May 11, 2022 • 40 mins
Brendan has never been to Portland, Maine, but that hasn’t stopped him wanting to live there. This episode he and Danielle Henderson head to Vacationland to see if it can live up to its nickname. Fueled by lobster rolls and salt air, the two visit lighthouses, bookshops and the world’s only known museum of the umbrella cover. And to really get a sense of what it means to be a Mainer, they visit the Vatican for preppies: the headquarters of LL Bean. After conversations with poets, politicians, baristas and business owners in Portland, Brendan is left with one outstanding question: Is Maine too strange?
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin Southwest again with the Southwest. Who knows their cardinal
directions when they're visiting a town. They should change these
voices like they should get like actors to Oh my God,
imagine Jeremy Irons giving a direction that sounds that came
(00:38):
too quickly, Danielle, imagine Jeremy Iren't telling you what to do.
This is not lost. I'm Brendan Francis Newnham, an audio
journalist based in New York. That's Daniel Henderson. She writes
for Hollywood. Each episode, I go someplace with a friend
to make a travel podcast, and to really get a
(00:59):
sense of that place, I try to get invited to
someone's home for dinner. Today's destination Portland, Maine. If there
was a list of cities on the most lists, Portland,
Maine would be on top. It's on Voter's Best Places
(01:21):
to Travel in twenty twenty list, US News and World
Reports Top twenty five places to Live list, Bonapati's Top
Restaurant town list, and it's on my list of places
I'd go if I gave up life in the Big
Apple as a kid, I vacationed in nearby Cape Cod
so I find the rugged new England coastline oddly soothing.
(01:43):
Plus the whole area feels so appealingly literary to me,
and not just because it has great turtleneck weather, but
because it's been home to eb White, Thurreau and Henry Longfellow.
And as someone who wish to see Rote Moore and
definitely like Sacca turtleneck, I dig that. So we're at
this lighthouse, We're on this kind of you know, it's
(02:03):
a it's a there's pathways and cliff walks and you know,
jagged rocks meeting the ocean and waves crashing against them.
The water's bonkers today. It's really violent out there. It's
really churning out there today. I'm gonna go over there
because I feel like I can get a good Instagram
shot over there. I mean, this is I don't know
why influencers aren't coming here on mat Danielle and I
(02:26):
are on Cape Elizabeth, an outdoor area at the entrance
of Casco Bay, the body of water Portland sits on.
It's blustery, drizzly, overcast, and the sky looks like an
oyster show. Portland, by the way, named after Portlandia, which
is not an Old English word that means satirical sketch
(02:46):
show about hipsters. But it is an old English word
that means land across the harbor, so I'm supposed to
meet him under the lighthouse. I feel like it's kind
of like a detective story, like a Graham Green story.
Being that the coast and literature are two of the
main things that attract me to Portland. I thought we
started our trip with the combination of the two. So
I invited a local poet to me this year. There.
(03:09):
He is Steve Idea Danelle. When I first got here,
I thought, Gee, this is really crowded for this time
of year. But then when I saw the waves and
all that, I figured out that's probably why is it
not always this dramatic here. It's not like this every day.
I don't know. I've been here from New York City.
I'm like, oh, beautiful, Maine, it is utiful. I agree.
(03:34):
My name is Steve Latreelle, and I present myself as
an existential entity in the early twenty first century. That's
what I do. I do poetry. You're born and raised here.
Why why did you stay in Portland? Well I didn't.
I actually left and went out to San Francisco because
there was a lot of people of my generation doing that.
(03:56):
I traveled around and then came back to me because
I couldn't find a place that I liked any better.
So the lighthouse, Yeah, is that too obvious a symbol
as a beacon for people to come from coming to Portland, Maine?
And yeah, I would say it's yeah, yeah. I guess
the short answer as yes, you've been a line through
it with Red pen Well. Yeah, you know the lighthouse,
(04:17):
Longfellow's House, the taide House, the museum about those are
probably the top four or five, you know, spots where
people coming from away want to go. I wonder it
seems like Portland is there's a lot of arts flour
share there are for a small city. We're very fortunate
to have some wonderfully talented people, not just writers, but
(04:41):
musicians and painters. Maybe we can have you read some
of your poems. This poem is entitled coming to the four.
How often I have looked to see this river in
it's moving toward this harbor from a hillside down across
this river's mouth, one can see the scope of it,
(05:03):
how it opens out and curves around behind the small
squad lighthouse. Wow, it's beautiful. That is beautiful. Even though
you are an existential being, you're also a poet. Laureate,
I was the poet Lauria to Portland. How does that happen?
What is what are the steps that do you submit yourself?
Do you ask me if I would be that? And
(05:24):
I agree, special license plate or something? No? No, But
it wasn't honor, you know. I mean, to be honored
by the city was nice. And you know, my teacher,
my mentor was the late Robert Creeley, Bob Creeley. I
always just to tell me, Steve, the only reason to
make a poem is because you have to, you know
(05:45):
what I mean. I mean, I do this. I get
up in the middle of the night and run down
stairs to write three lines because it occurs to being
in a moment of whatever to do so. And that's
really it, I mean. And that's if you can take
that from the activity, then then you're okay. But if
you're looking for more than that, you could get into
deep waters. I do a investion to make Portland kind
of does reside as a plan by in my head
(06:08):
because because I can't afford anything in New York in Brooklyn,
people fantasize about moving to Portland. It has become this
like ideal of like, oh, just if I can make
it there, my life will be calmer. We'll be able
to raise my children with fresh air. Right, you talk
to the people that have been here for generations in
the way that comes up as gentrification because it is
so beautiful and so livable that people are coming from
(06:32):
places that are a lot more expensive to live in
and you know, livable, but not to the same pace.
So just one last question, so longfellow. I think his
first collection was called The Seaside and the Fireside. Yeah,
I think you're right. I'm not I wouldn't swear to that,
but that sounds right. What is your fireside life like
(06:52):
in Portland? Like? What do you do at the after
you're writing your poems? Because part of our our show
ideas we go to these places, we meet people, but
to get the real sense of place, we need to
break bread with them, right right, Well, you know the weekends,
I generally I got a little cabin I go to
So Okay, so no we can't. We can't have a
dinner party your house. See no next game though, alright, check,
(07:14):
all right, I'll take it with bad weather in the
forecast for pretty much our whole visit. I have a
feeling I'm going to leave town with a lot of
uncash rain checks. I was into Steve's that we didn't
get to say. He was wearing a rich mustard corduroy
jacket so sweet, Doc ciders, an incredible tweet hat, a
(07:36):
gold hoop earring, one singular, I know, just a little
rock and roll, long, long gray hair, like if Bernie
Sanders grew out his hair. Oh he did well in
San Francisco in nineteen sixty seven. Right, don't people become
poets to get laid like in the sixties. Maybe at
the sixties. You really didn't have to do much. In
the sixties to get laid. They invented the pill and
(07:58):
it was over. As we're getting ready to leave, a
shiny object in the distance catches my eye. It's a
vehicle with a clapboard sign out front and a crowd
of people. My stomach growls, and I decided to investigate. Okay,
so there's a little lunch truck and there's a bulletin
board covered in plastic. With all this praise given to
(08:19):
this lobster stand number one lobster role in America according
to BuzzFeed. Number one food truck in America according to
The Daily Meal. And on the menu there are main
lobster rolls and then we got main style, which is
mayo and fresh chives. Connecticut style just warm butter. There's
nothing more Connecticut than I've heard. There's warm butter things,
no spices. Hey, how are you doing? All right? Can
(08:42):
we get too? I'm gonna get a main style lobster role.
Also a main style lobster role please? And can is
there a way to make the lobster role to go?
Is that? Oh? Sure, yeah, we can pack it to go. Okay, yeah,
lobster role to go. And that's how we lobster roll
Oh god, yeah with you. Lighthouse lobster rolls were one
(09:04):
stop away from a Portland, Maine hat trick, and the
place we're going it also starts with the letter L.
Two of them. In fact, we're eating a lobster roll
in the parking lot of ll Bean. We're a peakmane
and I'm wearing boxer shorts with lobsters on them. That's
a little too much about I don't have I don't
wear boxer short yep. We're visiting the ll Bean factory
(09:28):
and outlet. Mm hmm, how is it there's and short
for decent. I feel like we're like degrading the lobster
a little bit here, you know what I mean. It's
like drinking champagne, like while watching football or something like that.
