1 Bradford Street

Chelsea Earnest Memorial Playground

The Nautilus Club, an influential women’s civic group, was deeply involved in efforts at the mid-20th century to establish proper playgrounds for children, who were otherwise left to play in the streets or on beaches that were much less tidy than they are today. The Nickerson Street Playground or West End Playground, as this was originally called, came about in 1949 when the owner of an idle property at 1 Bradford Street agreed to sell it for that purpose. The Nautilus Club put up the down payment and also sponsored events, like dessert whist-bridge parties, to raise money to equip the play area.

2 Bradford Street

2 Bradford Street, former Mary’s Snack Bar, now demolished, by David W. Dunlap (2010).

From the 1940s through the 1960s, this shack was Mary’s Snack Bar — better known as Mary Spaghetti’s — run by Mary Souza. Open until 3 a.m., it was a popular rendezvous with “night prowlers,” as The Advocate put it, and anathema to the neighbors. Among the night prowlers once — it is said — were Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Mary’s claims to fame were clamburgers and pepper steak, but the name of the joint suggested another specialty of the house — besides general uproar. Kim Oliver of Provincetown Florist, who owns the property, replaced the tumbledown shack with a Cape-style cottage in 2011.

† 2 Bradford Street

Mary’s Snack Bar (Mary Spaghetti’s)

From the 40s through the 60s, this side shack (c1880) was Mary’s Snack Bar, run by Mary Souza. Open until 3 a.m., it was a popular rendezvous with “night prowlers,” as The Advocate put it. Reportedly among those prowlers once were Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. What made it popular among the nocturnal set, of course, made it anathema to the neighbors, including Clarence Kacergis, who had Souza hauled up for censure by the Selectmen in 1959, saying he could not sleep. Mary’s claims to fame were clamburgers and pepper steak, but the joint was also known as Mary Spaghetti’s, suggesting another specialty of the house — besides general uproar. ¶ Updated 2012-11-13

3 Bradford Street

Provincetown Welding Works

The amazingly animate yard of the Kacergis family’s Provincetown Welding Works looks like a Tim Burton movie come to three-dimensional life. The works were established in 1946 by Clarence Kacergis (born 1916). “At first, he imagined a simple welding shop until several Provincetown artists and sculptors looked to stretch themselves and embrace metal as a heightened form of expression,” Gerry Desautels wrote. (“Forging a Dynasty in Steel,” The Banner, Oct. 16, 2003.) Among them was Chaim Gross. In the present day, Desautels continued: “Maritime objects, fauna, flora and Cape characters — strumming musicians, rowing sailors and sawing woodsmen — are depicted in quirky Kacergis style throughout the chock-a-block shop.”

3 Bradford Street

3 Bradford Street, Provincetown Welding Works, by David W. Dunlap (2011).

3 Bradford Street, Provincetown Welding Works, by David W. Dunlap (2011).

3 Bradford Street, Provincetown Welding Works, by David W. Dunlap (2011).

Michael Kacergis, by David W. Dunlap (2011).

The amazingly animate yard of the Provincetown Welding Works looks like a Tim Burton movie come to three-dimensional life. It was founded in 1946 by Clarence Kacergis. “At first, he imagined a simple welding shop until several Provincetown artists and sculptors looked to stretch themselves and embrace metal as a heightened form of expression,” Gerry Desautels wrote in The Banner. Among them was Chaim Gross. In the present day, Desautels continued: “Maritime objects, fauna, flora and Cape characters — strumming musicians, rowing sailors and sawing woodsmen — are depicted in quirky Kacergis style throughout the chock-a-block shop. … The works are wonders of modern recycling and years of collecting parts and pieces.” Clarence’s son, Michael, succeeded to the business.

