Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Newport. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Newport. Sort by date Show all posts

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Advice for visiting Newport for the first time...

 

 Dear Muffy,

Could you and members of the community please advise me on visiting Newport for the first time? Many thanks!


 

Friday, July 14, 2017

New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder is a quintessential New England food, along with (to quote Judd Hale) baked beans, codfish, lobsters, maple syrup, jonnycake, and apple pie.
Who makes the best clam chowder?   Traditional clam chowder tastes best using fresh, local ingredients.  It can be served on the dock or at a wedding.  Or, at a wedding on the dock.  This question can elicit not only the digging up of old recipes, but a weekend-long road trip to taste samples first hand.
New Englanders are always arguing with each other and with outsiders as to the proper ingredients and/or correct preparation techniques. 
- Judd Hale

Thursday, May 4, 2023

My Father's Shirts

Father in Tweed Jacket and Madras, at the Home of Senator Claiborne Pell, Newport, Rhode Island, Mid-1960s. All Photos from the Family Archives
Where did I get my appreciation for a certain kind of shirt?  Probably from my father.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Favorite Clothing Shops and Great Places to Eat Afterwards

J. Press, 380 Madison Avenue, New York City - All Photos by Salt Water New England.

An email from Chuck Ramsay:

I enjoyed your post on your favorite restaurants.  It made me ruminate on my favorite clothing shops and how they are in close proximity to some of my favorite eating establishments.  I thought I would run them by you.

1) J. Press (Cambridge, MA) is nothing short of Mecca.  I can stay for hours soaking up the history.  Then go one street over to John Harvard’s Brewhouse for great beer selection and good food.

Cambridge's J. Press

2) I grew up close by Eljos (Charlottesville, VA), and spent much time as a kid gawking at the window displays.  It has moved from the UVA Corner, but not too far.  Go to The Corner, then to The Virginian (it’s been there so long I’m sure Jefferson raised a grog or two there).

3) Alvin-Dennis (Lexington, VA) is next door to the beautiful Washington & Lee campus, another childhood haunt.  Then go two blocks to The Palms, a Lexington institution.

4) At  J. Press (New York City), I bought my first blue ocbd w/flap pocket.  Then take a cab to P.J. Clarke’s Bar on 55th with great food and even greater ambiance. [Link to entry]

5) Murray’s (Nantucket) is a pilgrimage of sorts for me.  Then walk over to Brotherhood of Thieves on Broad St., one of my all time favorites, with great sandwiches.

The Author's Photo

6) I love The Admiral’s Buttons (Camden, ME).  Then go around the corner to The Waterfront Restaurant on the deck for lobster, or up the street to Cappys for amazing chowder and a cold Geary’s.

Cappy's Chowder House

7) The Holmes Store (Northeast Harbor, ME) is a nice shop in one of my favorite coastal Maine villages.  Then walk down Main St. to Colonel’s Restaurant for fresh Maine seafood.

8) George Dean’s (Athens, GA) is the quintessential college shop, one block from U of GA campus.  Then walk across the street to The Grill, an Athens institution.

9) Landry’s (Oxford, MS) is cool shop near Ole Miss.  Then go one door down to Square Books and browse, and finally a couple of more down to City Grocery, a legendary Oxford watering hole with outstanding food

10) Grady Ervin & Co (Charleston, SC) is in one of my favorite cities.  Then walk over to Hank’s Seafood or take a short ride to Sullivan’s Island and eat at Poe’s Tavern, with great burgers followed by a walk on the beach.

11) Laurance Clothing (Annapolis, MD) and McGarvey's Saloon & Oyster Bar.  Awesome. I can't wait to go back and spend more time walking around Annapolis and the harbor and sample a few more pubs.

12)  F.L.Woods (Marblehead, MA) is a great shop and The Barnacle has the best chowder I have had outside of Maine. Beautiful town and harbor.

The Barnacle in Marblehead, MA
Oh well, at the moment, I can only dream of being in one of these venerable establishments browsing and then over for a great meal.

Cheers, Chuck Ramsay, Murfreesboro, TN



Old School Prep left this comment, and I thought I would add some of my own pictures and copy it here.

I was very impressed by Chuck Ramsay's interesting list of top notch Prep/Trad clothing stores and nearby noteworthy eateries. I would like to offer two more of each to make the list an even dozen.

13) J. Press (New Haven, CT) is the genesis of it all. It is conveniently located near the beautiful Yale campus and a short walk to Louis Lunch for a wonderful luncheon fare.

