Feature | Portland Monthly Magazine

Savor the last sips of September sun from Portland's patios.

Welcome to Patio Season in Maine–a rare, precious, slim spell of time. With our long winters, you may think Portland’s establishments would forgo the effort and money needed to create killer patios. Lucky for us, they know the juice is worth the squeeze–Portland’s patios come alive with revellers almost every evening throughout the long, golden evenings of September. Like fiddlehead season, it’s fleeting, vanishing, something to be savored, and for that, it’s all the more fun, especially when you know where the unforgettable patios are hiding.

A windy but sun-drenched Friday evening in Portland sees us making the ritual evening bike ride downtown in search of hedonism and happy hours. Instead of peeling left from Congress Street and gliding into the familiar web of the Old Port, we veer right on Elm Street, our bikes picking up speed on the steep incline that leads us swerving into the parking lot of Bayside Bowl (pictured above) on Alder Street. My aversion to sharing footwear with strangers means I’ve never visited the bowling alley and bar joint (please keep your rental bowling shoes at a safe distance.) However, rumors of a game-changing rooftop bar are enough to entice our group to venture into West Bayside for the night. We pass through the bowling hall and hop into the elevator. At the top, a walkway stretches between solar panels to reach a wide deck. The rooftop space is bordered by long benches on one side and on the other, a 1962 Airstream, partially sunken into the decking, that does duty as a taco truck. The scene whisks you to another dimension. Out of sight of Maine’s recognizable waterfront, with the sunlight glancing off the Intermed high-rise, potted palm plants, and crisscrossing string lights, you might have stepped through a portal to downtown LA. The bar staff, all with aviators and bright, white smiles, could be Hollywood hopefuls. The stiff, salty breeze is the only reminder that we’re still in Vacationland…http://www.portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2017/08/starry-nights/

All images courtesy of Portland Monthly Magazine.