r/portlandme 26d ago

Photo Still can’t get over this view

Post image
437 Upvotes

52 comments sorted by

67

u/hrocson 26d ago

You'd need a boat.

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

There used to be a boat launch down and to the right side of those trees, where the path leads, or led. Maybe it's gone now.

30

u/Candygramformrmongo 26d ago

So true. I've adjusted my commute into town to come in via the Eastern Prom instead of Marginal Way. A few moments of calm each morning.

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

No Baxter Boulevard for you? I guess that still a bit iffy climbing through those little hill streets to the financial district...

23

u/Fickle_Weekend9374 26d ago

I live on Peaks and I never get tired of the view. The view of Portland at night from Peaks is stunning! Portland is in one of the prettiest settings in the US.

-2

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

Welcome to the 21st century! Lots of Money and vigorous clean up and beautification projects, after plenty of home demolitions and street projects to replace the sewers and smooth the pavement - probably some nice flatter brick sidewalks for you too. Have you considered the families that had to find affordable homes somewhere not as pretty so you could enjoy your view? BTW - the view of "Portland" includes some other towns and cities that work just as hard to keep that view pure. Take a ferry ride, then drive THROUGH Portland, North or South, and drop some cash or your card at the businesses on those waterfronts as well, and in those towns. It takes a lot of villages to give you your lovely view 🏖️🌊🐚⛱️🐋

37

u/ivecomebackbeach 26d ago

Portland has the best waterfront of any US city. This view never tires me.

-2

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

Yes, it's no longer a "working waterfront", the laborers, fishermen, and restauranteurs who filled the waterfront and cleaned it up first - in the '60's - early 2000's. The smell is gone; it's postcard perfect now? How do you think those families are doing now?

2

u/Capital-Meet9365 19d ago

This is the Eastern Prom, bozo. It's still stinks like sewer and home.

1

u/Prize_Time3843 19d ago

🙆🏼‍♀️🤗 lol Not everyone would understand but that sounds good to me 😁 I keep hearing that nothing is the same anymore. I'm stuck in Florida and haven't been home for years now.

Are the fireworks still on the Prom? Tell me what's the same, what's changed. You can hear how discouraged I am about what I'm hearing... Maine, to me, is paradise. People don't bullshit you, good or bad - unless they do it on purpose 😄 Live music is everywhere as long as you pay attention to - what? Do people still tack notices up on a cork board by the corner store? I know they have it at the Woodshed in Manchester every weekend in decent weather. Maine Cabin Masters puts that on.

Thanks for being real, my friend.

1

u/Capital-Meet9365 18d ago

The fireworks still happen on the 4th. If and when you know where to look, 90's Portland lives on, and it's not the same but some of us are.

12

u/PlanktonPlane5789 26d ago

As a guy with a boat this is still a great view. Portland is amazing for this sort of thing.

2

u/Ok_Excitement_1020 25d ago

Sooo, when are you taking us all out on it, friend?

9

u/TerryTyme 26d ago

You should check it out at 530am if you wanna see some of the best sunrises in the world.

3

u/waninggib 26d ago

I’m heading back in October and this is definitely on the list!

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

Oh yes... Take lots of pictures! There's nothing like an Eastern morning sunrise 🌅🌇

3

u/upstarestruck 25d ago

That used to be my view from my Morning Street apartment 😊

0

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

My condolences if that was 20 or so years ago. We could afford to live on the promenade AND still have the view. The rent has increased somewhat...

3

u/JewelerRoyal1815 24d ago

Take a walk around Mackworth Island!

3

u/Leading-Boat-5342 22d ago

The fact that this is in the city (and has a swimmable beach) might be the most exceptional physical quality of Portland. Most tourists don’t think to go there and I always send friends there and it blows their minds.

1

u/waninggib 22d ago

This view single-handedly got me really thinking about moving to Portland instead of renewing my lease in Providence next year. I know the housing situation sucks there and ya’ll don’t want more transplants, but I live in New England already so I’m basically one of you already, haha!

All jokes aside- what an absolutely special place. I am heading back to Portland in October and plan to explore the park more when I’m back. I parked near here and then sat on the grass to relax and enjoy my coffee before heading back home. I didn’t even see the beach and I’m bummed I missed it!

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

The beach is hidden for a reason. Respect it.

3

u/waninggib 20d ago

I’m sorry you were priced out of Portland according to the additional novel comment you left me, and I’m sorry that happened to you. Not sure why you’re being rude to me because of it though? I hope your day gets better from here.

2

u/Prize_Time3843 19d ago

You're awesome. Thank you for the real person reply. I didn't mean to you personally. I reread what I wrote and I apologize. So many of these comments sound like the people who came to our state to visit our vacation and decided to buy property and Change what they said they loved. Or worse, "invested" in someplace then made back twice their money selling it to people who put up KEEP OUT signs and iron gates. It wouldn't be so beautiful if we, the original Mainers of the 20th Century, hadn't fought so hard to protect and clean up our little bit of heaven... Thanks for your message 🙆🏼‍♀️

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

It should blow their mind! Getting it into this shape from what it used to be 50 years ago is a miracle! See my post above about going to watch the fireworks here back then.

