20 minute read
West Pride Story
WEST PRIDE STORY
The history of LGBTQ travel and tourism on Key West is a representation of its impact on all of Florida.
BY JOHN SOTOMAYOR
Located at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys, surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, Key West holds the honor of being one of the original gay vacation destinations. With about 300,000 LGBTQ+ visitors feeling its warm, welcoming embrace each year, the city remains a top-ranked LGBTQ travel destination. But Key West’s tourism history ebbs and ows, often only staying a oat thanks to the gay travlers who visited once — and never left.
Gordon Ross (then Bondesen) arrived in Key West from Cleveland, Ohio in the 1970s when he was 18 years old to attend what was then called “a Junior College” and what is now called the Community College of the Florida Keys. He planned to study Marine Biology. Instead, he was drawn to the budding artisan scene on Duval Street.
In short time, Ross dined with Tennessee Williams, and listened to Diana Ross records with James Leo Herlihy, the author of Midnight Cowboy. He witnessed Jimmy Kirkwood help write A Chorus Line and celebrated a New Year’s Eve party with Leonard Bernstein. He befriended locals John “Ma” Evans and Ricki Fessler, who introduced Ross to the local drag scene. Before he knew it Ross had been swept away by the allure of Key West, and redirected his life to one fully immersed in its LGBTQ scene.
A shuttered, close-to-bankrupt town, Key West was on the verge of a revival in 1978, thanks to savvy South Florida gay businessmen who saw potential in the grand Victorians and charming conch houses that dotted the entire town. But the ultimate catalyst for city’s LGBTQ+ tourism revival, if you ask Ross, was the arrival of The Monster in January 1976.
Like the original Monster on Fire Island — the summer playground for elite gay Manhattanites — The Monster of Key West was a restaurant/gay nightclub that drew gay and straight crowds alike. In his book, Key West: Dancing at the End of the Rainbow, Ross wrote, “the rst thing a visitor would realize after their rst visit to The Monster was that sooner or later everyone in Key West stopped by. Gay men, gay women, straight men, straight women, college kids, grandmothers, grandfathers, service men and women, politicians, teachers, police, remen, visiting celebrities … everyone, everyone stopped by at some point.”
But the all-inclusive vibe of The Monster wasn’t found everywhere. There was backlash from some old-time Key Westers, who had already lived through the seismic shifts brought by the Navy occupation in the ’40s and the hippie movement in the ’60s. They saw “the gays” as nothing more than the newest upenders of their way of life.
A New York Times article from April 1979, titled “In Key West, the Latest ‘Invaders’ Have Set O a Backlash” sets the stage well with its opening vignette:
“This place is really wild,” the young man in blue jeans and a tank top undershirt was telling a newly arrived acquaintance one night recently on Duval Street, the main thoroughfare here. “You can do anything and everything.”
“That’s what he thinks,” another man of about the same age — early 20s — muttered disdainfully to the young woman on his arm as they overheard the remark in passing.
A few steps later, in front of Shoe Fly, one of the street’s chic new shops, he looked back over his shoulder. “Go back to Greenwich Village, you creeps,” he said.”
In order to survive then thrive, gays and lesbians needed to weave their own unique culture into the existing fabric of the Key West they rst fell in love with.
The First Wave
During World War II, all Americans joined the war e ort after Pearl Harbor was bombed, with enlistments happening at a rate of 14,000 per day in 1942. Gay and lesbian individuals also joined. There were many opportunities for same-sex scenarios because the males lived in same-sex dorms and the ladies who were volunteers with the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services (WAVES) found themselves working in factories at home.
The naval base fostered the need for gay establishments, such as Gate Bar, aptly named
HISTORIC WONDERS OF THE WEST
Ten locations and events that had a significant impact on Key West’s rich LGBTQ history.
1. DUVAL STREET
The epicenter of the city’s arts and gay culture, Key West’s main drag is home to some of the city’s most iconic establishments, from nightclubs to museums, guesthouses to gardens. It is also the location of longstanding institutions Captain Tony’s Bar (est. 1970), Sloppy Joe’s (est. 1933), and the oldest bar in Key West, Green Parrot Bar (est. 1890).
2. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS MUSEUM
The house that playwright Tennessee Williams lived in the little yellow house at 1431 Duncan Street from 1948 until his death in 1983. His beloved home has been converted to a museum honoring his life and literary achievements.
