Sunday, August 14, 2005

The End of it all.

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This weekend marked the closing of the Duck-In...THE place for Friday after-work parties on the bay. But more important than the after-work parties is the fact that this is the end of an institution. Build in the 50's, and owned by the same family today, the Duck-In was originally a dive style seafood place. When I was a late teen we would go to the Duck-In at 2:00 in the morning for shrimp baskets. Wood planked floors and waitresses in their 50's that chewed gum, sported bee hive hair-dos and told us to shut up when we got too rowdy graced the place. And now it's all coming to a bittersweet end. Of course over the years the place has made huge building improvement and the patrons are a little classier, but in my opinion it lost its charm.

Back in the day, people who lived on the Bay were considered low-rent. They were even excluded from the North End sailing regattas, and the bay people started their own regatta, lovingly called "The Low Rent Regatta", and it flourished, just as the property values and the size of the houses did.

Back to my story about the closing. I didn't go. Cristin, however, did. Our lifeguard has been bugging her to go out with him since the early part of the summer, and finally, she agreed. I think the promise of a limo ride to the final Duck-In party had quite a bit to do wtih it. She was able to bring one of her friends and the little group ended up as a total of 7. Four cute girls, one jock (attends Harvard) (the lifeguard) with a nice body but wearing an Hawaiian print polo shirt (which her friend begged Cristin to ask him to change), an Asian guy (attends Princeton) that my daughter swears was gay & wore a white polo shirt tucked into pleated pants, and a black guy (attends UVA) that she said was 6'5" and 350 pounds. So picture it if you will - 4 beachy girls and three braino-nerdos who will one day be something, but when you're 20 have no real sex appeal. And so, I used that line that my mother used, "you didn't like them because they're have a future", smirking to myself as I repeated those words. Her reply was, "I like surfer boys or guys with lots of tattoos and piercings", and I smiled at how she's not that different than me.

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Farewell Duck-In. Farewell, the view of the sunset. Hello to more condos that will take away yet another stretch of our beaches and perhaps, the last public view of the sunset.

dena at 7:47 AM

9comments

9 Comments

at 9:49 AM Blogger melinama said...

I didn't see your old blog layout, but the new one sure is great. Michele sent me!

 
at 10:09 AM Blogger Jean-Luc Picard said...

How sad to see things like this disappear. Michele sent me this way.

 
at 10:38 AM Blogger soapbox.SUPERSTAR said...

Pooey! I too have had some great times there, including my high school reunion.

Who knows where the Virginia Chapter of the National Roofing Contractors Association will hold their annual beach partys now...that my husband will make me continue to attend.

 
at 2:25 PM Blogger Thumper said...

Oh man...that place looks awesome. Any hope that someone else will buy it and re-open, or is it slated to be torn down?

Here via michele's today!

 
at 2:35 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for visting my blog!

It's so sad that local places like your beachfront Duck-In are doomed by the ever increasing number of condos.

I really think California has it right, in this sense, making it so that all beaches are parks, and no one can own the sand.

 
at 2:38 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks like that was a wonderful place. And oh yeah, I remember those guys from high school. My mom said that I'd appreciate them eventually... and I ended up marrying one, though not one I met in high school.

Thanks for stopping by my blog when I was Michele for a Day. I'm here from her place today.

 
at 4:10 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello, Michele sent me.
It's funny how land use issues are so specific to each location where they occur, and yet so universally heartbreaking. Thanks for sharing this little piece with us as it disappears.

 
at 5:01 PM Blogger Star said...

Looks like it was a great place. At least you have the good memories. Michele sent me. I am enjoying your blog.

 
at 7:47 PM Blogger Miz said...

Michele sent me. I hate the way people think they can own places like the beach or the forest. They belong to all people.

 

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