Sunday
I went to Cape Cod a few weeks ago for a bit of R&R; though it seems like years ago now. The weather couldn’t have been better with sunshine every day. Everything pretty much went as planned. But what I didn’t plan on was the disappointing discovery of closed restaurants and nightclubs—all the places I used to regularly haunt many years ago. Route 28, the main road that horizontally bi-sects the Cape, appeared lackluster and sadly dormant in many spots reminding me more of the movie “28 Days Later” than the busy road I remember.
Just what the hell was happening here?
This was just too weird.
My sentimentality bubbled over when I saw a closed/for sale sign out in front of the Mill Hill Club. This was a nightclub I used to play at in the early eighties; a span of time that found the Cape alive and teeming with people every single night of the week.
I was saddened in a way that I couldn’t explain to my daughters. My wife knew but the girls quickly got sick of my reminiscing and lamenting and began to look at me with an implied “there he goes again” neon sign flashing across their foreheads.
Some people say that everything is cyclical, and that in time, things change becoming what they once were.
The Compass Lounge, one of the most popular nightclubs is now a CVS.
Thompson’s Clam Bar, a great restaurant on a harbor in Harwich, has been turned into condominiums.
The Barefoot Trader, the quintessential Cape Cod gift shop that boasted Easter Island-type statues set along the walkway that led inside the shop, now sells Persian Rugs.
WTF?
Does anything stay in business anymore?
Jeepers, this was like the Twilight Zone.
I kept waiting to look in my rear view mirror to see Rod Serling or the Verizon “can you hear me now” guy, sans glasses.
They both look about the same anyway.
It was really sad. From the price of gas to the taste of lobster, everything had changed. But maybe the biggest change of all…was me.
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Ah the days of or adolocent years of our 20’s the days of Bobcat Goldwaith and Sam Kinison going into Hyannis to the Crystal Palce for “Happy Hour”
being enttertained by John Morgan. The good ole’ carefree days of the summers of our younger days. Spent with good friends. ;)
I spent a New Years on Cape Cod with my cousin…way back in 1994. All I remember was that Chili’s was the Mexican food restaurant. I guess with such great seafood, TexMex wasn’t in high demand. :) What’s a girl from Texas supposed to do!
Things change and most often it is not for the better.
Nothing ever stays the same does it? I get all melancholy when I drive to where my dad lives – and we grew up – and I can remember when they planted the trees along the highway…and now they are HUGE! Not the same….
Yup, the Cape has changed quite a bit over the years. I remember all the places you mentioned and have put together a few posts about places that have faded into the Cape’s history.
Here’s an old Barefoot Trader ad.
Very cool ad. I remember the place fondly.
Nice website as well.
Almost blew you away as ’spam’.
You’re not spamming me. . . are you?
I hate when that happens.
~m
Yes, the Cape has changed. Fond memories indeed! Re-live some of those fond memories at Belly-Putters Pub at the Old Barnstable County Fairgrounds Golf Course on 149 in Marstons Mills. John Morgan does a Happy Hour there on Saturday nights from 6-8 PM. Just like the old days…with an older crowd. Make you think you are back at the Crystal Palace!
Alright, pimpin’ for JM.
Looks like Spam but I remember Pufferbelllies, so it stays.
~m
Have not been to Old Cape Cod since 1978. I used to vacation there with my family from the late 50’s to the late 70’s. A week or two here, a weekend there.
You know how we used to do things with Mom & Dad back then?
My wife had never been to The Cape so that was our honeymoon spot in 1974.
My sister and her husband go there frequently with their pre-teen daughter.
My kids have all grown up, and they have never been to The Cape.
Sometime I think about returning, but then I think about all I’ve read and wonder if I shouldn’t just enjoy the reminiscing. Thanks, Cape, for the memories.
My wife and I try to get to the Cape every summer. And up until a few years ago (ok, so maybe 8 years ago) we always tried to find Thompsons Clam Bar again. I didn’t really know where to look, but once we found it – or it’s old location, I was bummed!
