The 2015 Market in Review...
It was another busy year. Sale prices again reached record highs in the spring, and the summer market remained busy. The fall was a bit quirkier, with some properties selling quickly with multiple bids but others sitting on the market a bit longer than expected. There were noticeably fewer active buyers (lots of people “just starting to look”) in the fall, as is typical, but the inventory was still limited, so sale prices stayed strong.
...What Can We Expect in 2016?
The long-anticipated rise in interest rates will probably stimulate buyers to look for property early in 2016 in the hope that they lock in a good rate before they rise higher. To put it in perspective, interest rates are still at historic lows, and many local banks are offering long-term adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) at very good rates to help buyers keep their monthly payments low. I expect the spring season—starting in February and going through June—to be robust, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the summer and fall markets were quieter than they have been for the past 3 years.
~ Thalia
New Listings 1 Summer Street #5, Somerville $2,950,000 Stunning, award-winning renovation of an historic church in the heart of Union Square. Grand living and entertaining space with 65 ft. ceiling in LR; 3 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths on 3 levels; wine storage for 500 bottles in the dining area; chef’s kitchen; 2 garage parking spaces.
73 Prichard Avenue #1, Somerville ~ $tbd
6 Highland Avenue #2, Somerville ~ $tbd
Lovely, renovated first-floor condo between Davis and Ball Squares. Bright 2-bedroom, 1 bath condo with parking. Close to everything!
Walk to Union Square from this beautiful second floor 2-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath condo with open floor plan, central air, in-unit laundry, basement storage, and 2 (!) sideby-side parking spaces.
Coming Soon
Thalia Tringo 24 Appleton Street, Somerville ~ $1,375,000 Beautifully renovated single family on a Davis Sq. side street with 4 bedrooms and a study; 2.5 baths; large designer kitchen; LR w/gas fireplace; fenced backyard with bi-level deck off DR, patio, garden/play area, and shed; and driveway for 2+ cars. Large unfinished basement makes a great workshop/studio.
20 Hicks Avenue #1, Medford ~ $tba Adorable first floor, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, pet-friendly condo with parking near the Somerville line.
Commercial
President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Todd Zinn
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.852.1839 cell/text Todd@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Niké Damaskos
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Jennifer Rose
FOR LEASE – ASSEMBLY ROW 96 Middlesex Avenue, East Somerville /Assembly Row
Steps from Assembly Row Orange Line T stop and just off Rt. 93. This 4,500 sq. ft. space on 2 levels has exposed brick walls and abundant natural light from windows on 3 sides and comes with 12 parking spaces. Lease terms subject to build-out requirements and whether the property is leased wholly or subdivided.
Free Classes
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Lynn C. Graham
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time for homeowners contemplating a move Tuesday, January 12th or Monday, February 8th
6:30-7:45 pm
If the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one makes your head spin, this workshop will help make the process understandable. This workshop, led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, will include a 45 minute presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Brendon Edwards
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.895.6267 cell/text Brendon@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
How Individuals Can Buy Property Together as a Group: a primer for non-traditional homebuyers Thursday, January 21st or Monday, Jan. 25th
6:30-7:45 pm
When two or more people, whether or not they are related, buy property together, what are their options for taking title? How do you determine each one’s financial contributions, percentage legal interest in the property, and expense allocation? What kind of arrangements can be made in the event one or more parties want to move on but others want to keep the property? What type of financing is available? We will address these and other questions in this class with a follow-up Q&A session. Lead by our team and a local real estate attorney.
Prepping Your House for Sale
for homeowners preparing to list their house Wednesday, January 27th or Monday, February 1st
6:30-7:45 pm
What do you need to do to get your home ready to put on the market? Is it worth updating a kitchen or bath? Finishing basement space? Landscaping? Decluttering? Repainting? Which repairs do you get your money back on? Which ones make your house sell faster? Get your questions answered in this short, informative session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
First Time Home Buyers:
an overview of the buying process Wednesday, February 10th
6:30-7:45 pm
If you’re considering buying your first home and want to understand what’s in store, this is a quick and helpful overview. Led by our agents, it includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
To reserve space in any class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods or coats/gloves/hats for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
Adaria Brooks
Executive Assistant to the President, Realtor ® 617.308.0064 cell/text Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
About our company... We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. We are also commi ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction. Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2016 ::: VOLUME 37 ::: SCOUTSOMERVILLE.COM
contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE 8 // WINNERS & LOSERS The winter of 2015 keeps twisting the knife. 10 // NEWS: NEW YEAR, SAME POLS More transient populations don’t vote—and why should they? 12 // WHAT’S NEW? A hot real estate market, a cold Green Line shoulder.
THE L VE ISSUE
16 // FEATURE: LOVE IN SOMERVILLE 17 // ON THE ROCKS Don’t kill your date, and other tips from the bartender who may just be your wingman.
38
18 // “THERE’S NOT MUCH OF A FILTER THERE” What happens when your love life ends up in a standup routine. 20 // MIND OVER MAT More to Love Yoga makes a space for all sizes. 22 // AGGRESSIVE, ABRASIVE, INCLUSIVE Boston Roller Derby shows its players some love by going gender neutral. 24 // BANDS ON BREAKUPS The best sad songs, chosen by area artists. 26 // BLIND LUCK, CHANCE AND UTTER CHAOS Local band Mini Dresses on love and music. 27 // ALLSTON PUDDING’S CRUSHIN’ PLAYLIST Our favorite music bloggers made a mix for lovesick lads and lasses. 28 // LOVE, FACTUALLY Somerville love stories that may actually inspire faith in humanity. 34 // LOVECRAFT For that DIY kind of love. 36 // SCOUT OUT: HIGH ENERGY VINTAGE CRANKS IT UP IN UNION SQUARE Wiley Andrew is on the hunt for your vintage video games.
