I know there's gonna be more than a couple disappointed Monkeys...
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Key West, Suddenly Shy, Puts Pasties on its Party
New York Times | 10/20/2004 | Nick Madigan
KEY WEST, Fla., Oct. 17 - As night falls on Duval Street, dazed tourists stumble from bar to bar, taking in decked-out drag queens, comely strippers and other entertainments considerably more outrageous. In the dark corners of some of Key West's gay clubs, things go on that, even here, most people do not talk about in public.
It takes a lot to shock people in Key West. If you come to town, the thinking goes, you may as well forget about prudishness andp ropriety. And yet the southernmost city in the contiguous United States, long considered beyond the reach of mainland mores, is undergoing a struggle over its morals.
City officials, who are bracing themselves for Friday, the start of Fantasy Fest, an annual 10-day bacchanal that draws about 80,000 people and exceeds the blowouts of New Orleans at their most bizarre, are trying to crack down on the more outlandish aspects of Key West's sexually indulgent ways.
This month, the City Commission passed an ordinance that limits the number of strip clubs, clothing-optional bars and X-rated video stores, and spells out that sex in public is illegal. But some things remain sacred: a clause to require body painters to shield their naked patrons from view was struck.
"It does get pretty raunchy," said John Jones, the assistant city manager. "We're trying to be more family oriented, but it's still an adult town. I wouldn't advise anyone to bring their children to Fantasy Fest."
The effort against blatant displays of sexual behavior comes as city officials have begun forcing homeless people to bunk down in tents next to the Monroe County Jail and have ordered the police to arrest violators of regulations on open containers anywhere but on the busiest blocks of Duval Street, where enforcement would mean arresting just about everyone.
In addition, the street-front counters that for years have served rum runners and piña coladas to passers-by must now ask their patrons to step onto their property before they can receive their drinks.
"Good God, this is turning into a Republican town," proclaimed the Pistol and Enema Web site, which advertises itself as "the gay information source for Key West."
Workers in the sex industry here say they are stunned at the movement toward modesty, the very thing they left the mainland to escape.
"It's gotten ridiculous," said Ed Tremarco, a bartender at the gay-oriented Bourbon St. Pub. "They even tried to have the body painters put up curtains. That got shut down, but it's like they have nothing better to do than to come after us."
Christy Sweet, a stripper who sued Key West officials after they rescinded her license two years ago to operate a storefront parlor called Personal Dances, said the newly conservative bent in town was a result of a real estate boom in which wealthy out-of-towners were buying up expensive second homes.
"There's a different group of people coming here," Ms. Sweet said, "and they're just not as open to adult entertainment."
A poster outside the 801 Bourbon Bar advertises nightly drag shows, at 9 and 11, starring "Key West's most beautiful queens." But a brochure tied to Fantasy Fest promotes more risqué fare at the bar's sister establishment, the Bourbon St. Pub, including an advertisement for an Oct. 25 "Dungeons and Dragons" party that promises "live demonstrations" and comes with a warning: "This leather fetish party is not for the timid or shy."
In Key West, where representatives of the various preferences operate in a relatively harmonious alliance, it is widely assumed that there is sex in the backrooms of some of the clubs, mostly in the gay ones but sometimes in the straight ones.
Mary Jane, a stripper prone to acrobatics who said she came here to work a year ago so that that she could save money to return to college, recalled being astounded at what she heard was going on in the gay clubs.
"Oral sex, right there in front of everyone," said Mary Jane, who was wearing high heels, tattoos and nothing else. "I couldn't believe it."
Mr. Jones, 72, the assistant city manager, said there were certain things the city could not stop.
"If you're a young man and you want to make out, no matter what your sexual preference, you can pretty much do it in Key West," he said. "We tolerate it to a certain extent, as long as you don't do it in public."
The new ordinance establishes that the town's 14 strip joints and pornographic book and video stores, as well as a clothing-optional resort, a clothing-optional restaurant and two clothing-optional bars, may remain in place but makes it much harder for new licenses to be issued for such businesses.
At least one of those bars, Naked Lunch, was cited recently because employees were topless in a place that was not legally an entertainment venue. Code enforcement officers also said the Key West Scrub Club, a strip joint, could not drive and park all over town its white vans, decorated with paintings of bikini-clad women and promoting its "Live Totally All-Nude Girls!''
"We do want to keep our uniqueness and funkiness," said Tom Oosterhoudt, one of the City Commission's five members. "What we don't want is major strip-joint chains on every corner, so it looks like Anywhere, U.S.A."
Mr. Oosterhoudt said he had successfully toned down some of the ordinance's more onerous provisions, so much so that its proponent, his colleague Carman Turner, ended up voting against it.
