The Kings Of Cape Cod
August 9, 2022 8:48 PM Subscribe
Take a trip back in time, perhaps you knew it, perhaps it's new to you: The Kings Of Cape Cod. The party destination from the 60s to the 80s told through the perspective of the Cape Cod Happy Hour. See lots of historic fashion, a lot of wild parties, the power of a person with a guitar in front of a bunch of drunk people... and all in only 46m!
Thank you so much for posting this! In two days I'm flying back from California to spend a week in one of those tiny cottages on the Cape, also known as my little slice of heaven on earth. This will be the perfect nostalgia bomb to watch while I'm there!
posted by platinum at 10:51 PM on August 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by platinum at 10:51 PM on August 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
I grew up with my family making frequent visits to my grandparents on Buzzards Bay, and my parents now live in East Sandwich and my brother lives in our grandparents' house. I have very, very different associations with Cape Cod and this could be fascinating.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:12 AM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:12 AM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
This explains some of the comments I overheard my parents say as we were hopping around Yarmouth during many a February and April break spent at one of Route 28's finest hotels with a heated indoor pool and off-season discounts.
I never understood why they regarded that part of the Cape as so "wild" and "honky-tonk" because I thought it was an awesome strip of tacky gift shops (Wings! Cape Tradewinds!) , mini-golf (Putters Paradise! Thunder Falls! Pirates Cove!) and various seafood restaurants where you could get the best cheeseburgers and onion rings (Golden Boy! Seafood Sam's!).
And Yarmouth is where we first encountered Ocean State Job Lot. I know those stores are everywhere now, but going to one still reminds me of being on the Cape.
Also, there's nothing stopping a business in Massachusetts from having Happy Hour--they just can't discount alcohol or have any discounts tied to alcohol because encouraging people to get sloshed on their way home from work isn't exactly a great idea. But I don't think there's anything stopping an establishment from discounting wings or bar pizzas or other food items, they just can't do drinks.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:05 AM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
I never understood why they regarded that part of the Cape as so "wild" and "honky-tonk" because I thought it was an awesome strip of tacky gift shops (Wings! Cape Tradewinds!) , mini-golf (Putters Paradise! Thunder Falls! Pirates Cove!) and various seafood restaurants where you could get the best cheeseburgers and onion rings (Golden Boy! Seafood Sam's!).
And Yarmouth is where we first encountered Ocean State Job Lot. I know those stores are everywhere now, but going to one still reminds me of being on the Cape.
Also, there's nothing stopping a business in Massachusetts from having Happy Hour--they just can't discount alcohol or have any discounts tied to alcohol because encouraging people to get sloshed on their way home from work isn't exactly a great idea. But I don't think there's anything stopping an establishment from discounting wings or bar pizzas or other food items, they just can't do drinks.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:05 AM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
In the late 1990s I remember riding past the Mill Hill Club and observing on their marquee that they were having a "Sienfeld Party" and wondering if NBC was clamping down on commercial viewing parties for the last episode of Seinfeld. The misspelling had a very "Suburb Owl" vibe to it, although I'm sure it was just a goof.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:20 AM on August 10, 2022
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:20 AM on August 10, 2022
It helps to understand that the legal drinking age in MA went down to 18 in ‘73 and back to 20 in ‘79. So for six summers in the ‘70s bars here could openly serve any and all college kids…
posted by nicwolff at 5:53 AM on August 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by nicwolff at 5:53 AM on August 10, 2022 [3 favorites]
There's some Cape Cod history in Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:27 AM on August 10, 2022
posted by hypnogogue at 7:27 AM on August 10, 2022
Also, there's nothing stopping a business in Massachusetts from having Happy Hour--they just can't discount alcohol or have any discounts tied to alcohol
Perhaps not for long, a bill moved through legislature a few weeks ago to repeal the happy-hour alcohol ban (or at least to allow individual towns to decide).
And per the original post here, the amendment was filed by a representative of, you guessed it, a town on the Cape.
Although I have to say, the logic of some of the proponents is a bit...suspect.
Proponents of repealing the law also cite the rise of ride-sharing services, which does have a bit more credence to it.
posted by jeremias at 8:24 AM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Perhaps not for long, a bill moved through legislature a few weeks ago to repeal the happy-hour alcohol ban (or at least to allow individual towns to decide).
And per the original post here, the amendment was filed by a representative of, you guessed it, a town on the Cape.
