Portsmouth Pics

[Patrick]

Everyone knows I love Portland, but I think there are a number of other great cities in New England. Last week I posted some pics of Burlington, and another quaint little city is Portsmouth. Portsmouth, like Burlington, feels kind of like a stage/play, but it is nice for a visit. The city reminds me of Portland without a central business district (a modern high-rise one, anyway). There appear to be as many shops as the Old Port, if not more, but it could be an illusion because Portland's retail base is spread out along Congress in all directions, as well as Free Street and Gorham's Corner, too. Portland needs to work on connectivity between its various retail hubs, which would instantly make the city feel bigger. There was some progress made here with Monument Way, but Gorham's Corner needs to be developed. Check out some of these pics. There is also one of Manchester, too, which looks much more like a southern new england city.

There was a funny article written by a Portsmouth newspaper a while ago comparing Portland and Portsmouth, which referred to Portland as Portsmouth's grittier sibling, with "fewer millionaires." Then there was a particularly funny quote from a Portland businessman, who when asked about Portsmouth said it was just a place to stop to use the bathroom on the way to Boston. I've always thought Manchester is like Portland without an Old Port/tourist destination, and Portsmouth is like Portland without a modern business district.

This first one is actually NEW construction. I spoke to a planner in the City, which doesn't have a form based code, about it. I mention the form based code issue because this is the sort of development a FBC often tries to mandate. Portsmouth's entire downtown is a historic district, that's how this building (as well as several others) look so nice and appropriate to context.

Sweat stain.

Here is Manchester, Elm Street. The plaza on the west side between the two tallests ( I used to know their names...one is city hall plaza, and the other?) needs to be redeveloped. This is the city center, but a suburban project prohibits urban continuity. I think everyone in Manch recognizes this, but it is difficult to change a project once built (I know from trying).

This pic is a nice view. Manchester is so close to Boston I enjoyed both in the same night (the same afternoon as I was in Portsmouth). The mill district looks sweet, but the parking in front ruins it for me. If more walkability was introduced, that district would be the city's primary attraction. Parking needs to be placed elswewhere (but where? the mills are on the water, so it can't go "out back" from the street perspective, which would be on the water, and it probably can't go underground because of the water table, so this is where Manchester could really benefit from a public transportation system like rail or streetcar.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Great pics, I really wish I got up there more than once this summer (and the one time I did, it was mostly just a relatively short drive-thru).

 

[Patrick]

Yeah, I was there Memorial Day, once in June, and again on Labor Day weekend. All three times were just stopping for lunch though. The city is really quite a place. Exeter, NH is another good place to visit, as well as Burlington, Portland (of course I'd say that) and Kennebunkport. Anyone know of any other smaller towns in NNE worth a visit? I hear good things about Camden, ME although the other coastal towns don't really appeal too much to me (with perhaps the exception of Bar Harbor, although I haven't been since I was a kid).

 

[Matt68]

Great pictures of Portsmouth and Manchester Patrick - Thanks

Matt

 

[Corey]

Nice shots, Patrick. You should continue to share your photos and thoughts as you explore other big and small New England towns. I haven't been to Portsmouth in several years but used to go there with my parents when I was a kid and I remember it being very nice and somewhat Portland-ish. That new development looks great.

 

[FrankLloydMike]

I've always thought Manchester is like Portland without an Old Port/tourist destination, and Portsmouth is like Portland without a modern business district.

I completely agree, and I think it's a bit of a problem (though one without a solution really) for New Hampshire. I've said this before, but unlike Maine and Vermont, New Hampshire is really torn between (at least) these two cities as its major cities (even though Portsmouth isn't even in the top ten largest municipalities in the state anymore).

Portsmouth gets by--and even thrives--despite this because of its great location (seaside, downtown directly on the harbor, easy rail access to Boston, proximity to UNH, surrounded by similar but smaller towns and cities), and because its quaintness helps to generate so much tourism. Also, despite some notable examples (especially the Hill and the old Parade Mall, which is now being replaced by urban development), Portsmouth peaked very early (~1790 or so) and I think it's 19th and 20th century doldrums prevented some of the urban renewal that claimed so much of Manchester.

Manchester, on the other hand, loses out because of the split-personality of Manchester-Portsmouth. The city made some huge improvements in the late 90s and early 2000s, but I think the city has gotten off-track a little bit lately. It's partly because of the economy, but I also think a lack of vision among leadership has stalled a lot of the progress that could have (and still can) made Manchester a much more vibrant, interesting place to live and visit. At the same time, Manchester is a much bigger city (more than five times the population of Portsmouth) and there seems to be a growing number of engaged concerned citizens and activists looking to make Manchester a more dynamic urban community. I was actually in Portsmouth this weekend as well (I was really glad to see the “street musician” with the hurdy gurdy is back since the city forced his hammer dulcimer off the sidewalks a few years ago). It’s such a great place to walk around in a way that Manchester, for all its charm and progress, isn’t. Part of it is the quaintness and meandering streets; another is that Manchester lacks the same density of shops (though plenty of restaurants exist) and tourists to fill the sidewalks. I think another is the separation between downtown and the river, and even downtown and the Millyard.

