Tennessee Williams Finished “Streetcar” in a Key West Hotel

In 1947, Tennessee Williams finished the final draft of A Streetcar Named Desire in a room at the La Concha Hotel on Duval Street. The play is set entirely in New Orleans. It won the Pulitzer Prize the following year, and Williams spent the rest of his life on the island where he typed the last page.

Why He Stayed

Williams first came to Key West in 1941 for a simple reason: he wanted somewhere he could swim in January. After The Glass Menagerie made him famous, he picked the island as the first place he would actually settle down. He established residence in 1949 and bought the house at 1431 Duncan Street, the only home he ever owned outright. He kept it until his death in 1983.

The Key West Years

Both of his Pulitzer Prizes came during this stretch, for Streetcar in 1948 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. He oversaw the filming of The Rose Tattoo in Key West in the early 1950s, and the movie premiered at the San Carlos Institute on Duval Street. He also painted, handing out canvases as what he called hostess gifts. He became a fixture around town, part of the writer and artist migration that gave the island its literary reputation.

What to Know

The Duncan Street house is a private residence and not open to the public, so admire it from the sidewalk and leave the owners alone. The Tennessee Williams Museum at 513 Truman Avenue is free and generally open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with first editions, newspaper clippings, his paintings, and one of the typewriters he used on the island. Key West marks his birthday every March with readings and performances. The La Concha still operates on Duval Street if you want to sleep where the last draft got finished.