"It still reflects the more freewheeling, free-spirited legacy of Key West's history," Mr. Oosterhoudt said. "We've always been a place of live and let live."
p
Key West, Suddenly Shy, Puts Pasties on its Party
New York Times | 10/20/2004 | Nick Madigan
KEY WEST, Fla., Oct. 17 - As night falls on Duval Street, dazed tourists stumble from bar to bar, taking in decked-out drag queens, comely strippers and other entertainments considerably more outrageous. In the dark corners of some of Key West's gay clubs, things go on that, even here, most people do not talk about in public.
It takes a lot to shock people in Key West. If you come to town, the thinking goes, you may as well forget about prudishness andp ropriety. And yet the southernmost city in the contiguous United States, long considered beyond the reach of mainland mores, is undergoing a struggle over its morals.
City officials, who are bracing themselves for Friday, the start of Fantasy Fest, an annual 10-day bacchanal that draws about 80,000 people and exceeds the blowouts of New Orleans at their most bizarre, are trying to crack down on the more outlandish aspects of Key West's sexually indulgent ways.
This month, the City Commission passed an ordinance that limits the number of strip clubs, clothing-optional bars and X-rated video stores, and spells out that sex in public is illegal. But some things remain sacred: a clause to require body painters to shield their naked patrons from view was struck.
"It does get pretty raunchy," said John Jones, the assistant city manager. "We're trying to be more family oriented, but it's still an adult town. I wouldn't advise anyone to bring their children to Fantasy Fest."
The effort against blatant displays of sexual behavior comes as city officials have begun forcing homeless people to bunk down in tents next to the Monroe County Jail and have ordered the police to arrest violators of regulations on open containers anywhere but on the busiest blocks of Duval Street, where enforcement would mean arresting just about everyone.
In addition, the street-front counters that for years have served rum runners and piña coladas to passers-by must now ask their patrons to step onto their property before they can receive their drinks.
"Good God, this is turning into a Republican town," proclaimed the Pistol and Enema Web site, which advertises itself as "the gay information source for Key West."
Workers in the sex industry here say they are stunned at the movement toward modesty, the very thing they left the mainland to escape.
"It's gotten ridiculous," said Ed Tremarco, a bartender at the gay-oriented Bourbon St. Pub. "They even tried to have the body painters put up curtains. That got shut down, but it's like they have nothing better to do than to come after us."
Christy Sweet, a stripper who sued Key West officials after they rescinded her license two years ago to operate a storefront parlor called Personal Dances, said the newly conservative bent in town was a result of a real estate boom in which wealthy out-of-towners were buying up expensive second homes.
"There's a different group of people coming here," Ms. Sweet said, "and they're just not as open to adult entertainment."
A poster outside the 801 Bourbon Bar advertises nightly drag shows, at 9 and 11, starring "Key West's most beautiful queens." But a brochure tied to Fantasy Fest promotes more risqué fare at the bar's sister establishment, the Bourbon St. Pub, including an advertisement for an Oct. 25 "Dungeons and Dragons" party that promises "live demonstrations" and comes with a warning: "This leather fetish party is not for the timid or shy."
In Key West, where representatives of the various preferences operate in a relatively harmonious alliance, it is widely assumed that there is sex in the backrooms of some of the clubs, mostly in the gay ones but sometimes in the straight ones.
Mary Jane, a stripper prone to acrobatics who said she came here to work a year ago so that that she could save money to return to college, recalled being astounded at what she heard was going on in the gay clubs.
"Oral sex, right there in front of everyone," said Mary Jane, who was wearing high heels, tattoos and nothing else. "I couldn't believe it."
Mr. Jones, 72, the assistant city manager, said there were certain things the city could not stop.
"If you're a young man and you want to make out, no matter what your sexual preference, you can pretty much do it in Key West," he said. "We tolerate it to a certain extent, as long as you don't do it in public."
The new ordinance establishes that the town's 14 strip joints and pornographic book and video stores, as well as a clothing-optional resort, a clothing-optional restaurant and two clothing-optional bars, may remain in place but makes it much harder for new licenses to be issued for such businesses.
At least one of those bars, Naked Lunch, was cited recently because employees were topless in a place that was not legally an entertainment venue. Code enforcement officers also said the Key West Scrub Club, a strip joint, could not drive and park all over town its white vans, decorated with paintings of bikini-clad women and promoting its "Live Totally All-Nude Girls!''
"We do want to keep our uniqueness and funkiness," said Tom Oosterhoudt, one of the City Commission's five members. "What we don't want is major strip-joint chains on every corner, so it looks like Anywhere, U.S.A."
Mr. Oosterhoudt said he had successfully toned down some of the ordinance's more onerous provisions, so much so that its proponent, his colleague Carman Turner, ended up voting against it.
"It still reflects the more freewheeling, free-spirited legacy of Key West's history," Mr. Oosterhoudt said. "We've always been a place of live and let live."