28
38 // SCOUT OUT: BEHIND THE BROWN PAPER What’s really happening during the months before a restaurant’s opening. 40 // CALENDAR 42 // SCOUT THIS Win $50! 43 // MARKETPLACE 46 // SCOUT YOU
Photo, top: Diana Kudayarova (left) and Tse Wei Lim, the team behind Journeyman, Backbar, Aes Street Deli and Study. Photo by Jess Benjamin. Photo, bottom: Patricia Wild (left) and David Myers (right) get silly with their grandaughter Lilian Sanchez . Photo by Jess Benjamin. On the cover: Boston Roller Derby skaters show us what a game face is. Photo by Mary Schwalm.
Scout L vefest February 11, 6-10 p.m. Aeronaut Brewing • 14 Tyler St.
If you haven’t gotten enough love from Scout, we hope you’ll join us for beers and cheers on February 11. Aeronaut is hosting and The Funky Bubblers will be around to be both funky and bubbly. We’ll have craft stations and a showyour-love photo booth. But most importantly, there’ll be beer and fun times to be had with the Scout staff.
#ScoutLovefest
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EDITOR’S NOTE
PUBLISHER Holli Banks hbanks@scoutmagazines.com
D
ear Scout readers, I love being a regular. It hasn’t happened to me too many times since I’ve moved to the Boston area, but 90 percent of the places I frequent—the ones where the bartenders or baristas know my name and ask me how I’ve been—have been in Somerville. Erin knows my drink at Flatbread, and Becca is alway asking about the magazine when I stop at 3 Little Figs. And I can’t go to Highland Kitchen without Joe asking about my other half, Editor in Chief Emily Cassel. But Cassel and I haven’t just become regulars at the places where we like to eat. We’ve made a few appearances on SCATV, and we’ve written so much about the Green Line Extension that we fear we may have jinxed it. We’ve also crisscrossed the city talking to dozens of smart, passionate ‘Villens who are trying to do something positive in their community, whether they’re a group working to mitigate upcoming development in Union Square or a fashion designer who puts dirt on her dresses. We got so sappy about our love for Somerville that we decided to devote several pages of this issue to those mushy feelings. We’ve got real life love stories from some of our neighbors (p. 28), plus two couples who share their craft, be it comedy (p. 18) or music (p. 26) and seem to be able to keep it all together. If you’re into a more aggressive love, check out our cover piece (p. 22). And if moping is more your style, we asked local bands to pick their favorite breakup songs (p. 24). Being part of such a kickass community gives us the warm feels. There were a lot of highs and lows in 2015, but one of the highest highs has to be decorating Ruth Faris’s little library over the summer. Ruth set out all sorts of bits and bobbles and paint and glitter and let us leave our mark on her beautiful, eclectic garden. A huge thanks—to Ruth, to Joe, to all of you—for making this past year truly special. We love you. We really, really love you.
ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Laura Quincy Jones, Sean L. Maloney, Jennifer Usovicz, Allston Pudding Staff CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jess Benjamin jessbenjaminphoto@gmail.com
NO. 34
IT SUPPORT FirstCall Computers firstcallcomputers.net
erce Fi OVER 40 JJ GONSON, WENDY BLOM AND NINE OTHER LOCAL LEGENDS WHO HAVE BEEN ROCKING FOR DECADES
A HISTORY OF
LABOR DISPUTES AT TUFTS
gotham bold
FINALISTS REVEALED VOTE NOW UNTIL 7/25
MARCH/APRIL 2015
OFFICE MANAGER Melinda LaCourse mlacourse@scoutmagazines.com
COPY EDITOR Maura Gaughan JULY/AUGUST 2015
NO. 33
MANAGING EDITOR Emily Hopkins ehopkins@scoutmagazines.com genderpizza.net
Mary Schwalm instagram.com/maryschwalm
Emily Hopkins, Managing Editor ehopkins@scoutmagazines.com
MAY/JUNE 2015
EDITOR IN CHIEF Emily Cassel ecassel@scoutmagazines.com emilycassel.me
NO. 32
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
NO. 31
DIRT, MOSS AND HIGH FASHION
MEET THE
LADIES OF COMICAZI
BANKS PUBLICATIONS c/o Scout Somerville 191 Highland Ave., Ste. 1A Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutsomerville.com somervillescout
scoutsomerville scoutmags
Office Phone: 617-996-2283
AN INTERVIEW WITH ASHLEY ROSE
WHAT’S GROWING ON AT HERBSTALK, GREENTOWN LABS, RELISH MANAGEMENT & MORE gotham bold
NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES
PLUS
THE ANXIETIES AND ADVANTAGES OF RAISING GENERATION Z
YEASTIE BOYS:
HIP HOPS AND NEW BREWS AT AERONAUT
Advertising inquiries? Please contact scout@scoutmagazines.com.
TRAINS,
LIBERATE LITERATURE
AUTOMOBILES:
15 in ‘15 GET OUT OF THE HOUSE
BIKE LANES& TRANSPORTATION IN THE ‘VILLE
LITTLE LIBRARIES
AND INTO THE CLASSROOM
CIRCULATION 35,000 copies of Scout Somerville are printed bimonthly and are available for free at more than 150 drop spots throughout the city. You can find a map of our pickup locations at scoutsomerville.com/pick-up-spots or sign up for home delivery by visiting scoutsomerville.com/shop.
6
January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
True Home Partners: We Partner With You
LISA J. DRAPKIN
DEBBIE LEWIS
Mobile: 617-930-1288 Lisa.Drapkin@NEMoves.com
Mobile: 617-461-6797 Debbie.Lewis@NEMoves.com
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REALTOR®
“Lisa engenders immediate trust, with a strong knowledge of the real estate market, great ideas for how to prepare for a sale, and an infinite network of connections to help you get the job done.”
