Happier, Stupider Times: Anthony Bourdain’s Provincetown Years

“I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life, as a dishwasher.”

Anthony Bourdain arrived in 1970s Provincetown with big ideas about becoming a writer and zero experience working in kitchens. Then he started washing dishes and quickly fell in with “the pirate elite”—the cooks, artists, and partiers who defined the anything-goes lifestyle of summers in P-town. Happier, Stupider Times is a sunwashed trip to the place and time that shaped Bourdain’s formative years, from the fishermen at the port to the culinary traditions and swashbuckling nightlife. 

Including:
○ Maps, menus, and rarely seen ephemera from iconic Provincetown establishments 
○ Original recipes for local dishes like Portuguese kale soup and Cape Cod clam bakes
○ Artwork and photographs by the artists who lived there
○ Plus never-before-seen images of Bourdain and his crew