Around Town - Provincetown in the 1940's

<p>A portion of 45 minute home movie taken in the 1940's by Larry Richmond.</p> <p>Lawrence Stanton Richmond was born on October 30, 1909 in Hollis, NY to Maurice and Elizabeth Richmond. He is the older brother of Howard Richmond, founder of The Richmond Organization, an internationally known music publishing company, and Shirley Richmond Gartlir, wife of Bernard Gartlir, who is a partner in the NYC law office of Hoffheimer, Gartlir & Gross.</p> <p>Larry graduated from Dartmouth College in 1930 and went into his father's business, Music Dealers Service, in NYC, which supplied sheet music to schools, churches and retail outlets across the country. In 1936, on his birthday, he and Helene Ascher were married and made their home on East 52nd St. in Manhattan until 1950 when they moved to Great Neck, Long Island.</p> <p>In the early 1940's some friends suggested to Larry and Helene that they all take a trip to Provincetown. Larry was reluctant because of his childhood memory of the strong smell of drying cod on Long Point as the ferry he was on rounded the spit of land. But, his friends convinced him that with the advent of cold storages for processing fish the old method of salting and drying cod was no longer an issue. And so it was that Larry and Helene, with their friends, Billy and Jesse Frankfurt, came to Provincetown and rented rooms on the corner of Atlantic Ave. and Commercial St. It was on that trip that Larry, an avid amateur photographer, took movies of many of the sights around town. </p> <p>One evening, during that first week, after arriving all dressed up for a dinner reservation at the Flagship, one of the hottest spots in Provincetown in those days, they were at first surprised and then delighted by everyone’s informality. Having brought suitcases full of their fancy city clothes along, it was on that same trip that they packed them all away and bought dungaree pants and jackets from Herman Robinson’s dry goods store and learned to love Provincetown’s casual ways. The town was so alluring and captivating that each year afterwards Larry and Helene came back to visit and spent more and more time, eventually purchasing a summer home at 40 Commercial St. in 1945, the year before their daughter, Lauren, was born. The following year they purchased 38 Commercial St. and tore down what remained of a three decker building and built a porch and garage next door to their house.</p> <p>As friendships with locals grew Larry was introduced to sailing by Francis 'Flyer' Santos from whom he purchased his first sailboat. In the 1950’s, along with several other West End fathers, whose young kids were eager to learn how to sail, Larry and Flyer raised money for the land and building that is now the West End Racing Club and began a summer tradition of teaching kids to sail and enjoy the magnificent harbor. Through his acquaintances and friendships with local artists Larry was able to persuade many of them to donate paintings for raffles at the West End Racing Club and raised considerable money over the years for the sailing program.</p> <p>Because of his personal interest as a collector of art, Larry became president of the Provincetown Art Association (later to be known as PAAM, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum) and he, along with Ciro Cozzi and others, was instrumental in helping the organization to retire its mortgage in the 1970's and attain museum status with the addition of more gallery space and secure storage in the basement. Always one to donate unselfishly of his time and energy, Larry also spent time as Commodore of the Provincetown Yacht Club and President of the Provincetown Symphony Society. It would give him great pleasure to know that these old films of Provincetown will continue to be shared and enjoyed through the magic of technology and the efforts of the Provincetown History Project.</p> <p>Here is a link to a very telling letter written by Larry in the March 11, 1976 issue of the Provincetown Advocate attesting to his love of Provincetown: http://www.iamprovincetown.com/larry_richmond.html</p> <p>For a more in depth history of the West End Racing Club, along with pictures, go to: http://www.provincetown.com/werc/</p> <p>This short bio of Larry Richmond was written by his daughter, Lauren Richmond.</p>

Video

Larry Richmond

Commercial Street (Provincetown, Mass.), Historic Districts--Massachusetts--Provincetown, and Provincetown (Mass.)--History--20th century