NANCY M. DIXON REALTOR®
Mobile: 617-721-9755 Nancy.Dixon@NEMoves.com
LAURIE CRANE REALTOR®
Mobile: 617-866-8865 Laurie.Crane@NEMoves.com
DAVE WOOD
“Laurie, you were fantastic! You made everything look so easy. Thank you for all your hard work and getting my house sold.”
• A partnership of five full-time Coldwell Banker real estate professionals. • Full-time Executive Assistant. • Combined 55 years of experience.
REALTOR®
Mobile: 617-388-3054 Dave.Wood@NEMoves.com
• Honed negotiation skills. • Innovative marketing. • Intimate knowledge of current market conditions.
TrueHomePartners.com Call us to find out how we can partner to sell your home or find your next one.
25 UNIÓN SQUARE | SOMERVILLE PHONE: 617-623-7972 MACHUCHICKEN.COM
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scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
7
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
ZAGAT STARS This city is filled to the brim with young people and great eats, and the two tend to collide fairly often. The big names are taking notice: Zagat recently highlighted the Boston area restaurant industry’s 30 under 30, and Somerville’s epicurean prodigies took three spots on the list. La Brasa’s chef de cuisine Daniel Amighi, 26; Five Horses Tavern co-wwner Sarah Hanson, 29; and Sabertooth Vegan Bakery owneroperator Evie Noël, the 27-year-old who recently opened a Ball Square storefront with Taco Party, are all giving Somerville a great name.
MBTA You are bad and you should feel bad. It’s not enough that we had to find out over the summer that your cost projections for the Green Line Extension were way (way!) off. To add insult to injury in our artist-centric city, you reneged on your contracts with eight local artists who had planned to install pieces at the new stations. And now you’ve cancelled several GLX contracts. I tell ya, you’d better shape up your act if you ever want to bring the Boston area into the 21st century. I want my MBT!
YOUR LUNGS In mid-December, the city adopted a handful of new and amended tobacco-related regulations. Following in Brookline’s footsteps, pharmacies will no longer be allowed to sell tobacco products. The updates also include new places you won’t be able to smoke, namely, on restaurant patios, within 50 feet of a public building or “health care institution,” or in hotels, motels and nursing homes. How we will ever get on without the pervasive smell of tobacco smoke, we may never know. THE BLIZZARD OF EARLY 2015 We thought we’d seen the last of you, you fox. But it seems we just can’t get you out of our brains. We’re so on edge that a mysterious pile of snow (à la the hangerson of last spring) noticed in early December by The Somerville Weekly News actually got us in a tizzy. After a brief investigation, city spokeswoman Denise Taylor told the Globe that the pile of powder was not a freak weather event or a cruel joke—just shavings from a local ice rink’s Zamboni. Winter ‘16 has arrived, but it may be spring before we’ve let go of the Blizzards of ‘15.
ANYONE UNDER THE FLIGHT PATH There’s a seminal scene in Wayne’s World when, laying under the Aurora airport’s flight path, Garth cusses out Wayne for being a real ass sphincter of late. While that scene is great for comic relief and plot development, the incessant noise of real-life airplanes overhead is giving some residents a headache. In December, over 600 folks from Somerville and beyond voiced their complaints to the Federal Aviation Administration in a hearing that went two hours over the time allotted. Rep. Stephen Lynch, who organized the meeting, seemed optimistic that the problem would be addressed, but the hearing had some residents saying, “Chyeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.” PRETTY THINGS FANS It was the broken pint glass heard around the world: In late November, the owners of the flagship brewery Pretty Things announced they would be shutting down their operation. Friends, fans and family gathered to pay their respects at The Independent, where a small shrine was erected in memoriam. The Somerville couple sold their first beer seven years ago and have had quite a journey since then (including an infamous Twitter rant by co-owner Dann Paquette that sparked huge controversy over and an investigation into pay-to-play tap lines in Boston). By now, the last of their stock has likely been imbibed, and so to the couple who brought us Jack d’Or: We bid you adieu.
Someone rustle your jimmies or tickle your fancy? Let us know at scoutsomerville.com/contact-us, and we just might crown them a winner or loser. 8
January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
SCOUT STATS
$11 million
0
Price tag for the recently announced Greentown Labs expansion (p. 13)
Incumbent aldermen who ran and lost in last year’s elections (p. 10)
1999
The year Michael Mulcahy made history as the Somerville Police Department’s first openly gay officer (p. 30)
3.75 mm Size crochet hook you’ll need to stitch our “lovecraft” (p. 34)
12
Tracks handpicked by Allston Pudding staffers for our “Crushin’” playlist (p. 27)
Proud nominee of Scouts Honor Award
617.876.1414 | 19 Arrow Street, Harvard Square | 1693 Massachusetts Avenue, Agassiz | www.robertpaul.com
HERE ARE 4 TIPS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME IN THE FIRST FEW MONTHS OF 2016
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS MATTER Make sure you present the best curb appeal possible, that your entryway is inviting and not just utilitarian, and make sure the first and only photos are professionally taken.
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CLEAN OUT THE CLUTTER
Keeping belongings to a minimum, with things put away and storage space only lightly used helps a space feel open, and everyone’s looking for storage space - what you have looks like more when it’s only half full.
WARM AND BRIGHT
Win over buyers coming in out of the blustry winter weather by greeting them with a bright and warm home. Make sure each room is well lit and that there are no drafts making heating in the home uneven.
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Know your marketplace, what’s sold, and what hasn’t to bring your home on at an appealing price. Buyers are savvy and many have been following the market for months - knowledge is power.
