Candid Calendar Exposes Key West
Key West is going to get some exposure in the Midwest: in calendars fearing a dozen young men in skimpy swim wear. Their photos are being taken this week at historic homes and other spots around the island.
About 10,000 of the calendars are expected to be sold, said Sean Ashbrook, a marketing major at Ohio State University, where all the models are students.
The calendars will sell for $9.95 at Ohio State in Columbus. Waldenbooks will also sell them. "This is how I'm working my way through school," said Ashbrook, who lives in Akron.
Ashbrook is working with Property Management of Key West, which is putting the students up at Casa Gato while they're in Key West and assigned Bobbie Ross to work with Ashbrook to pick sites on the island.
The models, Ashbrook says, will be shown in "provocative" but "all-American" poses at Mallory Square, on Smathers Beach and at several historic spots, including Casa Gato, a mansion with elaborate gardens that has been turned into condominiums.
The models are bodybuilder types that Ashbrook says he ran into on campus.
I stopped guys in the street or at the 7-Eleven or other places when I was walking around," Ashbrook says. Whoever looked good. Most of them had heard about the calendars, so they knew we were all right.
"And I picked Key West because it's very good for locations for the kind of shots that we want."
One model will be used for each month. The calendars have been produced for four years. There are actually two calendars - one with men and one with women. Ashbrook took over the calendar business after the former producers graduated.
They have sold very well at Ohio State University and the surrounding area," he said.
The color calendars, to be called Campus Men® of Key West, should be out about Sept. 1.
Originally published June 30, 1991. Story © Miami Herald: The Keys. This text is exactly as published.
