photo/Jessie Banhazl
Kim and Tom Howard
Ages: 46, 53
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Bar of Choice: Portland Zoo
Drinks of Choice: Margarita (Kim), Coors (Tom)
At the foot (or maybe the ankle) of steep Fox Street on Portland’s East End you’ll find the Portland Zoo, an unassuming, European-style beer garden that draws service-industry workers, soccer fans (casual and hardcore), young families, friendly dogs and the occasional tourist. Its low-slung, baby blue building has a small bar area that opens onto a broad backyard with picnic tables, as well as another covered space for rainy days and football matches, plus a revolving cast of DJs, musicians and food vendors.
Most Sunday nights, you’ll also find NYC transplants Kim and Tom Howard, whom Zoo bartender extraordinaire Dan Purcell nominated to be this month’s featured regulars. “I’ve been a bartender for almost twenty years, and while I love making a good cocktail or helping someone choose the right beer or wine, I love my job because of the Toms and Kims of the world,” Dan gushed. “They’re kind, smart, articulate and, above all else, they love a good movie. I get excited when I see them walking in.”
Let’s meet Kim and Tom!
What made you move to Portland?
Kim: New York City became tough to live in. I should have had a forty-five-minute commute door-to-door, and there were some days it would take me two hours to get home. We just started asking if it was worth it to live there anymore. We had been coming up to Maine annually for vacation and had really come to love it. We have a sixteen- and a twelve-year-old. We like the school system here, too.
How did you find the Zoo?
Tom: When we first moved here in 2019, we lived up on the Hill, and it’s an easy walk down. So we just walked in and everyone was so nice here. They have the best bartenders, and we’ve been coming here for five years. Most of the people we’ve met here are service-industry people — a lot of bartenders from other bars. This is where we meet our friends.
Kim: It’s a younger crowd here. We feel like we throw off the median age.
Kim, we heard that you worked in the film industry. Can you tell us more about that?
Kim: I went to film school in the Nineties, which everybody did, and there was an ad on this website called showbizjobs.com for a position at the International Emmys. I started answering phones, worked my way up, and when I left, I was the director of membership and events. I was there for eleven years, so a long time. Tom and I actually met while I was working there, because he was the IT guy. The International Emmys was the television competition for shows that are produced outside the United States. We were like a sister organization of the Primetime Emmys. I got to go a couple of times, and it was fun. Probably the most excited I got — and this is the saddest thing ever: I got to meet Mark McGrath [from the band Sugar Ray], and I literally called Tom, so excited! Meanwhile, Al Pacino is walking by me! So, that’s where my priorities are.
Now what do you do for work?
Kim: I work for the Chamber of Commerce in Old Orchard Beach. It’s a nonprofit organization that has about two hundred businesses that are members. We do a bunch of different events to help business owners. We also do the annual Old Orchard Beach car show, which has about three hundred and fifty cars come in the area. Car people are a little wacky, but it’s a lot of fun. We just started hopefully what will be a new annual event called Lobster Rock, which we did a couple of weeks ago in Veterans Memorial Park. We had a live band and a lobster bake dinner.
What are some of your interests?
Tom: I ran the Burlington, Vermont, marathon this year on Memorial Day weekend. We made sure to be back in time for our Sunday routine.
Kim: There’s beer out at the end of a lot of those marathons, which I’m really surprised at.
Tom: You can have water, but then you can also have two beers for free! Gives you a reason to finish [laughs].
Kim: We also go to a lot of shows.
So, Kim, you’re a big Duran Duran fan?
Kim: I have been ever since I was six years old. I just love Duran Duran. Everybody has their bucket list, and I have a Duran Duran bucket list. I’ve actually checked off a lot of things from it. I’ve seen them in England, and I saw the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. That was kind of my midlife-crisis trip [laughs]. I’ve seen them a bunch of times. I’d say they’re my guys. Tom has said that he likes Duran Duran and would like to see them, but I’m too intense. I followed their tour back in ’93, and that was actually the first time I came to Maine. My friend and I went to Boston and had gotten a tip that Duran was staying at the Four Seasons, so we went and walked around trying to find them, and then got thrown out.
Tom: This is why I don’t go with her.
Since you’re regulars at a soccer bar, are either of you fans?
Kim: We tried to get into the Premier League a few years ago. Everybody kind of picked their teams. I chose Crystal Palace because I’m from New Jersey originally, and the diner that I used to go to all the time was called Crystal Palace, which I’m sure would anger every single British person. And they’re terrible too, which is fun!
Know an interesting bar regular? Recommend them to us by e-mailing theregularsmaine@gmail.com.
