KEY WEST, Fla. – A1A, Florida’s coastal highway, winds along the state’s Atlantic coast from Fernandina Beach down to Key West, along the way passing historic landmarks, sleepy beach and fishing towns, tourist meccas and traps, condo towers and high-priced homes.
Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett found inspiration, identity and fame in Key West. He named his fifth studio album “A1A.”
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On Friday, the city of Key West formally rededicated A1A in Buffett’s name and unveiled the new sign for the A1A Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.
“When Jimmy was 25, his life forever changed as he drove down the A1A for the first time and found a home in Key West,” said sister Lucy Buffett, who attended the dedication. “He would be humbled, yet sheepishly thrilled, in his “school-boy heart” way that the Florida Legislature unanimously honored his legacy designating A1A the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.”
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The Florida Legislature passed the renaming as part of a transportation bill earlier this year, and Gov. DeSantis signed it into law in June.
The highway designation stretches through the entirety of A1A, including Flagler, Volusia and Brevard counties in Central Florida.
The Florida Department of Transportation was required to set up the new markers for the highway by Aug. 30, which is also known as Jimmy Buffett Day in Florida.
“A1A,” which came out in 1974, helped cement Buffett as the premier purveyor of tropical rock. It includes the ballad “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” and “Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season,” and “Migration,” which features the line “Mobile homes are smotherin’ my Keys, I hate those b***ards so much.”
Jimmy Buffet died Sept. 1, 2023, at 76 from skin cancer.
Margaritaville, the chain of resorts, restaurants and communities around the world, is celebrating Jimmy Buffett Day with special promotions and celebrations this weekend. Proceeds benefit Singing for Change, a nonprofit Buffett started to support grassroots community organizations.
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