February/March 1994

'Lost' John Calvin Stevens Homes*Portland Far East-Elizabeth RingMohn Cole On Local Variety stores

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Automotive researcher and amateur drag racer Cynthia Chaffin is glad she finally found a car she doesn’t have to work on.

Consider, if you will, the plight of a dedicated gearhead buying a new car. Abu study engines at work. You rebuild race cars for fun. Wouldn’t it be nice to have just one car that you wouldn’t have to think about? Or work on? (But would still be admired by your circle of auto-oriented friends and associates?)

Such was Cynthia’s goal. And after researching and test-driving as many cars as her professional sensibilities demanded, Cynthia felt pretty good about the Saturn SC2. So she bought one.

But to really be sure it was the right car, she couldn’t resist trying it out in a local autocross. (When she took first place m the s® ■ SC2’s class, she realized her master’s degree in mechanical engineering 1 * * * P is as useful for car shopping as it is tor earning a living in the research lab.)

The Saturn SC2

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1993, Volume 9, Numberl

FEATURES Local Variety By

John

N.

Cole

Lost Heiresses

17

Going To The ’Dogs

32

By Colin Sargent

By Kevin Mills

DEPARTMENTS 4 Letter From The Editor

9

Review: Carbur’s By

Mark

Mickalide

Fiction: “The Leopard and the Lunatic”

By Nancy O’Malley

36 46

5 Letters 9 Gazette 43 Listings 45 Classifieds

On the Cover: - Sea Dog Stadium," by Kevin LeDuc February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 3

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Camera Obscura I am looking down at a white cafe table in a darkened room. Suddenly everything goes black and the surface of the five-foot table lights up like a crystal ball with a cinematic image of Casco Bay, splinteringly real from the wharves of the Old Port to the Bath Iron Works drydock to Cushing Island and Ram Island Light, the waves flickering off into infinity like a NewsCenter-6 promotional spot.

It looks like a picture in a calendar, and then, with a start, you realize with tiny bits of clarity that the items in your calendar picture are starting to move.

Sunlight flashes a mile away from the home-built windshield of a lobster boat trudging its way slowly into port.

The current is flowing to the right, you’re sure of it, disturbing your still life, and then you see gulls flying

4 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

EDITOR!

over the Custom House and it's so timeless that you wonder what year it is you’re witnessing.

You’re witnessing now.

Now looks funny when you've got it by the scruff of the neck, when you're the uncle of now, rolling into the driveway for a surprise visit, when you've snuck up behind now in the form of arguably the largest and finest camera obscura in the country mounted atop the roof of the Children's Museum of Maine, 142 Free Street, Portland, its $30,000 lens spying on the city courtesy of Kodak Corporation..

So that's what that funny cupolathing is!

It makes you dizzy, the idea of mugging now the way the ancients did with soft-core science, and you watch with fascination as the view slews around the city, over the vacant spot where once there was a Free Street building where a man died after being pushed through a huge plate-glass window.

Now isn't always pretty, is it?

Banks, pedestrians, you can even see the man inside the window at Cross Jewelers cutting a diamond; you can catch now on the sidewalk coughing from the cold.

When will now be ready for public viewing? The Museum says you’ll have to wait until May to see now.

Michael Waterman Showing Currently At

Nad Horse Theatre

955-F Forest Avenue

"Painter of Place, Painter of Passion"

Represented in Portland by June Fitzpatric Gallery, 772-1961

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State Theatre

Your article on the “Altered State” Theatre (Winterguide 1994) was engaging reading. .My initial interest was in the renovation story, particularly after attending a terrific opening-weekend Los Lobos concert.

That original reading interest became secondary to your historical perspective. From its 19th century beginning to the present renovations, your article was an interesting history lesson of one of Portland’s most renowned buildings and areas.

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FRIDAY & SATURDAY - 7:30 p.m.

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6 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

ADIR-Adirondack ALB-Albany BING-Binghamton C.B.-Capc Breton CORN-Co rnwall FRED-Fredrickton HAM-Hamilton HERS-Hershcy MON-Moncton P.E.I.-Prince Edward PROV-Providence ROCH-Rochester SJNB-Saint John SPG-Springficld STJS-St. John’s TICKET PRICES:

This magazine is printed on Maine-made paper produced by Champion International. Bucksport.

Maine. Laser Cover Separations and image assembly by Graphic Color Service. (800) 6607714. Linotronic output by G&G Laser Typesetting. 774-7338.

Portland Monthly Magazine is published by Sargent Publishing. Inc.. 578 Congress Street.

Portland. ME 04101. All correspondence should be addressed to 578 Congress Street. Portland.

ME 04 101.

Advertising Office: 578 Congress Street.

Portland. ME 04101 (207) 775-4339.

Billing Questions: If you have questions regarding advertising invoicing and payments, call Cheryl Casey at 775-4339.

Newsstand Cover Date: February/March 1994. published February 1994, Vol. 9. No. I. copyright 1993. PORTLAND Monthly Magazine is mailed at third-class mail rates in Portland.

ME 04101 (ISSN: 0887-5340). Opinions expressed in articles are those of authors and do not represent editorial portions of PORTLAND Monthly Magazine. Responsible only for that portion of any advertisement which is printed incorrectly, and as compensation we will run a correction in the following issue. Nothing in this issue may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publishers.

Submissions welcome, but we take no responsibility for unsolicited materials.

PORTLAND Monthly Magazine is published 10 times annually by Sargent Publishing. Inc.. 578 Congress Street. Portland, with newsstand cover dates of Winterguide. Feb./March. April. May. Summerguide. July/Aug.. September. October.

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All ourf ears add up to one great fear...

We’re afraid of the body under the sheet.

It’s our body. And the great appeal of horrorfiction through the ages is that it serves as a rehearsal for our own deaths.

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Wtriely Reports of business shut-downs, bank closings, and real estate repos have been the talk of Portland (and much of the nation) since the go-go years ran out of gas and a good many financial high fliers had to get out and walk to the nearest bankruptcy court.

But there haven’t been many stories about the old-timers who kept their businesses going, who hung in there with the city where they have lived and worked for generations.

Meyer Goldberg and his family and Eddie DiPhilippo and his are two of them. And each, in his own unique and very personal style, has lived and worked in Maine’s largest city for all of his long and successful career as the proprietor of a specialized, retail store.

And each, in his own unique and personal style, has set memorable standards of service that keep customers coming back year after year after year.

Today, those standards are being passed along to more generations of Goldbergs and DiPhilippos as the small, family-owned businesses continue to survive, to profit and to contribute to their community. If there is anyone in Greater Portland who wants to learn how to succeed in business by really trying, they can begin by visiting Model Food Importers and Eddie’s Variety-both of them.

It’s a bright Portland February Thursday flooded with the same

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February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 9

GAZETTE brilliant sunlight that gleams in the Renaissance landscapes of Florence and Rome. Saul Goldberg, who started this day with the dawn, steps from behind the single Model Food cash register and lowers a Venetian blind, screening the view of the new office buildings across Middle Street. Saul, 54, has been a presence in the specialty food store for 23 years, ever since he quit a job in Boston and came back to Portland to help his father. Meyer, now 78, is in Boston today. He drives there every Thursday in the Model Foods truck to buy the huge wheels of Swiss cheese, the lengths of Lebanese salami, the small jars of bar le due, barrels of pickles and huge jars of black olives and scores more exotic edibles and potables that are not easily found under any other Portland roof.

