Portland, Maine, was my first city. I grew up outside it, in Cape Elizabeth, so I always think I know it, but every time I go home, I find it slowly turning into a better place than I remembered, maybe even the place I'll want to return to someday. What I loved about Portland growing up is still true: there are lots of bookstores, especially used ones, old bars and vintage shops that are nearly junk shops. It is still quiet, with beautiful skies, and the ocean on three sides. But now there's also excellent locavore food culture, local coffee culture, local breweries. We used to dread attempts at food more foreign than what we called 'Italian,' and now there are open-air bars with Belgian beer and mussels right from the coast side by side with some amazing new ramen joint. Now when I come home, I love to see my mom, but I also make plans for dinner out most nights.
Most people who come to Maine drive right to the beach. Growing up, I always found this to be a little funny'it's still very cold'but when it's hot out, I will say, it's a pleasure to throw yourself in.
The real motto of the state of Maine isn't on the flag: 'Preservation through neglect.' Translation: 'Money has never ruined us because it has never been here.' Most of the old buildings you see are there because no one has bothered to tear them down, and, as the owner will usually tell you, they were built to last. This is also a way to say Maine was abandoned financially after the Great Depression, one of a few states that didn't receive federal reconstruction aid, and it was also one of the first to be hit hard by outsourcing'I grew up with empty factories that used to be full. Now they're waiting to be your next amazing project in a post-industrial space.
It was and still is also a summer home to the rich, mostly along the coast, though Rangeley up north is another enclave'and there are vast estates where many of the old-money families in this country vacation or live year-round. But you rarely see them except sometimes in these beautiful new restaurants.
Portland is the biggest city in Maine, located on the southern coast, about an hour over the border from New Hampshire. It isn't the capital'it's the cultural capital, the New York City of Maine, as it were. So it is, yes, where we gays and our friends come down out of the woods to live and make culture, along with beautiful furniture, hair and food. Stonewall Kitchen, for example, one of the state's big success stories in recent times, is named for the Stonewall Riots. When I go to Portland, if I drive up, I like to stop at their flagship store on the way, and take in the LL Bean of jams, mustards and housewares (they have a Portland location too).
What never changes is the strangely witchy feeling to the city, as if the sorrow of every sea captain's wife who waited for a captain to return mixed with the smoke of the fires that burned the city to the ground four times have combined and left a tint on everything, no matter how sunny it is. A kind of spiritual Instagram. Most of the buildings stop at about four stories, so the sky feels big overhead. It's a good place to sit with a whiskey or a coffee and smell the sea breeze and read a book. And then when you stand up, here are some things to do.
1. To get there: If you drive, rent a car, or drive in your own, and enter the state on Route 95, though try to avoid the 3 p.m. Friday traffic into the state and the 3 p.m. traffic on Sunday on the way out. For a bus, buy one of many inexpensive bus tickets available, including some express options. If you fly in, Jetblue, if booked ahead, can be cheaper than many other ways of getting there, and flies out of NYC. Or take the Amtrak from Boston North Station.
The Amtrak route north is peculiar but worth it'the Maine route being the single Amtrak route that is profitable, the stations are very clean, cleaner than most things in the United States, and the quality of snacks in the café is much higher. Shipyard Beer is served, for example. But this line does not connect to the lower lines. You'll have to transfer from South Station by subway or taxi, which is easy to do. If you don't know this, and you try to book passage from south of Boston, you'll find the Amtrak site will act strangely, and this is why.
2. The major hotels in Portland are disappointing. I would suggest renting, either apartments or houses. This is especially true if you rent on one of the islands and come into town on the ferry or by water taxi. It's very affordable, and you'll likely get something much nicer than the chain hotels in town. There are also a few terrific B&Bs, like the Inn at St. John, the Carleton Inn and the Pomegranate Inn. Right in Portland, the neighborhoods you'll want most are the East End and the West End, and the Old Port (if you don't mind the noise at night).
3. The International Cryptozoology Museum... do I need to say more than 'P. T. Barnum's FeeJee Island Mermaid'? She is there now, on exhibit, along with an amazing fiberglass ceolocanth and a life-size model Big Foot, and much, much more. The museum is right next to the Green Hand Bookstore, a very fine used bookstore, where I can easily browse for two hours. A beautiful afternoon can be spent between these two places, with a ramen lunch at Pai Men Miyake nearby.
4. A runner's path circumnavigates the town. I've never used it as I personally loathe running, but my runner friends always return happy. I aspire one day to use it. In any case, running is a big deal up here.
5. Portland is surrounded by abandoned Naval bases and they are often hidden in the woods of many of the islands and a few of the towns nearby, like Great Diamond, Cushing and House Island. One of the most striking is in plain sight in Casco Bay, Fort Gorges'with granite walls rising right out of the water, gun slits that you can see through to the other side and a beautifully overgrown sod roof, it was the mystical villain hideout base fantasy of my childhood dreams.
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