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Action Geek goes to
Revere Beach, MA '11
Cheryl wanted to go to a Boston area beach for
her birthday, so I did a little research, talked
with my taxi cab customers and came up with
Revere Beach as our Saturday destination.
We took the Mass Pike to 93 North in Boston, aimed
for Rt. 1 and then got totally backed up going over
either the Tobin Bridge or through the Sumner Tunnel
or quite possibly both. After about 30 minutes of
intense traffic, we finally made it to Revere Beach,
found a dream parking space and began our adventure...
Revere Beach is just north of Boston, but if one
squinted their eyes, you could say that you were
on something akin to the Bostonian Riviera.
The beach curves around and is dotted with seedy
little restaurants and bars, overlooked by quasi-
futuristic luxury apartments and the fairly regular
sound of planes flying overhead, departing from
nearby Logan Airport.
The sand was granular. The weather was just right.
The water was cold, but not too unbearable. All in all,
we spent maybe an hour and a half on the beach, building
some sort of sand castle complex, complete with seaweed
for foliage, sand bucket shaped towers and my favorite,
the dug-out pool, canal and tunnel...
The Shipwreck Lounge was calling us.
A white-washed structure just up the street from our
parking space, it's happy-go-lucky tilted letters,
it's inherent seaside craziness was a siren song we
could not resist. Once inside, we were bombarded by
obscure electronic numbers from the 1980s harkening
back to the beat-driven genius of Giorgio Moroder.
There was a sign that told us that there was FREE BBQ
going on every Saturday, but we didn't see any sign of
it until one of the regulars told us to go outside and
around the corner and see either Bob or Greg. I immediately
got a hotdog and some bowtie macaroni salad to go with my
bottle of Bud Light. Cheryl opted for sausage.
The layout of the Shipwreck was your standard square,
with a u-shaped square bar and then a table-ledge type
thing going all the way around so you could sit looking out
at the beach or at a wall filled with photos of the owner
of the bar with The Sopranos or other mob-related folkloric
heroes and celebrities who somehow stumbled across this oasis
of craziness. There was also a dj-area slightly above the
carpeted dance floor area in the center and we could only
imagine how things would get later on as things got dark,
the booze really kicked in and the electronic 80s disco-esque
pulse started driving the liquor-fueled hormones of the
Shipwreck nighttime crowd... Oh, and we were told that we
should stick around because there would be fireworks at 9pm.
(We were there around noon - 1pm or so...)
We broke up our Shipwreck visit with a walk down the beach,
past the overtanned land mammals, the food hawkers offering
cold drinks, ice cold water, hotdogs, etc., the gaggle of
teenagers all speaking french (perhaps on vacation from Quebec)
and a tight squeeze of a parallel parking job where we heard
this woman say "that's why they call them bumpers"...
Needless to say, we found ourselves back at the Shipwreck for
one more beer and scoping out of the place. Despite all of my
seemingly harsh or unkind descriptions of the place, I would
be back here in a heartbeat and am going to try to before
summer 2011 comes to an end. I need to be here at night,
slightly buzzed, jostling with other Shipwreck enthusiasts as
the fireworks set the night sky ablaze.
Shipwreck reviews and info:
- Facebook page - Yelp review
- Uptake review - more photos
examples of Giorgio Moroder music:
- Chase - Night Drive - Baby Blue
- Sylvester - Donna Summer
More journal-ing to come... |
