February/March 2014

To celebrate the beginning of our 29^th year, we’re proud to bring you “The Best of the Best.” Along with our up-to-the minute restaurant reviews, events listings, and arts coverage in departments like Goings On, Chowder, and Maine Classics, here are some stories across the last four decades that still keep us up at night.

Like ghosts, these tales have forced their way onto our computer screens and demanded we re-imagine them with 21^st century graphics. At the end of each story, look for an update that will offer extraordinary perspective–from wow factor to the land of now.

It’s dazzling, considering all these features at once, especially today, when the truism “They’ll Believe When They See It In Print” is becoming all the more true. There’s a sensual magic to holding a freshly delivered magazine in your hands.

Few family businesses know that better than Cummings Printing. Not only have they printed Portland Magazine for nearly two decades, they’re celebrating their 100^th anniversary right now.

When Portland Magazine started, Prince and Madonna ruled the airwaves. Our first issue featured an interview with Judd Nelson, star of The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire.

But just think: When Cummings Printing started, The Great War was just beginning in Europe. F. Scott Fitzgerald was 11 years away from publishing The Great Gatsby. Jay-Z was 99 years away from producing The Great Gatsby.

To pull this off, Cummings Printing has had to endure long nights at the press through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Korean War, Sputnik, Camelot, all the way to now and beyond. Cummings owner Jack Cummings and four generations of his family have had to show incredible technological nimbleness and élan to get to where they are today, topped by a century of heart and belief in the printed word. Congratulations to the entire staff and extended family of Cummings Printing. Here’s to your next century. We’re glad we’ve hitched our wagon to a star.