I live on the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We still have a drive-in movie theatre that also functions as a giant flea market in the summers. Our 2020 Nauset High School graduates are going to have their commencement at the drive-in this month so they can celebrate and practice social distancing!
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We still have a drive-in movie theatre
Which town is that in? (Wellfleet? or maybe a little further up, but still well before Orleans? And is the turn-off directly from Rte 6? Iirc, you could see the screen from the highway, but at some distance?) I lived in Provincetown between 1970 and early1978, and remember going to one thereabouts back then. (Though I have no memory of what I ever saw there - I think it must not have been first-run even then? I do remember specific movies I saw in Provincetown and Hyannis at the time…)
I want to say it had shut down a year or two before we moved back to NYC (though if so, apparently not permanently), but it’s also quite possible I’m misremembering and we had just stopped going to it… That was a long time ago, and I was not quite 14 when we moved; a little too old to think sitting in the car with my mother and older brother for a couple of hours was Great Fun, and not yet old enough to have “other reasons” for wanting (much less being able) to go somewhere where you had an excuse to, er, sit in a car with a friend (or three), for a couple of hours, in the dark…
(The Race Point beach parking lot was popular in town, but the cops did occasionally swing by and roust the teenagers sitting and, er, looking out at the ocean - yeah, that’s was it - after dark…
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<------ prescient. And I’m tired of having all my good ideas stolen.
From a UK perspective it seems to me that the restaurant casualty list here is likely to be enormous. And the worst thing about it is that the garbage chains are far more likely to survive than the independents. Thus the vast majority of MaccyD’s will reopen and survive whilst a large minority of independent operators will not. I do appreciate, of course, that a whole bunch of independents selling garbage to the unfortunates ( bottom end fried chicken shops etc) will also get obliterated thus there is no loss. My concern is for those that were doing worthwhile stuff on tight margins and who do not have the cash reserves to survive more than a few months without any meaningful income. That describes the majority in the sector.
My current expectation is that at least half of my preferred restaurants will get hammered. It’s so very disappointing.
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Probably the same in the US. One thing to think about (if you are someone who eats out a lot) is whether you shouldn’t concentrate on the places you really love (assuming that they re-open, of course). We used to go to a couple of dozen restaurants for variety, but even for take-out, we’re sticking with a few faves.
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The Wellfleet Drive-In Theatre is alive and well. On Rte. 6 just after Eastham going towards Provincetown. The Nauset High School class of 2020 will have their graduation ceremony there this month because of the need for social distancing. During daylight hours in spring, summer and fall there is a thriving flea market besides the movies at night. At Halloween they have a trick or trunk event for local kids since we don’t have sidewalks or streetlights. So - it’s a great local resource.
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Interesting about Nauset Regional’s graduation, but I guess it makes sense in terms of parking, if nothing else. I only saw Nauset’s campus once or twice on some sort of middle-school trips or another (back then, Provincetown still had its own HS, so it was only vaguely on our radar) and my memory is that it was pretty big. But even if they held the graduation itself on a football field, the social distancing logistics of parking and spectating would be difficult, to say the least.
And now that you’ve mentioned it a couple of times, I think I might remember the lot being used for a flea market even back then (but probably only during the then-shorter “season”), but I also (still) at least think I remember that it had stopped showing movies a year or two before we left. But I could be making those memories up, it’s been a lo-ong time… (My sister-in-law is “from” Provincetown so she and my brother went to visit her parents regularly for years, but I only went back once, a long time after we’d moved away and that was a very long time ago now…)
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^ This. My husband and I made the very same decision. We’d particularly miss two owner/family operated places in our community, so we decided to concentrate on them to help them get by.
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Almost all of our “regular” restaurants are completely closed. We’ve swapped our weekly “restaurant night” for “delivery night”. Now, there are many takeaway only places that deliver to our address and advertise on the UK’s usual websites (about 100). But we’ve restricted our choice to those which usually operate as restaurants and are trying to keep going and, indeed, compete, with the takeaway crowd. To my mind, these are the ones that deserve support in these times. We’ve eaten some decent food in the last eight weeks - but not generally of the standard of places we’d go to regularly. There has been one, however, that I think we’ll add to our list.
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I’ve found this time to be a very interesting “experiment” with restaurants. Some of my normally favorite restaurants I have gotten take out from and their take out has sucked. Several have created new limited menu’s at lower price points, but the quality of the food has been awful. Then I’ve tried some new places just “because” and I’ve found some gems under normal circumstances I probably would have never tried.
Two of the sucky ones are personal friends of mine, one of which I had a financial interest in at one time. I won’t do take out from them again, I will return once they re-open but I won’t do take out again.
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Like the Ministry of Silly Walks.
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Ah, yes, the good old days when silly walks were nationalised and directly controlled by the UK government through the Ministry. There were many of us who warned against de-nationalisation and, in particular, the liberalisation of the whole walking market. I fear for the future of silly walks now the UK has left the protective overcoat of the European Union. It can only lead to a lessening of those international walking standards and will put us out of step with our neighbours.
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A monumental response.
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I’m probably the only person in this forum who had to run a search for the Ministry of Silly Walks…but if not…
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And now for something not that completely different:
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Moving on from walking:
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Thanks for the link to the biting sarcasm and humor. I had not seen it in years and was happy to see it again. Did you enjoy it?
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Maybe this idea from Amsterdam?
For reasons I don’t understand, the link I’ve posted to the BBC video isnt showing, . But here’s a link to another news site which tells the story. If you can access the BBC directly, you’ll be able to see the project and the interview with the chef.
This is the Asbury Biergarten and Food Hall, Asbury Park NJ. Who knew when they set these up to be able to serve into the winter they were ahead of the pandemic curve. I’ve never been to the Biergarten but maybe @CurlzNJ or @Roro1831 have as they are locals and may have some thoughts.
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Or maybe this would work.
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