November 2010 During the holidays we often catch ourselves looking in the mirror, but if you happen to bump into your reflection in a Federal gilt and eglomise mirror with a label emblazoned with James Todd Looking Glass Manufactory, Exchange Street, Portland, you’ve...
October 2010 Standing in line at San Francisco Airport, I was asked by an attendant, “What is your destination, sir?” “Portland,” I said proudly. “Oregon?” he asked. “Maine!” “Oh,” he said. He waved me to the line marked "International Flights." When I indignantly...
September 2010 If you discover a painting in your attic with strikingly remote human figures in it, don’t throw it away. It might be a Fairfield Porter (1907-1975). As Time magazine art critic Robert Hughes writes, “There was always an awkwardness to Porter’s...
July / August 2010 If Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! ever treated us to the lore and legends of the Kennebunk River, they’d lead with the strange case of the Ocean King. Launched for Nathaniel Lord Thompson at the present site of Federal Jack’s in 1874, the 215.5-foot...
Summerguide 2012 The unconsidered state is not worth visiting. Looking for a post-midnight cocktail? Hit up Grace for their five-alarm, jalapeño-infused tequila concoction (aptly named the “Heated Affair”). Or how about a casual celebrity encounter? Stroll the...
May 2010 Remember this summer? The one that hasn’t happened yet? We do, thanks to the new Zoltar fortune-telling machine we’ve just purchased (wishful thinking) for our Portland Magazine headquarters at 165 State Street. With the help of a roll of quarters and the...
April 2010 In Charlotte, North Carolina, iconic examples of urban signage aren’t simply pointed to and admired–they’re being registered as historic landmarks. “We feel like protecting things that make Charlotte unique is important,” Diane Althouse, executive director...
February / March 2010 Out of the ashes, new ideas bloom. Here in Portland, we’re famous for rising like a phoenix after being burned by the British in 1775 and reduced to embers by errant fireworks in 1866. And I believe we’re going to be better still after recovering...
WinterGuide 2010 If you want to see stars, really see stars, you need a place of enchantment "with no stray man-made light," according to the star-gazing site allroutes.to/thestars. No "light pollution," as they're calling it now. A spot where you can take the long...
December 2009 I love the story of the People of the Dawn mooning Giovanni da Verrazzano’s ships as they first sailed down our wild coast in 1524 to document their own claim of having ‘discovered’ Vacationland. After all, Verrazzano was From Away. But a few centuries...
November 2009 The amazing thing about this issue featuring the 10 Most Intriguing People in Maine, which we at Portland Magazine nickname the “People” issue, is what happened this year after we sifted through the many recommendations for entries that came in from...
October 2009 “I remember that autumn when the fallen epileptic maple shuddered in pain by the road. My world died then with the maple’s first convulsion.” The world-class author of these lines was brilliant, funny Leonardas Andriekus (1914-2004), the former poet...
