The Hollow Reed

[1][2] The Hollow Reed was opened on 334 Fore Street[3] in the Old Port's Boothby Square on February 7, 1974, by vegetarians and volunteers at the Good Day Market cooperative grocery store Victoria Jahn, Bobbi Goodman and Frank LaTorre.

[7] In 2009, Maine writer Elizabeth Peavey wrote about Portland in the 1980s, "when this was a cowboy town — unprettified, unsanitized, still a little dangerous" and said "a trip to the very groovy Hollow Reed in the Old Port was a must.

"[1] In 2018, the chef and owner of Fore Street restaurant, Sam Hayward, told the Portland Press Herald that The Hollow Reed was one of four restaurants from the Old Port's early days that "deserve some of the credit for the city’s current reputation as a culinary destination.

"[2] In 2019, organic farmer Mort Mather recalled selling to the Hollow Reed, which he called "one of the first quality restaurants in Portland’s Old Port.

"[9] In 2024 journalist Avery Yale Kamila wrote that The Hollow Reed was "foundational in building Portland’s food culture.