Rob Frydlewicz: Recalling My First Visit to Provincetown, May 23-26, 1980

My first trip to Provincetown was during Memorial Day weekend 1980, a week after my 23rd birthday. I went with a fellow I was dating at the time who I had met in March at the Everard Baths. Gordon was in his early 30's and lived in Poughkeepsie where he managed a Best Western motel.

After work on Friday I took the train up to Poughkeepsie from New York and we drove to the Cape that night. Rather than stay at one of the charming and much livelier guest houses in town, we stayed at a sterile Best Western (Gordon got a discount). It was a bit secluded but at least it was close to the beach.

Although Friday's weather in the City was hot, the early heat wave broke over the weekend and conditions out on the Cape were actually autumnlike.

Two popular dance tunes I remember dancing to at the A-House were Funkytown and Blondie's Call Me. The weekend was also memorable because it was the first time I tried marijuana - but it wasn't a great experience. Rather than smoke it Gordon put the pot in a Pepperidge Farm chocolate sandwhich cookie (which they don't make anymore). After ingesting it I became paranoid and was convinced that two female friends of Gordon's who we went to a lesbian bar with were witches.

Another event I associate with this first visit was the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens in the Pacific Northwest. It monopolized news headlines that entire week - and there was another eruption over the weekend.

The trip back on Monday was trying due to heavy traffic on the only road leading off the Cape. There was another major bottleneck around Hartford. This resulted in Gordon becoming testy and we barely spoke for the rest of the trip. In total the trip took seven hours (1-8:00), twice as long as Friday's stress-free drive to P-town.

Between 1980 and 1995 I vacationed in P-town seven times (the other visits were a lot more fun than my first). Then, beginning in 1996, I took a share out at Fire Island and began spending summer weekends out in the Pines; I haven't been to P-town since.

For more content like this, Rob also has a blog called ZeitGayst

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