This past week, I had the opportunity to stay at Sal’s in Provincetown while doing some work for them during their first summer offering these accommodations under the Sleep at Sal’s name. Sleep at Sal’s is a private collection of six waterfront cabins by the team behind Sal’s Place, located on the best part of Commercial Street in the West End. Three of the rental units are located directly above the restaurant, which is a part of Union Wharf, the first and oldest long wharf in Provincetown. Three additional units are located directly next door, and there is essentially no possible way to get closer to the water as high tide comes up onto the stairs that lead down from the deck.
The goal was to create immersive imagery from a stay there that felt lived-in, and to tell the story of both the restaurant and its relationship to these rental units. We wanted to orient anyone who might be visiting for a first time and show the truly unique experience of staying here at Sal’s. I’ll dig into the history of Union Wharf and Sal’s Place a little bit further into this article.
I stayed in the room directly above the restaurant in this photo, which faces out onto Commercial Street in the West End. Each day, I woke up to the sound of gulls and early birds out for their coffee runs. I rode my bike from the jetty all the way out to the Truro town line most mornings, went swimming at Herring Cove, and spent so much time walking around town. In the afternoons, I smelled the focaccia through my windows and watched as the crew at Sal’s got things ready for their 5 pm opening. I worked my way through the menu (the arugula salad, Vongole, and Fra Diavolo are my personal favorites) and took photos until the very end of the night, when everyone sat down for family dinner. Some of us made it to Gifford House, Old Colony, or Spiritus afterwards for drinks, late-night pizza, and soft serve. In between all of that, I filled every waking second just trying to be present in this town that has become like a second home to me over the years.
I even managed to do a bunch of firsts for me, which included seeing the Mary Heaton Vorse house, going for a sunset sail from MacMillan Pier, eating at Relish, walking all the way out to Hatches Harbor from Herring Cove, joining an oyster farm tour with Mermaid Menu to take some photos of the flats, and trudging my way across the sand to Race Point Lighthouse from the beach where I found a very old piece of driftwood small enough to take home with me. I photographed painter Derek Macara in his studio and got to see a glimpse into where he works (highly recommend checking out his paintings). Arthur Egeli’s documentary about Anne Packard premiered at the cinema in town, and it worked out perfectly with a rainy day. If you get a chance to see Anne Packard: An Artist’s Resolve, I cannot recommend it enough. In short, it was a busy, creatively inspiring week in one of my favorite places in the world.
Most of what I knew about the history of Sal’s Place before last week came from Amy Whorf McGuiggan’s memoir, My Provincetown. I’m due for another read of that beautiful book, in which McGuiggan recounts summers spent in the house next door to Sal’s, originally opened by artist Salvatore Del Deo in 1962. For decades, Sal painted in the studio above the restaurant that faces out into the harbor. Union Wharf’s history goes back even further—this was the first long wharf in Provincetown, and it once extended over 1,000 feet out into the harbor. Built in 1831, it was a maritime hub of a long-gone time in Provincetown, housing a blacksmith’s shop, mackerel-packing house, rigging yard, and a marine railway used to pull large schooners onto land for repairs. Most of the wharf was destroyed in the Portland Gale of 1898, but the building where Sal’s is located is one of the last remnants.
Years after Salvatore Del Deo opened Sal’s, management changed hands, and in 2016, Siobhan Carew and her daughter, Michela Murphy, purchased the restaurant. Like the town, it’s changed and transformed over the years, but the spirit of this place feels so essentially rooted in Provincetown. What do I mean by that? First, there’s the seasonality. Sal’s in Provincetown is open for just a short window from mid-June to October, at which point Siobhan and the whole team pack up and move to West Hollywood, where they have another Sal’s location open through winter and spring. It’s cash only, and you kind of need a reservation to get in on most nights, which are always busy from when they open at 5 until well after 10 when they close, but to get a reservation, your best bet is probably going to be to stop by around 4:30 to talk to Sam. You could try calling, too, but it will probably be busy. While writing this, I came across this awesome Substack about Los Angeles in which the author interviewed Michela at the end of this past May before they were getting ready to return to Ptown. It’s wild to me how the whole team at Sal’s can pick things up and move them to this semi-transient, tented space in West Hollywood, recreating everything about the experience, minus the harbor views. I recommend reading it if you’re interested in Sal’s Place or to hear more about their story from Michela.