I was also in Lowell briefly for a concert in Boarding House Park Friday night. While Lowell lacks the restaurants, shops and liveliness of Manchester (let alone Portsmouth), the downtown is so much more interesting to walk around than Manchester. I think the biggest reason for that is that the canals and much more of the mills are intact. In Manchester, the great division of Canal Street was once an actual canal as was Commercial Street. That was obviously a physical barrier, but a much more enjoyable one to be around. Probably even more important is that the smaller scale buildings that lined the canal and the spaces between the large, remaining buildings were almost entirely removed by urban renewal. Those were the buildings that created the human scale, that allowed for doorways and shop entrances at reasonable intervals, that fronted the street and public spaces. In Lowell, those buildings still exist and the sense of the open space is much more human-scaled, walkable and enjoyable. The canals and those buildings are things Manchester can never really rebuild. That doesn’t mean something shouldn’t be done to improve the connections and public space so that the heart and icon of the city doesn’t feel as off-putting as it does now.

There have been plenty of studies about this: reduce the width of Canal Street and beautify it, attract shops and cafes to its widened sidewalks; better integrate and utilize the elegant boardinghouses between the Millyard and downtown; make Arms Park a true park and finish the Riverwalk; add housing and more restaurants in the Millyard; improve public transit so that parking in the Millyard is way less necessary (the downtown circulator is a first step to do this); and so on. The problem right now isn’t a lack of ideas; it’s a lack of vision and direction from the leaders of the city. These good ideas, and the zoning and policies necessary to guide them, need to be implemented.

 

[MonopolyBag]

FLMike, then run for a position in the city leadership (not joking.)

Portsmouth is very popular from UNH Durham, which is growing constantly. I have had many friends, and my brothers, attend that school, and Portsmouth is the place to go. And yes, many tourists go there. It is a very nice place to walk around, and I think those pictures you took are awesome. I love the fourth one with the building behind the dark trees.

 

[Patrick]

Is canal street in Manchester the one with all the parking facing the street, with the mills on the east and west of it? I saw one restaurant on the hill that overlooked the street, which looked nice, but we didn't stop. On Sunday evening, the day before Labor Day, there wasn't much going on in Manchester. A friend of mine and I ate at a Margaritas, but didn't see anywhere else open except a few seedy looking pubs, one decent looking pub, and an upscale restaurant bordering a park. What did we miss? I can't imagine a city with this many people doesn't have more to offer. Are they all eating and shopping in the suburbs or at the Manchester mall/So. Willow St. area? I think urban re-renewal needs to occur, because you are precisely right in your comparison and explanation of differences between Manchester and Lowell. I was in Lewiston, ME today, which for those of you who don't know is kind of similar to Manchester culturally. There is a huge block of mill space along the river, which kind of just looks unattractive, and I was thinking a way to break up the monotonous prison like or working class fortress feel of this building might be to paint it different colors every 50 feet or so, kind of like has been done for town houses in many other places. But would this get the historic preservation folks up in arms? Probably. Thus we have a big unattractive (but historical) mill, and a less interesting urban experience. These issues are sometimes easily solved in the imagination, but much more difficult to solve in context.

Also, Monopoly, thanks for the comment on the photo -- I was aiming to take a pic of the people eating at the table, but they looked at me and I felt too awkward to zoom so I just took a pic and kept walking. It turned out to be one of my favorites. and the guy playing whatever instrument that is is pretty nice--he directed me to the Subway shop, which is "5x less expensive than anywhere else, I'd know"

 

[MonopolyBag]

I think you are thinking of commercial street. Canal street is just a very wide road. Two lanes both ways (four lanes total). And it is split with a median. But the funny thing is, no matter what time of the day it is, no one ever seems to really be on that road (foot, bike, or car, I think the train passes more.)

There is like 1 cross walk across the tracks for people, and the road has no cars since there is nothing on that street, and there is really no use to even travel along that road.

I think this is why this road has been proposed to be narrowed (I assume 1 lane, I have not seen the proposal or concepts I should be saying) and make the sidewalks more attractive and ultimately attracting more businesses to get more people there.