“I own the business now,” says Saul, “but Meyer stops in every day to make sure I’m doing the job right. And he makes the buying run to Boston every week. He’s been doing it for so many years he knows everyone in the markets. They’re all his old buddies.”

Meyer’s father, Louis, started Model Food Importers Gourmet Specialties in 1928. The Middle Street building with the large sign over the door had sawdust on the floor and an open pickle barrel which customers sampled. When that building was taken by the city in 1968 to make room for the Franklin Arterial, Meyer had to decide whether to leave the town where his family business had grown and flourished for 40 years.

For a while there were rumors that Model Foods would move to

Brunswick, or Bath. But the following year, Meyer bought the building at 113-115 Middle Street where he’s been ever since and where Saul plans to be for a good many years to come.

Just in back of police headquarters and around the corner from the Old Port, Model Foods is in the heart of the inner city, a location,

Saul says, which has its assets and liabilities. “Taxes are high and going higher,” he says, “and profit margins grow thinner and thinner as costs go up. We have to buy carefully, change with the times.

Pay attention, know what you are doing, know your stock and how to find that special order for one of your good customers, then you’ll be able to stay in business.

“But these days, it’s tough, I’ll tell you. It’s tough.”

Saul’s prescription for survival covers much of the same ground a business school student could learn his freshman year. But both he and his father don’t say much

about the one Model Market asset that keeps more customers coming back than any other. It’s the Goldbergs and the way they treat everyone who walks through their door.

If Meyer is behind the cash register, or behind the huge maple chopping block slicing cheddar, his round, ruddy face lights up whenever the door opens. Every customer gets a greeting, a smile. Meyer knows their first names, their families, their careers and most likely what they came to his store to buy. If good cheer were a saleable commodity, Meyer would be a millionaire.

Saul is taller, sturdier, but just as approachable and as helpful. He cheerfully changes dollars to parking meter quarters, finds genuine truffles for a restaurant chef who’s putting Beef Wellington on the evening’s menu, and serves coffee from the new (for Model Foods) snack and sandwich bar.

Everyone, every single person, who enters the store is given an identity, made to feel a friend. In these days of computerized pricing and electronic cashier totals at shopping mall supermarkets and discount stores, being recognized as a human being counts for a great deal. “ Tt’s a lesson Jimmy DiPhilippo has learned well from Eddie, his father. And it’s one that Jimmy Di (as the family calls __l_him and he calls himself) stresses when he talks with his sons Joseph and Anthony who are working hard each day at the freshly spruced and remodeled Eddie’s store at 377 Auburn Street a few blocks beyond the Northgate Shopping Center near Portland’s northwestern boundary.

“It’s the first thing I told the boys

February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 11

CHILTON’S

“We compared and found the distinctive style of furniture that we wanted at considerable savings.

Chilton's service and selection are the reasons that we keep going back."

-Lynn Dondis and Sarah Luck, Dondis <4 Luck, PA., Attorneys at Law, 57 Exchange Street. Portland, who purchased a complete office suite offurniture far below their budgeted price.

Are You In The Business Of Saving Money?

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■ GAZETTE ■ when we reopened this place early this November. 1 told them, whatever else you do, you greet every person who walks in. And you learn their first name the first day, if you can. And you say good morning Dorothy, how are you today. Or hello Jack, how are you doing this fine evening. You make everyone feel at home here. You

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12 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

recognize each person as an individual. You remember what they like, you know them as neighbors and treat them as friends, even if you’ve never seen them before.

“That’s what’s going to make them good customers. That’s what they can’t find at most other places. And once they become friends, you give them a good product for a fair price in a clean place. Do these things and you’ll have a good business.

“That’s what my father Eddie taught me and that’s what I’m teaching the boys.” “ ddie’s is a spacious, freshly painted store with shelf groceries stocked along two middle aisles that ^separate a long row of glassed, refrigerated cabinets filled with row after row of bottled and canned liquid refreshers. It’s the

H ±1_

other side of Eddie’s where the heart of the business beats. There is the gleaming, stainless steel kitchen where pizzas, calzones, and other Italian specialties are prepared and served by a busy crew led by Jimmy Di’s two sons.

Jimmy Di learned how to run a good restaurant at the Pancake Shop, the breakfast and lunch specialists on upper Congress Street which he owned and ran for 18 years. “Eddie, my father, had a grocery store on Adams Street, right in the city. But he moved out here in 1950.

“He was a little ahead of his time.

Portland didn’t really begin its move northwest for another ten years. So he leased the store and when we saw the lease was about to run out, my sons and I decided we’d move back in.

“We’ve been in Portland for five generations now and we’re not about to give up on this city. I’ve raised five children here, and every one of them is doing just fine. Yes, there have been changes all along the line, but the basics still hold. Be friendly, know your customers, give them a good product at a fair price and they’ll keep coming back.’’ immy Di and Saul Goldberg evidently learned the same lessons in their lives as retail suppliers to the needs of Greater Portland’s people. And all the evidence proves those lessons work. These are survivors in the best sense of the word. Louis Goldberg, Meyer Goldberg and Saul Goldberg are the foundation of Model Food.

Eddie DiPhilippo, now 82, his son Jimmy Di, and his sons Joseph and Anthony are the heart and soul of Eddie’s. And Portland is the city where each of them has made his life, his home, his family and his work and has been happy doing it.

High rollers come and go; the men and women of Portland

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February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 13

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Just a few yards north of the entrance to Portland Country Club on Falmouth’s Route 88 is an abandoned wooden yellow and white gate which seems once to have guarded something important but now invites you into racing swirls of wet leaves.

The gate is old, rotting, detritus of some old Falmouth coot's Winter Palace.

But whose?

“That's the old Brown Gate,” says Dick Knudsen, who grew up on the Foreside, with a voice acorn warm with remembrance.

“Not J. B. Brown. This was John Marshall Brown, who owned all the land from Martin's Point to Town Landing in Falmouth. No relation. (The merchant J. B. Brown was Portland's biggest taxpayer during the 19th century. ) John Marshall Brown made his fortune in the molasses trade, right in Portland. His estate wasn't subdivided until well into this century, so that's why there are no old houses on the right side of the road as you drive north on Route 1 from Portland. None!

“St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church was just a family chapel of theirs! Browns! They're under the slates, under the ground.

The chapel is built above a 19year-old Brown girl who died on vacation in Europe.” H

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Spruce Street

"The smallest worm will turn being trodden on."-William Shakespeare. King Henry VI, Part III.

Lost Heiresses

A

Story By Colin Sargent, Photos By Kevin LeDuc

woman in a kerchief scurries about in a swirling nave of snow, shuffling rectangles of colored paper with red hands. The place looks abandoned, overgrown with shrubs that, untended, have grown recklessly tall, covering windows, knocking off shingles, sprawling comfortably with

time.

So what is she doing?

She looks up where birds have been nesting.

She holds up another piece of paper, nods, and then disappears behind the house, looking for clues.

So this is where Portland disappears, in a somnambulent back yard

on the fringe of the West End. The woman doesn’t know it, but the man she is looking for is named George B. Bagley. And Bagley has been waiting to meet her for a long timeCoffee and cigarettes dominate the editorial offices of the Portland Globe and Sunday Telegram on June 24,

February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 17

There will be a brief interruption of our daily business hours starting April 4, 1994 and lasting approximately two weeks while we have a new hull installed on our floating restaurant. Up until then and after that, we will remain open with our usual business hours seven days a week. This will be our only closing for the next 40 years. We would like to thank Bath Iron Works in advance for limiting the inconvenience to our valued customers.

