The Hawthorne Is Open Again on Humphrey Street, and It's Running on a Clock

For four years the former Hawthorne-by-the-Sea was a Humphrey Street landmark people drove past without stopping. Since September it has opened at 6 a.m. for espresso and kept going after dark with live shows. The tenant also comes with an end date. The Swampscott Center for the Performing Arts is leasing the site through June 2028, according to Itemlive. The town chose this tenant to bring in money and keep the building in use while it plans the site's permanent future. So the café and the showroom you can walk into this fall are open for a set window, not for good.

What's actually inside the old building now

The center held its grand opening on September 5. Fats Arnold and his Midnight Hotdogs played the first show, doors opened at 5 p.m., and the music started at 8:30, as Itemlive reported the day before. Opening-night tickets were $20, and the all-you-can-eat buffet was another $40. Proprietor Johnny Ray summed up the room in that same Itemlive piece: "You can't beat the view — the view is amazing."

The renovated hall is now several separate rooms with their own names:

• The Dory Showroom, the main stage and dining room
• The Flamingo Lounge and the Looking Glass Lounge
• A VIP gaming room
• Maria's Gourmet Café, from the Marblehead business founded by Maria Torres
• Renzo Pizza, offered Tuesday through Sunday in the Dory and the Flamingo Lounge, with phone ordering

The café is the part that fits into a regular weekday. The town's October 2026 newsletter lists Maria's hours as 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The menu covers breakfast and lunch sandwiches, a full espresso bar and tea. The same newsletter calls Maria's part of "the temporary lease team bringing life to the old Hawthorne by the Sea." The town's own write-up of a new coffee shop used the word "temporary" before it got to the muffins.

The venue's site says it's open Tuesday through Sunday, and the phone number is 781-595-0001. If you book dinner ahead, you're guaranteed a table on show nights. Other seats are first come, first served.

Why a stage beat out food trucks

The short-term lease started with Town Meeting, which authorized leasing the town-owned building for up to 30 months. The goal was to keep it active and cover carrying costs while redevelopment planning continued. Swampscott Tides reported that Town Administrator Nick Connors said no town capital would be spent.

Two finalists answered. Itemlive's March coverage described a proposal called Limited Time Only: a non-traditional eatery with food trucks outside and room for civic use outside dining hours, priced at $30,000 for the full lease. The arts center bid $300,000. A tenfold gap made the choice easy. Select Board member MaryEllen Fletcher called it "an opportunity to make some additional money in there while we get to a shovel ready project." The board also noted that a brick-and-mortar restaurant would likely produce more tax revenue than food trucks.

The vote was 4–1 for the arts center, with David Grishman opposed. The interim tenant is a live-music venue because it brought in the most money for the gap years. Board member Danielle Leonard raised a reasonable question about whether the building's existing kitchen and infrastructure would hold up. Connors said the tenant takes the building as is, and the town wouldn't pay for changes to suit the proposal. Chair Katie Phelan said the arrangement would "really solidify the fact that this is a limited time offer, and we are going to be proposing something permanent."

The dates that frame everything

Laid out in order, the current setup fills the space between two decisions.

According to Swampscott Tides, the board's June planning aimed for a new long-term lease to start as the arts center's term runs out. If that works, the stage gives way to whatever comes next with no empty stretch in between. As of this week, there's a little more than a year and a half left.

What's on the calendar before the year is out

The license approval came with commitments that shape a night out here. Itemlive reported that Ray told the board headliners at ticketed shows would usually finish around 11:30 p.m., with patrons gone by 12:30 a.m. He said professional sound engineers would be required and there were no plans for music on the outdoor decks. So plan on enjoying the deck for the view and keeping the music indoors.

Here's what's announced for the rest of the year:

1. November 6. The venue's entertainment page shows a poster labeled "FATS NOV 6," which points to a return of the opening-night band.
2. November 7. The same page has a poster labeled "lisa love nov 7."
3. December 27. Ray told Itemlive a Latin music night with Mery Eme is planned.

The posters don't list times or prices, so call 781-595-0001 before you go. The venue's September lineup gives an idea of its range. It ran from Frank Santos, billed as an "R-Rated hypnotist," to Peter Calo, who served as Carly Simon's musical director. Ray also told Itemlive his "phone is ringing off the hook for private parties, banquets, and weddings." Some weekend dates between now and 2028 will go to private events, which leaves fewer public nights than the lease length suggests.

What the permanent version is being shaped around

The long-term decisions are already pinning down what replaces the stage. At the August 4 meeting, the Select Board minutes record that most public speakers urged the board to rule out housing, keep a large share of the site as open space, and protect public views of the water. Fletcher moved to exclude residential use from the RFP, and it passed 3–2. Wayne Spritz, Fletcher and Leonard voted yes. Phelan and Ted Dooley voted no.

Dooley explained his no vote in practical terms. He said he didn't personally support housing on the site, but he warned that without it the town could get fewer RFP responses, weaker proposals, or later requests for public money. The board agreed on priorities: open space, public access to waterfront views, real community benefit, and proposals that pencil out financially. It left two questions open: how much of the site must be open space, and whether the current building stays or comes down. The minutes also mention possible synergy with the future Hadley Hotel across Humphrey Street. Town staff are drafting an RFP framework, which goes back to the board, with more public input, before release.

One concept already exists on paper. The Hawthorne Reuse Advisory Committee's Plan G1, which the town has not adopted, sketched two rows of two-story buildings totaling about 25,000 square feet, a 40-foot view opening, and roughly 28 parking spaces.

The newest development is next door. On October 9, Swampscott Tides reported that the board voted 3–2 to conditionally support applying for Community Preservation funding to buy the St. John's parking lot at 187 Humphrey Street. It has not decided whether to go through with the purchase. Committee chair Brian Watson made the case for a two-lot plan: "the park you get from a double lot site is almost double what you'd get at a single lot site when it's just half the site." Leonard argued the town should put its effort into the Hawthorne parcel itself, including a park there. The application deadline was October 9, and any funding or purchase would still need Town Meeting action.

Taken together, the town has ruled out housing, named open space and water views as goals, and put a possible second parcel on the table. The building's long-term shape is still open, but the café, the Dory Showroom and the Renzo pizza belong to a lease that ends in June 2028.

Changes along Humphrey Street affect everyone nearby, from the morning coffee run to how the waterfront feels a few years out. If you'd like to talk through what the Hawthorne plans could mean for your corner of Swampscott, LeeAnne Trohon follows these meetings closely and is happy to share what she's seeing. Let's Start a Conversation.