Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Friday, June 1, 2012

Sepia Saturday - Hemingway Haunts

SEPIA SATURDAY


HEMINGWAY HAUNTS


A MUSICAL SCORE


SLOPPY JOE'S BAR - Key West, Florida.  A favorite haunt of Ernest Hemingway.
Photo taken on 8 January 1938
sign reads
Big Dance
January 8th
RUMBA
Tap - Dancing
Dean's Rhythm Boys




Sloppy Joe's Bar photo taken between 1980 - 2006

Is the Rumba still there?

If you want a little bit more of the history of Sloppy Joe's and Hemingway and his "mob" of cohorts check out this history link

http://www.sloppyjoes.com/history.htm



Alan from Sepia Saturday offers a delightful selection for us this week as a jollification of sorts in honor of their "Queen's Diamond Jubilee"
and my merry emotions have been guided by a recent movie which has completely consumed my merriness for sharing it with you!


I Can't Get Enough Of Your Lovely Words


Hemingway and Gellhorn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWFuQlLqqZk

a movie that must be seen!


First stop, Key West, Florida, briefly.


"I never had to choose a subject, my subject rather chose me." - Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West, Florida
link to the Hemingway Museum in Key West, Florida.
http://www.hemingwayhome.com/


But I believe his heart still remains some where within this haunt...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENCtDlzzJQs
this link is very worth watching....

Hemingway's Cuba
La Finca Vigia
San Francisco de Paula

Welcome to the place Hemingway always felt at home....just outside Havana, Cuba.

He'd write by day, (often while standing at his typewriter) and fish the rest of the day away!
This photo is:
From inside his house with just a few of his prize captures.

Is it wrong to believe his richest love (if that is possible) is in the affairs of the heart....in Cuba and with Gellhorn?
They shared an exciting life of love and war and wrote straight from the perspective of the people they met.


One can always find the bull inside of us, waiting to be fought.

"As long as you can start, you are all right.  The juice will come."
- Hemingway



Ernest Hemingway's house in Havana, Cuba. He lived here for 20 years, (thanks to Gellhorn's persuasion) and left in 1960. He later died in Idaho 1961.  His house remains untouched. Every magazine and gin bottle remained where he left it the very day he left Cuba, in 1960.  It can be seen still today, at the museum in Havana.



"I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after." - Hemingway


The out building rear view of the estate.



Inside Hemingway's Havana house.

A special note:  On the wall is where Hemingway would check his weight everyday and write it on the wall. (Next to the door.)

Notice his book collection?
"I read my own books sometimes to cheer me when it is hard to write, and then I remember that is was always difficult, and how nearly impossible it was sometimes." - Hemingway



Also inside Hemingway's Havana, Cuba house.







His pool.


Out building and Hemingway's dogs in Havana, Cuba.
He was also a great lover of cats, (which still roam his grounds today) and he would have about 50 living with him at a time.


The Pilar

Hemingway's beloved 38 foot fishing boat.
Havana, Cuba
The Cuban Government pulled the Pilar out of the harbor at Cojimar and put it on blocks at the Finca Vigia Estate outside Havana.

Here may Black, Negrita, Linda and Neron
Hemingway's beloved dogs
rest in peace.



Today you can dine within the Ernest Hemingway Restaurant at his Havana house in Cuba.
Here they are making sugar cane drinks photo taken 2010.


"The first and final thing you have to do in this world is to last in it, and not be smashed by it."
- Ernest Hemingway

On Soul mates

"Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we're two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we've found the right person." Richard Bach


Hemingway and Gellhorn
fought the same devil in the details of words
and humanity
and died
alike
as well
causing one's own death.

If you want to see more Sepia Saturday
or have one to post
go here

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2012/05/sepia-saturday-128-2-june-2012.html

29 comments:

Jenny Woolf said...

Never seen any photos of places associated with Hemingway, so these were great.

Funny thing is, when I saw the first picture of Sloppy Joe's - the older one - I thought what a lovely building it was, simple but elegant. The later one is utilitarian.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

Nice pictures

Wendy said...

I have always enjoyed Hemingway but have never been to Key West (or Cuba for that matter HA), so I thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

sage said...

I was recently told about that movie--I don't have HBO so I haven't seen it. But I have haunted some of Hemingway places (see my posts on the Fox River in upper Michigan). In addition to Northern Michigan, I spent two summers north of Ketchum, ID when he lived the last years of his life (and took his life).

JJ said...

This, of course, is my favorite post of all time. I am a Hemingway nut, and I have seen many of those photos. I visit all his haunts in Key West several times each year, and have traced quite a few of which tourists are unaware. I have thousands of Lost Generation pictures, and have even written books on Papa H. I wish I could go to Cuba to see what Castro has kept from the rest of the world. Perhaps, someday we will share in it.

