# The Ship (restaurant) has Sunk **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960 "2017-08-28T21:30:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/21 "2017-08-29T19:51:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Probably a Tree. You know, there was a place out west called The Nut Tree that I loved when I was a kid. It was a restaurant/toy store/park/railway/airport in the middle of nowhere between Sacramento and San Francisco. Two of my grandparents lived in Sacramento, and when we’d visit them in the summer we’d always make a trip to The Nut Tree. And it’s gone. I was out there once after I grew up and went to check it out. It was also a family operation; and the next generation decided they didn’t want to take it over. In the intervening years an outlet mall and gas stations had grown up around it, and then took over the site when it was gone. > [@](#): > > I’m sure there’s some quirky place we can have a Dopefest. > > Heck, we had one at the Hilltop before it went. I was thinking of a miniature golf and ice cream dopefest, but we’d have to hurry. And I remember the one at the Hilltop. It was one of the two times I was there. Kinda sorry I never got to golf with the T. Rex. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/22 "2017-08-29T21:04:43Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > I never ate at The Ship, didn’t much care for the Hilltop, but I miss/will them both as interesting cultural touchstones. I really wanted to mini golf last week and there aren’t really other options any more. Keep heading north on Rt. 1, we have [nautical-themed](http://www.smallgolf.com/) mini golf. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/23 "2017-08-29T21:52:15Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You know, there was a place out west called The Nut Tree that I loved when I was a kid. Oh, Man! The Nut Tree! Big part of visiting the Grandparents in Dixon. Begged them to go there every time. Still have a couple of their awesome historic aircraft posters. It’s a freakin’ Outlet Mall now. ☹ I wonder how many times we nearly ran over each other there back in the day… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/24 "2017-08-29T22:26:01Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Oh, Man! The Nut Tree! Big part of visiting the Grandparents in Dixon. Begged them to go there every time. Still have a couple of their awesome historic aircraft posters. > > It’s a freakin’ Outlet Mall now. ☹ > > I wonder how many times we nearly ran over each other there back in the day… I always wanted to fly in to the airport, take the train to the Nut Tree, have dinner, and fly home. I’d still like to; looks like the airport is still there, and there are plenty of restaurants around, but it wouldn’t be the same. About when were you there? I’d have been there from about '72 to '80, but not every year. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/25 "2017-08-30T01:12:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Fair Rarity** – if you want local mini-golf, there are still places to go. There’s a small course at Salem Willows, and – to my unending surprise and delight – Hago Harrington’s mini-golf continues to operate on Route 28 in Stoneham I went to Harrington’s last year and it was a mess. It needs a lot of rehab and renovation. The paths are frost heaved and uneven. The greens are multi-colored, the “fun” parts of the holes are tired and/or broken. A few of bowling alleys closed over the summer too. I love kitsch and family fun, and I’m running out of options. Tee, I was going to go to that one a couple weeks ago but after seeing too many confederate flag shirts, I high-tailed it out of NH. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/26 "2017-08-30T01:36:07Z")
For those reminiscing about The Nut Tree: do you remember the short-lived giant maze across the freeway…[The Wooz](http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/19/us/vacaville-journal-they-lose-themselves-in-a-new-maze-madness.html)? I went there once and it was kind of neat, but nothing that’d I’d ever go back to. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/27 "2017-08-30T02:07:10Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > Tee, I was going to go to that one a couple weeks ago but after seeing too many confederate flag shirts, I high-tailed it out of NH. In Hampton? What kind of godforsaken convention was that? We had sort of a kitschy family day last weekend, Salisbury beach followed by Dairy Queen. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/28 "2017-08-30T09:36:32Z")
Sad to lose another landmark there, but it’s business, and that was never good at the site. The Ship was the kind of place about which you said “We have to go there sometime” but you just never did. We only did once, thought it was overpriced, and it later changed hands several times without our actually going in. Still, did it really have to come down? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/29 "2017-08-30T11:20:27Z")
I don’t go home to New Zealand very often, but each time I do another ten stores or cafes have shut down in my home town. It’s virtually unrecognisable to me now. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/30 "2017-08-30T11:25:10Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > What was it, a few years ago where somebody stole one of the cows and the cow would reappear in different places in the Boston area? IIRC it was eventually returned. I remember that! [Linky.](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/10/28/police-recover-cows-stolen-from-hilltop-steak-house/8LZAWFxpjGYVMeZ8zZY6aP/story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/31 "2017-08-31T01:21:53Z")
> [@Tee](#): > > In Hampton? What kind of godforsaken convention was that? It was FAMILY WEEK at the beach. So … yeah. It’s bad enough if you see that shit in Myrtle or Virginia or Daytona Beach, but in the LIVE FREE OR DIE state, I guess LIVE FREE means whites only. Speaking of NH, let us not forget that weird morning when we all found out the man in the mountain did not survive the winter. So even permanent icons of our youth disappear due to the ravages of time. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/32 "2017-09-01T01:20:42Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > It was FAMILY WEEK at the beach. So … yeah. It’s bad enough if you see that shit in Myrtle or Virginia or Daytona Beach, but in the LIVE FREE OR DIE state, I guess LIVE FREE means whites only. Well that stinks. The beach as you know is a circus. Haven’t seen any flags recently myself, and I wouldn’t mind, because I want to be able to yell GET OVER IT, SNOWFLAKE at least once in my life. In the more normal world though I’ve been up and down Rt. 1 a lot this week, Seabrook to Portsmouth, and I’ve seen nothing. Not on cars, businesses or people, fwiw. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/33 "2017-09-02T01:08:27Z")
Well, when Trump called NH a drug-infested hellhole (or whatever it was) I was like “THEM’S FIGHTING WORDS” and fifteen minutes at Hampton Beach I was like “huh… he has a point.” Other than Rochester, I generally find NH to be pleasant. I see the confederate flag more in VT or ME. Maybe the offender was from there. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960/34 "2017-09-02T12:30:30Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Yeah, it was nuts. They installed a covered walkway (with a bar) outside the building proper to handle the crowds. And the announcements telling you which room to go to - Maybe they should have done what Walter Knott did for people waiting to partake of Cordelia Knott’s fried chicken dinners – he tacked on a theme park – they might still be around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ship-restaurant-has-sunk/794960.md?page=1)