OKW sat down for coffee with Lucy Buffett on her front porch in Key West and asked her what she remembers most about first discovering Key West in 1975.  Here’s what she said.

I first moved to Key West in 1975, and lived here for about a year-and-a-half. It was Jimmy’s idea. He was stopping off in Mobile to visit mama and daddy, and he said, “You need to go to Key West and clean-up your act.” I had divorced my young husband, raising two small kids, and was partying way too much. For many, this will seem a great irony: Jimmy Buffett telling me to clean-up my act. But he was right. I have always taken his advice.

Jimmy had rented a station wagon, driving himself across Florida to gigs at university coffee houses. He told me I could return the rental car back to Key West and stay in his apartment, which was right next door to Louie’s Backyard. I drove this big station wagon all by myself to Key West. I was twenty-one, and had never been beyond the Gulf Coast, so it was scary and exciting.

When I got on the seven-mile bridge and saw the color of that water, it changed my life. When you hit the Keys and start driving over the bridges, the turquoise water is everywhere and there’s an immediate huge exhale. That’s what Key West has always been for me, a deep sigh of relief.

So, I moved into the upstairs apartment next to the restaurant on the beach. There was a gate between our backyard and the bar behind Louie’s and that was THE spot. There were always people hanging out. Chris Robinson and Sonia lived downstairs, and sort of took me in. We’d swim with the kids right off the beach behind the duplex. There are so few residences on the ocean in Key West. That kind of access to the water was incredible. It was an amazing, special time.

Back then on Duval St. there were real artisans and craftspeople creating their art in tiny shops and cabanas along the sidewalk. I worked for a law firm on Duval and every day the whole office would head out to lunch at different restaurants. Then, at 5 pm, we would head right into happy hour either at Louie’s or the Chart Room. It was “the routine.” Work hard. Play hard. It’s still my life philosophy.

One of the coolest things about Key West is you could be at lunch and have a salty shrimper sitting next to the city attorney sitting next to an heiress sitting next to a bartender sitting next to a rock star sitting next to a famous novelist sitting next to a smuggler! Just so many types of people I had never ever encountered in Mobile, Alabama. Key West was, and still is, the great equalizer; everyone is welcome, and the culture inspires a belonging, especially for folks like me who like living on the fringe.

Dinner at Le Mistral

At that time, a few of Jimmy’s buddies were Guy (pronounced ghee) de le Valdene, Jim Harrison, and Tom McGuane. Guy came down from Palm Beach. He was French and he knew Rene, the Chef and owner of Le Mistral, a fine dining French cafe off Duval. Guy asked Rene to make a bouillabaisse for a private dinner at the restaurant that night. I had never heard of bouillabaisse!

I was sweetly invited as a guest, because of Jimmy, along with a bunch of writers and agents and the who’s who of the Key West literary scene. Jimmy wasn’t famous yet, and he was singing for his supper, so to speak, as the group’s entertainment. That dinner was amazing at Le Mistral and a turning point in my culinary aspirations.

Bouillabaisse is an aromatic French seafood stew, served with chunky slices of crusty French baguette that have been spread with something exotic called Roulle´ – a creamy garlic aioli that is luscious and oh so savory! That dinner in Key West blew me away and opened my mind to different types of cuisine, diverse people, and ways of entertaining. Up until that point, I only knew about the Southern coastal cuisine of my grandmothers: fried chicken, fried shrimp, spaghetti, stuffed crabs, canned tuna casserole, fried whole flounder, and roast beef on Sundays.

Having a young family to feed, I had taught myself how to cook from cookbooks. Cooking soon became a passion for me, and that night in Key West at Le Mistral changed my cooking trajectory. I realized you could prepare fish that isn’t fried. The filets of snapper in that bouillabaisse were simply poached in fragrant light broth and it was DELICIOUS!

These were interesting, worldly, and well-traveled people. They knew about food and wine and art and life. But they were also funky, wild, island casual, fun-loving, and entertaining people. We were having dinner in shorts and t-shirts, eating an elegant French dish with sophisticated conversation. I loved this juxtaposition, and that defined Key West for me.  I was like, “Oh! I like this. This place is fun, exotic, and also very easy.” It felt like home.

But in the long run, it was not sustainable for me. I was now twenty-three years old with two babies, and I needed help. I needed my parents, so I went back home with the dream of someday returning to live here.

Over the years, we came down for holidays.  My mother and daddy loved being in Key West. Jimmy kept a house here, so we always had a place to stay. It took me 39 years, but I finally bought my own Key West house about ten years ago.

I have always loved a tourist town because there’s the vibe of new people coming all the time and new energy. Today, I make my living in the hospitality business, so I am always grateful for the tourists.

There’s a lot that is so different about Key West from those first days, and yet there is also so much that is the same, exactly like it was fifty years ago. Mainly, the architecture and streets and houses. You can still ride your bike around … go to the beach … end up downtown and listen to good music.

Key West prepared me for an adventurous life, and I think if I can give my grandkids the opportunity to really know Key West, that will be one of the greatest gifts they will ever receive from me.

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Lucy Buffett

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• Lucy’s First Trip to Key West - August 22, 2024