It seems kind of wasteful, or maybe it's on brand.
This is like going to the Vatican for preppins here.
(09:52):
Literally have you told me as a teenager? But I
would be visiting LLL Bean in any capacity I would
not fully do. I get what Daniels saying. LL Bean's
preppy outdoor gear hasn't always been my style either. I
could rock that fan, I think, but who knows. If
I moved here, maybe I can make sensible clothing work
(10:15):
for me. Come like in these shoes right here. I'd
fill my fanny pack with pencils and a notebook to
write down my thoughts, a tobler own bar for what
I'm feeling peckish, and a jaunty kerchief for when the
wind picks up or if I find myself feder remote
wine bar and need a flash of style. But my
shopping would have to wait, because when we asked to
record in the store. Lll Bean's PR team one up
(10:36):
to us and invited us to visit their testing center. Hi,
how are you? They call it the smash lab. My
mind immediately pictured a Hadron collider where monogrammed totes are
slammed together at high speeds. So we decided to check
it out. So we're walking into an actual lab for
(10:56):
I just get your name and your title first, Tom
Legley Research and Testing Laboratory ll BEAN or a lab coat?
Is that an ll BEAN lab cut? No? This is
a standard laboratory lab coat found on all around the world.
Are you guys going to move into the lab code market?
Not that I know of right now? Okay, So what
goes on in here? Like? Why do you have to
test everything up? So the reason that we test everything
(11:19):
is we want to meet the expectations of our customers
to come out with a quality product that's going to
meet their daily needs in the real world. You said
that perfectly. It's almost like you said that before. Actually,
I'd love to break things that would be the precursor
to this. Can we can you show us a test here?
So this is a buckle for our wax canvas cotton collection.
(11:45):
So all of our snowshoes will go in here, put
a sunflower shower head over it. Our tent poles, ice
skates ave into a solid black of ice. We will
then bash that out with a hammer. Are you saying
I get to bash it that with a hammer? Okay?
(12:05):
Yea yeah, yeah you go get a yeah. When is
your appointment with your therapist? Again? Kind of therapist I'm
used to makes me line a couch and blame my
parents for why I can't even commit to buying a
house plant. But here, when things get stressful, like say
(12:27):
a moose steps in your subaru, you can just bash ice.
But then what how do you unwind if you're not
wound up? So tom like after you're smashing things all
day like what happens pint of beer? But Danielle and
I are here through Saturday, and so if we were,
you know, we think the real way to get to
know places maybe to like get invited into someone's home
and have a meal, Like what are you what are
(12:47):
your plans this weekend? Oh? I'll have to get back
to you. Are you just saying though, because you're press
guys in the in the room and you're afraid to
Oh no, I'll get back to you. Trust me. How
that right? So far over two in the dinner party count.
After our visit to Smash Lab, Danielle and I are
ready for nap Lab, but we've got places we need
to be, so we stopped for coffee at a spot
(13:09):
everyone told us we had to try happily enough for
a duo like ourselves. It's name, it's Tandem. Got is
a line? I do wait a line for coffee? Forget that?
Did it come with a hand job? Do you look nice?
There's literally like a corner shop right there. Let's get
coffee there. I don't know what I mean. Let's not
be crazy. It wasn't Tandem's fault. They were popular. The
(13:35):
crowds are the sort of thing we'd come here to avoid. Fortunately,
like any Hiptown Worth, it's pink Himalayan ce salt. Portland
has a ton of good coffee shops to choose from.
All right, coffee shops. We're going to coffee by design,
double espresso, cortados, a small cappuccino. Where you guys from
(13:59):
in New York? Your biggest nightmare is Portland. We're here,
we're hearing, we're buying condos. We're here to raise around,
So what are you guys hardcasting for? We visit town
and then we want to learn about the place, but
by avoiding the tourists spots head on and maybe getting
(14:21):
invited into someone's home to eat dinner. So do you
guys know a dinner party later? If you find out,
let me know. I'm also like, I do shaman work,
so then I'm like, I do my I have pet sitter,
I sling shots during the day. Whoa, it's a way
to go. It's fun. Should we get your name where
you work? Or like, yeah, my name full name, Brendan Thorpe.
(14:42):
I work at Coffee by Design on Congress Street. Alternate Brendon,
I'm Brendan. I'm your Brendan Doppler. This is what If
I lived in Portland? Would I be a shaman? Probably not?
The only spirit world I interact with involves three parts gin,
one part driver muth olives. Please, then who would I
(15:05):
be if I lived here? My Brendan doppelgangerre exuded a
sense of calm that was enviable calms in short supply
Where I come from? New York, after all, is the
city that never sleeps, a motto that sounds exciting in
your twenties, but later sounds like a warning. A city
that occasionally sleeps is what I'm looking for. Newly caffeinated
(15:39):
Danielle and I stroll Congress Street, one of the city's
main thoroughfares. It's packed with cafes, buskers, and bookstores. This
is like that bad bookstore that you use. Bookstore smells
a little musty and dusty, has lots of treasures hidden
in here. This is the kind of bookstoere you find
thinks that you weren't intending to find where you kind
(16:00):
of you come in and see what's here, and we
will always walk out with something that you never expected
to find. Let's go me, let's come. He should be whispering.
Why are we whispering. It's not a library, it's a bookstore.
Why are you needed to meet you? Michelle, daniel My
(16:21):
name is Michelle Seulier, and I own the Green Hand
Bookshop in Portland, Maine. I'm looking at all these Stephen
King books, which makes sense. He's one of your native authors. Yes,
we've got to stock a lot of King. We're in
a stew in King country. I'd nearly forgotten that the
King of Horror hailed from here. Yeah, of Portland's a
great town for books. We have three used bookshops and
three new bookshops, all in the downtown area, and they
(16:44):
all do their own thing and they all do Yeah.
I guess well, because we're all still open. Ye know.
Chell not only sells books, she wrote one. It's called
Strange Maine, and it's about all things strange in Maine.
Probably could have guessed that. Why do you think there
is a conglomeration of eccentrics and in Portland? I think
Maine has a tradition of encouraging individual thought and also
(17:08):
encouraging privacy, so you're allowed to do the things you
do and kind of grow and cultivate them yourself without
a lot of people pushing on you if you figure
out a way to do it on your own. So
are you you're closing down soon? Or what time? I am? Yeah,
six o'clock is closing time. Okay, get a drink with us?
(17:29):
Are yeah? Which are we going out? Oh? We're gonna
go out the door and then we'll head to the left. Okay,
so we're going to bow Bow. Where is that a
relationship to your Oh, it is a hot skip and
a jump. You're almost there. You can practically smell it.
The sidewalks feel eerily empty for a Friday night. At
(17:51):
the same time, every few buildings there's a restaurant filled
with people. Portlanders take food seriously, and as someone who
knows they're Taijin from Tartar, I have to admit it
might be part of what made me want to come here.
All right, we are at bow Bow here. You say
that again. We're here at Bowbow. Awesome. I'm very excited
about dumplings. Food. There's I also have cocktails and beer
(18:20):
and specialist for your guys. Excellent, thanks a lot, thank you.
I know. Embarrassed, is said, I don't even I don't
drink beer and Maine. Every two where we go, they're like,
there's a great brewery on the corner. Yeah, they're all
about do you think I could live here even if
though I didn't drink beer? Would I get excluded? Okay,
you drink cocktails? Yeah, yeah, you're golden. We keep winding
(18:41):
up on those top lists of cities, and it's there's
no turning the tide. At this point, I was in
my shop. It was a couple of years ago now,
but I was talking to somebody and they were like, yeah,
you know, I just moved here from Brooklyn recently, and
so we're kind of trying to get the hang of everything,
and some person who's for the rack of the shop
stuck their head. I was like, oh my god, me too,
(19:02):
I just moved here from Brooklyn. And then somebody else
and me too, Oh my god. It's like, oh no,
my aunt tire shop. I'm not gonna lie. I mean,
I live in Brooklyn and this has been kind of
a plan B in the back of my head. The
flip side is that your that funny story you're talking
about your shop. It's like he's like, me too, me too,
me too. But then you're as a store owner. You
have three customers there that are giving you money. Can
(19:25):
we get another order of the bulgogie? And another order
of the slaw? Another slaw, another bulgogie? So what is
love and dating light here? That's a difficult question to
me because I've been married for a long time. But
I would say that I think it's difficult. I've always
been astonished by Portland's little pockets, So Portland I kind
(19:49):
of compare it to like a you know, a little
furry rodents who have all these little warrens and dens.
