"'The condo-ization of Provincetown is hurting it,' said [Mylan] Costa, who lives in North Eastham. 'I think it is becoming another Nantucket. Nantucket's nice. Believe me. It's a nice place. But it's definitely changing the makeup of the town. It's not a funky village anymore. That's gone forever. It's a commercial product now.'"Fear and loathing in Ptown and Hollywood
[Boston Globe | July 6, 2005]
"Just as this uproar was dying down, Peter Manso’s book Ptown: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape (Scribner) hit the bookstores. Manso’s contention that the formerly small fishing village and arts colony known as Provincetown is being completely destroyed not only by wealthy gay men and lesbians who have installed themselves as the gatekeepers of the town’s real-estate and tourism industry, but also by hordes of gay and lesbian tourists who have taken over the streets in leather and drag and created a rainbow-beflagged queer paradise, making Ptown hell for heterosexuals created a whirlwind controversy.posted by ericb at 11:27 AM on July 14, 2006
...The idea that gay men and lesbians have tremendously disproportionate social, economic, cultural, and political power has been a staple of right-wing propaganda for more than three decades.
... Manso poses as an angry messenger-angel bearing bad tidings: while Provincetown has long been a bastion of decency, diversity, and social democracy, over the past three decades it has become, well, too gay.
...While the most insidious attacks on gay people come toward the end of Manso’s book, he doesn’t waste any time spinning his theme: the invasion of wealthy gay men and lesbians who have literally taken over to promote their own rich-and-famous lifestyles and to make the town a 'gays only' haven.
...This conflation of apparent affluence — signified here by the tell-tale signs of commercial and domestic queerness — resembles traditional attacks on upwardly mobile Jews. Just as Jews have been accused of being vulgar, social-climbing parvenus who mistake wealth for culture Manso’s homosexuals are, by and large, ignorant of good breeding and taste.
...Just as Ovitz blames gay men in Hollywood for all of the evil that has befallen him, Manso condemns the changes in Ptown as the handiwork of a uniform phalanx of ‘gays.’ This presents something of a logistical problem because (as Manso himself notes) Provincetown has a long history of knitting gay men and lesbian into its culture from the 1920s onward — what arts colony and bohemian enclave hasn’t? He acknowledges that today, some gay residents are not at fault. However, he describes them as ‘gay but totally uncomplicated about it, like so many other longtime Ptown year-rounders.’ And he is unmerciful about the other — apparently complicated — homosexuals.
Even after distinguishing between good and bad homosexuals, Manso characterizes all gay men and lesbians as a monolithic group. Terms such as ‘they’ and ‘these people,’ cast as walking clichés, are peppered throughout the book to remind readers of the common enemy. ‘They have a tremendous amount of talent [for fixing up and reselling homes]’ notes one of Manso’s local informants. ‘I mean they can take a shithole and make it beautiful. It’s like they just say, ‘we’ll go in and sprinkle some fairy dust ands make it look fantastic.’
Making matters worse, according to Manso, gay home-ownership has translated into institutional power: gay men and lesbians have taken over building, zoning, and permit committees. ‘‘The gays,’ another person tells Manso, ‘are by now the richest, most powerful people in Provincetown,’ he says, adding, ‘A lot of these people love being on these committees.’ And along with this ‘love’ of power comes arrogance, bullying, and intimidation. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are’ screams a drunken lesbian at two straight men in a local bar, ‘this is my town.’ So there it is, what Manso calls ‘the gay trump card.’
...The fact is, in Manso’s world it doesn’t matter how many wealthy gay people have moved into Provincetown, or how many straight wealthy people, how many drag queens or men and women in leather are on the streets, or how many families with children come to town. Manso’s 'proof' of the gay takeover of Provincetown is almost entirely anecdotal. There is no hard data, no demographic analysis, and not even any hard reporting.
...The changes in Provincetown during this time have not been unique, but have occurred across the map. Some changes in Provincetown have been made by lesbians and gay men — not because they were homosexual, but because they had money. The lie at the center of Peter Manso’s book is that it is homosexuality — not access to money — that is to blame for the changes that have occurred on the Outer Cape. And to blame some of the social and cultural manifestations of homosexuality for these problems is not only inaccurate, but as socially and morally wrong as is anti-Semitism for blaming all Jews for disruptive social change.