4 Bradford Street

Members of the Kacergis family could keep an eye on their Provincetown Welding Works by peering from the windows of the house at 4 Bradford Street, built in 1875 in Italianate-Second Empire style. It was acquired by Clarence Kacergis (born 1916) and his wife, Matilda A. “Tillie” Kacergis (d 2005), in 1964. Mrs. Kacergis was the daughter of Anton and Mary Jackett, née Mayo. The Kacergises also operated Tillie’s Cottages. The house at 4 Bradford Street is still owned by the family through a revocable living trust. The Second Empire part of the house was rebuilt after a fire in 1920, the historic district survey says, and the wrought-iron gates and lamppost were fabricated by Clarence Kacergis.

5 Bradford Street

7 Bradford Street

When Josephine Del Deo documented the out buildings at 7 Bradford Street in 1976, she captioned her photograph: “Johnny Oliver’s Garage (A Landmark?)” It seems doubtful that Del Deo would’ve been speaking ironically, so we have to ask what infused this decrepit, utilitarian structure with historical stature. Perhaps it was simply the fact that such homely little workhorses already seemed headed to extinction, and with them an entire blue-collar economy. Or perhaps it was because John T. Oliver seemed to have been — in the grand sense of the word — a Provincetown character. He was a painter. But not that kind. He painted houses and buildings.

9 Bradford Street

11 Bradford Street

12 Bradford Street

Monumental Doric columns welcome visitors to the Colonial Revival house at 12 Bradford Street, built in 1890. Hard to believe that something so gracious should have had a very utilitarian past, but this was the Captain Manuel Enos Station, dispensing gasoline in the 1930s and 40s. It was in the Perry family for more than 60 years. Dr. Helen Perry (d 2004) lived here with her husband, Reginald P. Perry. One of four women to graduate from the Tufts University School of Medicine in 1943, she practiced obstetrics and gynecology for the next 41 years at five hospitals around Boston. Please see the comment from Ann Welles, which richly fills in family history and corrects several errors in this entry.

15 Bradford Street

18 Bradford Street

20 Bradford Street

The current coat of tomato red paint does much to draw the eye to this sweet little house, built between 1850 and 1870. There is a long Portuguese association at 20 Bradford Street. You could almost say it goes back to the 1850s, when Rita Amelia Perry was born on Faial Island in the Azores. She lived in this house until her death in 1948. Her daughter, Minnie Silva (the widow of Manuel Souza), lived here until she died in 1962. Silva was followed by her nephew Francis J. Ventura (d 2003). His niece, Cathan R. Ventura, next owned the property but has since sold it.

22 Bradford Street

23 Bradford Street

How did they get permission to extend their house over the sidewalk, creating an ungainly pedestrian tunnel on Bradford Street?

27A Bradford Street

27A Bradford Street, fly loft of the Barnstormers’ Theater, by David W. Dunlap (2014).

In a town of wild structures, this amazing relic is one of the wildest: a fly loft for a theater that was integral to the Provincetown renaissance. Frank Shay, an editor and bookseller, belonged to the Provincetown Players. In 1924, to keep the spirit alive after the troupe moved to New York, he converted his barn into the Barnstormers’ Theater, Leona Rust Egan wrote in Provincetown as a Stage. After Paul Robeson’s successful portrayal of The Emperor Jones, Shay campaigned to bring that production to town. Instead, Egan said, Robeson appeared here in 1925 in a program of spirituals and folk songs. Local lore has it that Bette Davis also trod these boards. The cottage colony around the theater was known in the 1940s and ’50s as Skipper Raymond’s Cottages, run by Frank and Frances (Perry) Raymond, who’s on the mural at Fishermen’s Wharf. Napi Van Dereck now owns the property.

25-27A Bradford Street

Former Barnstormers’ Theater / Former Skipper Raymond’s Cottages

In a town full of wild structures, this amazing relic at 27A Bradford Street (c1915) is one of the wildest: a shingled fly loft for a theater that was integral to the early 20th-century Provincetown renaissance. Frank Shay, an editor and bookseller, belonged to the original Provincetown Players. In 1924, in a bid to keep the spirit of the Players alive after the troupe moved to New York, he converted his barn into the Barnstormers’ Theater.

