Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

I can’t believe 1969 was 50 years ago. You could buy a house in Somerville for about $17,000. Gas cost 35 cents a gallon. All our favorite stores were still around. It was way before Assembly Square and the Davis Square Red Line. The anti-war, and hippie movements were ramping up.

1968 was a sad year. We lost Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. We hoped 1969 would be better but we were tragically losing sons, brothers, and friends in Vietnam.

Somerville in 1969 had James F. Brennan as mayor. I was 16 years old and didn’t have a care in the world, I thought. I hung around with my childhood friends doing very simple and often dumb activities to keep busy.

Most of us boys were growing our hair and the girls like my sister were into makeup, boys, and records. Led Zeppelin released their first album and we played it until the grooves were almost smooth.

Other top 40 songs of the day were Honky Tonk Women, Crimson and Clover, Hair, and Sweet Caroline. That happy feeling that overtakes us when we hear a song from 1969 is easy to explain. We were happy, full of hope and optimism and … young.

Chet Huntley and David Brinkley kept us abreast of the news of the day. The Smothers Brothers Show was replaced by Hee-Haw and Dick Sargent replaced Dick York as Darren on Bewitched. Jeannie married Captain Nelson, Tiny Tim married Miss Vicky and Tom Jones wooed the women of America on his weekly show.

We watched Marcus Welby MD, The Brady Bunch, The Mod Squad, My Three Sons, Laugh-In, Green Acres, The Flying Nun, and Hogan’s Heroes. Our parents watched Lawrence Welk, Meet The Press, Face The Nation, Ed Sullivan and Gunsmoke.

I had just graduated from The Western Junior High School on Holland St. My class was the last class to graduate before it burned down. We felt special. Then it was off to the ominous Somerville High School. The land of dress codes, building masters, a few mean teachers, and cliques.

I was in the long haired bell bottomed group, the hippies. In the three years I attended Somerville High School, the only time I got a ride from my parents was when they had to accompany me to a meeting in the principal’s office for getting in trouble. Other than that we took the bus with the nice, thick padded seats for a dime or we walked.

In 1969, my street off College Avenue near Davis Square was two-way. Kids were still able to actually play in the street, of course only until the streetlights came on.

Some of my friends took a little road trip and found themselves at The historic Woodstock music festival in New York. They have great stories to tell.

In the Summer of ‘69 I just happened to be at the corner of Highland Ave. and College Ave. at the same time that a gorgeous GTO with four on the floor ended up on the sidewalk. With cops and onlookers crowding around, I remember how surprised I was to see that the barefooted long haired driver was my sister Christine’s boyfriend! Cool! I believe he accidentally popped the clutch and landed smack dab on the sidewalk right in front of The Middlesex Bank. I’m still friends with him and his family, and he’s still cool.

1969 wound down, and I completed my sophomore year at SHS. It was a tough year full of homework, dress codes and teenage tension. On July 20 1969 America put a man on the moon. In 1969 The Beatles performed in public for the last time.

Two more years of Somerville High School saw walkouts and demonstrations against those outdated dress codes and a lack of proper heat. I was one of the first ones to join one of those walkouts and I’ll never forget the vice principal yelling in my face, “Wait until I call your father!” And my response was, “Ha-ha-ha … go ahead!”

The photo is me in 1969 playfully directing traffic in Davis Square. Peoples’ first impression is that in 1969 I looked like Chachi from Happy Days. But seeing how Scott Baio’s debut as the spirited cousin of Fonzie didn’t come until 1976, it is in fact Chachi who looks like me! P.S., Henry “The Fonz” Winkler Just happens to be my fraternity brother from Emerson College’s Alpha Pi Theta. But I digress.

The final words I have to say about 1969 are the following. 50 years went by in a flash but it’s been quite a ride, from what I can remember. And those houses purchased for around $17,000 in 1969 are now worth millions.