Chalk It Up, Until You Can Feel It

God bless, Sam Harbey. He’s owner and proprietor of Sam’s Pizza on Main Street in downtown ‘Hamp. The former Quizno’s / Bart’s Homemade / Bonducci’s. Sam’s has come the closest to capturing the “come in, relax, hang out” vibe that was Bonducci’s. Everybody’s in there from Mary with the chin beard and glasses, the bikers, to young moms with their toodling toddlers.

And Sam has quite the music line-up to go with his fantastic pizza. (I had a slice today, vegan so no cheese, but a smattering of savory red sauce on a crispy thin crust. The veggies were soft but still crunchy and bursting with flavor. It was simply excellent.) Some nights are open mics, others have scheduled performers, and often every night ends in some kind of sing-a-long pouring out on to the sidewalk.

But now Sam has really achieved community sainthood in my eyes. He let me chalk an advertisement for OTR on his sidewalk in front. What a guy. And special shout out to Matt here, former PVTA driver, handy editor-in-chief and layout director for spontaneous sidewalk chalking.

Matt, whose story about the PVTA cap is worth asking about.