Thompson's Clam Bar

OK, I'm posting a little nostalgia today, a glance a few decades back to the 60s and later, remembering a place on Cape Cod I knew well. And it all came about because of a chore I finally took on this morning.

Today I spent a few hours cleaning and straightening my den/office, a task I had put off for far too long. For some unexplained reason it had become so cluttered that trying to enter or walk around in this rather small room was actually dangerous. And at my age no trip and fall would be welcome. So, I cleaned it all up...well, mostly. 

Part of the task involved removing several storage boxes filled with papers, photos, letters, and piles of other stuff and carting them off to the living room where I hope to go through them while listening to music or watching meaningless shows on TV.  I doubt if Diane is real happy with five boxes stacked up in the living room, but she agreed to my plan so long as I carry it out, as we used to say in the Navy, expeditiously.

Among the first items I came across was a 1981 menu from a restaurant called Thompson's Clam Bar. For 25 years Diane and I lived just a block away from Thompson's, a famous eatery located in Harwich Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Actually, Thompson's closed in 1996, so I suppose we lived nearby for only about 18 years. Diane and I sold our home in the fall of 2003 and eventually moved to sunny Florida in February 2004. 

The Clam Bar was open for only 10 to 12 weeks each summer but seemed always to be filled with locals and tourists. Because it was on the water, just inside the harbor entrance, boats could tie up to the restaurant, permitting the sailors to order meals and be served right on their boats. I actually did this a couple of times back in the 60s thanks to several friends who owned boats and let me crew for them. (Just an aside...it's much better to have boat-owning friends than to actually own a boat into which you must pour large amounts of cash every year. The friends are always looking for others to crew for them -- all the benefits, none of the costs.)

The below photo, definitely vintage and probably from the 60s, shows a few boats tied up at the Clam Bar.

As you can see, it was not a small restaurant. Here's a photo showing a typical crowd enjoying Thompson's excellent seafood:

Most of the servers were college kids, spending their summer on Cape Cod and making a few bucks to help with tuition and room and board. As I recall, Thompson's had facilities to house these young folks so they could actually afford to spend a summer on the Cape. When I turned 19 my folks moved from Larchmont, New York to Chatham, a town only about four or five miles from Thompson's. During my Naval Academy summers -- we usually had only about a month's leave -- I actually dated a few of the young ladies who worked at the Clam Bar. I also had access to a car, which was a definite plus. They were a fun group, always ready to party hearty.

I've included all four pages of the Clam Bar's menu. The cover page is an aerial photograph of Wychmere Harbor, showing the Clam Bar (marked with a white circle). I also circled our home (blue circle) where we brought up our four children. 

As you can see by the menu, in 1981 Thompson's opened for the season on June 17. It closed for the season that year on my birthday, September 13. Living so close to Thomason's was a joy. Diane and I would often walk down to the Clam Bar just to sample a few littleneck clams and maybe sip a glass of white wine. Occasionally, we'd even splurge and enjoy a complete meal. 

As you can also see in the photograph, Wychmere Harbor was almost a perfect circle. In fact, back in the late 19th and early 20th century it was not a harbor but a racetrack where the locals would compete racing their horses. Years later, the outer harbor was dredged giving us the beautiful body of water we have today. A brief history of the harbor and the Thompson Brothers' involvement is provided on the back of the menu, below. Click on the photo to view a readable page.

I think the menu itself -- two pages from 43 years ago (1981) -- might interest those who yearn for less costly meals. Just keep in mind, it might have cost less for a good meal in 1981, but for most folks, their income was also much lower. And I think I can truthfully say that I nver had a bad meal at Thompson's Clam Bar. Here's the menu:

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Thompson’s Clam Bar was one of those places that I'll always remember and always miss. Here's a photo of Wychmere Harbor I took a few years ago, after the Clam Bar closed. The Clam Bar is the long building in the background, now part of a private club.

As a final touch, here's a link to their advertising jingle. Everyone who lived on Cape Cod knew it, and our two girls would sing it often enough.

Thompson's Clam Bar jingle - YouTube

Don't you just love it!

Cape Cod Memories

Diane and I lived on Cape Cod for 25 years, and raised our four children there before retiring to Florida in 2004. Even before I moved to the Cape, it had long been familiar to me. Indeed, some of my earliest memories include family visits to the Cape when I was just a little guy. Eventually, in the early sixties, my parents decided to settle on Cape Cod in the lovely town of Chatham. I visited them often during my college days and later with Diane and our growing family. And so it was always a special place for me and somewhere I hoped one day to live. When the opportunity arose in 1978, Diane and I decided to make the move from Southern California.

During those 25 years on Cape Cod we lived in the village of Harwich Port, in a big, old, rambling house situated about 100 yards from both Nantucket Sound and Wychmere Harbor. The oldest section of the house was built in the early 19th century, with other rooms added over the years. I often jokingly described our home as "11 one-room houses hammered together" -- actually a fitting description. Despite its age and the frequent problems with which such an old house presented us, it was a wonderful place to live and bring up our children. But once they were grown and on their own, we decided it was time to downsize and head south where we'd never again have to endure another New England winter. 

When I was younger, I enjoyed all four seasons, especially winter, but with age the cold weather began to take its toll on both my body and my psyche. And the thought of shoveling snow just didn't mesh with my retirement plans. Of course our decision to retire to Florida was at least partly influenced by Diane's Florida roots. She is a fifth generation Floridian who willingly and amazingly agreed to live in the cold north until her husband saw the error of his ways. I suppose it was only fair that I should follow her south as she had followed me north.

Our decision to move south at retirement was, however, driven as much by the Cape's high cost of living as by the lure of warm weather. When as a child I first visited Cape Cod back in 1950, it was a very different place, a string of rural, seaside villages much more like the idyllic spot described in the vintage Patti Page song. 

Since those early days the population has grown, the larger towns have become urbanized, and the old conservative Cape Codders have died off, replaced by transplants (like me) seeking the good life. The physical and political landscape of Cape Cod has changed and many of the small towns have sacrificed their charm. But even with the inevitable changes, Cape Cod continued to offer the good life to those who could afford it. Sadly, as the cost of housing and tax rates rose to ever increasing highs, many people found living on Cape Cod to be prohibitively expensive. It certainly affected our decision.

I suppose we were also influenced by the gradual disappearance of so much that for us typified Cape Cod. For example, when we first moved to Harwich Port, Diane and I would often walk to the neighboring Thompson's Clam Bar, and enjoy a cold drink and a plate of littleneck clams, perhaps the tastiest little critters God ever placed in the sea. The Thompson brothers' establishment was a true Cape institution, and anyone who visited the Cape back in those days likely enjoyed a meal at the Clam Bar in Harwich Port, probably because they had heard its ad on local radio and been captivated by the catchy little jingle that every Cape Codder knew by heart. You can listen to the jingle below. Alas, Thompson's Clam Bar no longer exists, but their jingle can still be heard on YouTube.

And now, here we are, visiting Harwich once again, staying in the home of our dear friends, looking out the window at the rain and wind and wishing it were about 30 degrees warmer. Wait a minute...it is 30 degrees warmer, in Florida.