26 Bradford Street

Archer Inn

A steep front yard leads to the house (1853) where Mary Ellen Zora lived. She was a founder of the town’s Camp Fire Girls unit in the 1940s and was the daughter of Capt. Manuel Zora. From 1978 to 1985, the property was run by Stephen Milkewicz and Ronald A. Schleimer as the Lamplighter Guest House and Cottage. It was also the Archer Inn, before returning to private use.

29 Bradford Street

31 Bradford Street

31 Bradford Street, Carreiro’s Tip for Tops’n, by David W. Dunlap (2009).

31 Bradford Street, Carreiro’s Tip for Tops’n, by David W. Dunlap (2012).

From the name (“Tip of the Cape for Tops in Service”) to the nautical décor to the satisfyingly good Portuguese food, Carreiro’s Tip for Tops’n was a throwback in every sense except its popularity. Ernest Carreiro, a native of São Miguel in the Azores, ran Anybody’s Market in this building until the early 1950s, when he opened Tip. The business was acquired in 1966 by Edward “Babe” Carreiro of New Bedford, who had skippered Jenny B, and his wife, Eva (Cook) Carreiro. It passed to their sons Joseph Carreiro and Gerald Carreiro, whose widow, Joyce, ran the business until the end, in 2012. Devon Ruesch renovated the property, keeping much of the décor, and reopened it as Devon’s Deep Sea Dive.

31 Bradford Street

Carreiro’s Tip for Tops’n

From the name (“Tip of the Cape for Tops in Service”) to the décor to the satisfyingly good Portuguese food, Carreiro’s Tip for Tops’n is a throwback in every sense except its popularity, which is undiminished after 50 years. Ernest L. Carreiro, a native of São Miguel in the Azores, ran Anybody’s Market in this building until the early 1950s, when he opened Tip. He died in 1961. The business was acquired in 1966 by Edward C. “Babe” Carreiro of New Bedford, who had skippered the Jenny B, and his wife, Eva (Cook) Carreiro.

32 Bradford Street

Here is vanished Provincetown. “Kids in the west end and east end used to dodge the fish drying on the clothes lines as they ran through each other’s yards,” Susan Leonard recalled. Jay Critchley took the picture in the 1970s and believes this was the making of skully jo, a kind of fish jerky. Leonard thinks it might have been bacalhau (cod). In either case, you won’t see its like today.

34 Bradford Street

Though the Dutch never came this way, there are numerous examples of Dutch Colonial architecture in town, barnlike houses and studios with distinctive gambrel roofs, like 160 Bradford Street, 295 Bradford Street, the Spear family cottages in the far East End, and — of course — the Hawthorne Class Studio. This house was built in 1880. Manuel Cabral lived at 34 Bradford Street. A history of the family’s involvement in this property is included in the comment below from Richard Vizard. ¶ Updated 2013-12-18

35 Bradford Street

35 Bradford Street, Bonnie Doone Restaurant, courtesy of Joseph Andrews.

This site has been hopping since 1937, when the Bonnie Doone Grille (later the Bonnie Doone Restaurant) was opened by Mary (Prada) Cabral, who ran it with her husband, Manuel. Their daughter, Barbara, married Richard Oppen in 1948, after which the two couples ran the place, helped in turn by the third generation, Bonnie (Oppen) Jordan and her husband Joel Vizard. Its Thistle Cocktail Lounge was a popular gay rendezvous in the 1950s. The restaurant gained parking space in 1958 by tearing down the abutting former Conant Street School. In recent years, the building was remodeled by William Dougal and Rick Murray as the Mussel Beach Health Club, which they had opened on Shank Painter Road in 1993. They also own the Crown & Anchor.

