When we dreamed up Portland Monthly magazine in 1985, we started at 638 Congress Street in the Lafayette Building. Next stop was 154 Middle Street in the Old Port. At our opening party, which spread to Cavanagh’s, the pub next door, a daily reporter from the Evening Express slid into my usual booth. “This all looks great, Colin. My only question is, what do you do the other 29 days?”

As you—our readership—grew, we bought and renovated 578 Congress Street at the top of Forest Avenue. In the 1990s, Z.Z. Top floated in for a chat. So did rocker Bebe Buell. The late Stan Bennett buttonholed me in our lobby as I walked in: “Just tell me, Colin, where did Oakhurst Dairy finish in The Maine 100?” My answer then, as it would be now: “You’ll believe it when you see it in print.”

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