Mile 100.0 - Key Largo

As of December 15, 2007 at 9:20 AM
Steps: 229020
Miles: 97.45

If you look on any maps of the Florida Keys that are dated before 1952, you will find a town in the upper Keys named Rock Harbor. Search on any map of today and you will not find Rock Harbor.

That is because today it is known as Key Largo!

According to Joy Williams, in her book, The Florida Keys - A History Guide, promoters in the area decided to cash in on the fame of the 1948 movie, Key Largo, starring Humphrey Bogart.

Despite the fact that the majority of the movie was shot in Hollywood, other than a few scenes in the local Carribbean Bar, and the fact that Bogart never even visited the area, promoters started a petition to change the town's name. There must have been enough signatures to impress the postal service because in 1952, the United States Post Office agreed to change the name of the post office from Rock Harbor to Key Largo.

IMDB's Brian Greenhalgh has this to say about the movie:

Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) travels to a run-down hotel on Key Largo to honor the memory of a friend who died bravely in his unit during WW II. His friend's widow, Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), and wheelchair bound father, James Temple (Lionel Barrymore) manage the hotel and receive him warmly, but the three of them soon find themselves virtual prisoners when the hotel is taken over by a mob of gangsters led by Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) who hole up there to await the passing of a hurricane.

Mr. Temple strongly reviles Rocco but due to his infirmities can only confront him verbally. Having become disillusioned by the violence of war, Frank is reluctant to act, but Rocco's demeaning treatment of his alcoholic moll, Gaye Dawn, and his complicity in the deaths of some innocent Seminole Indians and a deputy sheriff start to motivate McCloud to overcome his Hamlet-like inaction.



So... is there a "more real" Bogie connection in Key Largo? Well, yes, sort of...

The Holiday Inn Of Key Largo features the Bogie's Cafe and is home of the... huh? The African Queen?



Humprey Bogart and Katherine Hepburns original movie boat "The African Queen" is on free public display on the ocean access canal adjoining The Key Largo Holiday Inn.



The African Queen was built in Lytham, England in 1912 for service on the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert where the movie was filmed in 1951. She was used by the British East Africa Company from 1912 to 1968 to shuttle passengers and cargo across Lake Albert located on the border between the Belgian Congo and Uganda.

Strangely enough, the boat used in the Movie "On Golden Pond" is in the courtyard of this Holiay Inn too. Oh well, I guess they call Hollywood Tinsel Town for a reason.

Here is something different... Florida Trivia, many of them Florida Key-specific - mouseover the "Answer" graphic for the answer to the question.

Enjoy some Florida Trivia