35 Bradford Street, Bonnie Doone Restaurant, courtesy of Joseph Andrews.

41 Bradford Street

41 Bradford Street, Bradford House & Motel, by David W. Dunlap (2009).

41 Bradford Street, Bradford House & Motel, by David W. Dunlap (2010).

Two distinct forms of hospitality — the guest house and the motel — are combined in one operation at the Bradford House & Motel. Hotel lore says the main house was built in 1888 by Reuben Brown, a coal and lumber merchant, for his intended wife. Its flying staircase was photographed by Joel Meyerowitz for Cape Light. The Browns’ son, Dr. Roy Brown, sold the house in the 1940s to Thomas and Anna (Crawley) Cote, whose father was Frank “Scarry Jack” Crawley. They added the one-story motel wing in 1950.

35 Bradford Street

Mussel Beach Health Club

This site has been hopping since 1938. For most of those years, it was home to Manuel Cabral’s Bonnie Doone Restaurant and Thistle Cocktail Lounge, a popular gay rendezvous in the 1950s. In 1958, Cabral tore down the neighboring Conant Street School, which had been used for about 25 years as the headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, to add parking spaces for the restaurant.

† 40 Bradford Street

Cabral’s Market

41 Bradford Street

Bradford House & Motel

Two distinct forms of Provincetown hospitality — the guest house and the spartan motel — are combined in one operation at the Bradford House & Motel. Hotel lore says the main house was built in 1888 by Reuben F. Brown, a coal and lumber merchant, for Albina [Alvina?] Brooks, his intended wife. The firm of Lewis & Brown had its office at 227 Commercial Street. Their son, Roy F. Brown (±1889-1967), was a physician, educated at Tufts, Harvard and the Sorbonne. During World War II, Dr. Brown set up a general hospital in Sydney, Australia, that served the South Pacific theater. (“Dr. Roy F. Brown,” The Advocate, Nov. 9, 1967.)

42 Bradford Street

Ptown Bikes

The house was built in the mid- to late 1800s. Antone Jackett, a fisherman, lived here with his wife, Mary Mayo (Janard) Jackett, and their children, including Antoinette (Jackett) Gaspie. Antoinette’s grandson Joseph Trovato III said in a comment that Antone sold the house some time around 1932, shortly after Mary died, in the house, of cancer. It was purchased in the 1960s by Philip F. Cabral, said Susan Cabral in a comment. Philip and his wife, Elaine, lived here with their children until they bought 22 Franklin Street. They converted this into Cabral’s Market, which had previously been next door, at 40 Bradford Street, when it was run by Manuel Cabral. • Historic District Survey • Assessor’s Online Database ¶ Updated 2013-05-18

43 Bradford Street

44 Bradford Street

44 Bradford Street, Provincetown Community Center, by David W. Dunlap (2010).

44 Bradford Street, Governor Bradford School of 1892.

The Colonial Revival-style New Governor Bradford School was built to replace the first Governor Bradford School, which was built in 1892 and burned down in 1935. The school became the Provincetown Community Center in 1956. Susan Leonard, a town native and historian, said the center’s focus was on after-school arts-and-crafts classes, Ping Pong, Camp Fire Girls and Boy Scouts; the halls echoing with the voices of easily a hundred kids. Friday night dances were the place to be for P.H.S. students, she said, and almost everyone’s first real date was here. The center moved in 2013 to the Veterans Memorial Elementary School. The fate of the building was unsettled at press time.

† 44 Bradford Street

Governor Bradford School

This elegant, wood-framed, Queen Anne-style building was home to the Governor Bradford School beginning in 1892 and where grades five and six were conducted after a 1931 systemwide reorganization. First to fourth grades were in the Western and Center Schools; seventh onward in the High School. In 1935, it burned down in the middle of the night without any loss of life.

44-46 Bradford Street

(Former) Provincetown Community Center

The Colonial-style New Governor Bradford School rose from the ashes of the original. Nearly 100 pupils were enrolled here before it closed in the mid ’50s. The building reopened as the Provincetown Community Center in 1956, under the charge of the town Recreation Commission.

48B Bradford Street

See the important and interesting comment below from Pat Judge.

49 Bradford Street

The 11-unit Summer Winds Condominium complex used to be the Shamrock Motel and Cottages, owned and managed by Jack Downey and Marilyn Downey. Condo sales began in 2005.