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I found this description of the funky building now housing Walgreens on Duval Street:
The Strand Theater in Key West opened in the mid-1920s as a single screen movie house that sat 800 around people. The theater closed sometime in the early 1980s and reopened as a nightclub. It remained open as a few other nightclubs until it became a Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum in 1993. The theater was sold in December 2001 and closed in April 2002. It has since become another location of Walgreens drug store. Based on research, over the past 20 years the marquee had become damaged with parts even missing. Walgreens restored the marquee to its original status, with the exception of adding their own advertising. All of the interior has been removed and/or covered over with the exception of the balcony.
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| Shawnah Newcomb |
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| Sandra Gibbons |
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| Michelle Kramer |
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| Michelle Erickson |
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| Loraine Seales |
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| Lilwanda Johnson |
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| Leah Johnson |
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| Jenny Roedel |
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| Heather Miller |
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| Ashley Julien |
I went whizzing all over the island on my little scooter this morning.
Yesterday Father Tony and I arrived in the mid-afternoon and were whisked to our Cypress House accommodations with instructions to quickly prepare for the Key West Pride kickoff party at Island House. After a few hours of poolside menz and frozen drinkies, we were hustled off to dinner at The Flaming Buoy (heh) where the co-owner related how a recent positive mention from the New York Times nearly sank the joint with business it wasn't yet ready to handle. Fantastic char-grilled scallops, by the way. After dinner, the irrepressible Father Tony continued onward to some of the bars on Duval Street, but I was zonked on the bed by 10:30pm. I am the party animal.
DISCLOSURE: As I mentioned when I first posted about this trip, our entire Key West shebang is being funded by the Key West Business Guild - airfare, hotel, meals, nightclubbing, hookers...everything. (OK, maybe not hookers.) As always for these things, press junketeers are not "required" to review or even mention any of the places we visit. If we do, hey, that's nice of us. If we don't, oh well. I usually only mention the joints that I liked. Just so you know.
Father Tony and I are staying at the fabulous Cypress House, where we have adjoining apartments. I'll post a slideshow recap of yesterday's goings-on shortly.
I love everything about Key West's airport, like the one luggage carousel. (Where's my bag? Oh. Carousel one.) But especially the super creepy multi-culti statue family on the roof.
Tea Party hero FL Gov. Rick "Medicare Fraud" Scott has signed a bill requiring welfare recipients to pass a drug test before receiving any checks. Applicants must pay for their own tests. The ACLU isn't having it.
"The wasteful program created by this law subjects Floridians who are impacted by the economic downturn, as well as their families, to a humiliating search of their urine and body fluids without cause or even suspicion of drug abuse," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "Searching the bodily fluids of those in need of assistance is a scientifically, fiscally, and constitutionally unsound policy. Today, that unsound policy is Florida law."I'm betting that the governor also has his fingers in the companies that would be providing these millions of drug tests.
Steve Rothaus reports at the Miami Herald:
They’ve bullied and taunted her, calling her names and writing on her locker. And now, the seniors at McFatter Technical High School have elected Andrew Viveros their 2011 prom queen. “They called my name and I was in total shock,’’ said Andrew, a 17-year-old who was born male but has publicly presented herself as female for the last two years. With her long wavy brown hair, Andrew wore a royal blue dress and got a fresh manicure for the Friday night dance. Andrew, also known as Andii, plans to someday change her name to Andrea after she transitions. She wanted to run for prom queen in order to show other transgender teens “it gets better.” She ran against 14 others.
2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell is among the eleven candidates in today's special election to replace recalled Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who was booted from office in March for (among other things) daring to raise property taxes in the face of a massive budget deficit.
RELATED: Back when I worked for a Miami-based music distributor, once a week I had to visit the Liberty City office of Campbell's label. Even after my 20th visit, he always acted as if he'd never seen me before. Pissed me the hell off.