And so everybody's burrowing in and creating these little warrens
and doing all their little projects in their different little dens.
And it's not until like something happens accidentally, like somebody
busts through all of their den and it's like, hey,
what are you doing in here? Then you find out
(20:10):
like there's people right next to you doing really similar
and interesting things that you didn't know about at all.
You're a bunch of Nerdsland. Yeah, yeah, Portland is packed
up with nerds, nerds and metal heads and artists, and yeah,
we all like to do our own things. But what
if one's own thing was learning about other people's things.
(20:33):
Nerds by definition, are single minded people obsessed with the
non social pursuit, whereas I am single mindedly obsessed with
the social pursuit dinner parties. Well, Michel, thank you so
much for meeting up with us. I'm sharing your knowledge
of Horland. That's my pleasure. We're here for like two
more days. And one of my strategies for getting you
(20:55):
no place is trying to like not just go to
the Taurus spots and like maybe even like get into
someone's world and so what what what do you guys?
What are you doing tomorrownight? Like what's going on? Well, um,
Saturday day is kind of wide open. One never knows.
Can we stay in touch with you and maybe we
could begin to hang out again and maybe break bread
(21:18):
with some of your cohorn Yeah? Absolutely, really that would
be amazing. Okay, so we'll check in with you in
the morning, Thank you so much. With our dinner party
plans set in motion, we said bye bye to Booboo
and drove drove back to our lodgings. Back in our
rented den, I thought about what Michelle said about Brooklyn
Knight's cropping up in her shop. Did the B in
(21:39):
my plan B stand for basic? Was my attraction to
Portland the result of a true yearning for quieter life?
Was I just another Brooklyn Knight checking out the next
buzzy thing? These questions ping ponged in my mind until
finally I went night night. The next morning, I woke
(21:59):
up for Danielle to meet with someone who definitely didn't
move to Portland because it was trendy. Her name Decca
Dlac Brendan nice to meet you. Decca is this mind
refugee who came to me in ten years ago and
recently became the first black woman in Muslim elected to
the South Portland City Council. We met up outside an
old maritime signal tower that overlooks the city. She said,
(22:20):
we can pretember on top because we're outside. In their birds,
Decca were her job the color of autumn orange, yellow, red.
It was almost as bright as her constant smile. How
was it when you first arrived here that first winter?
How did you adapt? It was really scary. It was
very scary. It was very very white. Everything was white. Yeah,
(22:40):
and even my children had a cultural shock because they
were born and raised in this country. But yet they
get used to the South. In the South the world,
they have you know, African American friends. Yeah, and when
they came here, actually we lived in Lewiston, where has
a large number of Somali community. And my oldest who
was twenty six now, said Mom, what are the old
black people? And I said, look around, you know, just
(23:02):
how all African. He's like, no, no, those are your people.
I'm talking about the African American people sometimes go to
Boston so that they can see other folks who are
African Americans. I'm just feeling better that way. So so
when you say white, you mean not just the snow
that's everywhere you're talking. This is like an we kind
of go back and forward. Vermont, Okay, So who is
(23:25):
the wyest estate? Wow? So it's ninety seven? Yeah, Well,
how have you been here? There's another conversation that happens
in Portland itself. We're seeing where people are coming from
from New York City, from other cities, and they're coming
here and they're moving, and they're changing the nature of
the town. They're making rent higher, they're changing the culture.
How does that does that, if at all, intersect with
(23:47):
your your community or Europe? It is, it is, and
it's just a lot of if you will, gentrification that
is happening in Portland especially, And you know, as much
as Portland mixed into the national news, there are more
people who are interested in any coming here and want
to buy this condo or get rid of this lo
income housing and make it a bigger condos condos and
(24:10):
things like that. And as maners, we had a great
state older people, older people populations exactly how very old
and we talk about how we need young people, and
when you look at that, the immigrants are the youngest
people that are here that can make a difference for
this city. Even young white people who want to stay
here and have their families raced here cannot afford it,
(24:32):
let alone an immigrant person who you know already struggling.
So how can we retain young people in this city
if we are making a studio for seventeen hundred dollars. Yeah,
so I live in New York. I'm from Philadelphia originally,
and I had an MPR show for years and now
I'm working on this. But I'm at a point in
my life where I live in New York so long,
I'm never gonna be able to afford to buy anything
(24:53):
in New York. And I feel I don't party as
much as I used to, Like I don't need that
that thriving nightlife, And so when I dream of other
places to go, I have to meet Portland is a
plan B for me? Even better? It is even better.
How is that a bit cheaper than Portland? You're saying like,
maybe not go directly in the city but go adjacent
(25:16):
to it. Yes, yes, okay, but you would you would?
I be welcomed or would you be like, oh my god,
here's another white guy from the city. You will be
really welcome because we have people are really lovely here.
I mean you might have one person who's bad and
their voices are louder. Don't get me wrong, the good people,
their voices are lower. I heard you, and you're answering
the question. Earlier. You referred to yourself as a Maner.
(25:38):
You feel like a maner. Well, a lot of people
are preferring to ask new maners, So I kind of
challenge that. What does that mean? I don't even know
what that means. What does that mean? You know? Do
we call new Manners people coming from California or you know,
people coming from New York. Yeah, no, we don't. We
just stand that on a person who's coming from another country. Interesting,
(26:01):
so that is where these new Americans new Maners knew
whatever is coming from. But our friend of mine said,
I need to challenge that because I've been here twenty
five years. He said, I've been here what as soon
as I was ten? So am I a new Maner?
I mean, yeah, it's interesting. It's an interesting question. You're saying.
The new manor label is usually used referred to this
(26:23):
immigrants or refugees, but not necessarily someone coming from Boston
or no, no, yeah, no, there are there any Uh,
sorry to mix up the high and the low, but
you're you've seemed very comfortable talking about everything. Are there
any like main habits, like they like, do you like
skiing or anything? Or hiking or things that you never
would have thought as as a young person in Somalia
or in Atlanta. Well, I would not hike. I would
(26:46):
not ski, I can tell you that right away. But
my kids did all of that. And it was so
funny you asked that question. I was in another meeting earlier,
and a community meeting, yeah, and one of our young
youth leaders who was talking about how she has a
hiking group of young people and I'm like, oh my god, okay,
do not break anything. And she's like, come on, Auntie,
(27:08):
I been hikinson as I was ten. Okay, we know
what we're doing. So a lot of kids are changing
that they're doing a lot of activities outdoors. Yeah, and
but the parents are not because we were not, you know,
raised in that. Yeah. Honestly, it was nice to know
that if I moved to Portland, I wouldn't be the
only one who sees hiking as a dangerous walk to nowhere.
(27:30):
I asked Decca if maybe dinner parties were more her style,
but she said she had plans that night. It was
time to pick up Danielle and head to the city's waterfront.
I'm gonna hit Michelle up later. Do you might dinner
(27:50):
party thing? She said she would hang out. She seemed
really eager that the way the people are like, yeah,
they've definitely get together. No, she said it like she was.
I think she thought we were bringing good chill today.
(28:10):
Would you call it an imperfect storm and would call
it drizzle? I mean, I'll learned the position to bring
it back. You know, I think it's white people's saying.
I know, I think we killed was like, oh no,
we can. I think there's a list of where I
have a question that while we're on that topic on fleek,
(28:31):
what about it? Are you allowed to say that? You're
not allowed to say it? After spending our first day
in Mainland Portland, we thought we'd visit one of the
city's surrounding islands, going to Peak's Island. Okay, yes, okay,
and where is it? The department number five. Thank you,
(28:53):
Thanks a lot. It's crazy that here in the ferry
terminal the most prominent display our real estate boards because
it's people like you and I fantasizing. I guess that's
a good house lost. Whoa, I could really almost live here,
Really you can live on Peaks Island at least. I
don't think I could live here quite up, because it
(29:14):
reminds me of places I've already been. I know that
small town, small city life, and that's not what I'm
looking for right now. Yal boarding call Island a gay
number five. This is your first and vinal boarding call
pour Peaks Island only at gate number five Islands. Does
this count as an island if it's so close? Yeah,
(29:36):
I believe there's I've been under in the subway coming
from Brooklyn. Now this is it, Peaks Island. We're rolling up.