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18 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

ANN TENPENNY

(207)-878-5824 P.O. BOX 146 PORTLAND, ME 04112

1897, when the telegraph comes in.

“He’s in New York already,” a man lets out a low whistle in the 'capacious' new editorial offices on the corner of Federal and Exchange.

“Meetings upon meetings.”

A quiet group of people walk up to the letter.

“When the hell will he get back?”

“Don’t know.”

“Aw.” They need Bagley, are sick of this

business junket, which he began two weeks ago. The newspaper is working on yet another article in support of founder and editor’s Bagley's dream, to unite the wealthy non-Portland districts of Deering and Cape Elizabeth into one great metropolis, the city of Greater Portland.

The wealthy suburbs should help pay for all the Portland city services they enjoy, he reasons. And everybody’s property taxes will go down.

H

e is 45 years old, loves his wife, works late enough to snuff out the oil lamps at the newspaper which will someday grow into the Maine Sunday Telegram and enjoy prizes, rich rewards, and a readership of over 100,000.

But this is the first man, the fellow with the oil lamps in a city of elm trees. This is the man who dreamed of a modest house built by John

Calvin Stevens and actually watched his dream rise less than a year before, not on dreamy Bowdoin Street on the West End, where 16 of the 20 houses on the street were built by Stevens (including 52 Bowdoin, where the architect lives himself), but on the more modest 77 Spruce Street, a few blocks nearer the throb of the city and the sodium lights, a place with one small luxury at least-a secret paneled reading

February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 19

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room that has a built-in seat, a fireplace, and tobacco-darkened fabric surmounting the wainscoting that gives you a feeling of great events, newsprint, and the India Trade.

Downstairs, there’s more wainscoting in the dining room and an urban chandelier.

At night the house seems to move on the inside, gently swaying, a velvet 19th century train on its way to morning.

W

ho could have lived here?

One of the new buyers wonders out loud, meeting with Joy in the snow and looking at the swatches of color. The neighborhood has changed in the intervening years, like the district surrounding Chance the Gardener’s house in “Being There.”

The boom-box 1990s are here, with the future running in stockings through the snow like a disrespectful niece. But Joy’s eyes see the house of 1896, built in the winter of 1896-97, see the avuncular cedar shingles that were original to the house, see three coats down to the original Shingle Style green trim.

“When did the house last change hands?” she asks, changing colors,

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changing colors.

“Nineteen thirty-seven.”

“Nineteen thirty-seven?”

“The deed is signed with a great flourish, miniscules and majuscules sweeping across the page.

“It’s almost invisible," she says,

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regarding the dark bay windows and the bush-shrouded side porch, “behind all these trees.”

G

eorge B. Bagley, people around town like to say, glows in the life of his paper the way mothers glow inside the lives of their children. New editions relume his eyes each day; he eschews hobbies. And why should he not? Portland is the sixth largest city on the East Coast, and booming, the waterfront pullulating with commerce.

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Horses, packets rush through his dreams.

But he has a fever today and doesn’t know why. Caught up to him like a cousin out of money. He heads for his hotel and tries for an early sleep. The 19th century is careening toward a close. Bagley, Bagley, where are you taking us all?

“When I saw the roof, 1 said oh, no,” Joy tells one of the new owners of 77 Spruce, But look at this tealy mallard color. It’s correct for the

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period and was commonly used with Shingle Style. When you have a red roof like this, you shouldn’t paint the rest of the house brown. And this green trim is too yellow,” she says. “It submerges too much detail.” he looks up again at the only Stevens house on Spruce Street, and confidently selects five period colors to replace the two that darken the house today.

“Every time a color changes, your eye automatically breaks,” she says.

Like a detective at a crime scene, she dusts for the original fingerprints, stamps her feet from the cold. “Had the roof been black, I might have considered a Shingle Style maroon color as the main color, but this classic Shingle Style green, called ‘Leafy Bower,’ is right for the red roof.

Look.”

She recommends a rust color to bring out the house's dentils, a khaki for all shutters and window trim, including bay windows, a color called gravel for all fascia boards, including the large front overhang and porch, crumpet for porch-area accents and filigrees, and mustard for the signature brackets appear almost whimsically throughout the design.

"Eighty percent of this work is all

S

primer,” she says. “Only significant architectural details should get the highlighting treatment. You have to be careful about going too far.”

“Too far?”

She nods. “Otherwise you run into what we call the ‘checkerboard garage-door’ syndrome.”

She says she meets with clients typically “three times.” A consultant who works closely with Greater Portland Landmarks through her Pond Cove Paint Co. firm out of Cape Elizabeth, Joy has to her credit exterior paintings of a number of John Calvin Stevens homes as well as beauties such as the brick Federal Row house on Danforth that has been restored so thoroughly over the last few years and the leopard-gorgeous interior of the State Theatre, her colors exactingly researched and matched with Pratt & Lambert paints.

She asks about the inside of the house.“It's certainly different,” her client says, chilly in a raincoat. "In the reading room, over the fireplace, it looks as though Stevens himself has carved the words In the Turning of the Worm. Sounds Shakespearean.

I wonder what it means?”

“People always argue about what things mean!” Joy laughs. “You should see howThey argue about the names of paint colors! Maybe the original owner could tell you about the turning of the worm,” she says.

Whoever that is.

While George Bagley is away on his junket, businesspeople are commissioning Portland architect John Calvin Stevens to projects from Canada to New Jersey. From the Winslow Homer Cottage in Prout's Neck to the Horace F. Farnham House on 318 Brighton Avenue, this architect and amateur artist-he was one of the white-collar professional ‘Brush-uns’ who painted area landscapes with emerging modernist techniquescreated a Portland vernacular with a deft confidence.

He carved quotes and sayings into the mantels of many homes, later entering his clients' names into a logbook now available at Maine Historial Society, along with a number of Stevens blueprints, says real estate agent Steve Parkhurst.

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Maine Historical Society also indexes and proudly possesses a considerable number of complete house plans still extant, organized by client, but to look at them, of course, you have to know the name of the original client.

“The original client of the house I'm selling on 129 Pitt Street in Portland, near the University of Southern Maine, was James P. Lewis.

Back then, the street had a different name because it was in the Deering District, which was not a part of the city of Portland back then. Did you know that Deering was separate back then?”

Her auditor shakes his head no, immune to coincidence.

“This is definitely a lost part of Portland in the sense that this

24 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

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house is so beautiful but so far from comparable houses, which you'd find on Bowdoin Street on the Western Prom. Actually, they're not that comparable. Those houses have roughly 2,000 feet of living space, while this one has three floors and 3,500 feet of living space.

The library is incredible. Solid mahogany. It's listed for $272,000 (depending on their location and condition, Stevens houses can run below $100,000-there are some in Westbrook, for instance-to the $435,000 figure for 56 Bowdoin Street, which sold this year, and the figure in the high 200,000s attributed to 55 Thomas Street, also sold this year).”

Diane is funny, energetic, constantly interrupted by beepers and call-waitings.

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February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 25

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"Do clients care whether John Calvin Stevens designed a house you're showing?" she is asked.