J. Press, York Street, New Haven. RIP

14) J. Press (Washington, DC), although it lacks the traditional ambiance of the Cambridge and New Haven stores, it is an oasis of Preppy clothing in our nation's capital and a short jaunt from the Old Ebbitt Grill for a hearty lunch of oysters and fine Kentucky Bourbon or other great food choices.

Washington, D.C.


To these, add:

15) Royal Male (Newport, RI) has one of the best and most unique collections of wonderful clothes, mostly from the UK and Europe,  hand curated by the one-and-only Etienne.  Then, get some chowder at The Black Pearl.

Royal Male

16) Andover Shop (Cambridge, MA) and Charlies Kitchen.

Andover Shop

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Ferd Week: Ferd on Muffy

 Ferd Week continues with a comment left by Ferd, September, 2010.  Redacted for civility.  

First, let me say that I am uncertain how I found your blog. In all events, after skimming so of your posts I am compelled to write. Prep is not about clothing, or schools, or cars, or dogs, or cocktails. It is an attitude. It is wiser, wealthier, more insular. It is oblivious to much of what the remainder of the world considers vital. It is bored. It is aloof. It is ultra cool. It doesn't exist south of Newport or west of Williamstown. If you are writing about it, you aren't it. If you went to an Ivy League school or Andover, Exeter or Choate after 1980, you aren't it. If you use the word Preppy, you aren't it. And, most importantly, if you speak about, write about and rank clothing, you aren't it. Caring about clothing is vulgar. True Prep wears whatever his grandfather left in the closet at the house in Marblehead. My God, woman, are you really suggesting that a True Prep would be caught dead in something from Barbour? Isn't Barbour the company that dresses all those [*****] real estate executives in New York racing for their train in the rain on 43rd street? True Prep wears their son's hockey jacket from St. Marks in the rain or doesn't go out in the rain. And Jesus, Ralph Lauren? Are you high? He is, well, [*****]. Don't [****] wear his shirts? All in all, you are silly and uninformed. 

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Schoolboy Scarves


Schoolboy scarves, also called academic scarves and university scarves, are a traditional way for people to show associations with specific academic institutions.  These scarves are typically made of a fine, very high-quality, medium or heavyweight Saxony wool.  Schoolboy scarves have two or more colors, and are traditionally 6 feet long.

Scarves are one of the oldest ways people used clothing to show alliances. Records show examples of scarves used for rank during the Qin dynasty around 220 BC.  By the 17th century, the tradition had taken hold at some of the most distinguished universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The stripes were a later addition, which came around 1939 when manufacturer Luke Eyres originated the design as a way to reuse long wool strips during a fabric shortage.  

Friday, July 22, 2022

Dogs Welcome

Muffy Aldrich in Turnbull & Asser, New York
When visiting a community, you know in a minute if dogs are welcome.  Stores have canine greeters.  Water bowls are left outside.  People carry biscuits in their pocket.  Signs may make it more clear.  L.L. Bean even has an outside spigot and bowl in Freeport.

In some summer communities, dogs are better known than their owners.   They are the perfect ambassadors.  When walking our young Golden Retriever on the Vineyard, we encountered more than one person who recognized the breeder, asking some variation of "that's not a Cloverdale dog, is it?"

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

April in Newport

From the Archives of Salt Water New England

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Newport in April

Photos by Salt Water New England

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

USA Today: 11 charming New England coastal towns

A reader sent in this list from yesterday's USA Today on 11 charming New England coastal towns.

  • Bar Harbor, Maine
  • Camden, Maine
  • Kennebunkport, Maine
  • Rye, New Hampshire
  • Portsmouth, New Hampshire
  • Newburyport, Massachusetts
  • Chatham, Massachusetts
  • Newport, Rhode Island
  • Narragansett, Rhode Island

  • Mystic, Connecticut
  • Madison, Connecticut

If you could add one town and take one away, which would you do?

(https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2021/09/07/new-england-vacations-11-charming-coastal-towns-and-villages/5649827001/

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Apple Pie For Breakfast

Photos by Salt Water New England.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. 
- Attributed to E.B. White

Monday, March 25, 2024

Freeport Watch: Sea Bags

Photos by Salt Water New England
Sea Bags have exploded in popularity recently, with stores in Portland, Kennebunkport, Boothbay Harbor, Camden, Rockland, Bar Harbor;  the North Shore and South Shore of Boston, the Cape, the Vineyard; Watch Hill, Newport; Florida; California; the mid-Atlantic; Burlington, Vermont for sailing on Lake Champlain; and along the Great Lakes in Michigan.  But they are still all cut, assembled, and hand-stitched in Maine.

While there are a great number of new designs they have added, I prefer their original approach  – what is now called "vintage" – which are bags made from recycled sails.  (Bring in your old sails, where they'll be weighed and you'll be paid.  And you'll get a bag made out of your sails.)

