HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003 Jul 31 - The Register articleTHE REGISTER SECTION 2 THURSDAY, JULY ./
IARTSR ENTERTAINMENT
Hallet's memorabilia collected over the past century and sells Hallet's Clam Chowder and Hallet's Soda Pop.
Photo by Julia CU111CS
Breakfast with
a slice of history .t.
on the sideZ
1_1
By Joe Burns
jburns@cnc.com
here, behind the counter — isn't that young George
Bailey helping old Mr. Gower sort out the patent med-
icines? And that sure looks like Andy Hardy sharing a
raspberry lime rickey with Betsy Booth over by the
soda fountain. ;'=f
Maybe not. But if it were, they would seem right at home at;?
Hallet's. Listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, this
family -run store and ice cream parlor on Route 6A in
Yarmouth Port is a timeless treasure, seemingly unchanged
from the day in 1889 when T.T. Hallet opened the door,for the 1
first time.
Hallet was a selectman, justice of the peace and postmaster, "
and his store served as drugstore, post office and meeting hall
for the small Cape Cod village. Today, instead of patent medi-
cines and mail, Hallet's great-grandson, Charles Clark, serves
upold-fashionedice cream sodas and sandwiches. The entrance, facin
Its a Wonderful Life, that's what I always relate it to,
says Clark, taking time out from serving breakfast to the
Tuesday morning regulars who've come in to kibitz and converse and, according to
Hallet's regular "Scuppy" Crowell, "straighten out the affairs of the world."
Hallet's has been a family -run business for four generations. Clark grew up sur-
rounded by the history of his family and his hometown. Outside the door, on the
Allen Schauwecker can certainly call himself a Hallet's regular. He has been sip-
ping coffee here for 60 years. Photo by Julia Curves
g Main Street, looks much the same as it always has. Staff photo by Robert Scott Button
stretch of Route 6A that used to be known as Hallet Street, things still look a lot like
they did when T.T. Hallet was alive.
Inside the store it also is the same, but even more so. The walls are still lined with
carved oak shelves and cabinets made for T.T. Hallet back in the 1880s. Customers
still sit at the marble -top counter sipping ice cream sodas made from a 1930s soda
fountain, or slide into the 1920s booth with the faux marble -tabletop to savor a home-
made cream cheese and olive sandwich just like Mary Hallet, his grandmother, used
to make, washed down with Hallet's own sarsaparilla soda.
Sure, there are changes. A clock bearing the name of the oak wood craftsman C.H.
Bangs still marks the time, although it is now powered by battery. On the walls, plac-
ards peddling long -forgotten products and events compete for attention with signs of
the times. Old bottles, now holding memories instead of medicines, take their place
alongside new-fangled notions. And while Clark can still put his hands on a package
of saltpeter powder, drawers labeled magnesia, zingiber and canary seed now store
plastic knives, light bulbs and a baby bottle.
That's fine with Clark, a pragmatic preservationist. He has brought in his own ideas,
a process that has allowed the store to remain a functional business, but he is not one
to let go of the past.
He has turned the store's second floor into a small-town Smithsonian — a museum
containing artifacts and photographs of Hallet's and Yarmouth Port's history.
The real key to preservation is in Clark's hands and his mechanical ability.
"I have to do a lot of my own repairs, because you don't call up your local air-con-
ditioning, reftigeration guy to repair a 1938 soda fountain. They just look at you and
say, `Throw it away, buy a new one."'
Clark says that keeping Hallet's history alive is a labor of love.
"You've got to either love what you're doing or you won't be doing it. You don't
do it for money," he says. "And it gets tougher and tougher every year. I don't have
any federal grants. I don't have any funding. I don't have anything. This is something
out of my pocket."
It is an effort not wasted on Tuesday regular Jack Bragington, who stopped in for
some eggs, coffee and camaraderie.
"This is so great," he says. "You can immerse yourself in it and go back 100 years"