicly available footage of Key West from this era. So lucky to have been a part of it.
I lived there from 1976 until 1985. I treasure my time there! My favorite job of all was working in Staff Development for the Monroe County School Board, with the irascible Pete Simpson. Pete was a brilliant eccentric who happened to be a quasi professional Irish tenor. Our office was, for some reason, housed in the old Reynolds School building. When I was hired in 1979, the entire first day, Pete kept chuckling to himself and asking me if I needed a bathroom break. When I finally decided to avail myself of the facilities, I understood his mirth. As I entered the only bathroom on our side of the building, I was greeted with tiny, kindergartner-sized toilets and sinks! Unless you wanted to walk the breezeways ALL the way to the other side of school property, you had to crouch like a contortionist, hovering over the bowl, HOPING that your aim was true! I finally put a small stool in there, so that I could thoroughly wash my hands, avoiding being placed in traction!
Another position I enjoyed was managing the Office of Maintenance and Engineering at Florida Keys Community College. I have never laughed as much in my life! Two of the employees were trying their hands at writing comedy, whilst I had recently returned from LA where I had an absolute ball hitting open mike nights at comedy clubs. We would get tanked up on STRONG Cuban coffee and write comedy sketches. Every time I left that office, my tummy muscles would ache. For two years I was the Head of Admitting at Florida Keys Memorial Hospital. I met great friends there.
The Key West in which I lived (first apartment was 330 Duval Street, upstairs; Clara and Elwood Carbonell owned the home and lived downstairs) was a far cry from the over-commercialized, exclusive, OVERPRICED playground for those with disposable income.
I can't believe I found this. I lived in Key West at this time (1968 - 1981) when my father was stationed at NAS Boca Chica. No place in the world I would have rather grown up! We rode our bicycles all over the entire island and our parents were never worried about us. I was well known in Key West baseball circles by the mid 70's and Key West was BIG on little league baseball. So many stories!....
Thinking of moving ro florida, key West looks exciting for a career..
@@whodispuresouls7758 A career in what? Most jobs are in the *hospitality* industry.
I love Key West, we still ride our bikes everywhere around the island🏝
I moved to Key West a few a few years after in '74 so we were there at the same time. A lot of my childhood friends lived on the Trumbo Point Annex and attended to Harris Elementary School where we all met. Yeah Baseball is like a religion in Key West. I played midget league in the mid-seventies. Funny to think I probably saw you around those fields back in the day.
@@chriswebb5736 Trumbo Point was an AWESOME place! I must have had baseball practice close to 100 times on the baseball fields at trumbo point over the years. Some of them right on the ocean. Great fishing too at the submarine pens. The Navy definitely owns the most awesome property on the whole island! It was good to be a navy brat and have access to everything.
I freaking love key West! This was pretty cool to see
Born in Key West in 1955 and then raise there this video has a lot of memories. However it saddens me to see the way things now. Over fishing which has depleted most of the shrimp and lobster(crawfish). The almighty dollar and the need to build right on the beach has destroyed this tropical beauty. Sure it’s a great vacation spot, but since the mid-70s the changes have restructured the entire island. Growing up I had a giant avocado tree in our yard, Several tropical fruit trees, oranges and key limes. Northern folks don’t understand how massive our avocados used to grow. As a kid I would walk to the bakery in the morning to get fresh made Cuban bread or to the little Cuban convenience stores to get milk etc. We never worried, locked our doors or windows. In my 67 years I never had one problem down there until after everything changed. Tourists coming into your yard taking the fruit, climbing the avocado tree with pillowcases stealing avocados and then at one to another extreme with the drug trade.
Back when anyone could afford to live there.
I live there from 1979-83 and it was magical, fun, and cheap
A 4 bedroom apartment I live in was $200 a month total.
"Discovery" (1962-71) was originally hosted by Frank Buxton and Virginia Gibson, but in 1966, Buxton left the series and Bill Owen was the new cohost.
She kicked the bucket in 2013, and he is still alive and kicking as of 2021.
He was born 2 days before *my dad (1931-2014).* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Owen_(writer_and_announcer)
I live in key west, enjoyed watching.
Glad you enjoyed it. Subscribe! Consider becoming a channel member czcams.com/video/ODBW3pVahUE/video.html
This is crazy. I subscribed to your channel last night and now you putbup a doc on my old home. Crazy! Key West is the most 'different' place in the US. Different rules. Different code of ethics for sure. Never knew there was a Star fort there! Part of the planetary grid and Templars mechanics maps.
Oh wow! Thanks for subscribing. Consider becoming a channel member czcams.com/video/ODBW3pVahUE/video.html
Thank you for presenting this to us.
