Send Us Your Gilley Stories

Gilley's PM Lunchcart Logo / SeacoastNH.com EDITOR AT LARGE

Not everybody goes to the finest eateries. Not everybody loves opera. Not everybody likes historic houses, but everybody loves Gilleys. At least, that’s the way the editor sees it. For almost a century the foot has been hot, fast and cheap – just like your – no let’s not go there. But let’s definitely go to Gilley’s late-night lunch cart.

GILLEYS PM LUNCH CART
Portsmouth, NH

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If your Gilley stories are better than mine, please email them in. This old lunch cart has seen a lot of action since it was wheeled into Market Square just before World War II. There is a book in here for someone willing to collect all the tales. The original cart, which legend says was horse-drawn, first parked in front of the North Church in Market Square in 1912. As Portsmouth’s only surviving late-night diner, Gilley’s is approaching its centennial.

I’m pretty sure this was the first place I ever ate in Portsmouth. It is also the last place I ate, since I went back today for a little tax-deductible research. I got the standard burger, but splurged on an order of chili fries. That is a stack of french fries heaped with Gilleys mild bean chili. I sat alone on one of the eight stools, sun streaming in, trying to pace myself and not vacuum the whole meal in. In my middle-aged world of tofu-burgers and rice and beans – it was ten minutes in heaven.

In decades of living or working downtown, Gilley’s was a frequent lifesaver. Not only was nothing open after midnight, but nothing I could afford was open in the evening. How many times, on the edge of a morning deadline, did I sprint through dark streets and slide aside the lunch cart door? It was like passing through the airlock on a space ship. On a winter night, the greasy hot blast of dogs, burgers, fried egg sandwiches and that Gilley bean chili was palpable. My glasses steamed. Some nights the place was empty. Some nights the place was like an elevator at rush hour, except half the passengers were drunk.

Say what you like about health food. Ramble on about the gourmet dining in Portsmouth. Fact is, I’ve gotten wicked sick in some of the finest establishments downtown, full-blown emergency-ward food poisoning, the whole nine yards. But a hundred kraut dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches later, this little old cart has never failed me.

I got to know the cart intimately back in the 70s. Jobs, even unskilled ones, were extremely scarce. My idea was to manufacture wooden Gilley Wagons and sell them in local gift shops. I took photos of the wagon with longtime employee Ralph "Gilley" Gilbert in the window. Then I bought some wood to make the body of the cart and the curved roof that I intended to produce in my father’s basement workshop. I made one or two, stained the wood to the classic rusty color and attached the photos of the windows to the sides. It was a lot of work. I had the official OK to proceed, but with the 100% store mark-up, the wood and labor, the billing and collecting – my days as a toymaker were over before they began.

I’m sure your stories are better. Even on rowdy nights, the crowd inside Gilleys has always been civil to me. Guys who looked like rejects from a Quentin Tarantino movie would smile politely and pass the celery salt. "Napkin?" they might ask.

I probably mentioned the time a group of us dressed up like Robin Hood and his Merry Men. I got stuck being Will Scarlet, red tights and all. Someone thought it would be funny to fake a hold-up at Richardson’s Market with our plastic bows and suction cup arrows. Today a stunt like that might get you tasered. Then we hit the lunch cart for burgers. The crowd there simply smiled. It was just another night at Gilley’s.

READER RESPONSE

GOOD OLD GILLEY DAYS
Growing up in Portsmouth I spent a lot of time at Gilley's. Hot dogs with the works --relish, mustard and onions -- were four for a buck. Gilley was a hard worker, taking care of the customers inside, the autos at the window on Pleasant St. and the patrons on the other side standing on the sidewalk when it was at the North Church. I'd walk from the Navy Yard (at age 16 – 18) at night, wait for my bus to Foyes corner inside Gilliy’s, and have four hot dogs with the works. One Saturday night I was sitting having beans and franks when a drunk slid off his seat next to me and fell on the floor. I remember years later saying to the wife while living in Rochester – “Let’s go to Portsmouth for an evening supper.” I took her to Gilliey’s on Fleet Street, and we sat on the steps outside eating hot dogs. I have many fond memories of Gilliey’s. I still go there every couple weeks and get two with the works. My appetite isn't what it used to be.
BRAD HARRINGTON

MEMORIES OF 1969
"Our destination that evening was Gilley’s, a trolley-like vehicle that looked like it had rolled off the cover of "Wind In The Willows". Each evening it rattled into Market Square and set up for business. From the worn grill Gilley himself served up the region’s best hot dogs and chili. His wagon was there every evening and a 2:00 AM flurry of business was not uncommon.

After our second supper at Gilley’s, Mandy and I wandered around Market Square getting our bearings. We noted where the Greyhound Bus Station was in case we needed to make a quick getaway; Newbury’s Department Store for shoe polish and pantyhose; a Laundromat in a side alley; a couple of trash-and-treasure shops that warranted a second look; and Richardson’s. In Richardson’s, one could buy beer, wine, or the newest rage, Champale. Also, Hostess Cupcakes, beef jerky and those addictive cheese things that make your lips orange for two days afterwards. Mandy and I split a package of Twinkies and strolled through the soft, warm evening."

Excerpt from "Wentworth By The Sea, 1969 ~ A Novel"
(c) Sue Chapman Melanson
South Hiram, Maine

LAST NIGHT IN MARKET SQUARE
I took these photos during Gilley's last night on Market Square. The back of the photos is marked, "Sept 74." I assume that is accurate. Gilley stopped and posed in response to my photo request through the sidewalk window. As I recall he was busy as usual dealing with the inside counter and both sidewalk and street side windows. Gilley was the show as he worked with speed that was the hallmark of all good short order cooks, and he was fast! In addition to the burgers, beans (whites, never reds) and hotdogs, for me a central part of the allure was the fringe "outlaw" nature of the business which operated on the road with a minimum of physical and bureaucratic overhead. Never mind the highbrow-lowbrow nature of the customers. One never could predict what kind of characters would be encountered. One late night, or early morning is probably more accurate, there was a photographer snapping shots of all the queued customers. I told the guy that I was concerned about him stealing my spirit and he bought my supper!

For some period of time the lunch cart was stored during the daytime on the lot at the corner of Washington and Court. Last year, 2006, when Gove Construction was excavating for a new water main on Court they found an old water service pipe that some conjectured was used by Gilley's to soak the beans and other food prep. I don't know for sure.

When you think of it, Bob Thorasen should be congratulated for historic restoration of the alley between his building on Pleasant and the North Church. This alley was alternately Gilley's rest room and a place where customer disagreements were settled. In these days of gentrification it is hard to imagine now that Portsmouth in those days could be a pretty tough town.
Jack Kareckas

Last hours in Market Square for Gilleys (c) Jack Kareckas on SeacoastNH.com

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