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The island will be further opened to tourism by the end of this month when Air Florida plans to double its current 46 weekly round‐trip flights between Key West and Miami. New Yorkers who have established beachheads in Key West include Angelo Donghia, the designer, Frank Gifford, the sportscaster, and writers Nancy Friday, William Manville and Richard Rovere.
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Twenty‐two restaurants have opened in the last five years, some as glossily decorated as any in Manhattan, and there are now six discotheques (not including disco skate nights at the new Skateworld roller skating rink).Ĭelebrities have been drawn to Key West, too. “Within the past five years, some 350 shops have opened in Key West and around three‐quarters of them are still in business,” said Ed Swift of Old Town Key West Development Ltd., one of the city's largest commercial landlords. But many of them also resent it.”Īn abundance of home restorations and tourists - at the height of the season the population of 32,000 now swells to 45,000 - are not the only signs of boom. If it wasn't for the gay money we wouldn't have had any restorations and everyone knows that. “In the 40's and 50's it was the Navy, in the 60's and 70's it was the hippies, and now it's the gays. “Key West has always had its invaders,” she explained. “What we've got now is a backlash by some of the Conchs - the old‐time Key Westers - against what they regard as the newest wave of invaders,” said Lisa Thompson, who came to Key West 19 years ago and who, from 1972 through 1977, was society editor of the island's sole newspaper, The Key West Citizen.