How do you do? I fancy Danielle. You're wearing an
umbrella hat. Yeah, and then you're wearing purple, a purple
polar pleece. Yeah. And what are these pants? These are
(29:58):
African pants and they actually have umbrellas on them, kind
of hidden in all this pattern. So this is the spot,
This is the museum so welcome to the world's only
umbrella cover museum, where you'll see there are hundreds, probably
about seven hundred umbrella covers on display in this little
tiny space. Wow. Nancy three Hoffman. How to describe her well,
(30:24):
She spells her middle name with the number three. That
should give you an idea. Nancy shows us around her museum,
which doesn't take long because it's one small room the
size of a closet. I'm imagine you collected umbrella covers
personally before you started displaying them exactly. I got curious
about umbrella covers after I cleaned out my house one
(30:44):
day and found some umbrella covers, and I just said
to myself, m do other people have the same problem,
which is, will I ever use these little things again?
Are they just too hard to get back on the
umbrella to even bother with? And if so, why were
they even created? I use my umbrella covers. Ah, You're
one of the twelve percent of people, Danielle. There are
(31:07):
very few people that actually conscientiously use their umbrella covers.
The thing I like to show people is our mission statement,
which is about appreciating the mundane, finding wonder and beauty
and the simplest of things and knowing that there is
always a story behind the cover. How many umbrella covers
do you have? I have two thousand cataloged umbrella covers
(31:32):
in this museum. More or less. Well, when I heard
about the museum, one of the things that attracted me
to it was this kind of My mind immediately went
to kind of zen Buddhism. And there's way more mundane
things that happened to us than epic big things. And
do you find that people come here sometimes with an
element of reverence or is it always whimsy? Mostly whimsy,
(31:57):
but in excitement, you know, enthusiasm, And it's hard to
say because people are touched. It's about attitude. I had
a friend who was very depressed and that mission statement
has helped her through some of her depressed times. Not
to be too grandiose about it, but but it is
about how appreciating the simple things as you were describing
(32:18):
can remind you that, yes, we have to plod through
some of these things in life, but we can take
a breath and enjoy any moment that we can. Just
let us smile. Your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day,
and yours, sweety Christ just tell her that a smile,
(32:41):
we'll always pay. So this case has some of our
most exciting umbrella covers in it. Is that made out
of candy? Yes, it's a gum rapper chain umbrella cover. Um,
I have a lot from England. I have some from
the Olympics team, Great Britain. Do you want to see
the sexy room. We'll just look at the sexy room,
(33:02):
you know? Okay, whoa it looks like look sexy sexy covers?
What is just a thong? What's it covered with? Oh?
Gon umbrellas? As Nancy played, it occurred to me that
(33:24):
the Museum of the Umbrella cover is one of those
warrens Michelle told us about a place where a passionate
enthusiast burrowed in and built their own little world. I'm
glad it exists, but it made me wonder whether I
was ready to park somewhere quiet and lose myself in
a project. Yeah, Broman School, how do you? How do
you feel about it? Could you live here? I'm still
(33:44):
on the fence. It's like Michelle was saying last night
about She mentioned how people stay in their little mouse
or wrap dens and warrens and don't come out like
I feel like I'd have to have a partner if
I want, if that's what I want in my life,
or a family already. I don't get me anybody here. Yeah,
not to that level. I don't know um And I
like knowing the vanguard about what's about to happen, and
(34:05):
I feel like here. It takes a while for that
to get up here. I don't know how I found
a place in my head as like a place I
could live an alternative life. Yeah, where did that come from?
There's so many cities between Portland and New York. I
just felt like doing. I grew up going summers in
Cape Cod and New England in general always had a
kind mellow vibe to me, and I guess I read
all the magazines about the food. Stuff kind of seemed cool.
(34:26):
I'm being honest, the food is incredible. Yeah. What is
that like a brick building in the middle of the water. Yeah,
it was kind of empty, and that's it's like an
old prison. Yeah, that'd be a dope house if I
could live there. I've here. While Danielle was inspired by
the house in the island, for me, it symbolized the
(34:48):
isolation I might feel if I lived here, people are
the thing I nerd out on, and for now I
want to be in a place where there are lots
of them, and I want to travel to meet even more. Traveling,
not burrowing, is where I'm at. Well, dinner parties are traveling. Well, dude,
we're going to a dinner party pizza party. All right.
(35:11):
We were going to a pizza party, but pizza's dinner,
so that makes it technically a dinner party. On the ferry,
I texted Michelle from the bookstore and asked if she
was still game to host a gathering with us that night,
And so Danielle wouldn't think I was being pushy, I said,
we'd supply the food party. Pizza party. Remember that commercial.
(35:31):
It was like a board game that pizza parties, no party.
My grandma would by it. So I just rememberize yourself
like a pizza party. See if I can pull up
it was a board game called pizza Party. Yeah, at
least I can pull up the commercial part pizza party.
(35:55):
That's your pizza. You can't see pizza party, party, Pizza Party.
That song always gives me like it's my pop up channel.
Listen to at the gym Our party consisted of Michelle
(36:22):
and her husband, Tristan. We brought some pizza, beer, We
brought some such an inviting store, and the setting couldn't
be more in keeping with the nerd team that was
emerging in Portland. We were in Tristan's comic book shop.
I like comic shops that make people feel like we
don't have to be an ultimate geek already. The store
is a cavernous, high ceiling geek valhalla filled Florida roof
(36:46):
with comic books, horror movie ephemera on pinball machines. My
ex husband and I met on a Delphi comic book forum.
Danielle is on cloud nine. She and Tristan hit it
off like Yoda and Batman. Anyway, they got along and
while they zipped around the store, Michelle and I munched
pizza in contented silence. Right bored yet, what's up? What's up?
(37:10):
I wasn't bored, just taking in Michelle and Tristan's habitat
and thinking about how this podcast could be both my
smash lab and Museum of the Mundane. Anyway, thanks so
much for hosting us and sharing Portland with us. Thanks
for so glad that you guys came here. We finally
knocked them all together. Yeah together. Yeah, and thanks for
(37:34):
letting us have a little pizza party your Yeah, that
was great. So their video games back here, we should
just play them, Daniel, do you want to play around
Zina eight around? Well, we'll take Terry. Portland has been
great to us. Perhaps part of the reason travel is
(37:55):
so intoxicating is that it allows us to fantasize about
a different life, and in the case of me in Portland,
it's a different life. I really thought about leading, but
Plan b's, it seems, are like mirages. They disappear as
you're approach them. That doesn't mean they don't have a role.
They can act as kind of release valves that lower
the pressure on our actual lives. But it means that
(38:19):
once you visit and you return home, you're left only
with that actual life, your Plan A, and of that
you can be foschism in Nizzle, I think I used
that right. The lead producer on this episode of Not
(38:39):
Loss was the talented Tally Abacasas. The show was also
produced and written by me Brendan Francis Newnham. Our associate
producer was Jackson Musker. Special editorial guidance came from Mira
Bert Wintock. The show was mixed and mastered by Hannas Brown.
A big thanks to my friend and this episode's travel partner,
Danielle Henderson. Go check out her book The Ugly Cry
(39:03):
Not Lost. As a co production of Pushkin Industries, Topic
Studios and iHeartMedia, it was developed at Topic Studios and
the show's executive producers are me Christy Gressman, Maria Zuckerman,
Lisa Langang, and Latom Mulotte. Production assistance on this episode
also came from Jacob Smith, Amy Gaines and Julia Barton.
(39:23):
Our theme song was created by Alexis Trojopolis aka ARP.
You can check out his music at Mexican Summer Records.
And thanks to everyone in Portland, especially Poet Laureatesteve Latreelle,
Tom Begley and ll bean By Brendan Dobbelganger at Coffee
by Design, Nancy three Hoffman and Decca Delac who I'm
happy to say recently got a promotion. She's now the
(39:44):
mayor of South Portland. Hope I'm still invited to visit.
And a big thanks to our pizza party host Tristan
Gallagher and Michelle Soulier. Check out Tristan spot Co City Comics,
and you can buy Michelle's books the ones she wrote
Strange Maine and Bigfoot in Maine, as well as many
other fine publications at her own bookstore, The Green Hand Bookshop.