It was the first time I was out to the Cape when I was in 10th grade. Went with my friend and his parents. First time I had steamers was at Thompsons. Got me hooked – on steamers and the Cape.
It’s still a great place! That’s why we always end up back there even when we travel somewhere else – we always end up back to the Cape.
WOW .. John Morgan, the Mill HIll, Compass Lounge, Thompson’s Clambar, Pufferbellies. The memories come flooding back. I lived and worked in Hyannis in the early – mid 80’s and remember that area as a huge college summer spot. (i was in college myself). I’m always nostalgic for Cape Cod enough so that I have a little place in E. Orleans near Nauset beach. Further down the Cape you can still find “old cape cod”. Goose Hummock, The Binnacle, Land HO, The Yardarm, Wellfleet drive – in, etc … i remember them all as a kid and they are STILL there. The gentleman who alluded to his daughters getting sick of his reminiscing made me laugh cause when i do it i hear … “dad, we KNOW you love the cape” …
I was a Cape Cod Happy Hour Junkie back in the 70’s! Myself and my college buddies every year would rent a seasonal summer cottage in Dennisport and a winter ski house in No. Conway, NH. And so went the migration for years….for many, the best years & times of our lives…many met their wives this way! Who could forget John Morgan, DJ Sullivan, Paul Wayne, Billy White….and don’t forget The Fabulous Farquar! Happy Hour’s were an “art form” destroyed by the drastic changes in the drinking laws….yes, tragic for a few but ruined wonderful times for the many…whatever happened to “personal responsibility?” Throughout my corporate career, I’ve had the luxury to travel and work in all 50 States and 33 countries…always seeking something similar to the Cape experience…if it exists, I’ve never found it….it’s a unique “geographical thing” we shared….take over 500 colleges and universities in a 50 mile radius of Boston add a couple hour drive north to the mountains or south to the beaches and you had the birth of the “Happy Hour”….they were very special times! Now I live in Phoenix….but plan to look up John Morgan in Marstons Mills later this year (thanks to that posting tip)…also understand he’s gone into the Hot Dog business, thanks for your website!
Down the Cape now in August 2007 and trying to find John Morgan. Can anyone let me know. Would appreciate it
I began playing on the Cape back in the middle 60’s in many, many bands and I too was saddened by how much the Miid-Cape had changed. I haven’t been to the upper Cape in some time but I am sure the same has happened there.
I am a Musician/intertainer and remember the Cape as they say in the “HAY DAYS”……. “The Place Pigale” (Sandpiper Lounge), “Sandy Pond Club”, Mamie Reilye’s, The Velvet Hammer, to name just a few……….. I visited an old haunt the “Windjammer Lounge” and that too had changed. Didn’t pay much attention to the sign but I believe it is the Wiano Lounge now. Same inside though, even the same faces at the Bar. “Chuckie” always with something whitty to say or with a sports trivia question for anyone was still on the stick. (also a Capeism meaning running the draught tap.)
I know that the “Swamp Fox” on Rte.132 has been gone for quite a while now, but I still feel a bit of anxiety when I go by that shopping center!
I guess it’s true, “Everyone has a daughter and her name is nostalgia!”
I miss all who remembers the fun we used to have at Dorsies Steak House, and the East End Pub, The Brass Rail…………..Someone stop me!
I hope all my friend are happy and well,
Michael “Action” Jackson istrum4u@cox.net drop me a line!
I worked on the Cape in the early 80’s Guido Murphy’s in the Back room. there was a bunch of small band acts Smitty, and others. I would hang out at he Mill Hill and Pufferbellies on my off night. I can remember as if it was yesterday John Morgan ” closing the doors” for a “private party ” on Sunday night knowing the drunks from south Boston would be back on the road any minute blasted out of the brains for a 70 mile ride back home. John would chant “let’s get shitfaced on Cape Cod ” with the cheers of 500 drunks. It was crazy back then.There was not a lot of social responsibility demonstrated by too many and eventually it did in the club scene on the Cape.
