San Carlos Theater

circa 1871

Sugarloaf Key: Another beautiful morning. So we put the bikes on the back of the truck and drove to Middle Torch Road, parked the truck on the shoulder and biked all over Big Torch and Middle Torch Keys. No bike path, but the road isn’t heavily traveled. It’s mostly a wildlife refuge with a few homes here and there. A beautiful ride. We saw a raccoon, a Key Deer buck, hawks, ospreys, and lots of water birds. We biked for two hours straight—stopping only once. Back home and relaxed for a while and then showered, changed and headed to Key West to the San Carlos Theater where Howard Livingston and the Mile Marker 24 band were performing. We had dinner at Kelly’s restaurant on Whitehead. Then we walked down to the Key West Speedway and Mike did a couple of races. Walked up to the theater and waited in line for the doors to open. This theater is very historic. Built in 1871 by Cuban cigar makers, it was the San Carlos Institute—a school for the children of the cigar makers. It was the first bilingual school and the first biracial school. Pretty impressive building with beautiful hand painted tiles adorning the inside. The show was great. The Travel Channel was there covering the event. Enjoyed walking back down Duval after the show. Still 73 degrees. Another cold front coming through tomorrow sometime.