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New York Times: Bad at Counting

Oh, Provincetown. We just can't quit you, and neither can the New York Times. And, to prove that it's not really scary for straight people there, the paper did an unscientific survey of the couples walking by in their 36 Hours article on the town today. This allows them to suggest that Ptown is only 60 percent gay to 40 percent straight. Sure.

What follows is a pretty sanitized take on the  town. While you don't have to go hog-wild when you visit, the nightlife is a big part of the experience, and it seems a little silly to only mention one bar, and instead focus on all the bicycling you can do. In a town where there are five different drag shows a night, biking isn't the biggest draw, no matter how flat it is there.

[Image via Rub Leather/Flickr]

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Tags: Provincetown / Tourism Boards / Hot Dog Incident / → All Tags

Provincetown Tourism Official Explains Hot Dog Incident

Remember the whole Ptown hot dog incident, first reported by the Boston Globe late last week? Tensions were running high there over an anti-gay marriage petition that was passing through town. Well, as is always the case there are at least two sides to every story. Luckily for us, Jaunted was granted unfettered access to Bill Schneider, Director of the Provincetown Tourism Office, who gave us his take on the aforementioned Hot Dog Incident incident during a phone call with Jaunted editors yesterday.

According to Schneider, the issue was one of timing more than anything else. A petition to get anti-gay marriage legislation on the ballot in Massachusetts circulated through the local Catholic Church, and was signed by some residents.

Provincetown is small enough that locals know each other quite well, and when Hines and Cabral spotted each other, they got into a heated discussion on the topic, a crowd formed. "This wouldn't have been an issue if we weren't in the height of the season," Schneider explained. The big crowd made the back-and-forth a police issue; without the crowd, it would have been one of many the many debates that take place quite frequently in the town.

As for the issues regarding slurs between gays and straights, Schneider says that the problems come from out-of-towners.

Our guess? A bunch of hooligans from Southie who hopped the fast boat to Ptown. Just kidding, Southie-folk! please don't slash our tires!

Since the incident, Ptown has redoubled their efforts to promote tolerance by holding a "No Place for Hate" meeting last week, but they "can't control all of the people from many different backgrounds coming together," nor put a ban on free speech to solve the problem. The town's population swells by as much as 70,000 on peak weekends, so that's the way it goes, for now.

Have something you want to add to all this? Let us know in comments or just email us.

[Image via earthdog/Flickr]

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Provincetown: A Bad Place to Hold the Breeder's Cup

One of the things that is most striking for visitors to Provincetown, especially straight men and women, is a "flip the script" feeling. Suddenly, gay culture is the dominant one, and it makes Ptown a fascinating place to visit, even for those who come from places where gay culture is thriving, like New York or San Francisco.

According to the Boston Globe, Ptown is struggling with the flip side of the usual discrimination problems as well; gay residents are accused of slurring straight residents by calling them "breeders" and accosting them for signing an anti-gay marriage petition. The names of the 43 Ptown residents who signed were published online by knowthyneighbor.com.

This was the cause of a fracas between Ptown local Yvonne Cabral and Provincetown Magazine publisher Rick Hines last Friday. Before we give you possibly the best description of the lead-up to a fight ever, let's just say that we think everyone should get along, regardless of sexual orientation, and perhaps a vacation town is a good place to start relaxing about life in general.

Anyway, the Globe set the scene before Hines accosted Cabral:

All parties involved agree that Cabral was shopping and Hines was buying a hotdog when Hines told Cabral that she was a bigot.

Shouldn't tasty street food help us overcome our differences?

[Image via darlingdee79/Flickr]

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Provincetown: Sal's Not the Place

Part of our job is to protect you, the unsuspecting traveler, from B.S.: Overhyped destinations, crummy food, and cramped hotels are no fun, and we suffer so you don't have to. One of the problems that we had in Provincetown was with the restaurants. Because of the rapid turnover of visitors, there's not much reason to improve the quality of the food or the service if repeat customers aren't an issue.

That said, we should place the blame squarely on our own shoulders for the dreadful meal we had at Sal's Place, on the water by Commercial Street in Provincetown's West End. We ignored our travel instincts, seduced by the promise of eating tasty Italian food al fresco by the water.

Sadly, none of those things would come to fruition. Spotting an empty table right by the ocean on the balcony, a large coughing man wearing a stained apron told us it was already claimed. Presumably, this was Sal himself, and it occurs to us now that he bore more than a passing resemblance to Barth from You Can't Do That on Television. It didn't escape our notice that our dream table sat empty the rest of the night.

Not that it would have mattered; Sal's overpriced home-style Southern Italian cooking was as bland as it could be. Linguine with clams was flavored with butter alone--there wasn't even garlic--and the spaghetti with tomatoes and mushrooms tasted suspiciously like Prego.

