Winter 2008 | Michael Cunningham's Sense of Place Part Two

• "There's a great, great little bar-restaurant called Enzo (186 Commercial St.; 508-487-7555). When I say little bar, I mean the ceiling is only about seven feet high. It has a garden out front, and you can take your drinks out there, and every Sunday there's a special night called Kook. There's always a costume theme, like Great Women of Rock and Roll. People really get dressed up. It's obscenely fun. A good night at Enzo is, like, everything I love about Provincetown in miniature. It's men and women and straight boys and straight girls; there's no controlling population."

• "Fall is great. September into October are arguably the best times to come, because the weather is mostly good and things don't really start to shut down yet. There are fewer tourists; the cruise ships aren't docking out in the harbor anymore. Fall is a slightly dark pleasure. There's a tiny hint of melancholy, which is a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you feel about tiny hints of melancholy."

• "Walk out on to the tidal flats on the far east end of town when the tide is out. The tide leaves behind these shards of crockery, some of them a hundred years old. I was walking out there with my friend Melanie once and she stepped down and picked up a little white porcelain baby Jesus. There aren't that many beaches where you're likely to find that!"

• "There's a great little shop called Map (141 Commercial St.; 508-487-4900), run by this lovely Irishwoman, Pauline. Most of us stop in there at least once a day just to check in with her. John Waters brings her magazines every morning. Pauline is like the goddess of town, and her little shop is certainly its hub."

Part One | Part Two