The Red Doors

The Red Doors. The original building was constructed in late 1868 as a real estate speculation by the Pinder and Curry families of Key West. At first leased as a cigar factory to Cubans fleeing political turbulence in Havana. “The Doors” has been intimately connected with the Key West waterfront for over a century. By 1906, with the shift of the cigar industry to Tampa, The Doors had become a ship's chandlery. During the Depression it was a grocery and hardware store serving both the neighborhood and commercial fishermen. , , , , , . , When shrimping became of real economic importance to Key West in the early 1950’s The Doors became, under a succession of owners and names, one of the toughest bars on the Gulf Coast. It was always a shrimpers bar and was known successively as the Conch Gardens, The Wagon Wheel Inn and The Red Doors Inn. It was known informally as The Bucket of Blood. Here occurred many beatings, stabbings, assaults of various and colorfully imaginative sorts and, rumor has it, a number of quiet murders. With the gradual decline of the shrimp industry due to depletion of fishing grounds, inadequate conservation measures and growing foreign competition, the bar itself became economically unviable and was closed in July 1972. , , , , , . , Architecturally, the original building was of typical conch design, with commercial space open to the street on the ground floor and living quarters for the owners on the second floor. The building is only partially restored and still is burdened by the additions to the left side and rear put on during World War II to increase rentable space. The basic building is “l-shaped” with space for a garden in the rear. Architecturally or historically The Red Doors is one of Key West waterfront’s most picturesque landmarks.