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Tara Spitzen 610.745.8536
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NEWS
NEW YEAR, SAME POLS
The city is changing—so why aren’t its politicians? By Emily Hopkins
W
hen Elizabeth Weinbloom was running for Ward 6 Alderman last fall, she called herself “the U-Haul version of an ambulance chaser.” As hoards of renters set upon their new (and likely temporary) homes, she was eager to introduce herself and suggest they register to vote. Somerville is a city of renters, with up to two-thirds of its housing units designated “renter occupied.” Weinbloom was running on a platform that listed “affordable housing” as one of the top three issues she aimed to focus on, so that ratio would presumably work in her favor. Weinbloom would ultimately lose the uphill battle she was fighting. Somerville might be a majority renter city, but these more transient residents have proven to be less likely to vote or be civically engaged. Add that to the challenge of being a political outsider in an incumbent-favoring city, and it’s no wonder that we’re ringing in the new year with the same politicians. In every race that had an incumbent, there wasn’t so much as a challenger, save one candidate who ran for alderman-at-large (and lost). In Ward 6, Weinbloomwas defeated by Lance Davis, who had been endorsed by the mayor, several aldermen and pretty much everyone else you could call “the establishment.” 10
January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
“I don’t remember the last time an alderman-at-large, an-incumbent at-large lost an election,” says Ben Echevarria, president of the board of The Welcome Project, a nonprofit that aims to advocate for and give voice to immigrant communities in Somerville. In fact, he says it’s been a long time since he’s seen an incumbent in general be displaced. He chalks it up to many factors, but particularly to the time it takes to really embed yourself in a community. A lot of voters are homeowners and people who have lived here for a decade or more. “I think that’s reflected in our city politics,” he says. “We’re seeing a lot of rent increases, things like that. A lot of it is based on the fact that renters aren’t voting.” A larger issue for Echevarria (who himself was once appointed to the school committee) is that immigrants aren’t getting appointed to boards, which have a heavy hand in shaping city policies. A report released early last year found that, despite the fact that 10.6 percent of Somerville’s population is Latino, only 1.7 percent of board and commission appointments were given to Latinos. That’s just accounting for one demographic in the city of 52 languages, and Echevarria says it
has a huge impact on who can get elected. “You have to have a pedigree of being involved in the community, being on certain high-level commissions or boards, so ... you have some sort of public record that people can trust,” he says. “And that’s what makes it hard.” Weinbloom takes issue with the relative lack of representation of renters and millennials on the Board of Aldermen. “The city goes out of its way to court millennials ... The city is designing itself to draw this population in terms of housing, in terms of the businesses that open up,” she says. “It’s ironic that the city is presenting itself as this desirable option for people like me, and then doesn’t actually have any people like me in leadership positions.” On the campaign trail, Weinbloom says she often found herself giving civics lessons to the people she reached out to. She described phone calls from residents who had received her materials but who didn’t know or understand what a “board of aldermen” is, or how Somerville’s government is even structured. As a renter herself, she didn’t get any kind of outreach from the city that might give her the proper resources to be civically engaged. “I just don’t see any city or any state really pushing hard to get people to vote,” says Ward 1 Alderman Matt McLaughlin, “because the people who do vote are hard enough to please as it is.” McLaughlin says this despite the fact that he puts a lot of work into registering voters in his ward, which, though it has the same population as other wards, has half as many voters. That’s why he’s held voter registration drives at the local Stop & Shop and canvassed the neighborhood to find people to register, and why he always has a voter registration form tucked in his pocket. Even so, he admits that he can understand why other aldermen and the city aren’t hitting the pavement in the same way. “A lot of times you’ll find local officials are focused on the ‘super voter,’ the person who consistently votes in municipal elections, because they’re guaranteed to vote,” he says. Even if you register 500 voters, there’s no guarantee that any of them will vote. With only so many hours in the day, McLaughlin says it makes sense that candidates are interacting with constituents who are already actively involved. He understands the voter’s dilemma, too. Many young people coming from out of state might choose to stay registered in their hometown, whether that’s because they want to continue to vote there or, more often, because they their state is a heavier hitter in presidential elections. McLaughlin has been this person. He submitted his absentee ballot when he was deployed to Iraq and again when he was working on the Obama campaign in Colorado, where his peers urged him to change his registration so his vote would “count more.” He declined. “There’s a feeling that you’re not going to be there in a few years,” says McLaughlin. As for solutions, McLaughlin says that it comes down to the squeaky wheel getting the grease. There’s nothing more silent than a nonvoter, so the city isn’t tripping over itself to get people civically involved. But if a group were to, say, start a petition or a phone call campaign surrounding a certain issue, he says that’s something that will get attention. “A big part of it is, the people have to be engaged,” he says. “When people civically engage, when they’re active, when they do voter registration and they mobilize people under a cause, that’s probably the best way to get someone to vote in the city election.” Your move, Somerville.
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AE/AC: SC/AS Request for PDF to be put in WorkZone Holding Tank scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016 Media: Scout Magazine AE/AC: Size: 3.625” x 4.725” Color: 4C PDF uploaded to WorkZone Holding Tank Date: 12/2015 Artist:
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WHAT’S NEW?
