Sometimes You Want to Go......

"Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,

and they're always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see,

our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows

Your name."

---Gary Portnoy

Most people have a special place they like to go, where they walk in and voices rise up to greet them and whatever regular drink or snack they usually order magically appears. For some it's a coffee shop or a café. Others like something a little stronger. While we are lucky here in town to have so many places to go (La Sirena Café, Maddie's, The Ripper, The Driftwood) there is one place that just screams local and yet is happy to see tourists too. The Barnacle. A good friend of mine, and a "True ‘Header" Chris Brown tells me that it was named that because it clung so tightly to the rocks. It's still hanging on, even with the storm that refuses to end battering away at the windows.

(Photo courtesy of The Barnacle/Facebook)

If you haven't seen the video by now, get yourself on to YouTube and check this place out. Wait, never mind that. GO there, right now. Experience it live. It is the place to be in a storm. Or any other time for that matter. It's local, and it's perfect. The food is terrific, but even if it weren't, the people are what make this place so off-the-hook awesome. Like its namesake, it clings to the rocks, refusing to give way, year after year. It started out as a small take-out clam shack, and now it's a small clam shack with tables and barstools, and it serves up drinks, seafood, and friendship. What could be better? Despite having lived here for more than 45 years, I had never been to the Barnacle during a storm, so when last week's winter weather was forecast, I made a plan to get some work done, because journalism is my life, and have a nice liquid lunch while I was at it. Fortunately, Miss Mandy G, an awesome mom and friend, is a regular and made sure I was treated like one as well.

High tide was posted as happening at 11:15 am last Friday, just in time for lunch, so I got there a little early. I knew enough to park a block or so away because while those waves are wicked to watch, my 10-year-old Toyota is not an ocean-going vessel. Jimmy the bartender, who is known for making a bodacious Bloody Mary as well as his ability to hop over the bar and into the dining room, welcomed me. When I asked if this was the worst he had seen for storms, the answer was a firm "Not even close." Jimmy remembered the "No Name" storm of 1991 as being the worst he had seen. As soon as the doors opened, as if on cue, "the regular crowd shuffled in" just like in the Billy Joel song, "Piano Man." The best part of the Barnacle is, without a doubt, the people.  Most have been coming for years. My friend was greeted warmly by everyone but so were total strangers who somehow just wandered in out of the rain.

Jay, the current owner, informed me that his family had owned it for decades and it was just part of his life, being there during good weather and bad. It's something the regulars and many others, have come to expect. If there is a storm coming, heading down to the Barnacle is a Marblehead tradition. While I was having lunch and marveling at the churning sea and the wind, I glanced out to the deck and saw a lone cameraman from a Boston news station, filming Mother Nature's tantrum. I raised my glass to him and toasted all the reporters out in this mess, calling upon the spirit of Boston media legend Shelby Scott, who stood her ground, much like the Barnacle, through every wave of ocean fury.

It's good to have traditions, especially when it's the deep dark of a winter's day and the sea is hitting the windows. It's then that we can gather together for a meal, a wee bit of whiskey, and a good time. While the waves were bigger and better the day after I went to the Barnacle, it doesn't matter. Winter weather will be back, knock-knock-knocking on the deck of this extraordinary place and I will be back as well. The ocean will eventually calm down, the sailboats will return to the harbor and yet another summer season will be here before we know it.  In the meantime, if it's going to be ugly outside, with snow and rain, belly up to the Barnacle bar and tuck yourself in for the ride. See you there. Slainte!