There’s Room at the Inn

Gloucester

Feb 13

The life and times of Gloucester innkeeper Brad Pierce

Cape Ann Motor Inn owner Brad Pierce in his front yard.

You can’t get any closer to the ocean than here.

Cape Ann Motor Inn maintains a Gloucester address, yet it sits perfectly on Long Beach, a breathtaking one-mile expanse of white sandy seashore that stretches from Gloucester to Rockport. “Location, location, location.” What could be better than waking up to the captivating sound of waves and looking out at a splendid sunrise over the ocean?

Perhaps sharing it with loved ones—year after year. For generations. And having this family-run business take care of you. For 47 years … and counting.

“I lost my class ring in the ocean here and six years later, at the age of 23, I was the innkeeper.”

Brad Pierce has served as the welcoming proprietor of Cape Ann Motor Inn since 1973. Doesn’t seem possible, given his youthful appearance, sharp wit, and easy-going personality.

Brad always knew he wanted to be in the hospitality business. He attended a military school (Norwich University in Vermont) but due to his allergies, which eventually turned into asthma, he couldn’t go into the service. Fresh out of college and with a business degree, Brad applied for positions at hotels north of Boston. His future business partner was building what would become Cape Ann Motor Inn when he received Brad’s application. But the Holiday Inn in Peabody got him first.

“I walked into the Holiday Inn, said my spiel, and the young lady at the front desk whispered to the Innkeeper ‘Hire him! Hire him’. He did and I ended up marrying her.” He laughs. (So does Bert loudly but we’ll get to her in a bit). “Three months later I was her boss, three months after that I was her boss’ boss. Within nine months, I was maître d’ in the lounge on weekends, assistant night auditor and desk manager. All within nine months.”

Shortly after this time, Brad was approached by the owner of Cape Ann Motor Inn. He told Brad that his current innkeeper could no longer fill his obligation. Seems like he had robbed a bank and was in jail. Brad was satisfied working at the Holiday Inn. But his future company partner enticed him by offering him $100 more a week, a company car, and a penthouse. Brad spoke with his fiancé and it was enough of a promotion so they could get married.

Cape Ann Motor Inn has 31 rooms along with a honeymoon suite. The suite offers a full kitchen, fireplace, and entertainment center. Half of the other rooms have kitchens too. All rooms face the ocean. In the evening, the blue balcony lights illuminate the beach and ocean, create a stunning ambiance. Thacher Island with its spectacular twin lighthouses is less than 2 miles away (but seems like a hop, skip, and a jump).

When he first started at Cape Ann Motor Inn, Brad used to empty the rubbish, fill the soda machine, handle the payroll and bookkeeping, fold towels, and do pretty much everything. Eventually he hired someone to assist him; chambermaids followed, and now he has a staff of eighteen people. Brad brought his daughter (Loran Caputo) into the business when she was young, as a towel girl and now as his assistant innkeeper. “Loran,” Brad remarks proudly, “brought me into the 21st century—with FB, Expedia, social media, TripAdvisor, and all of that. We even have a Beach Cam to see what the ocean looks like, for surfers. Huge surfing beach. I’m still here every day checking things out, paying some bills, looking at scheduling and making some observations; still putting in 30 hours a week.”

You can’t beat the view from Brad’s place.

The Stars

“I could write a book about the guests— including celebrities—that have stayed here.” Brad chuckles, Bert laughs.

Once Brad heard a voice asking if they had any vacancies. He looked up to see the lanky actor Sam Elliott with his signature full mustache, staring down at him. The inn was full, but Brad got him a room somewhere else. They were also sold out when Paul Newman called and needed a room. Brad’s desk clerk asked why he wasn’t finding a room for Paul Newman. Brad didn’t know it was him!

Ben Vereen—the famous actor, dancer, and singer—was dating a woman from Cape Ann so he stayed a lot. Once there was a lobby full of people and, as he was leaving, he shouted out, “Yo, Brad, you’re the reason I learned how to dance.” Brad bellowed back, “You owe me for that.” The lobby guests were astounded. Chita Rivera—also an actress, dancer, and singer—made Brad carry her luggage all the way to the third floor. Brian Hyland, who in 1960 popularized the classic hit “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” (he also recorded “Gypsy Woman” in the early 70s—making him a 2-hit wonder!) was also a “guest.”

