February/March 2011 What a blast to crack open the Washington Post’s Metro section and run into breathless posturing (even lecturing!) about how the Sidecar should properly be served. The cocktail has as many inventors as baseball, ice cream, or Facebook, but here’s...
Winterguide 2011 By Colin W. Sargent We’re eating crab cakes in Todd Jurich’s Bistro in Norfolk, Virginia, when the waiter drops us with, “These are made with fresh crab from Maine.” But this is Crabtown, USA! “Chesapeake Bay crabs go dormant from December through...
December 2010 By Colin W. Sargent “Lady Gaga, meet the ghost of Lucky Lindy” ran like quicksilver through my brain when I heard the lady in question had chosen Deering Oaks as the perfect place in Maine to make a speech. That’s because famed aviator Charles Lindbergh...
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...
