When I first moved to Key West in 1976 I was 20 years old kind of a hip Italian guy for my age from Elizabeth New Jersey but definitely a virgin to society of the people in Key West not many people worked and we’re always smoking weed and snorting cocaine there was a bar around the corner from my grandfathers bar called the monster it was a super wild gay bar hot tub‘s unbelievable sound system a lot of dark corners and some of the best bartenders in America it was a tropical studio 54 my grandfather was very good friends with the owner and my great uncle Sal would hang out there I went there a bunch of times it was rough I was very homophobic and straight as an arrow as I still am today The things I witnessed in there were epic I was never one of those disco dancers I was from the hippie world but the girls who I dated love to dance and go there so I would drink piña colada’s and just watch pretty wild times Key West the way it was

When I first moved to Key West in 1976 I was 20 years old kind of a hip Italian guy for my age from Elizabeth New Jersey but definitely a virgin to society of the people in Key West not many people worked and we’re always smoking weed and snorting cocaine there was a bar around the corner from my grandfathers bar called the monster it was a super wild gay bar hot tub‘s unbelievable sound system a lot of dark corners and some of the best bartenders in America it was a tropical studio 54 my grandfather was very good friends with the owner and my great uncle Sal would hang out there I went there a bunch of times it was rough I was very homophobic and straight as an arrow as I still am today The things I witnessed in there were epic I was never one of those disco dancers I was from the hippie world but the girls who I dated love to dance and go there so I would drink piña colada’s and just watch pretty wild times Key West the way it was

This is Jack Smith they put him on the cover of the village voice newspaper in New York City that’s the largest art newspaper in the world for over 50 years besides Sal picking this photo with one of his famous masks in the background that mask is actually in our living room here in Florida the village voice did a story on him he died at a early age he was kind of like Quentin Tarantino he was working on some incredible projects before his death at a early age my great uncle Sal and Jack were lovers the village voice went to my website and found this image they did a great story paid me and talked about my website it was One of my lottery tickets at the beginning of the Sal projects

This is Jack Smith they put him on the cover of the village voice newspaper in New York City that’s the largest art newspaper in the world for over 50 years besides Sal picking this photo with one of his famous masks in the background that mask is actually in our living room here in Florida the village voice did a story on him he died at a early age he was kind of like Quentin Tarantino he was working on some incredible projects before his death at a early age my great uncle Sal and Jack were lovers the village voice went to my website and found this image they did a great story paid me and talked about my website it was One of my lottery tickets at the beginning of the Sal projects

You have entered a amazing category on this site you will get to view over 250 historical images that my great uncle Sal, Captain Tony and myself have taken as far back as the late 20s Sal and myself have been published our entire lives we covered some pretty wild times my grandfather the famous Captain Tony of Key West pretty much documented his life And whatever he missed Sal and myself have covered it I can’t compare myself to these two thank jersey mobsters but I could hold my own as far as adventures besides great uncle Sal being the Worlds youngest mind reader he made some pretty bizarre masks I have the collection now been using them in my studios for over 20 years Enjoy all these images with stories on this category you’ll be here a while

You have entered a amazing category on this site you will get to view over 250 historical images that my great uncle Sal, Captain Tony and myself have taken as far back as the late 20s Sal and myself have been published our entire lives we covered some pretty wild times my grandfather the famous Captain Tony of Key West pretty much documented his life And whatever he missed Sal and myself have covered it I can’t compare myself to these two thank jersey mobsters but I could hold my own as far as adventures besides great uncle Sal being the Worlds youngest mind reader he made some pretty bizarre masks I have the collection now been using them in my studios for over 20 years Enjoy all these images with stories on this category you’ll be here a while

The year 1989 Key West Florida that’s my grandfather the famous Captain Tony ask mob guy from Elizabeth New Jersey fled to Key West in 1947 somehow became a famous sea boat captaint smuggler saloon owner and ended up working for the CIA during the Cuban Bay of Pigs I have taking many photos of him and worked for him for seven years back in the 70s and 80s this day was a very special day he was hanging out in the morning thinking I wish I knew what was going through his head they just elected him mayor of Key West he didn’t sleep for two days he was 76 years old on his fourth marriage with two more children on top of his other dozen I am the oldest grandson I got some crazy photos and stories

