island time

Since before the Civil War, Key West has been a haven to shipwrecks and vagabonds. Surprisingly, even as the Southernmost point in the Continental US, Key West was a Union controlled free Black settlement during the Civil War. Decades later, President Truman built a home in Key West, The Little White House, where he spent a third of his presidency. Ernest Hemingway famously lived and wrote on the island, as well as playwright Tennessee Williams. Pan-AM first began by shuttling mail from Cuba to the US through Key West. And during the 70’s and 80’s this little island continued to be a progressive beacon, fostering a gay friendly place of residence to this day.

The Blocks began flying to Key West in the late 60’s then some years later bought a Conch house in the early 1970’s. They lived on Key West until my grandmother’s passing this July in 2022. Throughout their 50+ years on the island, four generations of my family filtered through the shady palms and humid air at the corner of Tropical and Seminary St.

 Four generations experienced the soothing sound of heavy rain on tin rooves and outstretched palms, daylight delicately peeking through nature’s awning and the distant calls of roosters welcoming in the early morning dawn – the ritual of rising early with baited step, slowly towards the laundromats brewing Cuban coffee and hot-pressed toast with little concept of time or alarm of life outside the island. A haven indeed – caressed under a canopy of bougainvilleas, my family celebrated holiday’s, the ringing of the new Millennium, and countless births. But also pancakes at the kitchen counter, Sinatra records, Camel cigarettes, gin martinis, and quiet stories at the foot of my grandmother’s bed.

We always felt safe and loved in Key West. It’s a place of security and freedom. A place for misfits, transplants, and family.

 This collection of photographs, shot on film with my grandfather’s Leica, attempt to encapsulate my family’s final sunset in Key West during the celebration of life for my grandmother and the passing of time from one Conch shell to the next.

gb