Did you find it odd the show did not mention Hemingway, Williams, Bishop, Gato, Dewey, etc?
Love Laura
Best place in Florida
Went through the Army SF Underwater Operations school in KW in 1985 then located on Trumbo Point. Got to meet a few locals and heard the stories of the island in the “pre Jimmy Buffett” years. Glad as hell to graduate the course but was an incredible experience to say the least.
Think I even saw some of the characters Buffett mentions in his books!
That's awesome. I grew up in Key West and know that school along with a few of the cadre who have long since retired. Key West in '85 still had a lot of what's in this documentary. Still does but definitely has changed a lot.
@@chriswebb5736 Thanks for the reply I was a 22 year old USAF PJ (Pararescue) in 85 is why I was going through the school when we had time off we were checking Duval n everything else. Wild as hell to us back then. I have flown small aircraft to the keys many times in the years since and I remember through the 90s there was a bar right in the airport that always seemed open. Flying a Seminole down the keys then landing in Conch Republic is just something never forgotten.
@@jimjohnston526 So cool! Back when SFUWO School was still part of the PJ/CCT pipeline. Saw a lot of PJ t-shirts around town back then. I went to an AFJROTC school in Melbourne and got to hang around the PJ's at Patrick for a few afternoons in 85-86. Those guys were very cool to take the time out for us. Duval was WILD in and out of the bars. That bar at the airport was called The Conch Flyer and you're right, it was open later (and earlier) than every other bar in town. Seminoles are rad.
@@MileZeroFilms Small world. I was a Patrick PJ for 15 years 1993-2009 both ART an TR before that I was Portland 304th 88-93. The reason the gap between pipeline and Portland was I had to do Kirtland twice long story there lol. Patrick was a straight active duty unit then and a lot of guys came to reserve in Portland one was my roommate I’m sure you met him then. Back in 85 PJ and CCT were completely separate as CCT had no SCUBA qualification. Anyway doin a family vacation in summer n staying on Trumbo so I’m hoping the cadre will let me in to take a pic of my old class plaque. Peace.
@@jimjohnston526 What a journey! Kirtland twice? Wow, that's intense. Trumbo is one of my favorite places. Lot of great childhood memories. Have fun with the family in Key West. I hope you get the pic with your class plaque. The airbrushed posters were cool too.
Lived in Key West from 1977-1980. Bought an 8-unit trailer park on Big Coppitt Key for $11K in 1978, sold it in 1987 for $60K and thought I'd made the best real estate transaction I ever would. Turns out to have been the worst. Go figure.
I lived in southern Florida in the late 1960's. Our family made a tourist trip to Key West over New Year 1968 or 1969. We left Florida in February 1970. I wasn't impressed with the sleepy worn out dirty little town. It looked more glamorous in this Discovery show!
I grew up in East St Louis, IL when I was 20 in 1984 I read about Key West in a National Geographic magazine. In 86 came down to check it out, fell in love with the island life style, relocated & never looked back.
I got to go! It's as amazing as everyone says.
Video uploaded 30 seconds ago… and then a 3 month comment in here. Bots! Lol jk
Drove straight there years ago taking a break from law school, working steel mill for a summer, then back to law school but only after a few days in Key West, BEAUTIFUL place, lively no for me as it was 40 plus degrees and February maybe and my locale was a VW bug for lay down back seat sleeping, but that was very unusual. Thanks, Periscope for the weather, but great memories. Periscope, another day for your wares. We pay enough for accessibility to internet. 78' or 79' era. And, (a North/South designated spot), where did you get that information from and when? The bridge system there was/is fascinating. Fishing, sight seeing, climate, yes! Sharks, for Jacques Cousteau maybe.
I know where that group of islands came from and how North/South designation happened, just a Fort Jefferson, and coastal defense was the strategy. Interesting when providing education of the best heritage of mankind to our young people.
Cool Beans.
Seriously, the way things are going, it may be wise to revamp fort Jefferson and put it back into commission again. 😂
Irish Imigration, yes, kind of like an Irish Diaspora the historians wrote.
Park Service and librarians.
Computer generated text said key westers are called " cox", wow.
Conch
Pronounced "Konk"
🇺🇳17:32
Sounds like the Irish were the slavea
Read your history. Look up "red legs." Thousands of Irish died building the canal & levy system of NOLA. They'd work in the alligator & malarial swamps for a dollar a day. When a Black slave cost over a thousand dollars the slaveowner isn't gonna risk sending that investment into the swamp. With more Irish coming every day let them risk their lives, right? That was the truth of it.