Livingston Saturday Night
24 Oct
I think it’s about time I start writing about where I live, because it’s a funny place. Jimmy Buffet even wrote a song about it. When I finally read the lyrics I was surprised to find a few references to deviled eggs in bars. I’m no real partyer but I’m pretty sure no Livingston bars serve deviled eggs. It’s probably against the health codes.
’cause they’ll be rockin’ and a rollin’ on a livingston saturday night.
In actuality, Saturday is kind of dead in Livingston, and Friday nights are busy. We like to celebrate the end of the work week.
So, a reader of my blog wrote to ask a few questions about Livingston, and I decided it’s high time I wrote my own Insider’s Guide to Livingston, Montana.
Let’s address the most important questions first:
Why Livingston instead of Bozeman?
Well, this is true. Why would you live 30 miles from where you work, over a mountain pass, in a community that gets nearly blown away every winter by wind? And the answer is easy. To get away from Bozeman. Bozangeles (as I like to call it) has a few more people who don’t have to work for a living and a lot more big box stores. Plus, it’s a hell of a lot less expensive over here to live. I’m okay with creating some space for myself over here in the windy city.
Is the wind really that bad?
Yes. Livingston is officially the third windiest city in the United States. What does this actually mean? It means that in the summer, when the snowbirders are in town, the wind is fairly quiet, with some occasional afternoon gusts that could make boating on the Yellowstone quite difficult. In the winter we batten down the hatches and prepare for gusts up to 80 mph, passing semi-trucks and trailers on their sides on the Interstate, tree limbs flown into the street, and the feeling like you’re on a ship out to sea when you climb into bed.
Doug says I’m the only person he knows who doesn’t complain about the wind, because, believe it or not, I grew up somewhere windier. But, the wind is survivable, and you kind of forget about it come summer. I recommend buying a white noise machine and checking the condition of the roof carefully before you buy a house here.
My favorite fact about Livingston:
Livingston is a city for writers. Per capita, we have the most professional writers of any city in the United States. Dave McCumbe, an author himself, chased down the litany of writers in town. They include:
“Novelist and Time Magazine columnist Walter Kirn. Mystery writers Jamie Harrison and Peter Bowen. Environmental authorities Doug Peacock, Alston Chase and Thomas McNamee. Fishing and hunting writers John Holt and Ben 0. Williams. jazz critic and humorist James Liska. Foreign correspondent Thomas Goltz. cowgirl poets Gwen Petetsen and Sandy Seaton. The fine historical novelist, Richard S. Wheeler. journalist Steve Chapple, Debby Bull, Maryanne Vollers, Max Crawford, Diane Smith, Steven Hughes, Kim Leighton, et cetera.
Then there are the literary drop-ins, those who spend at least part of the year here on a regular basis. They include Jim Harrison, Peter Mattheissen, Guy de la Valdene, Toby Thompson, Richard Ford and Robert F. Jones.”
I remember walking in the Owl Bar when I first moved here and loving the fact that as many books were behind the bar as liquor bottles. I assumed that all of them were written by people who’d sat on a stool but the bar was sold before I could ask. I’d like to have a book of mine sit behind a bar some day. Then I’d have a laugh.
This is so awesome!!!!!!!
Thank you – I’ve been meaning to write you back since our last exchange, but I’ve been gone (as have you
– hope you’re feeling better.
Travis
I’m glad you wrote about your hometown, because I have been curious about it — first from the song (deviled eggs — yummy) but now because you live there. The next time I travel to your area, I’m definitely going to visit Livingston. Hope you saved me a pumpkin muffin. I knew the area was flooded with writers. There was some article long ago about actors populating the area, too, like Peter Fonda and Jeff Bridges. It’s funny you called Bozeman Bozeangeles! I think it’s a quaint little town, but I haven’t been there in eight years. where did you live before that was even windier? I come from the Wichita, Kansas, area. It’s called the Air Capital of the World, but I think it’s called that because the air is always blasting at 40 mph!
Thanks Catherine, I will start putting up more pictures of Livingston soon. Doug’s been taking some on his daily walk. I think Peter and Jeff still live here as do Tom Brokaw and Michael Keaton. I have a funny story about them that I’ve been meaning to write for the blog. Thanks for the reminder! Janelle
Just where did you get this “third windiest city information?” Just wondering since I’ve been to Chicago and Pocatello, Idaho, where the wind never stopped blowing (or maybe it was my husband’s family). I’m going to go stand outside with my windsock now. I’ll report back.
From our local newspaper, so come to think of it, it may not be that accurate. All I know is it’s a darn windy place! We had 40 days over 40 mph winds and 50 days over 50 mph winds last year. The local consignment store matches its sale prices to the wind mph (so on 40 mph wind days you get 40% off). Janelle
Hey… you’re my neighbor to the south. We’re quite windy here too in Alberta, Canada.
Thanks for the insight in Livingston – the town becoming what Bozeman once had a chance to be, an authentic literary oasis in cow country. But I have another Livingston tale that has haunted me for 47+ years of marriage.
On our way back to Bozeman from our honeymoon trip to Yellowstone Park, Benny and I stopped in a Livingston diner for lunch. I ordered my favorite – clam chowder. It came with chunks of whitish fishmeat and actual fishbones. I wasn’t surprised – I know my mother made chowder from bony whitefish. But Benny remembers Livingston as the only place where clams have bones!
Ha! Ha! That’s hilarious. Livingston has better restaurants than Bozeman does these days, but you probably still could find a few fishbones in some of the clam chowders around here. Janelle