SOURCE: MODIFIED FROM FLA-KEYS.COM/GAY; GAYKEYWESTFL.COM
due to its proximity to the Navy base front gates, and Jack Gray’s Rum Runner Room (later Delmonico’s Bar), all of which had a large shrimper and servicemen clientele.
Meanwhile, the allure of the tranquil island life as an escape from the fast-paced hectic mainland life attracted authors, playwrights, composers and their ilk. The first was composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, best known for his iconic musical, West Side Story. He first visited Key West in 1941, and wrote his first published opus, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, during his stay. He would later write a ballet, Conch Town, as a salute to Key West natives. Author and playwright Tennessee Williams arrived in Key West in 1948 and spent the last 34 years of his life there. Many of Williams’ world-renown plays such as The Rose Tattoo and Night of the Iguana were written in Key West. Both world-famous openly gay men were instrumental in drawing national and international attention to Key West.
The city’s lively gay and artist mecca status lasted until early 1970. Then Old Town became quiet. “The town was one of the last bastions of ‘hippiedom’ after a large part of the Navy pulled out” wrote Ross. The closure of the naval base caused a population of 45,000 to drop to 15,000 seemingly overnight. “Most of the buildings, especially downtown, were old, weathered and dilapidated,” wrote Ross. “You could see the potential of these old conch homes and buildings, but no one at the time seemed to be interested in doing any renovation.”
Cori Convertito, PhD, the curator of the Key West Art & Historical Society, said in her presentation, “Florida Keys or Bust: A History of Tourism” that the closure of the naval base had a domino effect. Businesses could not sustain themselves from a drop of population from 45,000 to 15,000 so they shuttered. Tourists stopped coming because the businesses were closed. With tourism at a halt, hotels and restaurants closed.
“There was a large portion of South Florida who were gay and saw an opportunity to move to the keys, specifically Key West, buy the property pretty cheap and x it up,” said Convertito. “What they did is create the next wave of tourism for all of us.”
The Second Wave
Ricki Fessler lived in Coconut Grove, Fla. in the mid-70s where he worked as a bartender. He met a Norwegian patron named Sven Christensen whom he learned owned The Monster on Fire Island, NY. Christensen saw something in Fessler. He asked him if he would be interested in helping him open a gay bar in Key West.
“I said, well, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem very gay to me,” said Fessler. At the time, Key West was mainly populated by shrimpers and Navy men. “He said you only have to do it for six weeks.”
Fessler was instantly attracted to the offer. Then he was hooked by the beauty of Key West, and the appeal of The Monster he helped open there. “It became an instant hit. All of a sudden, people started coming down because [Christensen] owned the one on Fire Island,” said Fessler. The Monster on Key West was considered Studio 54 South.
“Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote used to sit at the end of the bar at happy hour,” added Fessler. “Tennessee drank his whiskey and Truman sipped white wine while they did poppers.”
Drag queen phenomena Divine was a dear friend of Fessler and former roommate in New York City brie y. Divine lived in Key West for a short time. One of the most memorable and still talked about drag performances was the one given by Divine
QUEERING THE WAY
South Florida is far from the only place to feel the impact of LGBTQ+ tourism. In his book, The Queering of the Redneck Riviera, Jerry T. Watkins III focuses on the Florida panhandle, depicting the complex history of how its growing LGBTQ+ population overcame the reactionary push for “family-friendly” environments and turned the Redneck Riviera into the Gay Riviera. The book is part of a growing body of research on how LGBTQ+ presence changes the cultural fabric of cities, often leading to economic growth.
at The Monster when she came down from New York and performed her Disco hit, You Think You’re a Man.
Politicians frequented The Monster too. “Senator John Spottswood and his wife used to come into The Monster quite a bit,” said Fessler. “I had been working there for a couple of years and [Mrs. Spottswood] came in one night and asked me, ‘Ricki, do you like living here? Do you think you want to stay here?’ I said, yeah. And she said, ‘I have three words for you.’ And I said, ‘what’s that Mary?’ And she said, ‘buy real estate.’ However, at the time I was more interested in getting Quaaludes and martinis.”