They're solidly made and have natural colored hand-spliced rope handles which wrap around the entire bag for durability.  The Freeport, Maine store, shown here, is a pleasure to visit and the people exceptionally nice.
  

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Newport in May

Photo by Salt Water New England

Sunday, March 20, 2022

The Waters of Newport in April…

Photos by Salt Water New England

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Ferd Week: Can you still be preppy if you......"

Ferd Week continues with a comment left by Ferd, April, 2011, on the post, "Can you still be preppy if you......"

Jet ski and snow board instead of sail and ski?

No. Jet Skis make too much noise to be preppy. Snow boarding is vulgar. By the way, if you sail anywhere other than off the coast of Rhode Island, Maine or Massachusetts (or from Newport to Bermuda) you are not preppy. If you ski anywhere other than Maine and New Hampshire, you are not preppy. (West Side of New York City regarding Vermont, take note.)


Vacation at theme parks?

Is Acadia National Park count as a theme park? Of course not. True prep doesn't even know where Florida is.


Vacation on cruise ships?

Why would you go to someone else's boat to vacation when you can go to your own boat? Ridiculous inquiry.


Put chemicals/fertilizers/dyed mulch on your lawn?

Honestly, very few true preps have lawns, per se. If there is something worth mowing, that is done by the husband with a 37 year old push mower. Believe me, he is not thinking about fertilizer.


Get your suits at Jos. A Banks?

True Prep doesn't 'get' suits anywhere. I have not heard of Jos. A Banks, but I suspect it is a chain store. Boys from St. Paul's do not shop. Suits are either handed down or purchased by their mother and then kept for 39 years.


Eat family dinners at local chain restaurant?

Prep parents and prep children, when they are at the family home at the same time (which is rarely) never eat together. Period. Except sometimes at Christmas.


Drive a car that gets less than 15 miles per gallon?

Yes. Most preps drive only two or three types of cars, the older versions of which do average less than 15 mpg. Examples are my aunt's 1978 Volvo, my brother's 1959 Jaguar and my mother's 1990 Land Rover County. 

 

(For women) Wear more than two kinds of make-up?

Yes. Lip Gloss and soap. Scented soap is make up, isn't it?


Shop at Walmart, Kohl's, Target, Ikea and other box stores?

Yes, actually, this is very prep. Nobody is tight with money like true prep. How do you think they have money for 10 generations? Spending it on Gucci's?


Have kitchens with lots of granite and stainless steel?

Granite belongs in New Hampshire. Enough about this.


Have Louis Vuitton luggage and/or handbags?

Unless these are sold at Eye of the Needle, no.


Get plastic surgery?

Prep women actually want to age. The absolute goal of every prep woman is to be 70 with swept back gray hair and grandchildren at Middlesex. Prep men are born looking 40. Why would we want to change this?


Come from some place other than New England?

Accurately, the question should be: come from a place other than Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and a few zip codes in Rhode Island? Connecticut is full of bleached blond investment banker's wive who drive Geladenwagons and play tennis. Please.


Get all of your antiques from shops and flea markets rather than from family members?

Yes, this is actually very preppy.


Drive a non-European car?

Yes, as long as they are one of the following: 1978 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon; 1983 Ford Bronco II with 29 Nantucket Beach Permit Stickers or 1968 Jeepster with 49 Nantucket Beach Permit Stickers.

Monday, February 19, 2024

L.L. Bean Boat and Tote Bags - The Complete Guide (2024 Edition)

Photos by Salt Water New England
I have received quite a few questions about L.L. Bean Boat and Tote bags.  Here are the top ten, and my answers (and some answers from the community).  

1. What is an L.L. Bean Boat and Tote Bag?

Thursday, February 3, 2022

New England Rope Bracelets

Muffy Aldrich with Rope Bracelet, Newport

The New England rope bracelets are known for their simplicity, toughness, and generally not getting in the way of outdoor activities.  

Originally, kids would put them on, shrink them, and keep them all summer until they absorbed the smells of everywhere they had been.  The season would be over when a parent finally cut off the bracelet.  I like mine a bit larger to slide on and off easily, and worn for hours, not weeks.  

And they can be bought or made.  When I was summer camp support staff on the Maine coast, a camper would often observe what I was wearing at breakfast and he would make me a matching bracelet by lunch. 

I still wear rope bracelets today, including year round.  

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Trinity Church, Newport

Photos by Salt Water New England

 

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Preppy Cars

A Lab is not required.
When the community was asked, "what are preppy cars?", these were the responses.  Photographs are from the archives, unless otherwise noted.   This entry also includes a few cars that might be up for debate.