Although I have to say, the logic of some of the proponents is a bit...suspect.
You look at Provincetown, certainly we want to avoid any people getting into cars — well, you don't really need to get in the car and often don't get in a car when you're in Provincetown.Hmm, I mean, kind of? But tremendous numbers of people drive into and out of popular spots such as Ptown from other towns, so this is very shaky.
Proponents of repealing the law also cite the rise of ride-sharing services, which does have a bit more credence to it.
posted by jeremias at 8:24 AM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Ugh. That's the last thing we need.
Honestly, if your venue depends on everyone being drunk on cheap beer in order to create energy and provide a magical experience then perhaps what you're offering is actually kind of fragile? After all, audiences on the Cape didn't seem to stick around for the ambiance once the legal drinking age changed and they couldn't get as hammered as they wanted to.
Conversely, I've been to the Iron Horse out in Northampton and I've always had a blast. Yeah there's a bar, but I think that only enhances an already awesome venue that hosts great performers.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:42 AM on August 10, 2022
Honestly, if your venue depends on everyone being drunk on cheap beer in order to create energy and provide a magical experience then perhaps what you're offering is actually kind of fragile? After all, audiences on the Cape didn't seem to stick around for the ambiance once the legal drinking age changed and they couldn't get as hammered as they wanted to.
Conversely, I've been to the Iron Horse out in Northampton and I've always had a blast. Yeah there's a bar, but I think that only enhances an already awesome venue that hosts great performers.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:42 AM on August 10, 2022
Provincetown isn't really the problem in this part of the state – people don't very often drive way out there, park in the pier or Monument lots, get loaded in bars, then hike back to their cars and get back on the highway home. They come out from Boston on the ferry for the weekend, hit the tea dances, and stay over.
The Beachcomber, in Wellfleet, has always been a hazard though – it's (geographically and temporally) the last outpost of the culture depicted in the film under discussion here. You have to drive to it, it's all about sun and booze and hookups and local bands and DJs, 21-year-olds drive from up-Cape and all over MA for the day and get polluted and then try to get home with their lives and licenses. (I love it there, but it's a scene.)
posted by nicwolff at 11:59 AM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Beachcomber, in Wellfleet, has always been a hazard though – it's (geographically and temporally) the last outpost of the culture depicted in the film under discussion here. You have to drive to it, it's all about sun and booze and hookups and local bands and DJs, 21-year-olds drive from up-Cape and all over MA for the day and get polluted and then try to get home with their lives and licenses. (I love it there, but it's a scene.)
posted by nicwolff at 11:59 AM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Dan McCarthy is exactly the name I expect to make a documentary like this hahaha
Jim Plunkett was still performing as of 4-5 years ago...
It's been sad watching the Cape transform from an affordable vacation place where middle class people could afford a small vacation cottage that was walking distance to a beach when I went there as a kid like 30ish years ago (holy shit 30 years ago), to a place where real estate is $100+ a square foot (not all that different from Boston actually).
posted by youthenrage at 12:55 PM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Jim Plunkett was still performing as of 4-5 years ago...
It's been sad watching the Cape transform from an affordable vacation place where middle class people could afford a small vacation cottage that was walking distance to a beach when I went there as a kid like 30ish years ago (holy shit 30 years ago), to a place where real estate is $100+ a square foot (not all that different from Boston actually).
posted by youthenrage at 12:55 PM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
I was actually going to make a job about this Dan McCarthy being a very stereotypical cape cod summer guy, probably a cop. I clicked his other videos and they're all "Inside the Watertown Police" mini documentaries. So this all tracks as being extremely on brand for cape cod.
posted by youthenrage at 1:03 PM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by youthenrage at 1:03 PM on August 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
For those, like me, who are confused about the context:
Apparently, in Cape Cod in the 70s, the phrase "happy hour" came to mean more than just "discounted drinks". Sounds like that's where it started – but a music scene became attached to it (mostly solo white men with acoustic guitars?)
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:47 PM on August 11, 2022
Apparently, in Cape Cod in the 70s, the phrase "happy hour" came to mean more than just "discounted drinks". Sounds like that's where it started – but a music scene became attached to it (mostly solo white men with acoustic guitars?)
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:47 PM on August 11, 2022
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I am going to watch this and I am going to love this.
posted by vrakatar at 9:29 PM on August 9, 2022 [1 favorite]