(40:05):
Please go support your local booksellers people, or in this case,
support you know the local bookseller in Portland. Oh. And
speaking of support, please head to Apple Podcasts, go rate
and review the show. I know you hear it a lot,
but it's real. Learn more about Topic Studios at topic
studios dot com. To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
(40:29):
I'm Brendan Francis, Newnham. Until next time, bon voyage
Pushkin Southwest again with the Southwest. Who knows their cardinal
directions when they're visiting a town. They should change these
voices like they should get like actors to Oh my God,
imagine Jeremy Irons giving a direction that sounds that came
(00:38):
too quickly, Danielle, imagine Jeremy Iren't telling you what to do.
This is not lost. I'm Brendan Francis Newnham, an audio
journalist based in New York. That's Daniel Henderson. She writes
for Hollywood. Each episode, I go someplace with a friend
to make a travel podcast, and to really get a
(00:59):
sense of that place, I try to get invited to
someone's home for dinner. Today's destination Portland, Maine. If there
was a list of cities on the most lists, Portland,
Maine would be on top. It's on Voter's Best Places
(01:21):
to Travel in twenty twenty list, US News and World
Reports Top twenty five places to Live list, Bonapati's Top
Restaurant town list, and it's on my list of places
I'd go if I gave up life in the Big
Apple as a kid, I vacationed in nearby Cape Cod
so I find the rugged new England coastline oddly soothing.
(01:43):
Plus the whole area feels so appealingly literary to me,
and not just because it has great turtleneck weather, but
because it's been home to eb White, Thurreau and Henry Longfellow.
And as someone who wish to see Rote Moore and
definitely like Sacca turtleneck, I dig that. So we're at
this lighthouse, We're on this kind of you know, it's
(02:03):
a it's a there's pathways and cliff walks and you know,
jagged rocks meeting the ocean and waves crashing against them.
The water's bonkers today. It's really violent out there. It's
really churning out there today. I'm gonna go over there
because I feel like I can get a good Instagram
shot over there. I mean, this is I don't know
why influencers aren't coming here on mat Danielle and I
(02:26):
are on Cape Elizabeth, an outdoor area at the entrance
of Casco Bay, the body of water Portland sits on.
It's blustery, drizzly, overcast, and the sky looks like an
oyster show. Portland, by the way, named after Portlandia, which
is not an Old English word that means satirical sketch
(02:46):
show about hipsters. But it is an old English word
that means land across the harbor, so I'm supposed to
meet him under the lighthouse. I feel like it's kind
of like a detective story, like a Graham Green story.
Being that the coast and literature are two of the
main things that attract me to Portland. I thought we
started our trip with the combination of the two. So
I invited a local poet to me this year. There.
(03:09):
He is Steve Idea Danelle. When I first got here,
I thought, Gee, this is really crowded for this time
of year. But then when I saw the waves and
all that, I figured out that's probably why is it
not always this dramatic here. It's not like this every day.
I don't know. I've been here from New York City.
I'm like, oh, beautiful, Maine, it is utiful. I agree.
(03:34):
My name is Steve Latreelle, and I present myself as
an existential entity in the early twenty first century. That's
what I do. I do poetry. You're born and raised here.
Why why did you stay in Portland? Well I didn't.
I actually left and went out to San Francisco because
there was a lot of people of my generation doing that.
(03:56):
I traveled around and then came back to me because
I couldn't find a place that I liked any better.
So the lighthouse, Yeah, is that too obvious a symbol
as a beacon for people to come from coming to Portland, Maine?
And yeah, I would say it's yeah, yeah. I guess
the short answer as yes, you've been a line through
it with Red pen Well. Yeah, you know the lighthouse,
(04:17):
Longfellow's House, the taide House, the museum about those are
probably the top four or five, you know, spots where
people coming from away want to go. I wonder it
seems like Portland is there's a lot of arts flour
share there are for a small city. We're very fortunate
to have some wonderfully talented people, not just writers, but
(04:41):
musicians and painters. Maybe we can have you read some
of your poems. This poem is entitled coming to the four.
How often I have looked to see this river in
it's moving toward this harbor from a hillside down across
this river's mouth, one can see the scope of it,
(05:03):
how it opens out and curves around behind the small
squad lighthouse. Wow, it's beautiful. That is beautiful. Even though
you are an existential being, you're also a poet. Laureate,
I was the poet Lauria to Portland. How does that happen?
What is what are the steps that do you submit yourself?
Do you ask me if I would be that? And
(05:24):
I agree, special license plate or something? No? No, But
it wasn't honor, you know. I mean, to be honored
by the city was nice. And you know, my teacher,
my mentor was the late Robert Creeley, Bob Creeley. I
always just to tell me, Steve, the only reason to
make a poem is because you have to, you know
(05:45):
what I mean. I mean, I do this. I get
up in the middle of the night and run down
stairs to write three lines because it occurs to being
in a moment of whatever to do so. And that's
really it, I mean. And that's if you can take
that from the activity, then then you're okay. But if
you're looking for more than that, you could get into
deep waters. I do a investion to make Portland kind
of does reside as a plan by in my head
(06:08):
because because I can't afford anything in New York in Brooklyn,
people fantasize about moving to Portland. It has become this
like ideal of like, oh, just if I can make
it there, my life will be calmer. We'll be able
to raise my children with fresh air. Right, you talk
to the people that have been here for generations in
the way that comes up as gentrification because it is
so beautiful and so livable that people are coming from
(06:32):
places that are a lot more expensive to live in
and you know, livable, but not to the same pace.
So just one last question, so longfellow. I think his
first collection was called The Seaside and the Fireside. Yeah,
I think you're right. I'm not I wouldn't swear to that,
but that sounds right. What is your fireside life like
(06:52):
in Portland? Like? What do you do at the after
you're writing your poems? Because part of our our show
ideas we go to these places, we meet people, but
to get the real sense of place, we need to
break bread with them, right right, Well, you know the weekends,
I generally I got a little cabin I go to
So Okay, so no we can't. We can't have a
dinner party your house. See no next game though, alright, check,
(07:14):
all right, I'll take it with bad weather in the
forecast for pretty much our whole visit. I have a
feeling I'm going to leave town with a lot of
uncash rain checks. I was into Steve's that we didn't
get to say. He was wearing a rich mustard corduroy
jacket so sweet, Doc ciders, an incredible tweet hat, a
(07:36):
gold hoop earring, one singular, I know, just a little
rock and roll, long, long gray hair, like if Bernie
Sanders grew out his hair. Oh he did well in
San Francisco in nineteen sixty seven. Right, don't people become
poets to get laid like in the sixties. Maybe at
the sixties. You really didn't have to do much. In
the sixties to get laid. They invented the pill and
(07:58):
it was over. As we're getting ready to leave, a
shiny object in the distance catches my eye. It's a
vehicle with a clapboard sign out front and a crowd
of people. My stomach growls, and I decided to investigate. Okay,
so there's a little lunch truck and there's a bulletin
board covered in plastic. With all this praise given to
(08:19):
this lobster stand number one lobster role in America according
to BuzzFeed. Number one food truck in America according to
The Daily Meal. And on the menu there are main
lobster rolls and then we got main style, which is
mayo and fresh chives. Connecticut style just warm butter. There's
nothing more Connecticut than I've heard. There's warm butter things,
no spices. Hey, how are you doing? All right? Can
(08:42):
we get too? I'm gonna get a main style lobster role.
Also a main style lobster role please? And can is
there a way to make the lobster role to go?
Is that? Oh? Sure, yeah, we can pack it to go. Okay, yeah,
lobster role to go. And that's how we lobster roll
Oh god, yeah with you. Lighthouse lobster rolls were one
(09:04):
stop away from a Portland, Maine hat trick, and the
place we're going it also starts with the letter L.
Two of them. In fact, we're eating a lobster roll
in the parking lot of ll Bean. We're a peakmane
and I'm wearing boxer shorts with lobsters on them. That's
a little too much about I don't have I don't
wear boxer short yep. We're visiting the ll Bean factory
(09:28):
and outlet. Mm hmm, how is it there's and short
for decent. I feel like we're like degrading the lobster
a little bit here, you know what I mean. It's
like drinking champagne, like while watching football or something like that.
It seems kind of wasteful, or maybe it's on brand.
This is like going to the Vatican for preppins here.