Many of the Stanley Cup-winning Boston Bruins frequented the Inn. Bobby Orr signed an autograph for his daughter. She was in first grade, brought it to school for show and tell and sold it for $1.00. A childhood autograph Brad had saved from Carl Yastrzemski had the same fate, selling at Show and Tell for $1.00.

Time to introduce Bert

Bert is an African Gray Parrot that was a “gift” from his partner who had named the bird after his boat, the Bertram. Brad thought the parrot was male, until when, about twelve years after Bert’s residency, they found an egg in his cage. Turns out he’s a she, so her name was changed to Roberta. If you say, “How you doing?” she’ll reply, “How you doing?” Sometimes when Brad comes over to get coffee, she’ll tell him to “Get back to work.” If you’re a smoker, and you breathe on her, she’ll start making loud coughing/choking noises.

Not surprisingly, Bert gets her share of Christmas cards.

What—or Who—Gets Swept Ashore

Sadly, you must expect the occasional expired whale to wash up on shore, or an unwelcome guest like a shark. But a torpedo?

“One washed up here. We had to have the neighborhood evacuated and the entire area roped off. Specialists arrived and one of these ‘experts’ went over to it, kicked it, turned back around, and hollered, ‘It’s OK.’ Thank goodness they left it to the professionals.”

An eccentric crew showed up in a sixteen-foot Boston Whaler in the summer of 1980. A family of six.

Brad explains, “We found them sleeping under a tarp. The parents were so proud. Said they sold everything they had and bought this Whaler with plans to travel from Maine to Ft. Lauderdale, through New England waterways. We tried to convince them that they wouldn’t make it. We took the four little kids every morning inside the inn for hot chocolate, cookies, let them watch TV. We called the Coast Guard to investigate. They inspected the boat—the Whaler had running lights, life preservers, etc. It was a legal vessel. Nothing these Coast Guard guys could do except inform their stations all along the coast that the group was coming. I said this just isn’t right. Then I called the Gloucester Times and told them the story. A reporter and photographer showed up and took pictures. They had a picture of me looking out from the balcony with the title, ‘Innkeeper Says They’re All Going to Die’.” The boat had needed minor repairs and when those were completed, they tried to depart. At the very start, they ran into some waves and couldn’t move. Brad rolled up his pants and threw them a rope to get back in. The first wave got Brad up to his chin, but he managed to pull them safely into shore and finally convince them to get bus passes and go back to Maine.

A Non-Famous-Yet-Infamous Guest

Alcohol: never a good idea to overindulge, particularly when traveling to unfamiliar locales.

A guest on the third floor had too much to drink. She called Brad and said that the Germans were in one of the rooms. “They know I’m here and they know I know them,” is what she told Brad and insisted he come up to her room. He went upstairs and pointed out that the room she was referring to was Henry’s room. Henry was one of the winter residents that would sometimes reside there off season. Standing outside of Henry’s room, she told Brad, “I know they’re in there.” Brad knocked on the door. “You have to picture this,” Brad laughs, “Henry comes to the door, his hair is all over the place, he is half asleep, he’s tying up his bathrobe. He says, ‘What?’ I turned to the woman and said, ‘See? It’s Henry.’ With a straight face, Henry looks at me and says, ‘Brad, you can check in as many nuts as you want into this motel but don’t feel obligated to bring them all up and introduce them to me.’ He slammed the door in my face.”

The Parties

An electric trolley was constructed in the late 1800s and brought visitors from Gloucester to Long Beach. There was a pavilion built on Long Beach in 1895. Inside Long Beach Pavilion was a restaurant, dance hall, bowling alley, and a vaudeville theater. It burned down twice—once in 1909 and again in 1965.

Brad has a great postcard of the pavilion in the lobby and laughed when he told this story. “When the pavilion burned down in 1965, and the Rockport fire chief (it was his favorite place) arrived at the scene, one of the firefighters had to point something out to him, ‘Chief, I realize that you were in a hurry to get here, but you never put your pants on.’ He had boots, a jacket, and a helmet—but he forgot to put his pants on.’” Brad laughs again, but not Bert. Napping perhaps?