The year 1989 Key West Florida that’s my grandfather the famous Captain Tony ask mob guy from Elizabeth New Jersey fled to Key West in 1947 somehow became a famous sea boat captaint smuggler saloon owner and ended up working for the CIA during the Cuban Bay of Pigs I have taking many photos of him and worked for him for seven years back in the 70s and 80s this day was a very special day he was hanging out in the morning thinking I wish I knew what was going through his head they just elected him mayor of Key West he didn’t sleep for two days he was 76 years old on his fourth marriage with two more children on top of his other dozen I am the oldest grandson I got some crazy photos and stories

If you know anything about my great uncle Sal you would know he has been making bizarre masks from the mid 30s I inherited the collection over 20 years ago the masks were used in Sal‘s mind reading ask and in his photography Studios they have a lot of strange ingredients in their paper machine mix Haitian voodoo dust, pyramids scrapings from Egypt, and a lot of secret potions from around the world some of them are massive there is also a bunch of them you could wear crazy stories about those I have 65 of them in my collection and I know for a fact they have special powers especially when I was photographing models Back in New York and New Jersey there’s a great section on this website cold Sal’s mask definitely check it out

If you know anything about my great uncle Sal you would know he has been making bizarre masks from the mid 30s I inherited the collection over 20 years ago the masks were used in Sal‘s mind reading ask and in his photography Studios they have a lot of strange ingredients in their paper machine mix Haitian voodoo dust, pyramids scrapings from Egypt, and a lot of secret potions from around the world some of them are massive there is also a bunch of them you could wear crazy stories about those I have 65 of them in my collection and I know for a fact they have special powers especially when I was photographing models Back in New York and New Jersey there’s a great section on this website cold Sal’s mask definitely check it out

Please excuse me while I brag about my grandfather for a little bit back in the 60s if you went to Key West you could have the time of your life my grandfather could take you fishing right into Cuba or a short trip out on the surrounding reef fishing was amazing on his 65 foot boat you could drink gamble and party when you came back to shore there was a bus waiting for you to go to his bar the original Hemingway bar lots of girls you could play cards above the bar listen to some great entertainment while hanging out with Tennessee Williams Truman Capote or whoever else was hanging out I went there in the late 60s and witnessed it all it was real I ended up working for my grandfather from 1976 till 1983 hell of a time and an education miss that old Pirate

Please excuse me while I brag about my grandfather for a little bit back in the 60s if you went to Key West you could have the time of your life my grandfather could take you fishing right into Cuba or a short trip out on the surrounding reef fishing was amazing on his 65 foot boat you could drink gamble and party when you came back to shore there was a bus waiting for you to go to his bar the original Hemingway bar lots of girls you could play cards above the bar listen to some great entertainment while hanging out with Tennessee Williams Truman Capote or whoever else was hanging out I went there in the late 60s and witnessed it all it was real I ended up working for my grandfather from 1976 till 1983 hell of a time and an education miss that old Pirate

Some interesting facts about me I am 64 years old now I have been a professional photographer since 1977 that’s because I was published back then after my seven years in Key West photographing for the newspaper covering major drug seizures and the Cuban boat lift and publishing posters and postcards for Kennedy Studios I ended up in New York City in 1983 that’s when I started portraitsofnewyork.com I spent the next 30 years photographing parties events and soirées averaging three or four a week I work for a lot of modeling agencies did a lot of those parties also if you do the math in the 30 year. We’re looking at Close to 200 advance a year for 30 years that’s why my digital library has 65,000 photos on it that I edited out of 300,000 I might have the world record by one artist in New York City in that 30 year period Sorry about the breaking I am in Italian guy from Jersey can’t help it

Some interesting facts about me I am 64 years old now I have been a professional photographer since 1977 that’s because I was published back then after my seven years in Key West photographing for the newspaper covering major drug seizures and the Cuban boat lift and publishing posters and postcards for Kennedy Studios I ended up in New York City in 1983 that’s when I started portraitsofnewyork.com I spent the next 30 years photographing parties events and soirées averaging three or four a week I work for a lot of modeling agencies did a lot of those parties also if you do the math in the 30 year. We’re looking at Close to 200 advance a year for 30 years that’s why my digital library has 65,000 photos on it that I edited out of 300,000 I might have the world record by one artist in New York City in that 30 year period Sorry about the breaking I am in Italian guy from Jersey can’t help it