Other gay and lesbian business people had the same thought regarding real estate. It started at Zero Duval Street with the construction of the Pier House—the island’s first high-end, all-inclusive resort. It was built by gay local Key Wester David Wolkowsky, a marketing whiz who invited travel journalists and publicists from all over the world to stay at the Pier House and experience Key West’s beauty and allure. Local media aptly called Wolkowsky “Mr. Key West” and the “Father of Key West Tourism.” By the middle of the 1970s, there were more than 30 same-sex guest homes that catered to gay men thanks to a consistent supply of gay tourists, including Key West’s only all-male guesthouse on Duval Street, New Orleans House. Fleming Street had four or ve highly popular gay guest houses on it, including Equator Report, Alexander House, and Island House. “We nicknamed it Flaming Street,” joked Fessler.
Soon gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses appeared everywhere. Establishments such as La Te Da, Papillion, The Mermaid Lounge, The Copa, Beach Bar at Pier House and Delmonico’s Bar on Duval Street entertained the throngs of LGBTQ and straight visitors with drag performances while gay-owned galleries and stores provided venues to shop.
The Impact
Gay merchants on the island came together in 1978 to discuss the special task of marketing to LGBTQ tourists. It was clear that gay tourists were enthusiastic, flexible travelers with disposable means. As a result, the Key West Business Guild was established as the rst LGBTQ chamber of commerce and destination marketing organization in the nation.
Steve Murray-Smith, at the time, Steve Smith (1950 - 2022) was the marketing director of the Key West Business Guild and pioneered Key West as a premiere Gay Destination. Murray-Smith traveled the coun-
3. THE MONSTER
Founded by Sven Christensen and local bartender Ricki Fessler, the popular restaurant/ gay club is considered one of the catalysts for the revitalization of LGBTQ+ tourism in Key West
4. RICHARD HEYMAN
When he was elected Mayor of Key West in 1983, he became America’s first openly gay mayor.
5. ONE HUMAN FAMILY
The mantra and philosophy, created by openly gay local artist J.T. Thompson, was adopted as the official philosophy of Key West in 2000.
6. THE KEY WEST BUSINESS GUILD
Established in 1978, the Guild is the oldest LGBTQ chamber in the USA and one of North America’s oldest gay and lesbian destination marketing organizations.
THE CASTRO-FICATION OF ST PETERSBURG
The influx of gay residents and visitors — and the culture and industry they brought with them — to San Francisco’s Castro District in the ’50s is what sparked its nationwide rise to fame. So when similar industry emerged in St. Petersburg around 2002, it led local media to ponder: was the Grand Central District becoming the new Castro?
The Grand Central District, located in central St. Petersburg, had recently become an unusual blend of residential and commercial areas thanks to a city-wide zoning change that took place two years before. The district was re-zoned as an “Urban Village,” meaning both the district and its individual properties can be mixed-use—for example, a residential complex above a ground-floor commercial space. Small businesses were then encouraged to open in these urban villages and target the customers who lived nearby.
The redevelopment plans for the Grand Central District were created with input from the residents of the adjacent neighborhoods — the equally gay-friendly Historic Kenwood and Central Oak Park districts. Both the Grand Central Lofts and the Urban Village Townhouse project were developed at this time. Storefronts that were once boarded quickly transformed into thriving minority-owned enterprises.
When St Pete Pride was founded in 2003 by Brian Longstreth and George Kessinger (the founder of George’s Alibi gay nightclub), the Grand Central District quickly became its home base.
try and the world promoting the concept of Gay Key West. “I would say that he’s single handedly made Key West,” said Ross. “He was the next jump of making Key West known to the world.”
Four openly gay businessmen who were friends gathered one year later, in 1979, to create one of the island’s most significant economic engines. In the late 1960s, Joe Liska and his business partner Frank Romano relocated to Key West and founded the now-famous skincare company Key West Aloe.
Owners of the renowned department store Fast Buck Freddie’s, Tony Falcone and his business partner Bill Conkle, were good friends of Liska and Romano in 1971. The end of October had traditionally been a dormant season in Key West, but Halloween had grown to be a treasured festival in the LGBT community. The four men founded Fantasy Fest, one of the most well-known festivals in the US that takes place the week before Halloween and brings millions of dollars to the island’s economy every year.
