Life  in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Hello to all my old friends (both of you)! You look great! It’s been a while! You haven’t changed a bit! And hello and welcome to new friends. I’m back at it. The king of the run on sentence, wrong punctuation, mangled grammar, and rambling remembrances of Somerville is back.

I wrote this article for around 7 years, and when I stopped, people approached me in stores, on the street and through social media and told me they missed it. Some stopped me looking for money I owed them or just to curse me out too!

The reason I stopped writing was because I felt I covered every subject possible relating to Somerville. Once a week for seven years is a lot of articles. I wrote about the old stores, the schools, the teachers, the pizza joints, and bars. I wrote about Apollo Cakes and Johnny’s Specials, Kay and Chips and The Venice Cafe. I discussed The Western, Southern and Northeastern Junior High Schools. Newcomers are scratching their heads, but don’t worry, we’ll bring you up to snuff! There is a link to help you find all my past articles at the end of this column.

When I started writing back in 2008, we called it “On The Silly Side.” We thought it would be a forum for some comedy and tomfoolery. Eventually, we changed the name to “Life in The Ville” because my stories were more reminiscing and less … silly, but not by much! I did that from 2008 to 2015. So to introduce myself to new friends, I offer this “Jimmy Primer.” How do I qualify for this job of writing about life here in Somerville? Well, here’s my credentials:

My Grandpa (Giuseppe) and Grandma (Concetta) Del Ponte bought their house on Elmwood St. in 1918, after coming here from Italy (the city dedicated Del Ponte Square directly across from the house). 5 of their 6 children were born in the house. My dear Aunt Olga lived in the house her whole life and passed away there in March of this year. The house remains in the family and always will.

My parents, brother and sister and I lived in Somerville since 1954. I still have our original land line phone number that we got in ‘54. Thankfully, I still live in the house my mom and dad bought in 1960. I graduated From Western Junior High School in 1968 and from Somerville High in 1971. In high school I was involved in walkouts and demonstrations to abolish the archaic dress codes. I graduated from Emerson College in 1977. I was a substitute teacher at all 3 Junior High Schools, the former Trade High School and Somerville High School. I was also an on-air personality on Kiss 108 and Oldies 103 for years, doing characters lovingly based on some of my Somerville friends like Blanche and Johnny C. (I have lots of great celebrity stories to share).

Our house is a two-minute walk from Davis Square. I can actually smell Redbones BBQ cooking from my back porch. My bands have played all over the city for years, at many places that are no longer here. My favorite was The Embassy Lounge on Somerville Ave. (hi Jerry!).

I recently retired, so as the band Styx said, I have Too Much Time on my Hands. Actually I’m staying busy between kids, grandkids, and performing.

Somerville is such an exciting and constantly changing place, I have my work cut out for me.

By the way, my grandpa, Giuseppe, who was known as “Joe,” was the custodian at the Bingham School, formerly on Lowell St, and also at the West Branch Library on College Ave. He passed in 1964, so I’m talking a long time ago. My mother’s family, the Artones, owned a convenience store on Somerville Ave. after also migrating from Italy. They are a very interesting group that will be discussed here also.

There’s a lot of Somerville stuff to talk about, past, present and future. I can’t wait to get back in the saddle and toss my two cents into the mix. I hope you enjoy it. And if you don’t, I will cheerfully refund the price of the paper!

You can search for past articles by Jimmy online at www.thesomervilletimes.com.