North County Film Club said...

I really wanted to see that Hemingway special, but unfortunately don't get HBO. It was interesting to see the photos of his house in Havana.
Nancy

Anonymous said...

Oh this is so cool! I love Hemingway! And his polydactyl cats!! I would love to visit his Key West estate, where there are still descendants of his polys. Thanks for sharing; great post!
McGuffy's Reader
http://www.mcguffysreader.blogspot.com

Max Sartin said...

Now I'm hungry for a big, messy Sloppy Joe sandwich. Great story and pictures.

21 Wits said...

Max- I know! Every time I read that name I craved fresh and juicy sloppy joes!

21 Wits said...

Jenny- I totally agree with you....they should have left it as it was!

21 Wits said...

JJ- I remember that you are probably the best expert on Hemingway that I know! How fun that you have such knowledge of him!....and a few of his haunts....yes those things left in secret may one day come to light indeed! Hopefully in our time!

Brett Payne said...

A friend of mine was besotted with Hemingway's work, and found it similarly difficult to get things written. Fascinating man, and intriguing to see the places he lived, worked and played, but I'm not sure I would have liked to meet him.

Little Nell said...

Karen this was such an enjoyable post. I visited all the links and now I want a) to see that movie b) a magazine stand like Hemingway’s c) to listen to more of that gorgeous music that accompanied the museum film. Thank you very much for this educational tour and, as always, your clever quotes.

Little Nell said...

Karen this was such an enjoyable post. I visited all the links and now I want a) to see that movie b) a magazine stand like Hemingway’s c) to listen to more of that gorgeous music that accompanied the museum film. Thank you very much for this educational tour and, as always, your clever quotes.

Joy said...

The 30s by the look of it was the time to call in at Sloppy Joes. The Hemingway house in Cuba was a fascinating view, I'm amazed it remains exactly as he left it. Like Little Nell I'd like a magazine stand like that, what style.

21 Wits said...

Little Nell, you are so welcome. I've always enjoyed Hemingway but this recent movie moved me so much, I just had to bring it and him and Gellhorn to my blog! So happy you enjoyed it!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Karen, this is so neat! What a fantastic post; I enjoyed it all very much. Loved all the pictures and came way inspired and wanting to write. (That last part took me by surprise.)

Thanks for all the time you took to make this one. Thanks, too, for the sweet comments that you left me on my two.

Kathy M.

Bob Scotney said...

Great post Karen. But I'm surprised that there's no Michigan links from a Michigan gal.

Unknown said...

Interesting post and videos, I would love to visit that house some time. Or even better: to live in it!

21 Wits said...

Bob - You are so right! But with Hemingway you have to find somewhere to draw an end...he was really a man of the world....I didn't even touch on his u-boat stuff or his war writing adventures. I believe his last and 4th wife Mary, was born in Minnesota too!

21 Wits said...

Kathy M. I know, Hemingway in 1961 the movie shows in detail, and Martha (Marty) Gellhorn, still a paid writer in her 80's, got cancer and was nearly blind and life was too more for her....quite sad really. The movie doesn't express some of the darker secrets of Gellhorn who actually adopted a boy once. She was quite a woman!

Jana Iverson Last said...

Interesting post. And great pics too.

Queen Bee said...

Great post - I feel like I've taken a Hemingway tour. Enjoyed the video of his home in Cuba. Would love to have a smaller version of his magazine stand!

Judie said...

Karen, this is a fabulous post! The cats that roam his home in Key West have SIX toes!!

North County Film Club said...

After seeing the movie about Hemingway and Gellhorn I didn't like Hemingway anymore. He didn't come across as a very nice guy. But he did love cats, so I guess he couldn't be too bad. He also sure had good taste in houses.
Very interesting post. Thanks.
Barbara

Linda@VS said...

The photos in this enjoyable post and your recommendation of the movie make me really want to see it. I don't have HBO either, so will have to wait awhile until it appears on a regular cable channel.

Bruno Laliberté said...

My kind of journey!!
I like "the first and final thing..." quote.
Many links but all enjoyable. I now have to check if HBO Canada is showing that movie now.
:)~
HUGZ

Teresa Wilson Rogers said...

Interesting post Karen. Although I have lived in South Florida for many years I must admit I have only been to Key West once - now I want to go again. Of course I will most likely never go to Cuba so the pictures were very enjoyable.

darlin said...

Karen this is so interesting, thank you for sharing this information about Hemingway. It appears he wasn't really a lavish man, sure he had a fine house, but it's not extravagant. I like that he'd read his own books, it would help a writer to remain humble I'd imagine, or that's how I picture it to be.

It's hard to imagine 50 cats at once, I can't even have one cat at a time in my house, let alone 50!

Have an awesome week, cheers.