(09:52):
Literally have you told me as a teenager? But I
would be visiting LLL Bean in any capacity I would
not fully do. I get what Daniels saying. LL Bean's
preppy outdoor gear hasn't always been my style either. I
could rock that fan, I think, but who knows. If
I moved here, maybe I can make sensible clothing work
(10:15):
for me. Come like in these shoes right here. I'd
fill my fanny pack with pencils and a notebook to
write down my thoughts, a tobler own bar for what
I'm feeling peckish, and a jaunty kerchief for when the
wind picks up or if I find myself feder remote
wine bar and need a flash of style. But my
shopping would have to wait, because when we asked to
record in the store. Lll Bean's PR team one up
(10:36):
to us and invited us to visit their testing center. Hi,
how are you? They call it the smash lab. My
mind immediately pictured a Hadron collider where monogrammed totes are
slammed together at high speeds. So we decided to check
it out. So we're walking into an actual lab for
(10:56):
I just get your name and your title first, Tom
Legley Research and Testing Laboratory ll BEAN or a lab coat?
Is that an ll BEAN lab cut? No? This is
a standard laboratory lab coat found on all around the world.
Are you guys going to move into the lab code market?
Not that I know of right now? Okay, So what
goes on in here? Like? Why do you have to
test everything up? So the reason that we test everything
(11:19):
is we want to meet the expectations of our customers
to come out with a quality product that's going to
meet their daily needs in the real world. You said
that perfectly. It's almost like you said that before. Actually,
I'd love to break things that would be the precursor
to this. Can we can you show us a test here?
So this is a buckle for our wax canvas cotton collection.
(11:45):
So all of our snowshoes will go in here, put
a sunflower shower head over it. Our tent poles, ice
skates ave into a solid black of ice. We will
then bash that out with a hammer. Are you saying
I get to bash it that with a hammer? Okay?
(12:05):
Yea yeah, yeah you go get a yeah. When is
your appointment with your therapist? Again? Kind of therapist I'm
used to makes me line a couch and blame my
parents for why I can't even commit to buying a
house plant. But here, when things get stressful, like say
(12:27):
a moose steps in your subaru, you can just bash ice.
But then what how do you unwind if you're not
wound up? So tom like after you're smashing things all
day like what happens pint of beer? But Danielle and
I are here through Saturday, and so if we were,
you know, we think the real way to get to
know places maybe to like get invited into someone's home
and have a meal, Like what are you what are
(12:47):
your plans this weekend? Oh? I'll have to get back
to you. Are you just saying though, because you're press
guys in the in the room and you're afraid to
Oh no, I'll get back to you. Trust me. How
that right? So far over two in the dinner party count.
After our visit to Smash Lab, Danielle and I are
ready for nap Lab, but we've got places we need
to be, so we stopped for coffee at a spot
(13:09):
everyone told us we had to try happily enough for
a duo like ourselves. It's name, it's Tandem. Got is
a line? I do wait a line for coffee? Forget that?
Did it come with a hand job? Do you look nice?
There's literally like a corner shop right there. Let's get
coffee there. I don't know what I mean. Let's not
be crazy. It wasn't Tandem's fault. They were popular. The
(13:35):
crowds are the sort of thing we'd come here to avoid. Fortunately,
like any Hiptown Worth, it's pink Himalayan ce salt. Portland
has a ton of good coffee shops to choose from.
All right, coffee shops. We're going to coffee by design,
double espresso, cortados, a small cappuccino. Where you guys from
(13:59):
in New York? Your biggest nightmare is Portland. We're here,
we're hearing, we're buying condos. We're here to raise around,
So what are you guys hardcasting for? We visit town
and then we want to learn about the place, but
by avoiding the tourists spots head on and maybe getting
(14:21):
invited into someone's home to eat dinner. So do you
guys know a dinner party later? If you find out,
let me know. I'm also like, I do shaman work,
so then I'm like, I do my I have pet sitter,
I sling shots during the day. Whoa, it's a way
to go. It's fun. Should we get your name where
you work? Or like, yeah, my name full name, Brendan Thorpe.
(14:42):
I work at Coffee by Design on Congress Street. Alternate Brendon,
I'm Brendan. I'm your Brendan Doppler. This is what If
I lived in Portland? Would I be a shaman? Probably not?
The only spirit world I interact with involves three parts gin,
one part driver muth olives. Please, then who would I
(15:05):
be if I lived here? My Brendan doppelgangerre exuded a
sense of calm that was enviable calms in short supply
Where I come from? New York, after all, is the
city that never sleeps, a motto that sounds exciting in
your twenties, but later sounds like a warning. A city
that occasionally sleeps is what I'm looking for. Newly caffeinated
(15:39):
Danielle and I stroll Congress Street, one of the city's
main thoroughfares. It's packed with cafes, buskers, and bookstores. This
is like that bad bookstore that you use. Bookstore smells
a little musty and dusty, has lots of treasures hidden
in here. This is the kind of bookstoere you find
thinks that you weren't intending to find where you kind
(16:00):
of you come in and see what's here, and we
will always walk out with something that you never expected
to find. Let's go me, let's come. He should be whispering.
Why are we whispering. It's not a library, it's a bookstore.
Why are you needed to meet you? Michelle, daniel My
(16:21):
name is Michelle Seulier, and I own the Green Hand
Bookshop in Portland, Maine. I'm looking at all these Stephen
King books, which makes sense. He's one of your native authors. Yes,
we've got to stock a lot of King. We're in
a stew in King country. I'd nearly forgotten that the
King of Horror hailed from here. Yeah, of Portland's a
great town for books. We have three used bookshops and
three new bookshops, all in the downtown area, and they
(16:44):
all do their own thing and they all do Yeah.
I guess well, because we're all still open. Ye know.
Chell not only sells books, she wrote one. It's called
Strange Maine, and it's about all things strange in Maine.
Probably could have guessed that. Why do you think there
is a conglomeration of eccentrics and in Portland? I think
Maine has a tradition of encouraging individual thought and also
(17:08):
encouraging privacy, so you're allowed to do the things you
do and kind of grow and cultivate them yourself without
a lot of people pushing on you if you figure
out a way to do it on your own. So
are you you're closing down soon? Or what time? I am? Yeah,
six o'clock is closing time. Okay, get a drink with us?
(17:29):
Are yeah? Which are we going out? Oh? We're gonna
go out the door and then we'll head to the left. Okay,
so we're going to bow Bow. Where is that a
relationship to your Oh, it is a hot skip and
a jump. You're almost there. You can practically smell it.
The sidewalks feel eerily empty for a Friday night. At
(17:51):
the same time, every few buildings there's a restaurant filled
with people. Portlanders take food seriously, and as someone who
knows they're Taijin from Tartar, I have to admit it
might be part of what made me want to come here.
All right, we are at bow Bow here. You say
that again. We're here at Bowbow. Awesome. I'm very excited
about dumplings. Food. There's I also have cocktails and beer
(18:20):
and specialist for your guys. Excellent, thanks a lot, thank you.
I know. Embarrassed, is said, I don't even I don't
drink beer and Maine. Every two where we go, they're like,
there's a great brewery on the corner. Yeah, they're all
about do you think I could live here even if
though I didn't drink beer? Would I get excluded? Okay,
you drink cocktails? Yeah, yeah, you're golden. We keep winding
(18:41):
up on those top lists of cities, and it's there's
no turning the tide. At this point, I was in
my shop. It was a couple of years ago now,
but I was talking to somebody and they were like, yeah,
you know, I just moved here from Brooklyn recently, and
so we're kind of trying to get the hang of everything,
and some person who's for the rack of the shop
stuck their head. I was like, oh my god, me too,
(19:02):
I just moved here from Brooklyn. And then somebody else
and me too, Oh my god. It's like, oh no,
my aunt tire shop. I'm not gonna lie. I mean,
I live in Brooklyn and this has been kind of
a plan B in the back of my head. The
flip side is that your that funny story you're talking
about your shop. It's like he's like, me too, me too,
me too. But then you're as a store owner. You
have three customers there that are giving you money. Can
(19:25):
we get another order of the bulgogie? And another order
of the slaw? Another slaw, another bulgogie? So what is
love and dating light here? That's a difficult question to
me because I've been married for a long time. But
I would say that I think it's difficult. I've always
been astonished by Portland's little pockets, So Portland I kind
(19:49):
of compare it to like a you know, a little
furry rodents who have all these little warrens and dens.
And so everybody's burrowing in and creating these little warrens
and doing all their little projects in their different little dens.
