Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Let’s face it. What’s better than free stuff? We all love something free. Sometimes people don’t even care what it is as long as it’s free. “It’s a stress relieving, squeeze ball thing with a non-popular candidate’s advertising on it!” Oh yeah, give me two!

My friend’s dad delivered for Hostess and we always got the freshest Twinkies, Cupcakes and Sno-Balls, right of his truck. Which reminds me of one of my dad’s favorite sayings for explaining free or “hot” stuff: “It fell off the truck!”

A neighbor who lived across the street from us decades ago worked for Drakes Cakes and every so often he had a trunkful of Ring Dings, Yodels and Yankee Doodles. I still remember vividly when the neighborhood kids would flock around his car when he came home from work and opened that treasure trunk.

In the 80’s I had a roommate who worked for Honey Baked Ham. Ribs, ham and sides were always in the house. Not bad for a roommate I met at Redbones.

Free stuff from friends who worked at cool places was the best. Call it fringe benefits or SWAG (Stuff We All Get.) We welcomed it and still do. One of my nicknames is Gimmy, as in “give me.”

319 Washington St., where The Shady Hill Pub was and Cott entrance.

Growing up in Somerville there were a lot of bakeries and factories that turned out some pretty tasty treats. Apollo Cake, formerly on Garfield St., sold delicious pieces of loose brownies and hermits, and the neighborhood around the building always smelled great. The Hostess Factory was on Lowell St. where the VNA is now. The area kids had, “borrowing Twinkies ” down to a science. Hires Root Beer Company was located on Clyde St. and Tower Root Beer and was first established in Somerville in 1914.

My uncle worked for Cott Bottling Company, formerly in The Ville and we always had lots of delicious soda and paper cups.

Cott beverages hired many Somerville residents. “The driveway entrance to the Cott Bottling Company was located on Washington St. alongside the site of the old Shady Hill Pub (see photo) at 319 Washington St. Somerville peeps worked there as forklift drivers, line workers, truck drivers and office staff.

Some Ville kids have memories of swiping cases of soda from a door on Leland St. Another kid recalls, “We would just go out back and open a trailer… with cases … just wait for dark … walk by the open door while the bottles were moving through the line.”

Former site of Cott’s on the Dane Ave. side.

A friend’s account: “I actually worked there for a short period of time when I got out of high school and my dad was a watchman there for a while too.” Someone who was there shares: “I lived right in front of the plant. They had a big carbonation tank in our front yard. It scared me one night when the tank released pressure .. .a loud, piercing screech.”

The Cott bottling company in Somerville closed down sometime in the early 70’s.

Unfortunately, a friend’s dad worked there driving a forklift for 27 years and ended up with no pension. I wish I knew the story behind that sad situation.

We all enjoy freebies. What I miss most since officially being out of the full time work world are the perks. It stinks having to buy my own paper clips and tape!

But back in the day we were adventurous to say the least. We helped ourselves to whatever we thought we could get away with. Not exactly proud of it as it was technically stealing, but it was a part of our childhood. We took the open door policy to another level. No brag, just fact. Luckily we never got Cott – I mean … caught.

From Google : The Cott Corporation began in the early 1950’s when Cott Black Cherry soda was served to the children of the founder of the company, Harry Pencer, at a camp on Lake Winnipesaukee. Cott rapidly expanded in the 1950’s when it was based in Manchester, NH. The Cott Bottling Company, as it was known then, had bottling plants in Manchester, Natick and Somerville, Massachusetts, and in Portland, Maine.