Gretchen Knowlton
Age: 59
Hometown: Brimfield, Massachusetts
Profession: Retired Stage Manager/TSA Agent
Drink of choice: Guinness
Bar of choice: The Continental
The busy intersection of St. John Street and Brighton Avenue in Portland can be a bit chaotic. Cars and pickups rush through from all angles, their occupants hell bent on grabbing a breakfast sandwich at Punky’s, Vietnamese groceries or takeout from Vientiane Market, or getting kitty to The Cat Doctor ASAP.
Sitting at a slight remove from the bustle is The Continental, a British-style gastropub that opened three summers ago. Co-owner Mike Barbuto (who’s also a partner in downtown Portland eateries CBG and Nosh) can be found behind the bar almost daily, decked out in a campy Hawaiian shirt and armed with witty banter. There are no TVs in sight, a decision Mike made to make The Continental a place to relax and chat while attending instead to the pub’s hearty and delicious food and drinks.
Saddle up to their gorgeous wooden bar, order a shepherd’s pie and a Guinness, and dig into some good conversation — quite possibly with The Continental’s first and most gregarious regular, Gretchen.
How did you find The Continental?
So, it used to be a 7-Eleven for a million years, and then it got all boarded up and I’m like, “What are they gonna make?” One day we were driving into town to do some errands and the door was propped open. I was like, “We have to stop.” That’s when I ran into Mike and Grover, his dog. I asked, “What’s gonna happen here?” and Mike said, “Oh, we’re gonna do this bar, it’s gonna be great.” Meanwhile — hello — like, eighteen months later, they finally opened. I live right around here, so I get to walk to have a Guinness, and really there’s nothing better. We’ve never had a neighborhood bar here before, so it’s very exciting.
When do you typically visit The Continental?
I’m usually here in the evening. For a while I was like the late-night gal, but I got old and tired. They do this Sunday Irish music, which is awesome, so I’m here every Sunday, but I don’t come quite as often as I used to. They were only open five days a week for the first six weeks or so, and I literally came every night, checked in with Mike, checked in on all the other guys. And so we had this running joke, you know, “Who’s gonna take a day off first?” And then finally, Mike said, “You know, starting in a couple weeks, we’re gonna go to seven days a week.” I was like, “All right, I’m out” [laughs]. I’m not sure Mike’s ever taken a day off, though.
What are the other regulars like?
You know, it’s interesting. There are a lot of young guys that come in groups, which is fine. Wildly entertaining. A lot of people from the neighborhood —“the walkers” — are regulars. I love the fact that there’s no television in here, which is huge. I mostly come here by myself, and you are able to meet people and talk about things. It’s kind of old fashioned in a way.
We heard you retired. What have you gotten up to since then?
I am retired from the federal government. I worked for TSA. Thank you, flipping God! Now I dabble in all kinds of things. I make pottery. I’m launching a voiceover business. I wash dishes at a cooking school. I work for L.L.Bean on their events team. It all scratches a different itch. I get bored if I do the same thing for too long.
Tell us more about the voiceover business.
It’s kind of fallen to the bottom of my to-do list, but I gotta try to start doing some auditioning and whatnot-ing. I did a lot of training. I set up my little studio, and I’m ready to go. I just got my little website going. I just wanted to do something different, have something to learn. I was a stage manager for ten, twelve years. Lived in New York, did the whole thing, and it was great. I watched some of the actors that I worked with make big stacks of cash doing voiceover. And I thought, Oh, you know, maybe someday when I retire I’ll do that.
What theater did you work for?
I worked all over because you end up getting a job with a particular show, and you’re not really at a particular theater. I had a very small Broadway contract, and I also did a lot of off-Broadway work.That’s when you get hired to travel around to different theaters, like in New England.
Is that how you ended up in Maine?
I grew up in New England. My husband and I wanted to have a kid, and we didn’t want to do it in New York City. I didn’t think I could be a stage manager and a mom at the same time. I would always feel like when I’m at the theater I’m neglecting my child, and when I’m with my child I feel like I’m neglecting my career. As a stage manager, you work easily sixty to seventy hours a week. It’s a lot. You’re in charge of everything, right? Which was fabulous, and I enjoyed it, but that was a chapter. We moved to Maine in 2001 into this fabulous little neighborhood. It took me twenty years to get a bar, but here we are!
We also heard you raise chickens.
Yes, in the city of Portland you can have six hens. I’ve been keeping chickens since 2012. They entertain me. Right now it is prime egg-laying season, so I get four to six eggs a day out of my six girls.
Tell us about your pottery.
I throw things, and then I paint them and carve them and try to get people to buy them. It’s one of those things I always wanted to do. I did it kind of as a hobby. Then, after I retired, I started doing it more and selling it more. I’ve been selling at Thompson’s Point. There’s a few shops in town, like Nash & Co, that have my things. I do all my firing at Portland Pottery, so I have some things in their gallery, as well. I mostly make mugs and vases, but also bunnies — because, you know, you need bunnies.
Know an interesting bar regular? Send them our way at theregularsmaine@gmail.com.