The fantasy promoted by Peter Manso’s book is that gay people have too much power, money, and control. They have taken over Provincetown, they want to get rid of straight people in town, they use rainbow flags to intimidate and exclude heterosexuals, they have all the power. Social acceptance — or toleration — of gay people has indeed taken place, and it has been a slow and often painful process for both homosexuals and heterosexuals. The attacks on gay money and power in Ptown: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape are simply one more indication that this new level of social acceptance is nothing more than a thin veneer that can be easily scratched to reveal the fear — often expressed with loathing and disdain — that still lies underneath."
[The Boston Phoenix | July 25 2002]
Out on the Capeposted by ericb at 1:42 PM on July 14, 2006"The ‘A-House’ was a gabled Greek Revival mansion down a narrow alley off Commercial Street. Originally, it had been a stagecoach stop and inn where, it is said, Thoreau stayed while on his famous walking tour of the Cape in 1849. Yet Reggie was anything but a Yankee. Indeed, he was an odd combination of hubris and originality, a fisherman’s son with little formal education who had, on his own, discovered art, which he came to love as much as he loved the artists. After buying the A-House in 1950, he opened the doors of his club to such young and rising painters as Mark Rothko and Claes Oldenburg, with the result that he assembled the core of an important collection.
Reggie was smart. He not only traded drinks for paintings and sculpture, but also collected literary memorabilia, amassing a considerable collection of original material by Eugene O’Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Susan Glaspell, as well as manuscripts and first editions of Tennessee Williams and Norman Mailer, both A-House customers.
‘History,’ Reggie told the local weekly, the Provincetown Advocate, ‘is only as good as the material you have to work with. Everybody had a story about O’Neill and his friends, and the stories were simply not true. Everybody told them, not because they cared, but because they wanted to grab on to the glory.’
In the summer of 1976, Reggie decided the A-House had to ‘go gay.’ The A-House had always been ‘mixed,’ but now Reggie set up a two-tiered price list and hiked the drink prices for women fourfold. A gin and tonic suddenly cost $12, not $3, and soon he had an exclusively gay nightspot."
...Reggie set up a two-tiered price list and hiked the drink prices for women fourfold. A gin and tonic suddenly cost $12, not $3, and soon he had an exclusively gay nightspot.That's simple sexism, nothing more. He is discriminating against women, be they straight, lesbian, or transexual. Misogynistic fool.
"What is now called the Atlantic House or A-House, as it is well known, was built by Provincetown's first Postmaster, Daniel Pease, in 1798. Pease operated the building as a tavern until his death from Cholera in 1834.posted by ericb at 3:30 PM on July 14, 2006
The Atlantic House was then purchased by Benjamin Allstrum, who renamed it the Allstrum House. It served as the last stage coach stop of the Orleans to Provincetown route until the arrival of the train in 1873.
When Allstrum died in 1871, Frank Potter Smith, a Portuguese sailor who had arrived in town on a boat at the age of 18, bought the Allstrum House and renamed it the Atlantic House - the name has stuck for good.
The A-House was the hangout for several of America's most noted writers in the 1920's. Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams are counted in that list. A nude photo of Tennessee Williams strolling on Provincetown beaches hangs in the bar.
In 1950 Reginald (Reggie) Cabral and Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Hurst bought the A-House. Soon Reggie, who worked as manager, took over full ownership and the establishment became what is today the most popular watering hole in Provincetown.
Some would say that the A-House is the oldest Gay Bar in the country with its appeal to alternate life stylists from the early 1900's, but the A-House became truly 'gay friendly' back in the early 50's and from then on it's history has been such. Holding weekly theme parties in the big room (disco) and hosting a cast of regular characters in the 'Little Bar.'"
"And yes, that other alleged power couple Reichen Lehmkuhl and Lance Bass were continually spotted around town. I saw them twice (as did others) at the Atlantic House (A-House) bar. A stroke of serendipity placed them next to me in a line for the men's room where Reichen introduced me to Lance. We had a brief conversation, but I can't confirm or deny the status of their relationship (which some, in the comments to this post, say was a bit rocky). What I can say was that everytime I saw Lance he was well-tucked under the shadowy mask of a baseball cap, and Reichen was extremely polite."posted by ericb at 3:40 PM on July 14, 2006
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