She lives on Cliff Island.

The beeping sound follows her like lobster pots.

"It's fun showing them," she says, "This one has a massive entrance with stained glass. It’s owned by Dennie and Sarah Boudreau, who used to own Alchem Corporation, which restored several Stevens homes on the Western Prom. You know, like alchemy!

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“The fever's breaking,” George Bagley telegraphs home to Portland. “Been in bed three days. Next to Boston.” t has been a real scare, but now he is boarding the train and thinking of his wife at home on a certain parcel of land in the vicinity of 77 Spruce Street, and his newspaper, and then an angel alights on his shoulders like snow and he starts crying because the angel is telling him very gravely that he is going to check into a hotel in Boston because he is very ill indeed and what he has is pneumonia which can make a man very lonely under a blanket, and that angels do not talk to journalists on ordinary occasions but on account of the extreme sorrow and sentimentality of the occasion an exception is being made here and here alone.

This was serious business.

Bagley's wife was summoned from

I

Portland and she flew to him to meet him at the Hotel Thorndike.

"I'm back!" Diane O'Reilly says.

"Callers! Anyway, 129 Pitt Street used to be called 14 Holwell back when Deering wasn't Portland, isn't that odd?

"The contractors for John Calvin Stevens were E. Venton Earl and Arthur Marx. I'm showing it quite often, and think it's about to sell, but the downside of showing Stevens houses is that a lot of people call up and ask if they can see it because they already own a Stevens house. I can't ask my clients to leave their home just to let someone who already has a John Calvin Stevens home compare decorating! I guess there's extreme interest this year for some reason...

In the turning of the...

One of the new owners of 77 Spruce Street is learning, courtesy of Nick Noyes and William David Barry of Maine Historical Society, exactly how to find out who was living in what house when. You turn to an old street directory in the caged area behind the Librarian's desk, find 77 Spruce in the thick green pages, and run into a George

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Bagley in 1896 after backing down consecutively, year by year, from 1915 to 1914 and so forth. Next, you turn to the complete alphabetical listing of people and occupations and learn that he is listed as the publisher of the Portland Globe and Sunday Telegram. You turn to 1897 and notice that George Bagley is now no longer listed at 77 Spruce Street any more, but just his sweet wife. And you keep turning, because the worm's got to be in there somewhere. I

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HOMES “Snore. Nothing springs to mind, and 1 am not sitting here in my rocking chair, either."

Smart Granite Er, okay. What about smart granite? They're molding it like Formica now. Exactly when did it become a malleable material?

A lot of people are using granite tops for their kitchens, with beautiful, smooth, rounded edges. Christ, it’s indestructible! You couldn't wear it out in 15 generations. It's a matter of aesthetics. Sure it costs a lot more, but I'm seeing a lot of it being used."

Architect’s Choice Story By Colin Sargent rT

IS SAID that some Greeks believed in hylozoism, the notion that all matter is animated. Well, I don't know about - b.that, but after a tour of this year's Home Show at the Cumberland County Civic Center, I know about some new-tech materials that give living tissue a run for its money.

We talked with a few local architects to get a bearing on the new stuff that’s hitting the home novelties market.

The Five-Year Maxim

“Nothing particularly springs to mind,” says David Lloyd of Architellic, 48 Union Street, Portland, who jokes that like the Food and Drug Administration, he waits five years for a wonder material to

prove itself on the market before he recommends it to customers. “1 basically find that when products first come out, I have a tendency to stay behind and see how they do in the marketplace.”

Argon Gas Windows “For windows, the best thing is Low-E glazing, glazing that has an argon gas in it. Basically you're getting a triple glaze window by using a simple film on it or the argon gas inside. And let me see, there is an interesting guy at 872-0690, at Fort Halifax, Gary LaBrecque. We just got an award for a low-cost Farmer's Home project, a low-cost multi-family project. This is a terrific insulation.”

How about flooring. Anything new there?

Radiant-Heat Flooring You begged off on flooring before, but how about radiant heat below flooring? Does that stuff really work?

“Plastic piping heating systems are a good product. It's relatively trouble-free. The plastic piping has allowed it to be put in relatively easily. The typical baseboard system is still good. If you don't want to look at baseboard, you can put that system down. The manufacturer says it's fine to put it under a hardwood floor, but I recommend it instead for kitchens or bathrooms where you have tiles or linoleum. Once you get into hardwood floors or carpets, I don’t feel that comfortable using it.”

Exterior Sheet Insulation Now what about the thin, sheetrock-like insulation people are putting on the outside of houses, under the shingles. It’s hard to think of insulation you don't roll up or spray. It's hard asking questions like Bob Vila. I mean, does it work?

“Sure, the rigid urethane insulation works. And some people use it for winterizing existing homes. The problem is, you’re putting up a vapor barrier around your house.

You've got to put that down and use a strapping system around that. It’s better to plan with new

February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 29

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Stained Glass Database here are interesting! developments on the stained glass front as well. While Phoenix Glass of Forest Avenue is in the vanguard of new creations, having the recent credit of

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Stained glass from a John Calvin Stevens home.

designing stained glass for an interior marquee display at the restored State Theatre, Robin Neely is working with Greater Portland Landmarks to put together a comprehensive database of all the stained glass windows in the Portland area, “grand or humble, inspirational or whimsical.”

If you’re trying to match up a historical window or find a lost one of regional significance, pre-1950s, write to Stained Glass care of Greater Portland Landmarks, 165 State Street, Portland 04101. Who knows how your life will change once you're tapped into the stained-glass network. I

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Going To The ’Dogs

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hey will be Maine’s new boys of summer. They’ll come from various parts of the country and bring the National Pastime back to Vacationland.

They will be the Portland Sea Dogs, and they will come North to find their field of dreams in one of the most unique environments they will have ever seen.

Most of these players “from away” won’t know about L.L Bean. They haven’t heard a Schooner Fare song.

They’ll have never had the experi¬

ence of rushing into the Atlantic Ocean waters from a Maine beach,

Story By Kevin Mills, Photos By Kevin LeDuc discovering what a chilling feeling that is. “Ayuh" will leave them utterly puzzled.

They come to play baseball with hopes of greener pastures, but for now they will see lighthouses, lobsters, and weather patterns that are as tricky as any pitcher’s best stuff.

Baseball isn’t unique to Maine, but Maine will certainly be a different

32 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

place for the Sea Dogs when they come down-east. ea Dogs’ president and general manager Charlie Eshbach says that the needs of any ballplayers coming to a new location are simple. It’s a matter of the facility, finances, and fun.

“The players are obviously interested in finding affordable housing,” says Eshbach. “They're interested in knowing that the baseball facility is top notch. If they have families, they're probably looking for an area

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18 Ocean Street on South Portland’s Waterfront 34 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

where their families will be happy to go, and where they have things to do.

I think Portland hits on all three of those.”

The Florida Marlins seemed to think so when they made Portland their No. 1 choice to situate their only Class AA team.

“I would definitely say that Portland has everything going for it,” says Marlins director of player development John Boles.

Not only does Portland have a brand spanking new stadium and affordable housing for miles, but what better place is there to be during the summer?

“If you’re a ballplayer and you’re going away for 11 days in the middle of the summer and you’re leaving your wife and kids here in Portland, at least you’ll know they’ll be entertained while you’re gone,” says Eshbach. “They can go to the beach or do anything.”