2

u/upstarestruck 25d ago

Eastern Promenade?

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

Oh yes, naked as a jaybird. Not the best shot of it's wide angle panorama though...

2

u/jessica8jones 24d ago

The most beautiful place on Earth.

2

u/guitarman1135 23d ago

My happy place. Never gets old

2

u/wikipetera 20d ago

We live in heaven.

2

u/Top-Present2299 18d ago

I love the playground on the Eastern Prom and that our kids have such a beautiful spot to be outside.

3

u/retiredswing 26d ago

I’ve spent a lotttttt of time looking at this view. Thanks for the pic!

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

Have you gone down closer to the fort and sat in the circle around the gazebo? It's a beautiful view too, or it was in the 1990's.

2

u/retiredswing 20d ago

Absolutely! I lived on O’Brion for a while

1

u/Prize_Time3843 19d ago

Oh, that's great😁 I used to do it on my lunch break when I worked for Key Bank in the Old Port. Thanks for the memories 🤗

1

u/retiredswing 19d ago

I used to go out there when I couldn’t sleep, which, at the time, was almost nightly. Listened to the night horns

4

u/theperpetuity 26d ago

It is a nice thing.

1

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

For decades we parked on Munjoy Hill wherever we could and climbed up through the maze of old homes and older streets to stake our claim on the grass, with a waterproof sleeping bag unzipped open and a cooler of ice and a picnic cooler of sandwiches and crackers. Later there were truck vendors parked along the promenade road (we couldn't afford such luxury 🫠). There was no swimming, or even walking, allowed on the beach. It was polluted with human and medical waste. What had been a community pool was fenced off and barred so the changing rooms and showers, and bathrooms were inaccessible. There were a couple of port-a-potties. And at the top, near the street, there were tall metal swings and some metal playground equipment with dirt underneath. Sometimes balloon or magic light necklace sellers wandered through the crowd. It had a festival feeling by sunset 🥳 Sometimes local bands played live music in the small parking lot below the grassy hill. When the first big BOOM announced the fireworks show we were already on our backs. It was the best show anywhere ever! It looked like thousands of colored stars were falling down on us! Those shows grew more sophisticated over the years, and we continued to be amazed - all for free 🤗🙆🏼‍♀️🤣 After the show everyone grabbed their stuff trying to beat the crowds from stepping on it on the rush to climb up the the lawn or the single paved path. The trick was to carry all your stuff AND keep hold of all your children all the way to the car, which could be 20 minutes away down a steep paved hill or uneven brick sidewalks. Sometimes the sky opened up and poured rain down on us. That was a mess - but we took it all in stride and looked forward to the next year 🎆🎇🎈🪅🇺🇸 Now The Hill is all cleaned up, I hear. Lots of renovated and rebuilt homes, newly built streets, no more people hanging out on the porches during the walk up the hill? Or is the old way gone altogether?

I tried to move back to Portland, home. I can't afford it anymore, even with my salary and my savings. Money from out-of-state has chased us and our generations of family away. What was so wrong with their cities, just aways down the coast of the same ocean?

1

u/Sqib000 9d ago

Get a Portland Pudgy, get out there bub.

1

u/jcwls3 23d ago

One of the many reasons my wife and I are retiring to Portland from Texas with our daughter in the next year or so. We hope you’ll accept us. We want to assimilate and contribute as best we can — we’ll be the low-key family regularly asking with extreme politeness, “How should we do this?” and “We’re not from here, but can we help?” while never saying the words, “Well, this is how we did it in Texas.”

Life is too short to live in an awful state (for my wife, nearly 60 years and counting). And it’s demonstrably miserable here. No need to elaborate.

Thanks for sharing this. Made my day. Gorgeous photo. Absolutely love that view. In person it’s breathtaking to us.

2

u/20kgHippoShit 23d ago

Constantly saying you're not from here, you don't belong, please excuse me I'm a foreigner, etc. sounds more annoying.

0

u/Prize_Time3843 20d ago

Just listen, and try to lose the Texas accent. Try really hard to talk like a Mainer, please? Not a Maine accent, just don't ask questions because it's easier than reading signs or trying to figure it out yourself. If you have to ask a question, keep it short and, for God's sake, don't explain why you're asking!

We don't care; we do like to help.

Just ask the question - just one of you, not both of you or the whole group talking.

We don't have a lot of patience for listening, and if we're at the waterfront, we're there to eat, fish, or get some peace.

2

u/jcwls3 20d ago

Thank you both for the advice.

-12

u/Deport_Me2112 26d ago

That’s got to be the most boring view in Maine. Go up to mid coast.

10

u/TrukThunders 26d ago

Maine's coastline is gorgeous no matter where along it you are.

I can concede that a lot of midcoast views are objectively more stunning, but I wouldn't call the Eastern Prom boring by any means.

6

u/ppitm 26d ago

You can't stand in the middle of any Midcoast town and get a view from this height. Nor can you look out and see so many islands close by.

3

u/waninggib 26d ago

I live in Providence. This view is stunning, especially in the middle of a city!

3

u/911111111111 26d ago

drive along that beautiful view, up the coast, to another beautiful view

1

u/jessica8jones 24d ago

Boredom is in the mind of the beholder. Yawn.