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Provincetown: Dune Shack Keeps Sailors Entertained During Long Months on Vacation

Buying gifts for the folks back home in a beach town can be a real chore. Between seeing the same lobster-shaped oven mitts everywhere or fighting your way through the hoi polloi just to find that perfect tacky t-shirt, that gift shopping gets same-y faster than a redhead gets a sunburn. Happily, one store in Provincetown is an antidote to such homogenization: The Dune Shack.

Located slightly West of the ferry pier in the center of town, the Dune Shack has all sorts of unique collectibles and good gifts, including aquatic creature-based tchotchkes that are a bit more surreal than the average stuff. We came home with a sperm whale bottle opener, for example, although we were mightily tempted by the one shaped like a frighteningly realistic lobster claw. The store also sells scrimshaw made by local artists,  so head on over there for all your whalebone art needs.

[Image via JollyRoger05/Flickr]

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Provincetown: Spiritus Slices the Competition

One of the things we quickly discovered in Provincetown was that arguments about the quality of the food in town are a favorite pastime among repeat visitors and year-round residents alike. Countless restaurants that received glowing praise from one person would then be panned by another--except Spiritus Pizza, which seems to be universally loved. It's even got a web cam, just like the inimitable Shake Shack!  

Open since 1971, Spiritus only gets busier at the night drags on, and on weekends the police will arrive to direct traffic in front after midnight. Despite a crush of people ordering slices and whole pies, you won't have to wait long for a fresh piece. We recommend the pepperoni, which is greasy enough to soak up any alcohol but tastier than that on the average pie. Milkshakes and ice cream are also available, thankfully in a separate line. You'll get no arguments from us about the tastiness of this part of the Provincetown culinary scene.

[Image via Marty Pinker/Flickr]  

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Provincetown: Inspectah Deck at the Land's End Inn

If you want to stay somewhere snazzy in Provincetown--and you don't have your heart set on a pool, like we often do--you're not going to do much better than the Land's End Inn. Located all the way at Provincetown's west end, the Inn sits atop a hill overlooking the tip of Cape Cod.

Rooms are less modern than the Brass Key--instead of TV, you get a wraparound view of the Cape--but many come with large outdoor balconies. The room that we sampled  (itself decorated in a slightly fussy New England style), the Library, came replete with early editions of Gulliver's Travels. The staff is also happy to oversee your dining options in town, although the Inn itself would be greatly improved by the addition of a restaurant of its own.  

A tip: While the walk to the center of town to the Land's End is doable, schlepping your bags is not recommended, as that last trek up the hill is a doozy. Considering how disheveled we looked when we arrived, it was lucky the staff didn't grab pitchforks and torches before running us off the property. Rooms start at about $265 in the High Season.

[Image via YuanChung/Flickr]

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Provincetown: Bear Week Extravaganza!

Provincetown is often described at "New England's gay mecca". We're not sure what a gay mecca is, exactly, but we can report that many of the businesses are gay-owned or operated, and many (but not all) of the tourists there are gay. We still saw plenty of families and straight couples--getting overcharged at a fried fish restaurant knows no bounds of sexual orientation--but ultimately, it's simply a beach town where you're likely to see a drag queen/Cher impersonator whizzing down the main drag of Commercial street on a Razor scooter.

We had the added bonus of being in Provincetown for the start of Provincetown Bear Week 2006. (There did seem to be a lot of Ironworkers on the ferry!) Bears are gay men who embrace a more natural look--less waxing and more belly--though the definition of a bear tends to be quite broad (and we kept asking).

Bear Week will continue through the 15th, though events that you've already missed include Woof on the Wharf, the Bear-B-Que, and Leather and Chrome Night. If you arrive this weekend, you may still catch the Underbear Party on Saturday night. It was all a hell of a lot more interesting than being in Vegas during an accountant's convention, that's for sure.

[Image via Kate Sullivan]

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Provincetown: Ducking Skeeters at the Brass Key

Your humble editor spent last weekend at the tippity tip of Cape Cod, in Provincetown, Massachusetts. What follows is the first of several entries on Ptown, as just about everyone there calls it.

What you need to know about the Brass Key Guesthouse: It has a hot tub and a pool, unlike any other hotel in Provincetown. This is crucial, as the mosquitoes at the beach in Provincetown (which is rather distant from Provincetown proper, and requires a $12 RT shuttle to visit) are particularly vicious this season, thanks to a wet spring. Yes, you have to bring bug spray to the beach there--hence our love of the Brass Key's pool.

The Guesthouse itself is divided up inro different properties, some larger (and more expensive) than others, depending on size and amenities. Rooms, all thoughtfully outfitted, feature flat-screen TV/DVD players and are decorated in a restrained Cape Cod beach house style; some have fireplaces or private balconies overlooking the pool. We found the complimentary wine and cheese hour to be livelier than the usual staid run-back-to-your-room with a stolen bottle of wine affair. Rooms start at $195 a night during the high season.