They could even go to a baseball game. There certainly will be plenty of those during the summer months — 71 in fact, with the first being the home opener April 18 against Reading (individual tickets go on sale in late February.) The players probably don’t know it now, but Maine has its share of baseball fans. Though hockey has become popular in Maine in recent years, baseball goes back long before the University of Maine, Mike Bordick or Billy Swift.

“Baseball roots, I think, run deeper than hockey,” says Eshbach.

“There’s been a long history of Red Sox rooting this way. I think you have some die-hard baseball fans here.”

Most importantly for these players, Portland is a stop en route to The Show where every baseball player wants to play. If they make it as a Sea Dog, they can get there from here. arlos Tosca has only been in Maine once. The new top Sea Dog made a brief appearance in Portland last September when the Eastern League’s newest ballclub announced Tosca as their manager.

Tosca got only a brief look at his new home for five months of the year but has already caught on to the best of what Maine has to offer.

C

“I’m just looking forward to eating some lobster,” says Tosca from his home in Valrico, Florida.

Tosca’s coaching career has not taken him too far from home, but that changes after the Florida Marlins’ spring training in Melbourne, Florida in March. Tosca, who has spent much of his time coaching in Florida, brings his players and family to a completely new environment where all they know about the place is what has been told them or seen in brief stops here.

“I thought it was a very quaint place — kind of neat,” says Tosca. “I’m looking forward to being able to spend some time in that part of the country. I’m looking forward to coming up and spending my summers there.”

Though his family-which includes wife Geraldine and children Jessica, 12; Lauren, 6; and Matthew, 4-has never been to Maine, they’ve gotten their own impressions as well.

“My four-year old son thinks the whales are monsters,” says Tosca, “but I’ve told him we’ll get a chance to see some. He’s very excited about that.

“It’s good for the kids because it provides an educational experience.

It gives them a chance to see different parts of the country. They’re looking forward to it.”

Tosca has been fortunate that the experiences he’s had coaching in other venues have been good ones.

“I’ve spent a lot of my time in rookie ball, so I haven’t been in a lot of different places,” he says. “I was in Greensboro, North Carolina (South Atlantic League) and in Kane County, Illinois (Midwest League) for two years. Those are really the only two places I’ve been with the exception of Oneonta, New York (New YorkPenn League), which was also nice.

“Everywhere I’ve been has been nice. The teams have been nice and the fans have been nice. There really haven’t been any real horror stories that you hear about.”

Tosca agrees with Eshbach that what is most important to a manager and his ballplayers is a facility that allows them do do what they’re there

to do.

“We want to be in a situation where the facilities we’re playing in are first class and the people that are there are going to have a hand in helping the development of our players,” says Tosca.

Tosca also emphasized a tie with the community and noted the AdoptA-Cougar program that they had in Kane County where he managed last year. Tosca estimates that 80 percent of the players lived with families.

“That’s the best scenario you can be in, “ he says. “It’s a little easier for the players. Sometimes it’s not always feasible, but I know the players appreciate it and like it. It’s a little more like home for them.”

That was at the Class A level, where the need for that kind of situation would be different than what the Class AA ballplayers might want.

“On the A level, the age is different so they may want that situation more than the AA players,” says Tosca.

Tosca began his career in professional baseball with a coaching job at Oneonta in 1978. Since then he has put up some impressive numbers in 12 years as a minor-league manager with organizations such as Kansas City (1988-1991), the Yankees (19831985), and the Pirates (1980-1982).

The graduate of the University of South Florida led the Gulf Coast Marlins to a 33-27 record in 1992 — second place in the Central Division of the Gulf Coast League and fourth overall. He had a 14-game winning

streak that season — the longest by any minor-league team that year.

Last season, he managed the Kane County Cougars to a 75-62 record in the Midwest League in his first season with the Marlins organization.

Tosca was named the Gulf Coast Manager of the Year in 1985 as the Sarasota skipper with a 43-18 record.

He has posted a winning record nine times and has a career mark of 559491.

That’s not bad, considering he’s been coaching primarily in developmental levels.

When Tosca brings the Sea Dogs north from training camp which runs from the second week of March to the 5th of April, he hopes to keep that success going in his first year at the Class AA level.

That outlook is especially bright considering the fledgling Marlins organization had the fourth-best minor-league system in baseball in their first year last season.

The Sea Dogs already have been a hit with baseball fans. In 4 a recent poll among readers by —- a baseball magazine, the Sea Dogs were the sixth most popular team in all of minor league baseball.

Though what matters most to the Marlins is how they’ll do on the field, Tosca feels they’ll live up to their popularity.

“1 think we’ll be a competitive team," says Tosca. “In any situation, pitching is significant. Our pitching is our biggest question mark, not so much because of the quality of arms but in how they’re going to be spread out (with the organization). Until we see what the Major League club does to settle its pitching, we won’t know how our pitching stands.” hough the pitching situation may be up in the air, Tosca does have an idea what the offense will look like, though John Boles estimates that that he’s got a list of 50 potential Sea Dogs waiting to battle for positions in spring training. Three players are already ticketed for Portland.

According to Eshbach, catcher Charles Johnson, first baseman Tim

February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 35

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36 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

Clark and second baseman Ramon Martinez are as close as the Sea Dogs come to having names to go with the uniforms prior to spring training.

“Other than that, it’s pretty much a guess at this point,” says Eshbach.

As few as they may be, the names of Johnson, Clark and Martinez are not bad names for the Sea Dogs to start with.

“These, in our opinion, not only are quality minor league players but they’re quality Major League players,” says Tosca. “In my opinion, there’s a big difference. These guys should really make an impact on our ballclub. It should be a good nucleus to start with.” ohnson was the Marlins’ No. 1 draft pick in 1992, and he proved that choice a good one back in Kane County last season in Geneva, Illinois. Johnson finished the year hitting .275 with 19 homers and 94 runs batted in.

Named the third-place Cougars’ Most Valuable Player, he set the single-season record for the team with his home run and RBI totals. Johnson also led the league in RBI and in games played with 135. He was selected as a mid-season All-Star as well as winner of a spot on the postseason All-Star squad. Johnson even won the home-run hitting contest at the Midwest League All-Star game, earning $500 and a year’s supply of orange juice — just what a Fort Pierce, Florida native needs.

“Charles Johnson is ticketed to be our opening-day catcher,” says Eshbach. “He was a No. 1 draft pick out of the University of Miami. He had a real big year last year.

“Johnson is supposedly-1 haven’t seen him play-also a very good defensive catcher.”

As if Johnson’s hitting prowess were not enough for the soon-to-beslugging Sea Dogs, one of the High Desert’s top hitting prospects from last year is expected to join him in the Portland line-up.

“We believe Tim Clark will be our first baseman,” says Eshbach. “He led all of minor league baseball in hitting last year.”

Clark, a native of Philadelphia, was the Florida Marlins’ Organizational Player of the Year last season and

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won the organization its first league championship with a two-run homer to beat the Modesto A’s 9-5 in the deciding fifth game of the Championship Series.

Clark finished the season batting .363 and had 17 homers and 126 RBI for the Mavericks of Adelanto, California. He was the California League’s MVP and batting champion. He led the entire minor leagues with his .363 average, 185 hits and 126 RBI. He also led the California League in triples (10), total bases (298), and extrabase hits (69) and finished second in runs scored (109) and doubles (42). Clark was named to the California League post-season AllStar team as well.

