Americana: Arch Enemies

McDonald's Corp. spent years looking for a suitable location from which to put the bite on summer visitors to Martha's Vineyard. When the hamburger chain finally found a scenic waterside site, executives promised a dignified New England façade—no Golden Arches. But Vineyarders, who have fought successfully in the past against traffic lights, shopping centers and jet planes, mounted a sizzling attack on Big Mac.

A quarter of the year-round population (8,000) organized a No Mac committee, with support from summer visitors, including Singers James Taylor and Carry Simon, Actresses Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon, Authors John Updike and William Styron. Although the island has a Dairy Queen and several pizza joints, Henry Beetle Hough, editor of the Vineyard Gazette, denounced McDonald's as "a symbol of the asphalt-and-chrome culture." Warned Hough: "Its coming means that we will have succumbed at last to the megalopolis which we have dreaded." Last week the Vineyard Haven health board refused to issue a septic tank permit to the company. McDonald's retreated, for the moment at least. Said Jack Ochtera, the company's real estate manager for New England: "No one needs the aggravation of a Martha's Vineyard."