I was the one who put my footprints in wet cement at the Barefoot Trader on June 8th, 1957. The real Cape exists, but you have to go beyond Orleans to find it.
I loved this post and all the comments. I have lived here for 35 years. I live in Falmouth. I love Falmouth because the Main street part of it is much the same with the beautiful village green, the harbor, Woods Hole. The mid Cape is way to built up for me and I rarely go there. West Falmouth and North Falmouth are much the same as they were when I first moved here. Or maybe they built up somewhat but it happened slowly and I didn’t notice. I was only 23 when we moved here and bought a house at the whopping price of $27,000. I still live in that house.
I drive my car by the beach almost everyday and park for a few minutes just to hear the sound of the ocean, a sound I never tire of. I’ve never traveled much but I don’t need to because here I’m home.
I still live on the Cape and I hate all the changes. I am tired of the New CVS’s and Stop and Shops and Golf Courses. I am in my 40’s and can hardly find any place to go to have a good time at night. Boring. I understand about the Problems with the drinking and driving but we always have a designated driver. If people were more responsible like that maybe places like Mill Hill and Compass would still be around and maybe they would have renovated them into “classier” establishments. My heart will always belong to the Mill Hill Club. I heard it is going to be torn down this year and another building will replace it still owned by the original owners. I am going out this weekend to take some pictures. My husband and I met there and I’m pretty sure we were the only people to have their wedding reception there. May not have been New Seabury but we loved it. I really miss the old cape cod.
Thanks for the memories. I remember when John M Morgan ‘M is for massive’When we both worked at the Improper Bostonian in Dennisport. Monday was Cold Duck night Wednesday was Tidal Wave
night seventy five cents Vodka,Gin and Rum mixed with Collins mix. Who can forget John being Rico Flashback or singing I’m your Mailman. Living in the millionaire house in Harwich and John taking the jute box out of the Improper and partying all night.The last man standing from the old cape is Rockwell King at the Sand Bar In Dennis 49 years and still going strong! What lucky people we were to live on the Cape in those days.
“Those were the days my friends,” as the song goes! I’m that 70’s Happy Hour Junkie that last posted (6/21/07)and it’s great to find others with the same fond memories..those good times on the Cape certainly had a great (positive) impact on my life! John Morgan was the best! I’ve recently been researching the whereabouts of the Fabulous Farquahr and sadly learned that at least two of the original foursome have passed away…I believe only Flamingo may be still living. I’m now reading posts on different blogs from the kids of our Cape Cod Happy Hour generation….trying to find the words to songs like, “My Eggs Don’t Taste the Same Without You” and “Carol the Bottom of the Barrel!” Personally, I’m going to try and revive some of those very funny, bawdy, beer drinking, hand clapping songs..for posterity sake! Does anyone know or has caught Jim Plunkett’s gig at the Improper Bostonian in Dennisport/Yarmouth area? Guess he’s been around for years & works with a DJ, is he the new
John Morgan? I just moved to San Diego from Phoenix and can only do my research online! Keep the memories alive!
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I think I’m going to like this blogsite. Be back soon Mary from Meander With Me
It took several trips to “back then” to convince me that it is best to live in the “now”. I want to remember the good times I had when my best girl friend and I could visit the local “Friendly Tavern” in Kenmore/Akron, Ohio, have a beer or two, dance together without danger of being called “queer”, or dance with equally “unpaired” local guys, and then go our separate ways back to our own homes.Back sometime in the middle 60s, it was with a heavy heart I stood outside the entrance to a appliance repair shop shop that once held laughter, music, cheap beer and companionship for single young people who had a hell of a lot to learn about life before the actuality of what life is all about, set in.
