Feb/March 10 | City Portrait

The Weird Magic of Key West

Always eccentric and wildly beautiful, the southernmost city has long beckoned adventurous souls, whether they’re dropping in or dropping out

Key People
by Libby Dean Hoppe
Five residents who are keeping the city’s culture alive and weird

David and Lynn Kaufelt, Literary Activists

The writers who have found inspiration in Key West are legion, and the Kaufelts—David, a novelist, and Lynn, a writer and designer—are working to make sure many more will after them. In 1983, the charismatic David founded the Key West Literary Seminar, leading his own literary walking tour. What started that year as a small gathering has grown into one of the most celebrated literary events in the nation, drawing the likes of Annie Dillard, Robert Stone, and Richard Wilbur. “The goal is always to keep it intimate,” says Lynn, who now serves as president. “That’s what makes it successful, because people can actually approach writers and talk to them.” So what is it, really, that makes Key West a beacon for writers? David’s theory is that here, you’re free to do what you did as a kid, whether it’s riding your bike or playing in the water. And where there’s that kind of freedom, there’s also creativity.

Nance Frank, Art Advocat

A Key West native, Frank bought her first piece of art at fifteen, as an exchange student in Ecuador. It was a piece by a then little-known Fernando Botero, who would soon become quite famous. Frank took it as an omen. After traveling the world as a student, an art collector, and even a champion sailboat racer, Frank founded the Monroe County Arts Council, now the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, and has chaired the Art in Public Places committee. She spends her days at her Gallery on Greene, helping many young—especially Cuban—artists gain recognition. “What fascinates me about art is not so much selling the art, but building the career of artists,” she says. And in a town that boasts more artists per capita than just about anywhere else in the world, she’s got plenty to keep her busy.

Christopher Shultz, Renaissance Man

Lots of people dream about picking up and moving to Key West, but ten years ago, Shultz did it, bringing little more than a duffel bag. Two years later, he wrote the aptly titled Quit Your Job and Move to Key West, and he’s since become a leading man in the city’s young creative community. The thirty-three-year-old has added publisher, filmmaker, burlesque performer, DJ, and bartender to his résumé. “This place provides a great playground to do anything I’ve ever wanted to do,” he says. He recently signed a development deal for a travel show based on Quit Your Job, and he’s working on a documentary about the Southernmost Bocce League. Locals talk a lot about island fever, the need to “get off the rock.” But Shultz sees it differently. “The longer I live here, the more interesting I find the place.”

Jeffrey Gardenas, Fishing Guide

When you hear Cardenas talk about the water, you know you’re talking to a man with a profound respect for nature. That’s what you want from a fishing guide, and that’s what has kept his loyal clients coming back to him for twenty-five years. Not to mention that the man just has a knack for catching pretty much anything that swims. He now focuses almost exclusively on fly fishing for tarpon, bonefish, and permit in trips to the Marquesas Keys, where he once spent six weeks alone on a houseboat, writing the book Marquesa: A Time & Place with Fish. Articulate and studied, Cardenas says he’s grateful to Key West for all that it’s afforded him, including many a lobster dinner, which he catches ten minutes from the dock. “This is such an incredible island to live on,” he says. “This is my home.”