At Sal’s in Provincetown, the deck has simple wooden tables with comfortable blankets for when the colder night air hits your sunburn. Inside, Sal’s is full of art by names you’ve probably heard, and the florals that Siobhan designs are atop every table. As I write this, I realize I feel like I’m failing to explain what makes this restaurant so very special—lots of places have art and flowers and even beautiful views like the one overlooking the beach and harbor here. There is a simplicity, a stripping away of anything superfluous here that’s hard to find done well. The food is very good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s so much more than that. What they do here at Sal’s somehow goes beyond the sum of the individual parts of all the hard work and beauty. It’s frequently said that eating here is like eating at a friend’s house or dinner party, and that’s definitely true. After seven nights, I’m still not sure I can put my finger on it, and I don’t necessarily want to. I think you just have to go and see for yourself.
During the week I spent observing the rhythm of it all, I realized that no two days/nights are ever the same. That is exceptional in a summer town that runs off seasonality and replicates, for the most part, a certain experience for its visitors every day, whether they’re there on a Tuesday or a Saturday. There’s this sort of paradox, because on one hand, people go and keep on returning to Sal’s for this experience they know they’ll find there, but it’s always full of surprises with some new twist or turn to make each night memorable. One night, a guest stood up and started singing accapella in the dining room. Another night, someone from the kitchen brought out a guitar and started going around to tables to play and sing beneath the moonlight. Without any prior discussion or planning, dinner for the guests staying at Sal’s was done on a sailboat on Monday evening. Everyone happily ate their favorite Sal’s dishes while we sailed by Long Point, watching for seals or sharks in the water. One night, a friend passed by in a car and stopped to tell Siobhan that they’d be wanting to have dinner with John Waters sometime soon.
One of the things I noticed after six nights eating here was how few phones I saw on the tables or in the hands of guests. People come here to be transported, I think, to a place that feels outside of time itself. They come here to be with people they love, to stop and appreciate beauty for the sake of it, to have some very good but mostly traditional Italian fare that focuses on fresh New England seafood and ingredients. Sometimes, I think, in our post-foodie era, it gets exhausting to go out to eat and look at a menu. I don’t always want my dinner to be some new spin or curious take on something I already know I love; I just want the dish I love done well. Pasta, sauce, seafood, made without too many frills. Why go around messing that up?
Anyways, this isn’t meant to be a review. I am clearly biased and love Sal’s, from the food to the space to the entire team that makes it so special. I will remember this week I spent above the kitchen for the rest of my life. A busy restaurant and kitchen are not places where having a photographer present for a week is exactly conducive to the flow of things, so I am immensely appreciative of the opportunity, trust, and welcome that the entire Sal’s crew gave me. Below are a few photos and highlights from the week, followed by some of my recommendations if you find yourself in Ptown.
Provincetown has long been a popular destination, but I’m pretty sure it’s about to have a new moment of recognition. The A24 film Tony, which focuses on Anthony Bourdain’s career beginnings in Provincetown, the Mary Oliver documentary Saved by the Beauty of the World, and the Anne Packard documentary An Artist’s Resolve are all landing at once this summer. Plus, for us photo nerds, Aperture released the 50th anniversary edition of Joel Meyerowitz’s Cape Light last month. I already own two copies of this book that has been an enormous source of inspiration to me, and I still want to buy this newly remastered and printed edition.
Needless to say, people are becoming so familiar with Provincetown, and there are a lot of eyes on that place at the far end of the Cape. There is a very good post from the Parts Unknown blog that Rob Anderson (owner of The Canteen) wrote in 2018 here. I’ve come to open that page up like a well-worn Bible, and, to be honest, won’t ever be able to write something so succinct and perfect. Despite being nearly 10 years old, which is a long time in Provincetown years, everything still basically holds aside from a couple of places that have sadly closed (RIP The Underground Bar). If you’re going for just a day, I recommend following that guide because it won’t steer you wrong.
If you happen to have some more time, or maybe you’re returning, I have a list here that I share with friends, which includes some of the things I recommend doing, broken down into the categories of eat, drink, see, and shop. Maybe one day I’ll polish this up, make a Google list with pins, and make it look nice. It started simply because friends or strangers would ask where I recommend in Ptown, and I would send them massive walls of texts trying to cram it all in. I update it every year to add new places or remove what has closed. It’s not exhaustive; there are still places in this little town I haven’t been to and things I want to try.
I have so much more personal work from this time in Provincetown that I need to work my way through. I’ll likely share another post soon focused on that, and will also be doing a big update to my print store. If you’re interested in prints, I’d love to know what images specifically you’re drawn to as I make decisions—New England (home for me) or far away/travel images? Please feel free to respond to this email!
Thanks for reading Having Been There! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.