“Clark is a type of line-drive hitter — the alley hitter,” says Eshbach. “He doesn’t hit a lot of home runs. I think he hit 17 last year, but it was a park that was very conducive to home runs.”

Clark is expected to be joined by his High Desert teammate Martinez in the Sea Dog infield.

“Ramon Martinez is a second baseman who stole 40-plus bases out in the California League last year,” says Eshbach.

Martinez, a switch hitter, batted .265 and had two homers and 46 RBI. He stole 46 bases and scored 73 runs.

“I think he doesn’t have a lot of power, but he’s very fast,” says Eshbach.

Though the rest of the lineup is yet to be determined, these three give the Sea Dogs a good head start and their fans some impressive stats to look forward to in Portland.

“These are people who have accomplished some things in the past,” says Eshbach. “They’re definite prospects.” efore these players can hope to duplicate their past heroics, however, there will be some adjustments to make in coming to Portland for them and their future fellow Sea Dogs.

Before the players and organization can think about housing, the Maine weather, or what stops to catch on the Maine summer festival circuit, the first order of business is the adjustment to a different level of

baseball.

Since Portland is the last of the Marlins’ minor league affiliates to be put in operation, most of the players will come from the existing Class A clubs in High Desert and Kane County. Though some may come from Class AAA level in Edmonton, most will not be used to a level better than A-ball.

“It’s a big adjustment going to Class AA, whether it’s Portland, Maine or wherever it is, because they’re going from Class A to AA and some think that’s the biggest jump,”

says Eshbach. “They’re going from a level where every Major League team has two or three or four Class A clubs to an AA situation where it all funnels down to the better ballplayers.”

“Class AA is a level where you separate the suspects from the prospects,” says Tosca. “It’s really a critical step for a lot of players. If you can get a player through AA, you can tell we have a major-league caliber ballplayer. It’s an important level for a lot of these players.”

Because this step is so important, that puts a little more significance on this spring training ahead as the Marlins’ organization decide what players are ready for Portland.

“Class AA is a very hard transition to rise to,” says Boles. “Going from Aball to AA-ball is as big a step in baseball as you’ll find. (We) don’t want to rush someone because you don’t

38 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

want to put a player in over his head before he’s ready. It’s a ticklish situation.”

All of the Sea Dogs will be making this transition while also making adjustments to Portland. It will all happen faster than a Roger Clemens fastball.

When the players leave spring training in early April, they are scheduled to arrive in Portland for only a day or two before heading out on the road to start the season with an 11-game road trip which begins April 7 at Reading. On the average salary of $1,600 a month for five months, the Sea Dogs will be looking for something affordable, short-term, and very accessible in the short time they have to search.

“There will be a day or so for them to look around,” says Eshbach, who estimates the Sea Dogs’ arrival in Portland to be the 5th or 6th of April.

“We’ll have done a lot of homework for them beforehand, so they’ll have a day where they can run around and do a lot of that. Some of them may wait until they get back after being on the road for 11 days.”

Though Tosca has a family that could help his search, they won’t be able to. Since his wife teaches school in Florida, his family will stay there until school is out in June. That leaves the housefinding duties to Tosca.

“That will give me a chance to get things settled,” he says. “Hopefully, I’ll have the place ready.”

Eshbach’s staff will be doing their part during spring training to make that transition easier.

“We can talk to local realtors,” he says. “We’re going to be advertising as we get a little closer to the season.

We’re looking for places that people are willing to rent out for five months to ballplayers or ballplayers and their families — or whatever the situation may be. A lot of times, people have places to rent, but they don’t want to rent them out on a regular basis. But, if they know it's just a fivemonth-type thing, they might be interested.”

Unfortunately, Eshbach and com-

pany won’t be able to do much about the weather except be glad that only six games are played in Portland in the entire month of April. With the wind, cold, and rain that often comes with the early signs of spring, it would be quite a shock for those who played in the sun of the California League last season.

“Early in the year there could be an adjustment for some weather,” says Eshbach. “There will be players who have played in only Florida or California who are coming here. For them, it could be kind of a new experience. Those who played out in Kane County near Chicago last year, 1 don’t know if it’s going to be that much different from what they experienced early in the season out there.”

Boles doesn’t think the weather will be that much of a change for most players, and if it is, it will be good for them anyway.

“Everyone always talks about the weather, especially since the Marlins are playing in Joe Robbie Stadium and it’s hot and warm there,” says Boles. “We’ve got other clubs that play in climates that aren’t that much different. The Eastern League isn’t any different than, say, Kane County or Edmonton. “(And if the weather is worse than they’re accustomed to ), that’s okay,” he added. “They have to learn to play in that kind of weather. Because if they make it to the Major Leagues, they’ll have to play in April in places like Chicago. That’s a positive learning experience for the guys. You just have to adjust. It’s part of the growing process."

Though the Sea Dogs will be out of town for all but six games in April, they will be back in May for an extended visit, giving Maine the opportunity to see the Sea Dogs and the Sea Dogs their chance to see Maine.

“When they come back in May,” says Eshbach, “they’ll be here for a long time. We’re home at one stretch in May for 18 out of 21 days.”

That should give them plenty of time to get settled, eat a lobster, visit Portland Head Light, and do some shopping in Freeport. In other words, make them feel at home. H

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The fuel that fired the Old Port's ascension from real estate obscurity was part venture capital and part college-kid beer money. Combine brick walls, oversized timbers, and a decorative pastiche of anything old and you had an irresistible magnet that drew funseekers to the Old Port like egg-heads to a foreign film.

Carbur’s, established in 1977, was in this vanguard, and from a recent visit it appears that it has decided it would rather fight than switch, despite the recognition that the Old Port is ruled by the sandal-with-sock crowd by day and by dance halls and brew pubs by night. Is Carbur’s just a curious anachronism as primordial fern bar or is it still a viable formula for a restaurant that is surviving in a fundamentally changed Old Port?

The voluminous menu is a compilation of bar food, appetizers (lots of things deep fried, nachos, chicken wings, sandwiches with names that are embarrassing to say out \oud...roto-rooster man, fungus hummungus), great burgers, and a few simple entrees (teriyaki chicken, chicken chimichanga, fish and chips).

We started with an order of Detroit Red Wings ($5.25), which are the Carbur’s version of Buffalo Wings. It consisted of chicken wings cooked in a red spicy sauce, served with carrot and celery sticks and accompanied by blue cheese dressing. The wings tasted freshly made, and the hot

sauce was interesting enough, but the wings had a boiled-in-thesauce quality instead of a more appealing baked, roasted, or fried crispiness.

For sandwiches, we chose a Fort Howgate ($5.95) and a Murray, Plumb & Murray ($8.95). A Fort Howgate brings together corned beef, grilled knockwurst, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese. To its credit, it wasn't the least bit greasy, but the downside was there was so little moisture in the meat and sauerkraut that it ended up a veritable dust bowl of a sandwich. The stale rye bread bolting it together offered very little relief as well.

The Murray, Plumb & Murray was a steak-and-grilled-onion sandwich or a toasted baguette.

The meat was tender and charbroiled to medium rare, the onions had that good grilled-onion taste and smell that permeates ball games and summer fairs, but once again the bread was stale, with the toasting process hardly redeeming it.