The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), a global organization with more than 1,200 members and expanding, was founded in 1983 by local tourism agencies and hoteliers to support Key West’s reputation as the inventor and early pioneer in LGBTQ travel promotion. Hans Ebensten, the “Inventor of Homosexual Travel” and the first openly gay tour operator in the United States, was a major force in the establishment of the organization. He and his longtime companion Brian Kenny relocated to Key West in the early 1970s. In 1972, Ebensten organized the rst ever authorized gay men’s tour, which included an exhilarating journey down the Colorado River. Soon after, Ebensten organized the rst vacations for gay men to Egypt, the Galapagos Islands, and other destinations.
Over the years, the Key West local economy and LGBTQ culture exploded, mainly due to the waves of travel and tourism the local LGBTQ community attracted.
“We would estimate that 30% of the visitors coming in our visitor center on Duval Street identify as LGBTQ+,” said Kevin Theriault, Executive Director of the Key West Business Guild/ Gay Key West Visitor Center. “We also track the number of visitors that attend our events – Key West Pride, Tropical Heat, and Womenfest. We receive that information from our ticketed events, LGBTQ+ guesthouses and hotels, and our event hosts. There is definitely an increase of LGBTQ+ visitors during these events.”
“Beyond Key West, other regions of the Florida Keys Island chain also welcome
LGBTQ+ travelers looking for a wide range of experiences found only in the Florida Keys,” said Stacey Mitchell, director of the Florida Keys & Key West tourism council. “I believe the Keys’ lengthy tradition of having an all-welcoming and accepting mindset is an important reason for our success. The tourism council’s longstanding marketing e orts support that philosophy and communicate that all-welcoming mindset.”
The positive impact of LGBTQ travel and tourism is evident everywhere in Key West. The traditional gay scene on Duval attracts gay and straight visitors alike, day and night. Gay bars such as Bourbon Street Pub, 801 Bourbon Bar, Aqua Bar and nightclub, and Bobby’s Monkey Bar welcome and are visited by gay and straight, as are the straight bars that are gay-friendly, such as The Bull, clothing-optional Garden of Eden, Chart Room Cocktail Lounge, Durty Harrys, and 22&Co; including the long-standing institutions Captain Tony’s Bar, established in 1970, built in 1851; Sloppy Joe’s, established 1933; and the oldest bar in Key West, Green Parrot Bar, established 1890.
Created in January 2000 then adopted as the island’s official philosophy in October 2000 and by the whole of the Florida Keys in 2001, One Human Family, by openly gay, local artist J.T. Thompson is meant to unite people regardless of their race, nationality, sexuality, and other differences that the artist believes “are superficial distinctions and cannot be allowed to be twisted into cultural divisions.”
“The phrase ‘One Human Family’ reclaims the word ‘family’ from being an exclusive word by the religious right to being an inclusive word,” said Thompson. “Like fingers on a hand … we are all different and unique. We are all of equal value. We are all created to work together. And although we appear separate, we are all linked to — and a part of — each other.”
That is profound thinking. Whereas “family-friendly” promotes the exclusion of gay people, “One Human Family” advocates the inclusion of all people.
Today, no one on the island looks back over their shoulder and mutters “Go back to Greenwich Village” anymore. In the tidal change of human culture, that is an advancement, not a retreat. Life at high tide. An advancement carried to shore on the backs of LGBTQ visitors. An advancement invited by the LGBTQ who were there first.
Editor’s Note: A version of this article by the same author was published in the fall 2022 edition of FORUM, the Magazine of Florida Humanities.
7. FANTASY FEST
Conceived in 1979 by gay businessmen Bill Conkle, Tony Falcone, Joe Liszka and Frank Romano to celebrate Key West’s creativity and attract LGBTQ tourists during the otherwise dormant month of October. The world-famous festival is now a fundraising and awareness leader for people living with HIV and AIDS.
(a.k.a. Drag Queen Drop) debuted on New Year’s Eve 1996 at Bourbon Street Pub. Drag queen Sushi was perched in a giant red stiletto and lowered from the balcony at midnight. The event was broadcast live on CNN for many years.
9. AIDS MEMORIAL
Completed in 1997 and believed to be the only official municipal monument of its kind, the Key West AIDS Memorial bears the names of more than 1,200 people who died from AIDS.
10. PRIDE MONTH
A 1.25-mile-long, sea-to-sea rainbow flag was unfurled along Duval Street during Key West’s 2003 Pride celebration to commemorate the flag’s 25th anniversary. Sections of the massive flag have since appeared at Pride events around the world.
8. THE RED SHOE DROP