In an earlier post, I said I wanted to do this…well I did! So, in an attempt to keep some of the old Cape Cod Happy Hour music alive and for all those Fabulous Farquahr curiosity seekers (2nd & 3rd generation now)…from memory, I recorded covers of four of their stage classics. Understand, nothing can top their “live” originals but perhaps these may help bring back some of the memories and the smiles to many of my fellow Happy Hour goers…also, no puppets, dogs or cats were harmed during the filming of the videos:) Any interest, simply search “fabulous farquahr” in YouTube and they’re in the top four positions. As their lyrics say; “be a person of taste…screw the whole human race…and put on a great big SMILE!” Hope you enjoy!
The few times I attempted to “relive the past” by returning to places I remember from earlier and happy occasions were such failures that I have no wish to ever again repeat the mistake. I am too busy creating now, what, if I live long enough, will be another happy memory best left in the here and now. Does that make sense?
I love ALL your stories, brought back a lot of great memories!!
I would LOVE to get a picture of the COMPASS LOUNGE from the outside.
I am finishing a game room and a picture would be great!!
I plan on blowing up the picture.
If anyone can help,it would be great !!
I’m even willing to pay for one…let me know !!……..
joe oleary
netman35@verizon.net…….thank you.
Wow – just found this site and its brings back those great Cape Cod memories. I was one of those lucky ones who lived & worked on the Cape in the summers (1978-1984) and experienced many of the infamous “Happy Hour” events. Mill Hill Club, Pufferbellies, Rascals, Oar & Anchor (Falmouth). The parties were endless, the girls were plentiful and the quarter beer nights at the Improper left you with a wicked hangover. What I would give to relive just one summer – again.
I will be heading back down to the Cape over the next couple of months but it is never the same. What a Great era!
I was a Cape Cod waitress from summers of ‘79 thru ‘83 many great memories – loved Dancing with Henry on Mondays at the Improper and the cute guy (Brian) who was the bouncer.
Great, great, greeat times!
69 or 70 at The Mill Hill Club there was a great little band “The Northeast Expressway” at Happy Hours a little gem of a group who covered the Beatles. After years of googling Fabulous Farquahr they are finally getting their Due too bad they just preceded this wonderful era of music and video sharing. Thank you Charlie G. for covering some of their songs. The Golden Age of Happy Hour Entertainment. My eggs don’t taste the same without you guys!
Cape Cod is near and dear to my heart. I spent 8 summers at the Cape renting a house in Falmouth with a group of my friends. Loved the beach, the happy hours at The Casino (now condos), the Brothers Four, Zacks, and all those wonderful places where I met so many new friends and listened to the music of that great band, “The Northeast Expressway.” They were great guys (Larry, Gerry, Henry and Bill) and somewhere in my house I have the 8 track tapes that they personally made for me with their music. If they were still playing now, I would definitely go see them and reminisce. Cape Cod is a special place and will always be near and dear to my heart. Anyone know where the guys are from the Northeast Expressway now? Enjoy life. It’s short. Fill your days with sunshine. Rose
My husband and I just found this blog after “googling” The Northeast Expressway Band. My husband’s father is Gerry Griffin who played in the band from 1972-1984. Rose, We loved reading your post and we would love to hear those 8 tracks you have! My husband, Adam would love to be able to get a copy of those recordings if you can find them! We just called Gerry and he remembers you, your roommate, Barbara and your husband,. He frequently reminisces about those times as well! Anyway, it has been great to read a little bit about the history of the band and we would welcome any other stories or info anyone has about the Northeast Expressway! Sounds like there were a lot of good times! Thanks to everyone for these posts!
I spent the summer of ‘69 in Dennisport waiting tables at “The Steakpub”. Great summer days, late nights in Orleans at “The Southward Inn” (original name: Orleans Inn) listening to the Fabulous Farquahr…My Eggs, My Island, Provincetown Jug Band, Rocky Gay, etc, etc…great music, great fun…at least two of the group are deceased, the Orleans Inn has burned down and yes, the Cape will never be the same; The memories will alway be there, along with my original copies of the Farquahr’s first three albums. Yes, its very hard to explain the feelings one gets when I think back to that summer 40 years ago!
Does anyone remember Finn’s Skins and Gins?
MIke