DREAMS OF THE FUTURE EAST SOMERVILLE
FAT HEN REAPPEARS
This elusive fowl popped up again at La Brasa in December to preview what will be a real, 30seat restaurant in the former La Brasa market space. According to Eater Boston, Fat Hen will feed Somerville patrons with a “tiny” open kitchen, which will churn out dishes of fresh pasta, braised meats and local produce. EAST SOMERVILLE
SYMPHONY PARK
CAN IT
S
omerville is truly heaven for craft beer enthusiasts. It seems like a new brewery is preparing to put down roots everywhere we turn—we see you, Winter Hill Brewing!—and in December, two of the local sud slingers we already know and love shared some great news. Somerville Brewing Company saw incredible growth in 2015, opening a brewhouse at Assembly Row and a new Boynton Yards brewery and taproom. What’s more, they’ll now be selling their beer in cans, which is great news for folks who love their Boynton brews but want to enjoy them at home. Fans of the Flagship IPA may be interested in trying Luma Luma, a new beer unveiled in October. At 7.3 percent ABV, this IPA packs a huge punch. “The release of Luma Luma in cans is especially exciting because it is the first time we have been able to bring this extremely popular
beer to a wider audience,” co-owner Caitlin Jewell told BostInno. Our neighbors at Aeronaut Brewing Company are slinging a few new cans as well, but this time, they’re going dark. The recently introduced black IPA Lydia’s Black Heart is more than meets the eye—it’s the first in a series of dark ales that will tell part of a noir storyline. Each beer is a “case file,” and every release is an “episode” in that case file. You can follow along with the badass art on the cans and cases, which are illustrated by local artist Raul Gonzalez III. Lydia’s Black Heart follows “our hero” as he grapples with Lydia, his creation turned villain. She’s a “chaos-bent villain” whose mind control potion is pumped by a facsimile heart. On top of all that, beer drinkers will be able to take home any of their favorite Aeronaut beers in a can thanks to their new “crowler” machine. What else can we say but, “Cheers!”
SOMERVILLE RECREATION GETS FLAGGED
We’ve come to a pivotal moment in our nation’s sports history as we grapple with the ever-mounting evidence of the severe damage caused by repeated concussions. Many parents are asking themselves if the sport is worth the risk, but those in Somerville may have to deliberate no longer. On December 29, Somerville Recreation announced that it will drop youth contact football in favor of flag football for grades one through eight. While the city has not ruled out supporting 12
January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
YO, SUGIDAMA! DAVIS SQUARE
IYO CAFE GETS A FACELIFT
KIDS THESE DAYS NO TOUCHY
Somerville just got a new park. At the corner of Pearl and Florence Streets now sits Symphony Park, inspired by the legacy of the Hadley family, “who created music on this site and beyond,” the city said in a statement. Parkgoers will find a small performance stage, a water feature created from the granite of the original Hadley house, benches, exercise features and, of course, plants. Can’t have a park without plants.
other (private) contact football programs, they have opted out of fully funding a league that has seen “declining enrollment and an increasing risk of injury.” SPRING HILL
OLD SCHOOL
Somerville High was built in the 19th century, and since then, the way we educate our children has changed drastically. That’s partially why the school district is looking to build a new high school. The project is partially funded by the Massachusetts School Building Authority and by the City of Somerville, with more than 70 percent coming from the
the former. Planners will move onto the design phase in spring, and one of the challenges will be finding a new site for the school without compromising current public open space, according to Somerville Neighborhood News.
You may have noticed some brown paper in the windows of iYo Café (234 Elm St.). The restaurant closed for renovations near the end of 2015, and has reopened as iYo Bistro with an expanded menu. DAVIS SQUARE
SUGIDAMA
DAVIS SQUARE
STELLABELLA TOYS
The market pressures of Davis Square have put a financial strain on many area businesses, and StellaBella is no exception. They’re closing their Somerville location, but fear not! Fans of fun can still grab toys at their Inman Square spot.
Somerville’s commercial artery is set to have a new restaurant. Papers have been filed for Sugidama, a 58-seat spot that will occupy a former medical office at 260 Elm St. According to the Internet (thanks, Google!), a “sugidama” is a ball hung outside a sake producer’s shop to indicate that a new batch is ready.
Photo, top left, courtesy of Aeronaut. Photo, top right, courtesy of A4 Pizza. Photo, bottom right, courtesy of Grove Labs.
COMING SOON
RAT ‘EM OUT
UNION SQUARE
WHAT’S IN STORE FOR A4
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or months, we waited and hoped for good news about the building that housed A4 and Dosa N Curry (445 Somerville Ave.). Unfortunately, it looks like A4 has thrown in towel at this site, which was “temporarily” closed on August 1 after an underground electrical fire. Weeks of repairs turned into months, and in midNovember, partners Michael Krup and Chef Jeff Pond elected to terminate their lease and move onto more productive efforts. “It is with heavy hearts that we leave Union Square,” Krupp said in a statement, which also
noted that they are determined to find a new location in the ‘Ville. But it’s not all bad news for the team at A4. They’ll open their first Boston location in the South End this year, and they’re rolling out A4 Mobile, a “pizza trailer” equipped with a wood-fired oven that’s available for catering gigs. A4 fans can also look forward to an upcoming collaboration with Roxy’s Grilled Cheese that’s rumored to include games like Skee-Ball and foosball. You win some, you lose some—but at least there’s pizza.
SOME LIKE IT HOT, SOME LIKE IT COLD DAVIS SQUARE
HOT POTS
It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for Yumi (263 Elm St.) to unleash its steamy broth upon us. The hot pot spot opened its doors in December. But temps are getting frigid now, so we’ll soon start
to appreciate the space where Pinkberry once sat. UNION SQUARE
GRACIE’S IN HIBERNATION
As we finally button up for the winter, we’re saying goodbye to some of the comforts and treats
reserved for warmer weather—and that includes Gracie’s Ice Cream. This isn’t a vacation, however. The owner reports that when the shop reopens on March 1, the place will be spruced up and you’ll be able to get hot drinks and pastry confections. Yum!
