15 February 2018
KEY WEST, Fla. -- On Valentine's Day in Key West, an estimated 600 couples re-created the "most famous kiss in American history" -- the iconic smooch between a sailor and a nurse in New York’s Times Square, immortalized in a photograph as they celebrated the end of World War II.
The Key West "Kiss-In" was staged Wednesday evening in front of a 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a kissing couple that was inspired by the photo.
The gigantic "Embracing Peace" installation, crafted by American sculptor Seward Johnson, stands outside Key West’s Custom House Museum. Like the photograph, it depicts a sailor and nurse locked in an embrace that expresses their joy at the advent of peace.
Some of the “Kiss-In's” puckered-up participants were costumed as sailors and nurses for the “flash mob” style re-creation of the famed image.
Operated by the Key West Art & Historical Society, the red-brick Custom House is one of the island city’s leading historic sites.
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The Key West "Kiss-In" was staged Wednesday evening in front of a 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a kissing couple that was inspired by the photo.
The gigantic "Embracing Peace" installation, crafted by American sculptor Seward Johnson, stands outside Key West’s Custom House Museum. Like the photograph, it depicts a sailor and nurse locked in an embrace that expresses their joy at the advent of peace.
Some of the “Kiss-In's” puckered-up participants were costumed as sailors and nurses for the “flash mob” style re-creation of the famed image.
Operated by the Key West Art & Historical Society, the red-brick Custom House is one of the island city’s leading historic sites.
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