And it's not until like something happens accidentally, like somebody
busts through all of their den and it's like, hey,
what are you doing in here? Then you find out
(20:10):
like there's people right next to you doing really similar
and interesting things that you didn't know about at all.
You're a bunch of Nerdsland. Yeah, yeah, Portland is packed
up with nerds, nerds and metal heads and artists, and yeah,
we all like to do our own things. But what
if one's own thing was learning about other people's things.
(20:33):
Nerds by definition, are single minded people obsessed with the
non social pursuit, whereas I am single mindedly obsessed with
the social pursuit dinner parties. Well, Michel, thank you so
much for meeting up with us. I'm sharing your knowledge
of Horland. That's my pleasure. We're here for like two
more days. And one of my strategies for getting you
(20:55):
no place is trying to like not just go to
the Taurus spots and like maybe even like get into
someone's world and so what what what do you guys?
What are you doing tomorrownight? Like what's going on? Well, um,
Saturday day is kind of wide open. One never knows.
Can we stay in touch with you and maybe we
could begin to hang out again and maybe break bread
(21:18):
with some of your cohorn Yeah? Absolutely, really that would
be amazing. Okay, so we'll check in with you in
the morning, Thank you so much. With our dinner party
plans set in motion, we said bye bye to Booboo
and drove drove back to our lodgings. Back in our
rented den, I thought about what Michelle said about Brooklyn
Knight's cropping up in her shop. Did the B in
(21:39):
my plan B stand for basic? Was my attraction to
Portland the result of a true yearning for quieter life?
Was I just another Brooklyn Knight checking out the next
buzzy thing? These questions ping ponged in my mind until
finally I went night night. The next morning, I woke
(21:59):
up for Danielle to meet with someone who definitely didn't
move to Portland because it was trendy. Her name Decca
Dlac Brendan nice to meet you. Decca is this mind
refugee who came to me in ten years ago and
recently became the first black woman in Muslim elected to
the South Portland City Council. We met up outside an
old maritime signal tower that overlooks the city. She said,
(22:20):
we can pretember on top because we're outside. In their birds,
Decca were her job the color of autumn orange, yellow, red.
It was almost as bright as her constant smile. How
was it when you first arrived here that first winter?
How did you adapt? It was really scary. It was
very scary. It was very very white. Everything was white. Yeah,
(22:40):
and even my children had a cultural shock because they
were born and raised in this country. But yet they
get used to the South. In the South the world,
they have you know, African American friends. Yeah, and when
they came here, actually we lived in Lewiston, where has
a large number of Somali community. And my oldest who
was twenty six now, said Mom, what are the old
black people? And I said, look around, you know, just
(23:02):
how all African. He's like, no, no, those are your people.
I'm talking about the African American people sometimes go to
Boston so that they can see other folks who are
African Americans. I'm just feeling better that way. So so
when you say white, you mean not just the snow
that's everywhere you're talking. This is like an we kind
of go back and forward. Vermont, Okay, So who is
(23:25):
the wyest estate? Wow? So it's ninety seven? Yeah, Well,
how have you been here? There's another conversation that happens
in Portland itself. We're seeing where people are coming from
from New York City, from other cities, and they're coming
here and they're moving, and they're changing the nature of
the town. They're making rent higher, they're changing the culture.
How does that does that, if at all, intersect with
(23:47):
your your community or Europe? It is, it is, and
it's just a lot of if you will, gentrification that
is happening in Portland especially, And you know, as much
as Portland mixed into the national news, there are more
people who are interested in any coming here and want
to buy this condo or get rid of this lo
income housing and make it a bigger condos condos and
(24:10):
things like that. And as maners, we had a great
state older people, older people populations exactly how very old
and we talk about how we need young people, and
when you look at that, the immigrants are the youngest
people that are here that can make a difference for
this city. Even young white people who want to stay
here and have their families raced here cannot afford it,
(24:32):
let alone an immigrant person who you know already struggling.
So how can we retain young people in this city
if we are making a studio for seventeen hundred dollars. Yeah,
so I live in New York. I'm from Philadelphia originally,
and I had an MPR show for years and now
I'm working on this. But I'm at a point in
my life where I live in New York so long,
I'm never gonna be able to afford to buy anything
(24:53):
in New York. And I feel I don't party as
much as I used to, Like I don't need that
that thriving nightlife, And so when I dream of other
places to go, I have to meet Portland is a
plan B for me? Even better? It is even better.
How is that a bit cheaper than Portland? You're saying like,
maybe not go directly in the city but go adjacent
(25:16):
to it. Yes, yes, okay, but you would you would?
I be welcomed or would you be like, oh my god,
here's another white guy from the city. You will be
really welcome because we have people are really lovely here.
I mean you might have one person who's bad and
their voices are louder. Don't get me wrong, the good people,
their voices are lower. I heard you, and you're answering
the question. Earlier. You referred to yourself as a Maner.
(25:38):
You feel like a maner. Well, a lot of people
are preferring to ask new maners, So I kind of
challenge that. What does that mean? I don't even know
what that means. What does that mean? You know? Do
we call new Manners people coming from California or you know,
people coming from New York. Yeah, no, we don't. We
just stand that on a person who's coming from another country. Interesting,
(26:01):
so that is where these new Americans new Maners knew
whatever is coming from. But our friend of mine said,
I need to challenge that because I've been here twenty
five years. He said, I've been here what as soon
as I was ten? So am I a new Maner?
I mean, yeah, it's interesting. It's an interesting question. You're saying.
The new manor label is usually used referred to this
(26:23):
immigrants or refugees, but not necessarily someone coming from Boston
or no, no, yeah, no, there are there any Uh,
sorry to mix up the high and the low, but
you're you've seemed very comfortable talking about everything. Are there
any like main habits, like they like, do you like
skiing or anything? Or hiking or things that you never
would have thought as as a young person in Somalia
or in Atlanta. Well, I would not hike. I would
(26:46):
not ski, I can tell you that right away. But
my kids did all of that. And it was so
funny you asked that question. I was in another meeting earlier,
and a community meeting, yeah, and one of our young
youth leaders who was talking about how she has a
hiking group of young people and I'm like, oh my god, okay,
do not break anything. And she's like, come on, Auntie,
(27:08):
I been hikinson as I was ten. Okay, we know
what we're doing. So a lot of kids are changing
that they're doing a lot of activities outdoors. Yeah, and
but the parents are not because we were not, you know,
raised in that. Yeah. Honestly, it was nice to know
that if I moved to Portland, I wouldn't be the
only one who sees hiking as a dangerous walk to nowhere.
(27:30):
I asked Decca if maybe dinner parties were more her style,
but she said she had plans that night. It was
time to pick up Danielle and head to the city's waterfront.
I'm gonna hit Michelle up later. Do you might dinner
(27:50):
party thing? She said she would hang out. She seemed
really eager that the way the people are like, yeah,
they've definitely get together. No, she said it like she was.
I think she thought we were bringing good chill today.
(28:10):
Would you call it an imperfect storm and would call
it drizzle? I mean, I'll learned the position to bring
it back. You know, I think it's white people's saying.
I know, I think we killed was like, oh no,
we can. I think there's a list of where I
have a question that while we're on that topic on fleek,
(28:31):
what about it? Are you allowed to say that? You're
not allowed to say it? After spending our first day
in Mainland Portland, we thought we'd visit one of the
city's surrounding islands, going to Peak's Island. Okay, yes, okay,
and where is it? The department number five. Thank you,
(28:53):
Thanks a lot. It's crazy that here in the ferry
terminal the most prominent display our real estate boards because
it's people like you and I fantasizing. I guess that's
a good house lost. Whoa, I could really almost live here,
Really you can live on Peaks Island at least. I
don't think I could live here quite up, because it
(29:14):
reminds me of places I've already been. I know that
small town, small city life, and that's not what I'm
looking for right now. Yal boarding call Island a gay
number five. This is your first and vinal boarding call
pour Peaks Island only at gate number five Islands. Does
this count as an island if it's so close? Yeah,
(29:36):
I believe there's I've been under in the subway coming
from Brooklyn. Now this is it, Peaks Island. We're rolling up.
