OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — There are three things messing with your summer in Boston.
1. The Heat. It’s already the hottest summer ever recorded at the Blue Hills Observatory.
2. Traffic. The college kids are gone but all-day traffic remains.
3. Politics. The presidential election, tragic for oh-so-many reasons, still has more than 100 days to go. It’s important for sure, but 24/7 is too much.
Is there any escape from all this madness?
Get in the car, put on the Boss, and drive 100 miles north of Boston.
“Once the weather goes to steam, you go under the boardwalk,” Bruce Springsteen said while hosting a radio show.
Two hours later, we are under The Pier at Old Orchard Beach, which juts almost 500 feet over the beach and out into the mighty Atlantic.
The New York Times once called this place “a kind of Riviera for middle-income French Canadians.”
Many of the beachgoers are speaking French, so it feels like you’re on vacation and out of the country.
Under the pier, on the soft, brown sand — no rocks — is the place to be, despite the 90-degree day.
There are huge swaths of shade and a delightful breeze coming off the 62-degree water. At Old Orchard, there’s no pretense, like in Nantucket or Kennebunkport; instead, it’s got a fun Jersey shore vibe.
The smell of French fries and fried dough wafts through the air.
The pier was built in 1898 and has been rebuilt (and shortened) several times after fires, hurricanes, and the Blizzard of ‘78 destroyed it. In its heyday, the Pier Casino Ballroom was where Sinatra, Satchmo, and Ella all played. Imagine the Chairman of the Board singing “Summer Wind” there.
Today, there are mostly pubs, restaurants, an artist doing caricatures, a tarot card reader, and various vendors. On a recent Sunday afternoon, the beach looked like a United Nations gathering of humanity.
“Time here is magnifique,” says one mom from Quebec, as her kids Elodia and William Nojuaera swing on metal bars under the pier.
Tanika Douglas, a cook from UMass Amherst, has found the perfect shady spot to get away from the broiling sun and catch the ocean breeze. Her two kids snuggled with her on the blanket. She had to cover them with towels to keep them warm.
“Everyone comes here to enjoy it and to relax,” says Douglas. “There’s no judgment. You come as you are and get away from the stressful world, the hustle and bustle, the politics, everything. You just relax and enjoy. We need that, especially today. It’s beautiful. Nobody cares(what color you are). It’s just one (color) here.”
As the waves break on the beach, under the pier lovers kiss and take selfies, as if the pier had mistletoe hanging from its weathered boards. Kids squeal with delight as they build forts in the mud.
Behind the pier is an amusement park, where you can get on the bumper cars and seek revenge for all those Boston drivers who cut you off on Route 93.
Nearby, a parking lot attendant, Rico, has come to Old Orchard Beach since the late 1970s. He claims it’s the best beach, with the cleanest water, anywhere. He won’t admit it’s too cold — nature’s birth control.
“It’s refreshing,” he says.
With the strength of the US dollar, Canadians are still coming, but not as regularly as before the pandemic, he says. The beach is packed, nonetheless.
“We get people from Maine, day trippers. We get people from Mass., New York, and Connecticut, but the biggest percentage of people we get are from Quebec. They are all just trying to have a good time. Politics isn’t in this town. No. That’s other places. Don’t you think there should be some towns where people just want to have fun? This is one.”
Stan Grossfeld can be reached at stanley.grossfeld@globe.com.