Yes, mills are tough to make attractive, Nashua NH is trying that right now and is allowing the public to enter their ideas and concepts. I actually think Manchester is doing alright in terms of use of the mills, between a science center, school, a few restaurants, many offices, and hopefully Apartments if Brady Sullivan goes through with that, although I have heard little recently, but the street scape around the mills lacks appeal. And like FLMike said, there are no little street side shops or cafes or anything. So walking around the mills is pointless unless you have a destination. No strolling around, no window shopping, or no walking around for lunch. There are a few places, but they are the definition of hidden. The literally blend in with the neighboring offices in the mills. Like FLMike said, there has been and endless amount of conceptual ideas, just the lack of support possibly, or the initiative from the city leaders to do anything to get the mill are an extension of Elm Street.

On the other side though, literally, Hanover Street and Manchester Street are being developed to extend to Chestnut Street, and even now, with the bad economy, it is growing slowly.

That Gaslight district seems to be priority over the mills, however I think the Mills is a better place. And the riverside residential area apparently is attractive to the current owner/developer, which is good IMO. But extending and actually completing that riverwalk into the mill area I guarantee will get more usage which in turn will bring the business and money into the area. For the amount of usage around work closing time that the current riverwalk gets at Arms park and near the riverside condos and ballpark, if they connected, here would be so many people businesses would be stupid not to position themselves near the walkway. The city in turn may have better reason to make a better transition form elm to the river.

In terms of places to go, The red Arrow diner, also in Milford NH (Manch is the original though) open 24 hours, get their mac and cheese, or meat pie. Mad good, reasonable prices, and just... good. The puritan has good chicken wings or fingers, I forget which one, and then some authentic Mexican place I have yet to go to which is located on 197 Wilson Street. But apparently it is wicked good. Just I am trying to save money and not eat out anymore, but I love authentic Mexican. Apparently they don't speak good English either. Jewell & the Beanstalk is good for coffee or whatever. And for pizza Alley Cat Pizzeria is like the place to get wicked good pizza in Manch.

Other than that, I do not know anywhere else that is worth talking about food wise.


Oh yeah, go to the Chilli competition thing. I went last year with some friends and it was kinda cool. Free chilli samples, and if you like sampling chilli and comparing them, that's pretty much all there is to do, but its cool. (enetreance price was $7.00 I think)

 

[Seanflynn78]

I couldn't agree with you more MonopolyBag and Patrick. The Elm St./downtown area is nice spot to walk but that is just one stretch that maybe lasts 3/4 of a mile. I wonder if they will add any more skyscrapers/highrise buildings to this area?
Culturally Manchester was traditionally mostly Greek, Irish, and French Canadian and it shows in the local restaurants. It is tough to find a great pizza shop in town, most of them are greek style pies...alley cat is probably the best pizza in the city and its good, but not great either. Chez Vachon is an excellent French Canadian restaurant/breakfast joint...very good food and cheap! I am actually excited for the Dos Amigos burritos that is opening on Elm St., best burritos and tacos in NH.
Patrick, Manchester is def. not a food city, Portland can claim fame to that over most other New England cities. I heard the Itallian Sub was created in Portland? What is the best sub shop in Portland? There was an Amato's here in Manchester but it closed, I liked their subs but it was a bit pricey in my opinion.

 

[Patrick]

Sean, the sub wasn't created here, but the word "Italian" used to refer to a sub was coined here. The original Amato's was near the water, and, so the story goes, Amato would bring down bread and ham for the Italians who worked there at lunchtime, hence the name Italian for the sandwiches we eat today.

I think Manchester might have some good places to eat, but unless you live there, I am confused as to how one would know about them. There should be a district developed, and that district should be in the mills. Is there anything comparable to this now? Portland's Bayside neighborhood reminds me a bit of Manchester, there are some things to do there, but you have to know where they are, you can't just park and walk to everything, and the tall building(s) is/are nice looking but impenetrable fortresses at street level.

 

[portlandneedsnewarena]

Yeah, I was there Memorial Day, once in June, and again on Labor Day weekend. All three times were just stopping for lunch though. The city is really quite a place. Exeter, NH is another good place to visit, as well as Burlington, Portland (of course I'd say that) and Kennebunkport. Anyone know of any other smaller towns in NNE worth a visit? I hear good things about Camden, ME although the other coastal towns don't really appeal too much to me (with perhaps the exception of Bar Harbor, although I haven't been since I was a kid).

Camden and Bar Harbor are both fabulous although both are heavy tourist destinations as is Kennebunkport. When on Mount Desert Island I usually spend more time on the Southwest Harbor side of the Island than in Bar Harbor. Carriage Trails for biking, running and the mountains to hike are all great.
Just got back from 5 days in Bar Harbor two weeks ago. I try to go up there one or two times a year.