The beverage of choice is beer, and there is plenty of variety. The draft is served tall and cold.

The desserts are unpretentious and inexpensive. An apple pie with ice cream ($1.95) hit all the right notes, but a nutmeggy blueberry crisp ($2.25) was so soupy that the crisp had sunk to the bottom, leaving it as crisp as a stewed prune.

Can the Carbur's formula still work? Without a doubt. It's one and the same as the Old Port’s.

The atmosphere of exposed, varnished brick and subterranean granite helped set the standard for many a restaurant that has come and gone since the 1970s. And certainly cold beer and sandwiches aren't on the endangered species list. So that’s not the question. The real question is: Can Carbur's still work the formula? ■ Mark Mickalide

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LISTINGS State Theatre, 609 Congress Street, Port¬

land. February 26, see Alison Krauss and Union Station with special guests Bluegrass Supply Co. On Friday, March 4, hear the comedy stylings of Bob Goldthwait, formerly Bobcat. On Saturday, March 5, it's Widespread Panic. Dinner and beverages available right inside this magnificently restored 1929 theatre for all performances.

Hotline: 879-1111.

Europe, the Balkans, Israel, Turkey, and Scotland. $3 donation. March 2, Moulton Union from 7 to 9:30 p.m. 729-8857.

L/A Arts, 234 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, will

feature La Bottine Souriante, the best-known of Quebec’s traditional bands with their hot fiddles, mandolins, guitars, accordion, and piano. The result is a combination of French, English, Irish, and Scottish music with a jazzy, modern flair. February 19 at the Lewis-

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by Richard (Oklahoma!) Rodgers. March 1820 and 25-27 at the Warren Memorial Library Auditorium, 479 Main Street, Westbrook. Tickets go on sale March 1st.

For info call RTC at 874-9002.

Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square, Portland. Opening February 12, the exhibition Graphic Language: Printmaking and Popular Culture 1960 - 1990 The Portland Players, 420 Cottage will explore the relationship Road, South Portland: “Absurd Perbetween the art of printmaking son Singular" by Alan Ayckbourn on and the images used by commuMarch 18,19,20,25,26,27 and April nications media. Drawn primar1,2. ily from the museum’s permanent collection, the exhibiPortland Symphony Orchestra, 30 tion will feature works by such Myrtle Street, Portland. Thursday, major artists as Jim Dine, Robert February 17 a woodwind ensemble Indiana, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtfrom the Portland Symphony enstein, Claes Oldenberg, Robert Orchestra will perform “Hide and The PCA ecent "Porgy and Bess" comes to City Hall Auditorium on April 6.

Rauschenberg, James RosenSeek," Kinderkonzerts for children 3quist, and Andy Warhol. Through April 3. ton Junior High School at 8 p.m. $15. Call L/A 7 at Olin Arts Center, Bates College, LewisOngoing Exhibitions: Paul Strand-Selected Arts at 782-7228 or 1-800-639-2919. ton, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30 a.m. $2. For Photographs through March 13. Perspecreservations, call Lynne Geiger at 786-5640. tives:Brett Bigbee, Paintings and Drawings Portland Performing Arts, 25A Forest Ave., On Tuesday, March 1, Mahler's Symphony 1989-1993, through Feb. 13. Alex Katz: Four Portland. Big Sounds From All Over preNo. 9 will be performed by the PSO at 7:30 Paintings, through June 5. Paul Strand: sents a one-night-only performance of Jazz p.m. at Portland City Hall Auditorium. Free Selected Photographs, through March 13.

Tap Summit: Dance Umbrella's Fascinating concert preview at 6:30 p.m. $10/18/25/32.

From Courbet to Motherwell: 19th and 20th Rhythms: A Celebration of Tap Dance with Discounts available. 773-8191 or 1-800-639Century European and American Art. 775Jazz Tap Greats Savion Glover, Jimmy Slide, 2309. Thursday, March 3-Soloists from the 6148.

New York City’s tap group Bucket Drumthree youth ensembles of the PSO will permers, Boston Tappers Josh Hilberman and form in recital at 7 p.m. at the First Baptist Portland Concert Association will present Dianne Walker, and the Alan Dawson Trio.

Church, Portland. Free Admission. Friday, the Martha Graham Dance Company on Friday. March 11, 8 p.m. at Portland High March 11- Listening to Beethoven Youth Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. The always School Auditorium. $ 20. Call 774-0465.

Concerts at 9:30 and 11 a.m. at Portland City exciting dance company celebrates its Hall Auditorium. $2. Sunday, March 13 - The The LARK Society for Chamber Music, P.O. founder’s 100th birthday with a special prePortland Symphony Chamber Orchestra will sentation of her signature ballet “AppalachiBox 11, Portland, will present an afternoon be joined by soprano Karen Stickney and an Spring." Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. of Haydn, Godfrey, and Schubert with the narrator Michael Rafkin for a concert featur- Cherish the Ladies. A good way to mark St. Portland String Quartet. Sunday, February ing Piston's Serenata, Mozart’s Serenata Patrick's Day with this all-woman ensemble 27 at Woodfords Congregational Church, Notturna, and Beethoven’s Incidental Music performing traditional Irish music and step 202 Woodford Street, Portland. $15 general from Egmont, at 2 and 6 p.m. in the Eastland admission, $10 seniors over 60 and children dancing. And, on April 6, see the national Ballroom of Portland’s Sonesta Hotel. $22. touring company of “Porgy and Bess," For under 12. Free parking, handicapped accesDiscounts available. sibility. Call LARK Society at 761-1522. information, call 772-8630.

Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Bowdoin College, Brunswick, has schedBowdoin College, Brunswick. Performance Square, Portland. February's Brown Bag uled an evening of International Folk Dancby the U.S. Air Force Woodwind Quintet. FriLecture will be Gateway to the Stars - Porting. Circle and couple dances from Eastern day, March 2, 12.05 p.m.. Room 101, Gibson land’s link to the international recording

February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 43

Bed & Breakfast On The Beach

■ LISTINGS ■ industry. Bob Ludwig's studio, relocated from New York city, boasts 450 international music clients, among them The Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Robert Plant.

Wednesday, Feb. 23,12 noon to 1 p.m. in the Rines Room.

•Now Experience a Truly Elegant Private Dinner Party, An Ocean Experience For Up To 12 People •Escape & Relax With Our Off-Season Specials •More Than A Place To Sleep 207-646-2346

Center for the Arts at the Chocolate Church, 804 Washington Street, Bath. Stu¬

SAIGON THINH THANH VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT

dio Theater presents Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap" Feb. 18,19,20,25,26,27 and March 4,5,6. Tickets $10/8 Seniors and U12.

The Bath-Brunswick Folk Club brings Anne Hills on Saturday, March 19 and Fred Small on Saturday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $10 Door/$8 Advance. 442-8455.

Congress Square

(Near the Portland Museaum of Art and the Sonesta Hotel)

773-2932

Open 7 days a week Monday to Wednesday lunch 1130 am-230 pm Dinner 430 pn>930 pm Thursday to Saturday Lunch 1130 am-230 pm Dimer 430 pm-1030 pm Sunday 430 pm-930 pm MC/VBA/AMEX Gladly Accepted 608 Congress Street, Portland, Maine

Mad Horse Theatre Company Presents The Signature Season All My Sons by Arthur Miller

Bates College, Lewiston. Thursday, March 3, 7:30 p.m., Lecture: Benjamin Chavis, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, speaks on Brown vs. Board of Education: 40 Years after. Free. Bates College chapel. Wednesday, March 9, 8 p.m., Concert: Greg Brown, one of today’s most gifted and prolific songwriters blends folk, blues, calypso and jazz into a rich repertoire of “tales of bravado and loss, love and the grind of loving with the American Dream.” Admission $8/4. Advance reservations: 786-6135. Olin Arts Center.