The Key West Business Guild has invited me down on a press junket to cover this year's Pride events, which run June 8th thru June 13th. And of course I'll be hosting a JMG readers meet-up at the fabulous Island House, date and time TBD. My third trip to Key West in 18 months! Hope to see some of you there!
After Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejected billions in federal funding for high speed rail development, the feds invited other states to apply for the money. And as it turns out, the primary beneficiaries of Scott's short-sightedness will be commuters on Amtrak's northeast rail corridor.
The largest share of the money—nearly $800 million—will be used to upgrade train speeds from 135 mph to 160 mph on critical segments of the heavily traveled Northeast corridor, the department said in a statement. Another $404 million will go to expand high-speed rail service in the Midwest, including newly constructed segments of 110-mph track between Detroit and Chicago that are expected to save passengers 30 minutes in travel time. Nearly $340 million will go toward state-of-the-art locomotives and rail cars for California and the Midwest. California will also get another $300 million toward trains that will travel up to 220 mph between San Francisco and Los Angeles.Two other GOP governors also rejected federal rail money.
Nice try Bradley, but I'm not sure a little weed is worth gettin' tased over. The punishment just isn't fittin' the crime on this one, bro. See, they were gonna find the weed anyway, homeslice. So, what have we learned, Mr. Teacher? We've learned that when the cops ask us questions, we give them answers, right? Hey, congratulations - you've unintentionally provided a wonderful lesson for your high school students. Teacher of the year!
The GOP-dominated Florida legislature has made it a crime for a doctor to ask a patient if he owns any guns. Because even potentially violent mentally ill people have a right bear arms.
The measure (HB 155) cleared the Senate Thursday on a 27-10 votes and goes to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature, two days after the House also voted largely along party lines to place more restrictions on doctors and other medical providers when they question patients. The original bill filed by freshmen Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, and Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, called for punishing doctors with up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if they inquired about whether their patients owned guns. Gun groups have accused doctors of espousing an anti-firearm political agenda, and Evers has said he was pursuing the issue after a complaint from a constituent in his Panhandle district grilled about guns in the home. “When this goes on in the center and heart of my district, then I have a problem with it,” Evers said. “That’s the reason for the bill, and there’s been some great compromises.”The Florida AMA says there are "many valid reasons" that a doctor might inquire about gun ownership. Democrats say the bill will punish pediatricians who might ask children about careless gun ownership by their parents.
The Florida Family Association has launched an advertiser boycott against MTV because the network's Degrassi series positively portrays a young transgender man. Degrassi airs on MTV's Teen Nick channel. FFA chairman David Caton (left) writes in a letter to the show's advertisers:
It is very concerning that your company would knowingly advertise during a television show that condones and promotes transgender lifestyles to an audience that is almost exclusively watched by young teens and children. You would think by the number of episodes that MTV devotes to including the relationship between a female to male transgender high school student and a bi-sexual lesbian student that such relationships are a common occurrence in America’s high schools. The odds of this bizarre relationship occurring in high schools are extremely rare. Yet, MTV feeds this salacious and irresponsible propaganda to an audience made up of almost exclusively young teens and children as if it were common place. MTV airs a free promo for PFLAG on DeGrassi which directs kids to an organization that will encourage our youth to embrace a different sexual identity that may stay with them for life. Will your company continue to advertise on this irresponsible show?RELATED: World Net Daily publicized the boycott today in a lengthy article that repeats Peter LaBarbera's unfounded charges about GLSEN's Facebook page.
Orange County, Florida commissioners have unanimously approved extending benefits to the partners of gay county employees. Via Watermark:
In their pre-vote comments, many commissioners took the time to recognize Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who led the effort in 2008 to extend benefits to same sex domestic partners of city employees, and former Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart, who crusaded on behalf of same sex partners of county employees. Sheehan and Stewart were the first to speak in favor of the benefits. “It’s not the same as marriage, but it makes things a little more fair,” Sheehan said.It's nice to be able to report good news from home.
RELATED: In November, Orange County instituted broad LGBT protections in public accommodations, housing, and employment.
