Late in the
planning process, I realized that a short trip to Martha’s Vineyard was a
possibility. There was no minor league
baseball there. And there is only one
brewery, which was on a part of the island that we didn’t visit. But it was still a chance to see a well-known
part of the country. And it irritated
our wives that we saw Martha’s Vineyard without them.
I mention
Martha’s Vineyard because it offered an urbanism lesson about transportation
facilities.
Although many
visitors to Martha’s Vineyard arrive by ferry as pedestrians, the Vineyard
Haven ferry terminal is an unfriendly place for pedestrians. It’s such a fun place to visit that the
unfriendliness might be overlooked. But
when I ceased being a tourist for a moment and donned my urbanist hat, the
awkwardness struck me.
With cars queuing
on one side of the terminal, disembarking vehicles streaming past the other
side, idling buses, a terminal that, despite a quaint exterior, lacked much
interior charm, and foot passengers being herded on a path between the motor
vehicles, it wasn’t a great experience. Certainly
not as good as an arrival in a location as fabled as Martha’s Vineyard should have
been.
And even as
one leaves the immediate vicinity of the ferry terminal, the town isn’t configured
to be welcoming. Although Martha’s
Vineyard is dependent on ferries for almost its entire economy, the village of
Tisbury, which adjoins the Vineyard Haven ferry terminal, doesn’t align toward
the ferry terminal. Although cars have
clear routes away from the terminal, pedestrians must feel their way toward the
commercial area.
On deboarding,
we headed for a diner near the terminal.
One of us noted a beach path that seemed to lead to the restaurant. It did, although the route took us through
the service yard for the restaurant, past the trash containers and rotting
produce. It was symbolic of the pedestrian
ferry experience. But at least we
arrived at the diner ahead of the other ferry passengers.
Thinking
over my other experiences with ferry terminals, I realized that most have been
pedestrian unfriendly, or at least unwelcoming.
The Puget Sound ferry system. The
Larkspur ferry terminal. A few others. All have accepted pedestrians, but without
being comfortable for foot passengers.
About the only exceptions are the Ferry Building in San Francisco and,
to a lesser extent, the terminals for the Staten Island Ferry. And what is the commonality between the
latter? None of them accommodate cars.
Which is
probably the reason that we have some grand old train stations and many more
pedestrian friendly train stations around the country. Trying to get cars on-board a ferry gets in
the way of good pedestrian places.
It makes me happy
that we’re getting new train stations and not ferry terminals along the SMART
alignment. The train stations will be
far more consistent with the urbanist direction in which I think North Bay
cities should be heading.
*****
I recently
shared some thoughts about urban diners in Seattle and Tacoma with the
thought that some readers might be traveling to the Pacific Northwest. In a similar vein, I have diners to recommend
from our week in New England.
Breakfast
was the key meal of our day. (The rest
of the day was pretty much appetizers and beer.
It’s remarkable how many buffalo wings and nachos four guys can consume
in eight days.) In reverse order, here
are the top four urban diners from the trip:
#4 –Black
Dog Tavern, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts: As a reward for
wandering past garbage, we had a good breakfast. Not great, but good. The dishes have creative names (I had a The
Dude Abides Omelette while another in the party had Ebony and Ivory Pancakes),
but the food wasn’t superlative and the waitstaff unenthusiastic. We tried to make our waitress smile with only
limited success. Plus Black Dog seems to
be going for a mercantile dynasty, which detracts from what a
good diner should be.
#3 – Owl Diner, Lowell,
Massachusetts: A working class diner in a working class neighborhood in a
working class town, the Owl Diner was a fine New England experience. The restaurant is a converted dining
railcar. And you had the sense that
waitstaff had all grown up in Lowell.
The menu included a couple of items that seemed unique and the food was
unostentatiously good.
#2 – Red Arrow Diner,
Manchester, New Hampshire: Without doubt, the Red Arrow was that highest energy
diner of the trip. As a frequent stop for
candidates running in the New Hampshire primaries, the Red Owl waitstaff has
learned to make dining an event. As
first-timers, we were all “de-virginized”, which involved a loud bell, an even
louder announcement, and red stickers.
Two of us tried the pork pie (think of an apple pie with a pork meatloaf
replacing the apples). It was a fine
meal that held us for a long drive through Vermont.
#1 – Kamp Dog, New London, Connecticut: A surprise
winner, Kamp Dog wasn’t on the itinerary, but became a stop when we were
nearing New London and feeling morning hunger pangs. A quick internet check found Kamp Dog. It couldn’t have worked out better.
It’s an
oddly appointed diner. Aging linoleum
and chrome dinettes, with a griddle was at least 25 feet long for a single
cook. Perhaps the interior had an
earlier use as something other than a diner.
But the cook
used his long griddle to great effect.
Three of us had the Porker breakfast sandwich, with eggs, cheese, ham,
sausage, and bacon on a bakery roll. It
was a great sandwich, although probably not for an everyday diet. One of us texted a photo of the sandwiches to
his former lineman son. The son texted
back that he was packing his suitcase.
Located in
downtown New London, Kamp Dog seemed secure in its place, with numerous folks
dropping in for their daily takeout.
Many of the customers were healthcare workers. One assumes they weren’t having the Porker.
I don’t
recommend a trip to New England solely to sample these urban diners, but if
you’re going to be in New England anyway, I heartily suggest that you try at
least one.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
No comments:
Post a Comment