Provincetown, the speck at the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, has been a much sought-after destination for over 400 years now.  Ever since the English Pilgrims sailed there on the Mayflower and settled, this rather idyllic spot has become a haven for so many different folk from around the globe.

Following the American Revolution, Provincetown grew rapidly as a fishing and whaling center. The population was bolstered by numerous Portuguese sailors, many of whom were from the Azores, and settled in Provincetown after being hired to work on US ships. By the 1890s, Provincetown was booming and began to develop a resident population of writers and artists, as well as a summer tourist industry. 

This list of artists and writers who would come to call this place home  and create an artist colony over the years is a staggering, impressive who’s who, including Tennessee Williams, Mary Oliver, Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, Eugene O’Neill, Norman Mailer, Robert Motherwell….. the list seems endless.  However, there was one very notable immigrant who had no aspirations to write and or paint.  He just wanted to cook.  His name was Anthony Bourdain, known to the locals as Tony.

He arrived in Provincetown in 1975 at the age of just 19, having just dropped out Vassar College after just two years, and he started work as the lowest kitchen help in The Lobster Pot.  This one summer would shape the course of his life.   As they say in the movies, this is history, and years later, he would go on to be a world-famous chef 

Tony, directed by Canadian filmmaker  Matt Johnson and shot on location last summer, is a wonderful, uplifting story that is a love song to Bourdain but  also to Provincetown itself. 

After the Portuguese and the artists had discovered the town, the ‘gays’ turned up in droves….in jest we say to re-decorate the place …..Bourdain was not one of our tribe, but we love how his legacy here helped make this better for those of us who call it home.  Or are just passing through.