UNION SQUARE
COMING SOON
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GREEN-NOVATION
t looks like Union Square might be well on its way to becoming the region’s next innovation district. Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in the country, announced in October that it will embark on an $11 million, 50,000-squarefoot expansion. The announcement brought out Mayor Curtatone as well as Governor Charlie
Baker and a number of leaders in the cleantech industry. Greentown moved to Somerville in 2013, and since then has seen the number of companies under its roof blossom from 25 to more than 40. One of Greentown’s incubatees, Grove, is also ringing in the new year with a considerable success. In December, the company closed out a Kickstarter campaign with $412,181, blowing past its modest $100,000 goal. That money will go towards the Grove Ecosystem, an in-home garden about the size of a bookshelf that grows organic foods year round. Here’s how it works: Fish in the aquarium at the bottom produce waste. Bacteria turn the waste into nitrate, which is great for the soil in the upper part of the apparatus, and plumbing helps circulate the water and deliver the nutrients. The future is here!
Somerville is a beautiful and quickly developing city. But it’s still a city. And that means it still has rats. Rat populations have been growing in urban areas in recent years. You’ll know you have a rat problem if you see what appears to be a really big mouse scampering about, or if you notice raisinsized droppings in your home. Rats manage to find ways into homes, where they have access to food and shelter. They can slip through holes in a property’s exterior, slip under the door or even get in through the sewers. You can prevent rats from coming in by making your home the least appealing option: don’t leave food out, make sure you’re covering your trash, and by not storing things under decks and porches. It’s also a good idea to keep your lawn mowed, so the rats don’t have a grassy overhead to use as shelter in your yard. But if it’s too late and they’ve already made their way in, it might be time to rat them out and give us a call. If you think you have a rat problem – or just want the peace of mind that comes with knowing you don’t – make a quick call to Best Pest Control Services. Unlike other companies, Best Pest will treat your home only if it’s necessary. We are a locally-owned and family-operated business. We’ve been serving Somerville and greater Boston since 1984 – and not just for roaches. Ants, bedbugs, mice, rats – you name it, we’ll get rid of it. Our rates are reasonable and customer service is our top priority.
63 ELM ST, SOMERVILLE 617-625-4850 • bestpest.com
What’s New?
CITYWIDE
MBT-ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
W
e don’t want to kick a dead horse, but considering the way the Green Line Extension has been paraded around and lauded for years, maybe we get to have a few jabs. It seems like the plans have completely fallen apart, and the possibility that the project might be taken off the table altogether has residents saying, “Yikes.”
“We need the Green Line,” Sarita Shresta lamented to the Somerville Journal in December. She said that her Magoun Square business struggles with the low foot traffic, and that the Green Line could help keep her afloat. Cost estimates for the GLX ballooned by nearly $1 billion, which has the MBTA scrambling to find alternative sources of funding and reconsidering if the project is even feasible given the financial strain. Should MassDOT move forward, the project could be delayed as they look for new firms to work on the extension, consider a redesign or seek state bonding for funds. The latest hiccup in the more than two-decade-long GLX efforts came in December, when the state announced it will cut ties with the project’s general contractor, the project and construction manager, the independent cost estimator and the final designer. This followed a review that found that the general contractor’s decision-making had drastically increased costs. Back to the literal drawing board.
ON THE “GREEN LINE” DOWN BY THE TRAIN TRACKS
MBTAGIFTS
A warehouse that has been the public’s supplier of decommissioned MBTA signs is moving out of Somerville. December 18 was the last chance to get a sign in MBTAgifts’ Park Street location. Co-owner Steven Beaucher told Boston magazine that he’s looking for a new, more cost effective location in Charlestown, and that the shop will be auctioning
off some of its stock sometime this year. Merchandise will still be available online and at WardMaps in Cambridge (1735 Mass. Ave.). UNION SQUARE
NU CAFÉ
What’s new? More like, What’s Nu, amirite? Nu Café has applied for a space in the 197 Washington St. condo development. The Worcesterbased company is proposing
a 3,760 square foot café that would employ between 24 and 30 people and seat a whopping 120 patrons. They’ll also serve sandwiches, coffee, baked goods, salads and smoothies. Here’s hoping they also have free wifi. UNION SQUARE
WORKBAR
Union Square Station Associates (US2), the master developer selected by the
Somerville Redevelopment Authority to oversee development in Union Square, held a ribbon cutting ceremony in late November to mark the opening of Workbar. The shared workspace, which occupies the former Elegant Furniture storefront (31 Union Sq.) will likely be a hub for independent professionals, startups and small businesses. It will also be the headquarters for US2, who will have to make it work… bar.
CITYWIDE
SOMERVILLE 2.0: THE LUXURY VERSION
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he mere suggestion (and, well, promise) of the Green Line Extension propelled Union Square into a massive state of COMING rising rents SOON and redevelopment, and part of that has meant the arrival of luxury condos. The property at 197 Union Square, which will include 30 luxury units, is currently under construction at the former site of the Cota Funeral Home, which was demolished in early 2015. Half of the units, which are going for $500,000 dollars or more, have already been sold. To the north, a condo complex on Highland Avenue near Davis Square is listing units at $1.3 million and above, and the same real estate developer sold three units in a Dover Street complex in the million-dollar range before they were even built. In an informal survey, Union United’s Jeff Warren collected over 60 responses from people who reported that their rent increased by at least $200 in the past year, and a handful of people described increases of $1,000 or more. As one real estate developer told Boston.com, “Somerville is hot.”
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Photo, top left, courtesy of MBTA. Photo, bottom left, by Eric Herot/Flickr.
HIGHLAND AVE. GETS CRAFTY
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hen Amy Lou Stein and her husband Finnian Gerety moved to Somerville, they felt a craft gap in the community. As she told Scout in December, she’d worked at a number of odd jobs of the crafting sort, styling for musicians like Beck and mixing custom perfumes. But when she moved here, she just wasn’t satisfied. So she decided to open Craftwork Somerville (259 Highland Ave.) as a place where she could offer weekly classes and a community space. Classes will cover knitting and other fiber and fabric arts, herbalism, soap making and more. She also wants to offer memberships that allow members to drop in “at their leisure.” “There are a lot of people who live here and who are really talented but don’t have a place to teach,” Stein told us. “I want to pull from the local talent, try to offer as many weekly classes as I can and offer a community space.” Part of this What’s New item was adapted from an earlier piece published at scoutsomerville.com. To read this piece and more like it, head online!
