Over the years, I’ve used my grandfather’s calendar entries to follow him to all kinds of long-closed businesses.
There was Stamford’s beloved Chimney Corner Inn … the Clam Box in Wethersfield, a heavenly-sounding family-owned seafood place … a Red Coach Grill chain restaurant in Framingham, Massachusetts … and the expensive-but-worth-it Carriage House in Westport, just to name a few.
It’s kinda nice to come across a place on his calendars that’s still in operation, under its original name, all these years later.
It’s like a minor connection to his world — and a reminder that, while the retail world is fleeting and capricious, a few businesses do it well enough to really last.
June 6, 1973. The Yanks, winners today over Texas, are only a half-game back.
New Hampshire has only 13 miles of coastline (18 by some measurements), so I figured Amarante’s had to be one of a relative few restaurants lucky enough to nestle in. Must be some of the state’s most expensive real estate, I figured. Did the food match the view?
I was totally off the mark, of course. “N.H.,” in this case, meant New Haven, just up the coast from my grandparents, a city they’d visited when my Aunt Elaine went to school at what was then Southern Connecticut State College.
And it was my Aunt Elaine they were once again meeting there — this time, I’m guessing, to scout out the potential site of a wedding reception.
Amarante’s, unlike the places I listed above, isn’t a restaurant. It’s a wedding and function hall overlooking the ocean, in the Morris Cove area on the east side of the city’s harbor.
Apparently, the place did well enough at the June 6 visit to win over my family and get the gig.
August 17 and 18, 1973. Hope they remembered the napkins.
Serpe Bros., the tuxedo shop mentioned in my grandpa’s August 17 entry, is still in business on Bedford Avenue in Stamford.
And Amarante’s, now known as Amarante’s Sea Cliff, is still serving up chicken piccata and “Brick House” to a whole new generation of southern Connecticut brides and grooms after more than 50 years.
I’ve not been there myself, so I couldn’t endorse the place, but they must be doing something right. It takes some degree of skill to keep any service business going that long, no matter how good the location.
I’ve wondered before about how much, or how little, my grandfather would recognize if he were able to visit his old stomping grounds today.
Change is inevitable — and often for the better. But it’s still kinda cool to find out about a place he’d know, and a place where he (presumably) had a good time while marking a major family event.
Although I’ve never been to Amarante’s, I can sort of imagine my grandfather looking out across New Haven harbor in his rented gladrags, munching a plate of cheese and crackers, and smiling.
If in fact the June 6 meeting at Amarante’s was to reserve the place, I’m amazed that they had an opening on a summer Saturday only 2 1/2 months out. Most of the young folks I know nowadays reserve their wedding reception site a year or more in advance! And sometimes schedule the wedding based on availability of their chosen reception site.
Somewhere there’s a great picture of your weary grandfather, after everyone had left this grand event, sitting at his table in his tux writing the check! Be grateful you have sons!
Yeah, I had the same thought — that’s not a long window of time. Maybe Amarante’s did restaurant meals as well as receptions, and they were meeting for a dinner out?
I have never seen that picture, but would love to, if it ever turns up.
Seeing how much they sometimes crammed into one day’s space … how big are those rectangles on the calendar?
Yvonne
Each days was 1 1/2″ wide, 2″ tall. Calendar was tacked vertically on the family bulletin board.
Believe it or not, the June 6 meeting did have to do with reserving the place for our wedding reception. Uncle Steve & I may have made a tentative reservation before then, but this was the final decision. We kind of moved at the last minute because Steve found he had a job at Penn State and we would be moving at the end of August. Amarante’s really was a lovely setting ,especially considering we hadn’t reserved a year in advance!
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