Times change and entertainment does as well. Brad once found out people were coming into town and asking directions to the property and being sent to the wrong place. He wanted to create some publicity for the inn and decided to produce entertainment. “I started hosting bikini contests,” Brad explains. “My judges were the Gloucester mayor, Rockport town selectmen and the Gloucester city clerk. Oh, and Mike Costello who was head of the Cape Ann Chamber at that time. One crowd was close to 6,000 people. We gave away 8,000 tubes of Sea & Ski suntan lotion that we got as a promotion. And fifty-five cases of Miller beer. It was broadcasted live on WMEX, a popular radio station at the time.”

For equal opportunity, there had to be a “Macho Man” contest. However, “It didn’t go as well.” Wonder what could possibly have gone wrong?

“One male contestant dropped his bathing suit and we had to escort him off the property. He didn’t win. Didn’t even get an honorable mention. We’ve had jet ski demonstrations, windsurfing, and Hobie Cat promotions. Our Hobie Cat promotion produced a photo that was on the cover of Yachting Magazine.”

Service over self. Always.

Brad has been a member of the Cape Ann Rotary Club for forty-three years. The only member with perfect attendance as a matter of fact. The Club’s motto is, “Service Over Self” and Brad lives by that adage. He has also been President of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce as well as a founding member of the North of Boston Tourism Council. But his real passion is helping others. His daughter, Loran, is continuing to do the same. She is regularly active with Pathways for Children, a leading provider of education and childcare programs in Gloucester. She was on the board that organized the annual banquet and they raised over $200,000. Brad wouldn’t miss a Pathways holiday party. He takes photos of the children with Santa, gives each of them a photo as soon as 3 days later. And there can be up to three hundred kids!

For the past seven years, Brad and his local Rotary Club—along with Rotaries from forty-six other districts—have hosted a Polar Plunge to Fight Polio event that takes place the last weekend of February. Over four hundred people attend and run into the frigid water at the same time. “The National Anthem is played, then we all sing to the song ‘We are the World,’” Brad explains.

“Either the Gloucester Mayor or Senator Bruce Tarr yells the ‘Go!’ and the plunge starts. Bill Gates matches everything we make. The 2021 swim should put us over the million-dollar mark.”

Winters can be tough around here and lots people can end up in undesirable circumstances. The Inn is open all winter for long term rentals. “We rent rooms by the month in the winter. Someone needs a place to stay—wife throws him out, other issues. If the person staying here gets an invite back home after three nights, I give them their money back for the other twenty-seven days. We always help people out. Our policy now is that if it is below freezing and someone calls to say a person is on the streets, we ask to send them over. It’s the right thing to do.” Brad contacts the Action Inc. homeless shelter to let them know of this offer as well.

Longest innkeeper on Cape Ann

The Cape Ann Motor Inn is a warm, welcoming place. The moment one enters the lobby, feels the sea breeze, smells the coffee, and hears the person behind the front desk ask cheerily, “How can I help you?” even the most stressed out person has to sigh and relax.

“Nice people have been coming here for many years,” Brad said. “Before guests check out, they make a reservation for the following year. Same time, same week. Because they consider us family. We have 8,000 guests here a year. So, multiply by 46, 47…. I’ve met a lot of nice people.”

Cape Ann Motor Inn is featured in many family albums. “My kids loved the bird,” read one TripAdvisor review.

Brad smiles and talks about where he is personally at this stage of his life. “I’m at a point where I walk down the beach and back once a year. The last couple of years I’ve strolled down the beach and people will say, ‘Oh My God, he’s still alive.’ (He’s not that old!). Geez, you know Grammy used to work for him. They know me in the neighborhood.” Everybody knows Brad and Lindsay, his marvelous wife.

Seems like Brad was destined to run the Cape Ann Motor Inn. Brad will always have a story to tell, an observation to make, and a hand to reach out to anyone in need. A guest had been listening the entire time he was telling his anecdotes. When he was finished, she stood up and thanked Brad for his storytelling. She started to walk away, then turned back with a smile.

“You really should write a book,” she said.