AUTHENTIC MEXICAN CUISINE LIVE MARIACHI!
TIMES ARE CHANGING CITYWIDE
SELF-DRIVING CARS IN THE ‘VILLE?
Thanks to a new partnership with German automobile manufacturer Audi, Somerville will join places like England, Sweden and Singapore in testing out self-driving technology. The city and Audi will partner on two proposed projects, according to BetaBoston. The first is an experiment with smart traffic lights that receive communication from oncoming vehicles, which will be tested in Union Square. The second will send self-driving cars to navigate Assembly Row’s parking bays. Fasten your seatbelts!
CITYWIDE
CITY CONSIDERS MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY LOCATIONS
You may hardly remember the 2012 statewide referendum that gave the green light to the green stuff, but medical marijuana is, in fact, coming, and Somerville is contemplating where dispensaries might go. The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) reported to the Land Use Committee in November that the city should not wait to establish proposed locations. The OSPCD also said that facilities should be located in central business districts to provide the best accessibility.
SCOUT CHECK Wherein we follow up on news that we’ve covered recently—in print or online. Tenoch (382 Highland Ave.): I know, I know: We’ve been talking about Tenoch for ages. Well, we can finally say that this spot is open—you can walk into Tenoch today to grab tasty tortas and tacos. Pepe Bocca (414 Highland Ave.): An October 18 electrical fire caused this Italian deli to temporarily close its doors, but the shop reopened after two weeks of renovations—just after we went to press for our November/December issue. They’re still collecting donations to recoup costs through GoFundMe. Spot something new in your neighborhood that we didn’t mention here? Send us a tip: scout@scoutmagazines.com.
UNION SQUARE, SOMERVILLE • MALDEN • LOWELL
ELPOTROMEXICANGRILL.COM
VISIT OUR P NEW SHO
Small-batch, Handmade Confections 2257 MASS AVE, NORTH CAMBRIDGE • SPINDLERCONFECTIONS.COM scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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E U S S I E V L E H T W
hat is love? Depending on the pop culture you consume, love is an open door (Anna and Hans in Frozen), a battlefield (Pat Benatar) or a losing game (Amy Winehouse). Music journalist Rob Sheffield wrote that love is a mix tape, John Mayer says love is a verb. And to the poet Charles Bukowski, love is a dog from hell. We’re taking our own stab at defining the sappy stuff. Rihanna may have found love in a hopeless place, but we found it in a comedy club, on a roller derby team and behind the bar—and we even gave you a playlist to soundtrack it all. As Nat King Cole famously sang, “love is more than just a game for two.” You don’t have to be in love to love this issue.
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On the Rocks
DATING ADVICE FROM THE GUY SERVING YOU DRINKS Words and photo by Emily Hopkins
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ed Greene has been a bartender in the Boston area since the ’90s. His current post is behind the bar at Highland Kitchen, where a great many ‘Villens have taken dates, whether it’s their first or their fiftieth. Greene took a break from stocking the bar to share a few of the highs and lows and tips and tricks of dating that he’s picked up over his many years of observation. Don’t kill your date. “If someone’s allergic to peanuts, on your first or second date, don’t order the dish that has the peanuts,” Greene advises. Less intense restrictions like lactose intolerance can get a pass, but if you hear your date reveal an allergy during their order, try to avoid sending them into anaphylactic shock. Alcohol is a social lubricant, but try to “stay in the same canoe.” Greene is a bartender, so he knows quite well how that first drink can calm your nerves. But he warns against ordering a second drink too quickly, or trying to match your date drink for drink. “They’ll order another drink, and not that they shouldn’t have, but the timing is all weird. They’ve had one sip out of their glass of wine and they kind of look at you and say, ‘OH, I’LL HAVE ANOTHER GLASS OF WINE,’ and you [think], ‘Oh, well you’ve just had one sip,’” he says. Getting tipsy—or even drunk—is bartender approved. But make sure to drink at your own pace so you’re on the same level! Be yourself, be polite, and be present. If you want to make it to a second date, or even the altar, “you don’t want to have the Queen’s manners and then, you know, you’re picking your nose on date four” says Greene. This is a careful balance to strike. We all have our flaws that range from the familiar to the freaky. Exposing enough of those flaws to seem human while holding back the other stuff until it’s safe can be hard, but focussing on the “polite” and “present” parts get you most of the way there. “I don’t know [how] they met, but this was clearly an early date and she was not going to have anything to do with this guy,” Greene recalls.
“[She was] just literally watching him eat, and he wasn’t even picking up on that … I think that compounded it and made it worse … She was looking for Prince Edward, and he was Oscar the Grouch.” No judgement to the serial daters—but don’t think it goes unnoticed. Highland Kitchen is a classy joint, so Greene didn’t have too many salacious stories to tell us. But he did say that the folks serving your drinks notice when you have a routine. “We also see people that have been in for a second or third date, and then you say, ‘Wow, they really have a type,’” he says, “or, ‘Is that the same guy? No, that’s not the same guy. You know, he’s just really stocky with with short blond hair. I guess that’s her scene.’” Bartenders want you to succeed. Greene cares about his customers, so when he sees that you’re on a date, he’ll do what he can to help. “We can tell, sometimes, like, oh, we’re going to leave them alone, they’re hitting it off. And sometimes … you can tell that it might actually work, and you can play a little bit to break the ice, make some stupid joke as a bartender, make fun of yourself a little.” If it’s a blind date: DO NOT HUG THEM. This is perhaps the most emphatic piece of advice Greene had to give us. If the date is wrapping up, you’ve had a good drink or meal and it feels right, then maybe go for an embrace. But pressing your entire body against someone who’s never met you is probably not the most comfortable way to make an introduction. “It’s a little too much, too soon. You might even have a rapport online that would justify it … but I’ve definitely seen a dude go for the hug (this happened to be a heterosexual couple), and she was like—” Greene cringes. “You can have a really nice handshake with someone and be totally fine.” It’s a wild world out there for the single soul, but Greene left us with inspiring words. His sister met her husband online during the ‘90s—truly a pioneer of internet dating—and they’re still together. No word, though, if they hugged on their first date.
