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Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte
The landscape of Somerville is ever changing. An old familiar structure suddenly disappears, briefly turns into a huge hole, then in a few months, emerges as condos! More taxpayers, more city revenue!) I’m still waiting for our taxes to level off because of all the new businesses in Assembly)
When I’m driving through Somerville with a friend or one of my kids, I find myself saying, “That’s where my friends Jay and Jimmy used to live,” or, “That’s where we used to get delicious treats when Apollo Cake was there!” Then I’ll say, “My friend Mike worked at a gas station where those condos are being built.”
When I give directions to somebody about how to get from one place in Somerville to another, I have to be careful. When you’ve lived in the city as long as I have, images get stuck in your head and old habits are hard to break.
One of the latest landmarks to be obliterated from Somerville history was Murphy The Florist at the intersection of Highland and Willow. If someone asks me where Q’s Nuts are, I’d probably tell them that “it’s across from where Murphy The Florist used to be.” I was trying to explain where my friends Paul and Gail lived. I told them, “It was on the block next to where Dairy Queen was.” I visit an elderly friend who lives “where The Twinkie Factory (Hostess factory) used to be,” at the Lowell St. VNA, that is.
When I tell a fellow lifelong Villen where Fellsway Auto on McGrath Highway is, I start out by saying, “Remember where Somerville Lumber was…?”
There’s an interesting condo development being built across from where Kay and Chips restaurant in Davis Square gave us good food and great after hours memories back in the day. (Huge price tag I bet!) I don’t know how many times I told my kids that at the corner of Cedar St. and Highland Ave., where the bank is, there used to be a Friendly’s Restaurant. (Dairy Queen was on Cedar St. near Morrison Ave.) Imagine a Friendly’s and a Dairy Queen on the same street! The much beloved La Hacienda is gone only to be replaced by … you guessed it. I just use the term “gondo.” Here today, gondo tomorrow. (Thanks Michele!) Let’s see just how many people we can squeeze into this city.
I will always think of The Venice Cafe whenever I go by Orleans restaurant on Holland St. Yum!
I can go up and down my street naming the families that used to live in each house. I can name a lot of stores that are gone too. The Western Junior High School building on Holland Street will always be my old school. Referring to present condos and other emerging monstrosities as their former sites is something I do on a daily basis as I drive from one end of the city to the other. I just enjoy the memories.
I’ll leave you with this sad one. If you have to meet someone at Au Bon Pain on Holland St. in Davis Square, just say, “I’ll meet you across the street from where Johnny D’s used to be.”
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Murphy The Florist is gone? Guess I haven’t bought flowers in a while
I’ll ALWAYS be FROM Somerville; though having lived out longer than in, I sometimes have to Google Map to get where I need to be there!!
Great article – great memories – thanks Jimmy.
I still refer to “Dr. Goldenberg’s” office, “Jumbo’s”, the place they made donuts on Morrison Ave. at the end of Highland Rd. “Lepore’s Pharmacy”, “Mitchell’s” in Ball Sq., “Fannie Farmers” & “Brigham’s” in Davis Sq. Star market on Broadway, Burger King before it became a used car dealership. Davis Sq & Porter Sq before the Red Line and SHS before they renovated it last time!!
I grew up in the Franklin Field Projects in Dorchester. Where we used to live has been totally disfigured. No one I grew up with lives there any more, and it’s like the place never existed. Fortunately, theres a Facebook Group where a lot of kids I grew up with drop in once in a while. I’m even talking to people I didnt know back then, but shared the same landmarks, events etc.
i also glance over to Dr Goldenbergs old office as Ibdrive by sometimesc3 times a day! He was a good man! Then I pass the spot where Johnnies Foodmaster was!, and Surabian Drug, and Rays fruit, and Mitchells!
Thanks, Jimmy. With the influx of the younger, affluent generation, so much of Somerville has been lost. When they talk about “displacement” after having lived here for only a few years, they insult the thousands of locals who were priced out over the last 20 years. Who do they think used to live in their expensive apartments??
The other day I was talking to my neighbor who is not a life long Villen and I said you know the funeral home on Medford street across from Saint Ann’s Church…..she looked at me and said theres no funeral home across from Saint Ann’s. I said when did that move? She thought I was crazy
I arrived here 30 years ago from far away as a freshly minted adult. At the time I kind of yawned when local folks talked about what had disappeared (this is not a new phenomenon, after all). I now find myself playing the same game; so much of what I took for granted here is gone – for better and for worse.
These schlocky condos they put up when they knock down old businesses / industries can be credited with adding housing stock, I suppose – but they’re ugly as sin and the sky-high rent for the ground floor retail they build severely limits the types of businesses that can move in.
Love this. Reading the comments Dr Goldenberg
He used to do house calls. Fanny farmer. Thom McCann’s. Johnnie Ds. JJs in teele sq where everyone knew your name. Art and Bobs. I grew
Up at a great time in Somerville. Drive through now it’s seems so congested and only getting worse. Let’s hope they never take lyndells.
Remember Oscars and Brighams in Porter Square, the old sub shop on College Ave across from the park.