Ogunquit:  

P-Town Lite!

BY EUAN BEAR

ell, Ogunquit: what it’s
like depends on when
you go. Mary and I have
in the last couple of years" gone late
in the summer, a week before Labor
Day or the week after.
The ‘town is pretty typical

- Maine seashore kitschy,"with-some

good (and some simply pretentious)
restaurants and many, many hotels,
motels, small resorts, a time share
development or two, and beaucoup
B&Bs. There’s the‘-Ogunquit
Playhouse, with live summer stock -
this year including Elton John’s
Aida, Sally Struthers in Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas, Swing.’ and
Nurisations! The Nunsense Vegas
Revue.
Stonewall Kitchens is

11:45am: PRIDE Parade

close by (home of the best blueberry
jam I’ve ever tasted, and owned by
two gay men, though you’d never
know it from the corporate head-
quarters). If you entertain like
Martha used to, you simply must go
there.

There’s a cool miniature
golf place, Wonder Mountain, in
Wells (next town up the coast) for
any day that’s less than optimal for
beach time. And if you’ve got kids
or are a kid at heart, there’s Old .
Orchard Beach’s midway and the
gentler York Wild Kingdom. _
Ogunquit has a library (“No Internet
Access” reads a big sign on the
door).

For nightlife, there are
four bars, three of which are report-
edly gay or at least gay friendly:
Inside Out, Maine Street, and the
Front Porch. That last is the more

kicks off @_ Edmunds School
(Main St., Burlington)

followed by:

Speakout & Rally
@ City Hall, Church Street

'I’m told.

 

arts & leisure

  
  
   

erator), and breakfast is served on
weekends. It’s defi-
nitely not
a resort,
although
the shady
back yard
(and a room
of the
house) shel-
ters a hot tub,
hammock,
picnic table,
and gas grill.

  

 

The

M. " ‘ ‘  place is very
in a "'“"" Vrom u-,, d ’ _ homey, and
les— at ""° Vmage squat‘, about a 10-

bian-friendly of the th_re

- ' Mary and I have stayed at
The.Heritage of Ogunquit, a B&B
owned by a Texas lesbian (built on
land inherited from her grandpar-
ents)-. It looks like part of _a Fifties
housing development, aged grace-
fully, and added onto to accommo-

‘ date guests. You can cook in the

common space (when we were.last
there, it offered two two—bumer hot
plates, coffee maker, toaster oven
and microwave, plus full-size refrig-

minute walk
from the beach,

less than that from “the Marginal V
Way,” a shore-side paved walk past

rugosa roses, hotel gardens, private
houses, and beachside cliffs south to
“Perkins Cove,” where there are
restaurants and galleries and gift
“shoppes.” Often we drive the car
down to the beach lot and drop off
one of us with the day’s gear and
supplies, then take the car back to
the Heritage and walk or take the
trolley.

The other place we've
stayed is Two Village Square, right
at the junction of Shore Road and
Route 1. It’s owned by two gay
men, Joe Bellin and CT Steele, who
took it over just a couple of years
ago. The inn has fifteen rooms,
some fronting onto the lovely
Victorian living room, and boasts a
heated swimming pool and a cock-
tail party on Wednesday and Sunday
nights in addition to regular break-
fasts. In last winter’s reno.ion, the
guest kitchen was considerably
expanded. Dining is mostly al fresco
on the poolside deck. The inn is up a
steep driveway, sheltered and _
screened by trees, so it has more pri-
vacy than you would expect from-
the address. Lesbians are welcome, '
but clearly in the minority, and
when we stayed there, we were the
only ovarians in residence.

But of course, the main
attraction is the beach, three miles
of it, both oceanside and riverside.
Access to the beach is very organ-
ized — take the “trolley” (named
Rolly, Dolly, Molly, etc.) for $1.50
and they’ll drop you next to the

main beach
hotel in the continued on page 1 8

FBI!!! 2005

Burlington VT