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Old 07-06-2015, 08:35 PM
 
Location: FLORIDA
8,963 posts, read 8,916,759 times
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i'm not a big fan of KW either. visit? sure. but live? NO.
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Old 07-07-2015, 06:51 AM
 
Location: Wheaton, Illinois
10,261 posts, read 21,748,788 times
Reputation: 10454
Key West was really nice, oh, about 60 years ago.
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Old 08-10-2015, 12:20 PM
 
2 posts, read 3,566 times
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I have lived in Key West for many years. This place is awesome... I do not drink or do drugs, never had... just dont care for it.. The "Party Zone" is confined to a few 3 -4 block wide area in Downtown Key West running north and south the entire length... I live just 5 blocks from this area and see very little in the way of trouble. Other than people, many of them tourists, getting in trouble for public intox or acting like asses, the biggest crime in Key West is Bike theft !!!. BIKE THEFT in twenty15... not so bad.. This island outside of the late nite hours downtown is a beautiful tropical (Bahamas- like) island ... with much more in common with the Caribbean islands than with any part of Florida... Key West also has a Caribbean climate NOT a Florida climate... so winters here are much milder, especially nites, than any part of Florida... and cooler in the summer...the humidity, well... you just get used to it from May- November...You can make of this island what you want... and with Amazon you dont have to go shopping in Miami for anything... And remember down here we are NOT Floridians... we are CONCHS... LONG LIVE THE CONCH REPUBLIC !!
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Old 08-11-2015, 10:41 AM
 
Location: South Florida
5,020 posts, read 7,448,079 times
Reputation: 5466
It's overbuilt/over populated and far from the laid back way it was once upon a time.
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Old 08-11-2015, 11:13 AM
 
1,448 posts, read 2,896,715 times
Reputation: 2403
Quote:
Originally Posted by dawson75 View Post
I have lived in Key West for many years. And remember down here we are NOT Floridians... we are CONCHS...
If you've lived in Key West for many years then you know you're not a Conch. Conchs are people BORN in Monroe County, or according to some, only on Key West. At best, if you've been there 7+ yrs, you can be a "Freshwater Conch." Some 50% of Key West are not Conchs, Freshwater or otherwise, but relative newcomers, or transients who will leave again in a year or two. That seemed like a very odd comment to make for someone who knows the place so well. No one calls all people living in the Florida Keys, or all people in Key West, Conchs. It is considered a special status, brought on by a "nativist" mindset (which of course has nothing to do with the true Native Americans who lived there for hundreds if not thousands of years, the Calusa/Tequesta, who are the only actual natives of the area and have all since been killed).

And just to make it clear for those visiting, yes, Monroe County residents are in fact residents of Florida. We have Florida driver's licenses are are subject to Florida laws and tax regulations. The Conch Republic did not ever successfully secede from the Union, so although there are actual Conch Republic passports, and nations that actually accept them around the world (!), people who live in Key West, whether born there or US citizens who moved there, are in fact both citizens of the US, and of Florida.

Although it's crazy expensive, and can be inconvenient, I love living in the Keys, and hope I never have to move. There are endless things to do and explore if you like the outdoors. It's not a perfect place, as nowhere on Earth is perfect. And it is a terrible place to live for most people, because it just doesn't suit most people's priorities when it comes to living here year-round. But for the right people, it's pretty awesome.

I personally find Key West too overpriced and noisy and congested though. I prefer the natural, quiet, more affordable, litter-free areas throughout other parts of the Keys. But if you like the idea of Vegas on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean, and have $1200/mo to rent a single bedroom in somebody's house, Key West might be a good fit.


To be truthful though, as much as the above poster does not partake in partying and I don't either, I would say that the "party zone" encompasses basically the entire Keys. It is a way of life here, and drinking excessively or doing drugs is widely accepted. People burn out their livers quickly in the Keys. There are a lot of adults who move down here specifically because they never grew up and want to live in Peter Pan World forever, drinking and drugging their day away and never taking any responsibility for anything, so there is a whole culture down here of that on pretty much every island. It's not like partying can only be found in a small neighborhood of Key West - that's just the noisy epicenter of a party-focused county. That kind of culture is usually at the center of most boating accidents here, and fatalities on the Overseas Hwy. And all of Stock Island - which as much as it might not be polite to say so, is pretty much an accident unto itself, as the source of a huge percentage of the arrests in all of Monroe County.
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Old 08-11-2015, 01:48 PM
 
Location: CT
3,440 posts, read 2,526,401 times
Reputation: 4639
Only three reasons to be in Key West:

1.-You're a tourist
2.- You work there
3.- You're a beach bum

College????? I guess you found out every weekend isn't like spring break.
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Old 08-11-2015, 02:06 PM
 
Location: Miami Beach, FL/Tokyo, Japan
1,699 posts, read 2,151,925 times
Reputation: 767
If you want to party and go to college at the same time, and oh be on the beach and partake in beach activities... Please come to Miami lol. Key West, the entire Keys for that matter, strike me as very old. I remember on numerous drives down those chains, stopping at restaurants where every single person is around the age of 50 or older. Now Key West is a bit better due to the tourism, but not by much. Unless your life is marine biology, you'd get bored there. Even the party zone is small, and a one trick pony. I mean it's a small isolated town in the middle of the gulf.
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Old 08-11-2015, 03:53 PM
 
Location: OCNJ and or lower Florida keys
814 posts, read 2,043,174 times
Reputation: 842
Just a FYI you can also go to college in key west. The Florida keys Community college (FKCC) is located just outside key west. Spring Break every weekend too!! I find it a great place to visit with family in friends for a night out on the town but I would not want to live there full time key west has way too many full time residents on that tiny island.
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Old 08-12-2015, 06:34 AM
 
5,390 posts, read 9,690,496 times
Reputation: 9994
Like others have said, I def enjoy visiting KW, but could never live there. It's boring. Aside from Duval street, where else is there to actually go and hang out? Like what other options do u have if u wanna have dinner, stroll around, see a movie, etc? ..All in one place too.

NOWHERE. It's too "margaritaville" vibe down there and kind of tacky. There's this mentality of like "I live in paradise, im an alcoholic, and im loving it!!"....im like "ew, no thanks"
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Old 08-12-2015, 08:11 AM
 
Location: Flawduh
17,156 posts, read 15,373,458 times
Reputation: 23738
Quote:
Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69 View Post
Like others have said, I def enjoy visiting KW, but could never live there. It's boring. Aside from Duval street, where else is there to actually go and hang out? Like what other options do u have if u wanna have dinner, stroll around, see a movie, etc? ..All in one place too.

NOWHERE. It's too "margaritaville" vibe down there and kind of tacky. There's this mentality of like "I live in paradise, im an alcoholic, and im loving it!!"....im like "ew, no thanks"
Couldn't have said it better.
My wife and I visit every now and then. We stay on Truman Ave at a B&B. Aside from the Duval and a few side streets, the city doesn't have much. There's a neat beach on the other end of town, but it's nothing close to what most other major Florida beaches offer.
Duval is a street like no other. It's fun to party there, but I can see it getting boring very fast.

I have a few friends who grew up in the keys. Their experience living there was exactly that: drugs, alcohol, women, fights.
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