Key West also has a name called the Conch Republic... The name was given in 1982 after the mayor of Key West declared its independence from the United States and was flagged by the Conch Republic.
Is it bad to belong to the United States? Why declared an independent country? Key West's geographical location is located at the southernmost tip of the United States land, and some illegal immigrants from Central American countries and Caribbean island countries regard it as a fast track to enter the United States and try their best to come to Key West. So the U.S. border checkpoint set up a checkpoint on the key west to Miami to check all passing vehicles. It was such a policy of the US authorities that made the local people of Key West feel ashamed and humiliated (thinking that the United States treated them as foreigners and did not treat them as their own people), and declared independence in one breath!
But the U.S. government didn't think there was anything too much of a problem with it, and it had always regarded the April 23, 1982 key West independence as a farce... Many Americans don't know what the Conch Republic is, and this "country" has never appeared on international occasions... The blue picture below is the flag of the Conch Republic, with a large conch in the middle, and the blue represents the sea.
Figure: pinterest.com
"End of the Road"
Never mind what the store sells, it's a pretty good name! The intersection is at the end of the southern end of Route 1, so the shop is called "End of the Road", and it has a very appropriate name at the right place! It is a small shop that sells souvenirs of travel and has a wide range of products.
A stall in front of a small shop that specializes in conch souvenirs!
Hemingway's House
There are very few places in Key West that can be called a tourist attraction, and the most famous one is the Ernest Hemingway House. Hemingway is a famous American writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his "The Old Man and the Sea". He was born in Chicago and later moved to Florida for 11 years. He moved to Key West in 1931, where Hemingway completed several of his books: Green Hills in Africa, Snow in Kilimanjaro, Death in the Afternoon, and Winner Get Nothing.
Hunting and sea fishing are Hemingway's two major hobbies, and his level of hunting and fishing is still quite good! Hemingway became a famous writer not because of how good a school he went to, how high a degree he got, how long he was educated... He loves writing and has a talent for it, and more importantly, it has to do with his life experiences and interests. Hemingway did not go to college, and his highest degree was high school graduation.
Six-fingered cat
Hemingway loved cats so much!! During his stay at Key West, a friend gave him a six-fingered cat (cats usually have only 5 fingers per front paw and 4 hind paws per company, for a total of 18. And the six-fingered cat has one more finger per paw, 22 in all), and Hemingway named the cat Snowball.
One of the six-fingered cats Pictured: apr.org
There are currently more than 50 cats in Hemingway's house, many of which are six-fingered. The island of Key West is not large, and almost all of the six-fingered cats on the island are descendants of snowballs, and unique genes continue to multiply.
Figure: bluewaterlife.com
Tourism in Key West
Key West is not the same as it was a few years ago, and almost everyone in the city has become a tourist industry practitioner... Many of the homes on the street are rented out in the form of B&Bs and Airbnbs, and it is a good thing that homeowners not only have a place to live in and increase their income, but this cookie-cutterity can make people lack freshness and quickly tire of their surroundings.
One day at lunch I went to a sandwich shop, a small restaurant open in a private house, only an indoor kitchen, 3 or 4 tables and a few chairs outside. In the summer, the weather in Key West is extremely hot, and the hostess and her friends sit under the umbrella to cool off, next to a large electric fan that keeps blowing...
The shop came to the guests and the hostess went to the house to cook, leaving me and her friend outside chatting... I saw that she was not like an American, so I asked her where her original nationality was, and she said that she was an Israeli immigrant, had been in the United States for more than 30 years, and lived on Key West Island for almost 30 years... She went on to say that 30 years ago, the tourists here were all Americans, 20 years ago there were many Japanese people, and in recent years, the people who have been playing here have been Chinese. The fast-food restaurant owned by her friend is also doing well and is still moving in a good direction. It seems that rudimentary does not mean anything... As long as the quality can be guaranteed, there is no shortage of guests!