How do you do? I fancy Danielle. You're wearing an
umbrella hat. Yeah, and then you're wearing purple, a purple
polar pleece. Yeah. And what are these pants? These are
(29:58):
African pants and they actually have umbrellas on them, kind
of hidden in all this pattern. So this is the spot,
This is the museum so welcome to the world's only
umbrella cover museum, where you'll see there are hundreds, probably
about seven hundred umbrella covers on display in this little
tiny space. Wow. Nancy three Hoffman. How to describe her well,
(30:24):
She spells her middle name with the number three. That
should give you an idea. Nancy shows us around her museum,
which doesn't take long because it's one small room the
size of a closet. I'm imagine you collected umbrella covers
personally before you started displaying them exactly. I got curious
about umbrella covers after I cleaned out my house one
(30:44):
day and found some umbrella covers, and I just said
to myself, m do other people have the same problem,
which is, will I ever use these little things again?
Are they just too hard to get back on the
umbrella to even bother with? And if so, why were
they even created? I use my umbrella covers. Ah, You're
one of the twelve percent of people, Danielle. There are
(31:07):
very few people that actually conscientiously use their umbrella covers.
The thing I like to show people is our mission statement,
which is about appreciating the mundane, finding wonder and beauty
and the simplest of things and knowing that there is
always a story behind the cover. How many umbrella covers
do you have? I have two thousand cataloged umbrella covers
(31:32):
in this museum. More or less. Well, when I heard
about the museum, one of the things that attracted me
to it was this kind of My mind immediately went
to kind of zen Buddhism. And there's way more mundane
things that happened to us than epic big things. And
do you find that people come here sometimes with an
element of reverence or is it always whimsy? Mostly whimsy,
(31:57):
but in excitement, you know, enthusiasm, And it's hard to
say because people are touched. It's about attitude. I had
a friend who was very depressed and that mission statement
has helped her through some of her depressed times. Not
to be too grandiose about it, but but it is
about how appreciating the simple things as you were describing
(32:18):
can remind you that, yes, we have to plod through
some of these things in life, but we can take
a breath and enjoy any moment that we can. Just
let us smile. Your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day,
and yours, sweety Christ just tell her that a smile,
(32:41):
we'll always pay. So this case has some of our
most exciting umbrella covers in it. Is that made out
of candy? Yes, it's a gum rapper chain umbrella cover. Um,
I have a lot from England. I have some from
the Olympics team, Great Britain. Do you want to see
the sexy room. We'll just look at the sexy room,
(33:02):
you know? Okay, whoa it looks like look sexy sexy covers?
What is just a thong? What's it covered with? Oh?
Gon umbrellas? As Nancy played, it occurred to me that
(33:24):
the Museum of the Umbrella cover is one of those
warrens Michelle told us about a place where a passionate
enthusiast burrowed in and built their own little world. I'm
glad it exists, but it made me wonder whether I
was ready to park somewhere quiet and lose myself in
a project. Yeah, Broman School, how do you? How do
you feel about it? Could you live here? I'm still
(33:44):
on the fence. It's like Michelle was saying last night
about She mentioned how people stay in their little mouse
or wrap dens and warrens and don't come out like
I feel like I'd have to have a partner if
I want, if that's what I want in my life,
or a family already. I don't get me anybody here. Yeah,
not to that level. I don't know um And I
like knowing the vanguard about what's about to happen, and
(34:05):
I feel like here. It takes a while for that
to get up here. I don't know how I found
a place in my head as like a place I
could live an alternative life. Yeah, where did that come from?
There's so many cities between Portland and New York. I
just felt like doing. I grew up going summers in
Cape Cod and New England in general always had a
kind mellow vibe to me, and I guess I read
all the magazines about the food. Stuff kind of seemed cool.
(34:26):
I'm being honest, the food is incredible. Yeah. What is
that like a brick building in the middle of the water. Yeah,
it was kind of empty, and that's it's like an
old prison. Yeah, that'd be a dope house if I
could live there. I've here. While Danielle was inspired by
the house in the island, for me, it symbolized the
(34:48):
isolation I might feel if I lived here, people are
the thing I nerd out on, and for now I
want to be in a place where there are lots
of them, and I want to travel to meet even more. Traveling,
not burrowing, is where I'm at. Well, dinner parties are traveling. Well, dude,
we're going to a dinner party pizza party. All right.
(35:11):
We were going to a pizza party, but pizza's dinner,
so that makes it technically a dinner party. On the ferry,
I texted Michelle from the bookstore and asked if she
was still game to host a gathering with us that night,
And so Danielle wouldn't think I was being pushy, I said,
we'd supply the food party. Pizza party. Remember that commercial.
(35:31):
It was like a board game that pizza parties, no party.
My grandma would by it. So I just rememberize yourself
like a pizza party. See if I can pull up
it was a board game called pizza Party. Yeah, at
least I can pull up the commercial part pizza party.
(35:55):
That's your pizza. You can't see pizza party, party, Pizza Party.
That song always gives me like it's my pop up channel.
Listen to at the gym Our party consisted of Michelle
(36:22):
and her husband, Tristan. We brought some pizza, beer, We
brought some such an inviting store, and the setting couldn't
be more in keeping with the nerd team that was
emerging in Portland. We were in Tristan's comic book shop.
I like comic shops that make people feel like we
don't have to be an ultimate geek already. The store
is a cavernous, high ceiling geek valhalla filled Florida roof
(36:46):
with comic books, horror movie ephemera on pinball machines. My
ex husband and I met on a Delphi comic book forum.
Danielle is on cloud nine. She and Tristan hit it
off like Yoda and Batman. Anyway, they got along and
while they zipped around the store, Michelle and I munched
pizza in contented silence. Right bored yet, what's up? What's up?
(37:10):
I wasn't bored, just taking in Michelle and Tristan's habitat
and thinking about how this podcast could be both my
smash lab and Museum of the Mundane. Anyway, thanks so
much for hosting us and sharing Portland with us. Thanks
for so glad that you guys came here. We finally
knocked them all together. Yeah together. Yeah, and thanks for
(37:34):
letting us have a little pizza party your Yeah, that
was great. So their video games back here, we should
just play them, Daniel, do you want to play around
Zina eight around? Well, we'll take Terry. Portland has been
great to us. Perhaps part of the reason travel is
(37:55):
so intoxicating is that it allows us to fantasize about
a different life, and in the case of me in Portland,
it's a different life. I really thought about leading, but
Plan b's, it seems, are like mirages. They disappear as
you're approach them. That doesn't mean they don't have a role.
They can act as kind of release valves that lower
the pressure on our actual lives. But it means that
(38:19):
once you visit and you return home, you're left only
with that actual life, your Plan A, and of that
you can be foschism in Nizzle, I think I used
that right. The lead producer on this episode of Not
(38:39):
Loss was the talented Tally Abacasas. The show was also
produced and written by me Brendan Francis Newnham. Our associate
producer was Jackson Musker. Special editorial guidance came from Mira
Bert Wintock. The show was mixed and mastered by Hannas Brown.
A big thanks to my friend and this episode's travel partner,
Danielle Henderson. Go check out her book The Ugly Cry
(39:03):
Not Lost. As a co production of Pushkin Industries, Topic
Studios and iHeartMedia, it was developed at Topic Studios and
the show's executive producers are me Christy Gressman, Maria Zuckerman,
Lisa Langang, and Latom Mulotte. Production assistance on this episode
also came from Jacob Smith, Amy Gaines and Julia Barton.
(39:23):
Our theme song was created by Alexis Trojopolis aka ARP.
You can check out his music at Mexican Summer Records.
And thanks to everyone in Portland, especially Poet Laureatesteve Latreelle,
Tom Begley and ll bean By Brendan Dobbelganger at Coffee
by Design, Nancy three Hoffman and Decca Delac who I'm
happy to say recently got a promotion. She's now the
(39:44):
mayor of South Portland. Hope I'm still invited to visit.
And a big thanks to our pizza party host Tristan
Gallagher and Michelle Soulier. Check out Tristan spot Co City Comics,
and you can buy Michelle's books the ones she wrote
Strange Maine and Bigfoot in Maine, as well as many
other fine publications at her own bookstore, The Green Hand Bookshop.
(40:05):
Please go support your local booksellers people, or in this case,
support you know the local bookseller in Portland. Oh. And
speaking of support, please head to Apple Podcasts, go rate
and review the show. I know you hear it a lot,
but it's real. Learn more about Topic Studios at topic
studios dot com. To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
(40:29):
I'm Brendan Francis, Newnham. Until next time, bon voyage
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