September 23-October 17

Portland Sea Dogs

Kingfish by Marlene Meyer

1994 Home Schedule

November 18-December 12

Down the Road by Lee Blessing

February 3-February 27

Landscape of the Body by John Guare

March 31-Aprii 24 Two by Romulus Linney

May 26-June 19

April

Monday 18 - Albany 4 p.m.

Tuesday 19 - Albany 4 p.m.

Wednesday 20 - Albany 1 p.m.

Friday 22 - Harrisburg 7 p.m.

Saturday 23 - Harrisburg 3 p.m.

Sunday 24 - Harrisburg 3 p.m.

May

Friday 5 - Reading 7 p.m.

Saturday 7 - Reading 1 p.m.

Sunday 8 - Reading 1 p.m.

Monday 9 - New Britain 7 p.m.

Tuesday 10 - New Britain 7 p.m.

Wednesday 11 - New Britain 7 p.m.

Thursday 12 - New Britain 7 p.m.

Friday 13 - Albany 7 p.m.

Saturday 14 - Albany 2 p.m.

Sunday 15 - Albany 2 p.m.

Thursday 19 - Trenton 7 p.m.

Friday 20 - Trenton 7 p.m.

Saturday 21 - Trenton 1 p.m.

Sunday 22 - Trenton 1 p.m.

Monday 23 - Binghamton 7 p.m.

Tuesday 24 - Binghamton 7 p.m.

Wednesday 25 - Binghamton 7 p.m.

Thursday 26 - Binghamton 7 p.m.

Hosts: Bob & Carolyn Della Pietra

OPEN

YEAR

ROUND

// I?

Amive^y^eason PORTLAND ★★STAGEW^ COMPANY Arms and the Man

by George Bernard Shaw

October 17 - November 13

Holiday Memories

by Truman Capote Stage Version by Russell Vandenbroucke

November 21 - December 19

Three Postcards

by Craig Lucas and Craig Carnelia

january 2 - 29

Happy Days

by Samuel Beckett

February 6 - March 5

Oleanna

by David Mamet

March 13 - April 9

Losing Father's Body

by Constance Congdon

April 17 - May 14

Box Office • 774-0465 Portland Performing Arts Center 25A Forest Avenue ♦ Portland

Falmouth Flowers & Gifts Weddings, Funerals, Special Occasions Delivery From Freeport to S. Portland Westbrook to Portland 781-5533 USRt. 1, Falmouth Shopping Center Falmouth, Me. 04101

44 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

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February/March • Portland Monthly Magazine • 45

FICTION

The Leopard & The Lunatic New Fiction By Nancy O’Malley

H

E POPS OPEN another beer, his lips suck onto the can. He gulps down hard. I take his plate and scrape his supper into the sink.

His chin drops. He studies me. I rinse the plate and let the water run down my forearms and over my hands. I watch the water swirl down the drain carrying wrinkled peas and fat-marbled beef. Walking away, I pick up my gym bag, pocketbook, and keys.

He starts in again. His words track me. “You ugly bitch. You good for nothing ugly bitch. You whore. You frigid, ugly whore."

I take a deep breath, lt.’s Monday.

Tonight his words don’t get inside me. There’s no room in there. I'm full already of water thoughts, echoes and ceiling fans.

“I’ll be at the high school,” I say.

“What the fuck do you do there?” he asks.

“Swim,” 1 say and leave.

In the locker room, my friend Kathy says, “He’s a diamond in the rough. He loves you, just can’t show it.”

“Guess not," I say.

Joan, my other friend, says, “You gotta break the rules sometimes.

Leave him. Someday he’s gonna hurt you.”

“Not on Mondays,” I say.

46 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/M/s.ch

1 put on my bathing suit. The leg holes squeeze soft, white thighs into lumps of cottage cheese. The side seams groan — black side stitches like lace on a yellow bathing suit.

“They shoulda used yellow thread, don’t cha think?” asks Joan.

“What does it matter?” I ask back.

I shower, then walk along the pool. Voices, mostly garbled and twisted, echo off the walls like departure announcements at the bus station. I stretch my lower back and legs, then push out my chest, take a deep breath, and make windmills with my arms.

First forward, then back. Men with bulges in their Speedos don’t turn their heads. Their wives and girlfriends don’t need to cling to them or watch their eyes.

I claim the outside lane. No Olympic might-have-beens swimming up on top of me, like mounting. I’m afraid to put my face in the water, so I do the backstroke.

Eight support beams, 4 ceiling fans and twenty-two colored flags mark my position in the pool. I can’t see where I’m going.

The water feels like syrup. My legs and lungs ache. For a second, I think of the lunatic and scrape my left hand along the cement rim of the pool, opening up a knuckle. A thin stream of blood trails behind me. After a while, 1 lose myself in water now translucent, full of no thoughts, and smack my head against the rim at the deep end. A sharp pain jabs my skull; hot chlorine shoots up my nose. I cough and spit. The men with bulges smirk and shake their heads.

Grabbing hold of the pool’s edge, I press my chest against my thighs.

I push off hard falling backward onto water, trusting. It won’t let me crash to the tiles fifteen feet below. It holds me. I stroke in boom box rhythm watching with halo vision for my thirty-four markers. The water enters me. I feel like Monday.

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■ FICTION ■ The lifeguard’s whistle startles me. I raise my head; my feet rest uncomfortably on the tiles. The water leaves my body. Like walking through Maine-deep snow, 1 trudge toward the ladder and pull my dead weight out of the water.

Gravity reclaims me.

At home I’m greeted by darkness and “Oh, if it isn’t Esther Williams.

Make like Julia Child and fix me something to eat,” he says.

“Not tonight,” I say.

He laughs and laughs, then lets out a belch.

Not just Mondays, but every night I go back. My markers move over me faster. My feet don’t rest on the tiles anymore. Not until the lifeguard blows his whistle. Three hours. I could swim longer. If the lifeguard forgot to whistle, if the little blonde kept leaning toward him, I’d just keep swimming. aist-length hair slows me down. I want hair that doesn’t move or tangle in my arms, disrupting my stroke. The faded yellow bathing suit doesn’t return to its original shape anymore. It hangs on me. So, I buy a new one.

It looks like leopard skin. The tag reads, “French Cut.” When I walk, heads turn, stomachs get sucked in and chests expand. Kathy and Joan won’t swim with me anymore.

There’s a spring swim meet at the high school. The pool is closed to the public. I put on my leopard skin and fill the bathtub instead. I sit in the water until I’m wrinkled. I flex my muscled thighs and feel my granite calves. I get out and look at my backside with a hand mirror. I’m smooth and hard, no lumps or dimples. My stomach is flat.

Kathy says I’m obsessed and neglecting my husband. Joan thinks I’m after hers. He watches me move now, just like the men at the pool. They can’t stop watching.

■

W

TYOUHA

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48 • Portland Monthly Magazine • February/March

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