Co-founder of Lulu's restaurant

Tag : Restaurant Furniture
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
William Lucien ''Billy'' Keen Jr., who launched the popularSouthern-themed restaurant Lulu's on South Beach at the dawn of thearea's rebirth -- a fun-loving party planner who threw spectacularHalloween benefits, sold real estate and believed that bananapudding could cure any bad mood -- has died at 51.
His youngest sister, Renee Barrera, said Keen succumbed to bladdercancer at South Miami Hospital on June 26 after ''a long, hardfight'' for seven years.
Keen and business partner Gabi Hakman opened Lulu's at 1053Washington Ave., in 1990. A Miami Herald item said it would offer'blues, barbecue and Elvis . . . three things food and rock 'n'roll fans can look forward to . . . Starters like corn and okrafritters or smoked catfish salad will go for $3 to $4.''
The place was an instant hit, with Billy as its frontman.
''In this neighborhood, everything has become so extremelyhigh-priced,'' Keen told the newspaper. ``The idea of ourrestaurant came about because we couldn't find anywhere cheap toeat . . .''
If you're looking for a quiet, intimate dinner, you're coming tothe wrong place.''
Keen '' was the restaurant,'' his sister said. ``People from every walk oflife went there -- police and firemen, families, gay couples, oldpeople. It started bringing Miami Beach back.''
Keen sold his interest in 1994, then began a 20-year career sellingMiami Beach real estate for three firms.
Billy Keen, a third-generation South Floridian, grew up in SouthMiami, attended Emerson Elementary, Southwest Middle and SouthMiami High schools before moving to the Boston area in the 1970s.
He waited tables and lived with his middle sister, Valerie Gurdal,now of Cambridge, Mass. She said that ``he was always a night owl,watching Johnny Carson and laughing and laughing.''
He was also a world traveler who biked through seven countries andhiked the Appalachian Trail, sister Renee said.
But he hated the cold and came back -- first to Coral Gables, thento Miami Beach.
Planning Lulu's, Keen and Hakman -- now a New York City personalchef -- journeyed through the deep South, collecting furniture andbric-a-brac for the down-home decor.
''They went into barns and bought things off people's walls,''Renee Barrera said. ``The tackier, the better.''
An upstairs room became an Elvis shrine. On the menu: the King'sfavorite peanut butter-and-banana sandwich.
Keen, who came out as gay to his family in the 1970s, served for adecade on the White Party's Board of Directors, helping plan theannual spectacular that raises millions to fight HIV and AIDS.
But his personal passion was ''In the Belly of the Beast,'' aHalloween bash benefiting the Health Crisis Network.
''He used to do wonderful drag,'' said his best friend, Oscar Rey,a Miami Beach CPA. ``The bigger the hair, the campier, the better.
A rhinestone-encrusted Bill Keen dazzled in Dalmatian print with ablack-and-white boa, or red satin lined in leopard skin, andoutrageous bouffant wigs.
''He used to say that nobody knew how to walk better in high heelsthan he did,'' Rey said.
They met in 1982, ''when South Beach was just beginning,'' saidRey, who worked at Lulu's while earning a masters degree.
''Billy Keen knew everybody,'' he said. 'People would ask, `Are youthe mayor of Miami Beach?' ''
By 1994, Keen ''was ready for a new horizon,'' said Bret Taylor,who hired Keen at his Miami Beach real-estate firm.
''He was the top producer in listings and sales,'' said Taylor, nowof Lake Worth. ``He had a magical way of turning stress intosmiles. Everybody felt comfortable speaking with him because he wascaring, sensitive, sincere and honest.''
``He knew so much about the community. He was the perfect tourguide.''
He also became a volunteer liaison between the South Beach gaycommunity and the Miami Beach Police Department in the 1990s.
''He actually rode around in patrol cars as part of thedepartment's [sensitivity] training,'' Taylor said. ``Billy wasvery proactive in helping ensure that the city and citizens couldco-exist harmoniously.''
As much as he loved the fanciful, Keen ''was amazingly pragmatic,''sister Valerie said. As he got sicker, he'd call to update her onhis illness and treatment, saying, ' `It's OK, I can deal with it.'''
He left explicit memorial instructions: cremation, a Catholic Mass,then a party.
''He wanted everybody to get drunk,'' said Rey, who plans to serveclassic Lulu's fare. 'He would say, `The world doesn't need to beso dark. Relax, and got to have some banana pudding with vanillawafers.' ''
In addition to his sisters, Billy Keen is survived by his parents,William L. and Beatriz, of South Miami.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral, 3716Garden Ave., Miami Beach, at 1 p.m. on July 5. The family suggestsdonations to the William Keen Fund, 1400 Lincoln Rd., #504, MiamiBeach, FL 33139, which supports St. Jude Children's ResearchHospital in Memphis, and the Mother Teresa Children's Foundation inCalcutta.