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“There’s Not Much of a Filter There”
CHRISTA WEISS AND TED PETTINGELL TALK DATING, DRINKING AND DOING COMEDY
Words and photo by Emily Cassel
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omerville-based comics Christa Weiss and Ted Pettingell spend a lot of time with one another. They collaborate on the Boston area blog Unscene Comedy, where Weiss is an editor. (“I write for it, he writes for it, I correct his grammar,” laughs Weiss.) They’ll work on jokes together, pointing out when the other says something that would be good fodder for a bit. Oh, and they also live together—the two have been dating for about five years. What’s it like to write jokes about, and occasionally find yourself in competition with, your significant other? We caught up with this comedy couple to find out. SS: First things first: How did the two of you meet? Christa Weiss: We just kind of kept running into each other. The comedy community is really small. There’s an open mic pretty much every night of the week, and you keep seeing the same people over and over and over again. Ted Pettingell: Especially when you’re new, it becomes kind of its own built in social scene without any effort. You just all of a sudden have these people you see every single day who aren’t really your coworkers—you’re usually hanging out drinking with them, so it’s a little bit more loose. And I mean, I’m the funniest and best looking, so… CW: He’s been doing comedy almost twice as long, I’ve been doing it for about six years at this point. TP: It’ll be ten years in February. I was just the more experienced comic taking advantage of a girl at an open mic. That’s the short answer. SS: Do the two of you learn from each other? Do you collaborate? 18
January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
CW: It kind of depends what it is. I think my communication skills are better than yours, so in that way we can piggyback off of each other. As far as jokes go, I’ll write jokes about him, he’ll write jokes about me. Sometimes we write together, but our acts are kind of their own thing. SS: So you do write jokes about each other? TP: I mean, how could you not? I feel like that would be unfair to the both of us, if there was, like, a rule that you can’t write a joke about another person. I would say I spend more time with you than I do any other person. You also let your guard down and are more yourself than you are with other people—you see a side of somebody that they might not realize is funny. You say things all the time that are funny, and you just think, “Well, that’s a thought I had.” And not “Oh, that’s a joke.” When one of us says something that we think we’re just saying because it’s a thought that popped into our head, the other one can go, “Oh, you should do that as a bit.” SS: Is it weird to hear jokes about yourself when you’re in the room? TP: I would say when we joke about one another, it’s generally complimentary, which I think is a good thing. I got yelled at once… CW: Yeah, you did. My brother was there! TP: Her brother and some of her non-comedy friends. But at the same time, those are jokes I would have done in front of my mom. CW: There’s not much of a filter there.
SS: It seems like that would be a hard thing, telling personal stories onstage. CW: It’s weird, because there’s stuff that I’ve said on stage that I’ve never told my parents. It’s a different mindset, kind of. TP: I think we’re similar personality types, in that offstage we’re both somewhat soft spoken and introverted. But at the same time, if you asked people how they would describe both of our acts, I think they would say it’s very personal. We talk about ourselves and our lives a lot. It’s a tradeoff—it’s an outlet.
URMET CRE AL GO ATIO N I G I NS R O
SS: Do you think it’s easier to find humor while dating or in a committed relationship? TP: Early on in my development as a comedian, there were a lot more stories about weird, one-off encounters with people. But when you’re dating someone‚ you wouldn’t be telling a story, necessarily, about your girlfriend. You’re talking about an idiosyncratic thing or a personality quirk. It’s not, like, “I met this person on the internet and they were so crazy! CW: Yeah, I don’t have, like, Tinder stories. I think it can be a little more nuanced. You know someone’s personality better. But I mean, I’m not digging up all of your deepest secrets. TP: If I thought my deepest secrets were funny, I would be pretty open about saying them onstage. SS: Plus, the way we look at relationships is already analytical. CW: And as a comedian, you’re always kind of dissecting things and trying to find out what is—not just funny—but what is significant about them. How do you make something simple say something else? You can dissect your own personality, the personality of the person you’re dating, and make it something relatable.
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SS: You mentioned that at last year’s Boston Comedy Festival, you two were in the same preliminary round. Does that get tough, being in competition with the person you’re dating? CW: That’s not even just dating, that’s friendships. And I think it gets nastier with friendships. Or, not nasty, but it’s difficult sometimes. TP: It’s the kind of thing that’s just a bummer. You want your friends to succeed, but on paper, you are in competition with everybody else. In your gut, you always still sort of feel that way. You have to really separate that feeling. I’m not in competition with anybody else, I’m doing this for me. All you can do is do the best job you can do. That’s the only thing that’s in your hands. You can’t dwell on things that aren’t in your control. You lose, you have one night of hard drinking, and then the next morning you’re not even thinking about how badly you lost. You’re just like, “I wish I didn’t drink so much last night.” SS: It sounds like a relationship with comedy is almost more complicated than a relationship with a comedian. CW: Oh my God, absolutely. Comedy is great and horrible at the same time. I think, in any artistic pursuit, not everybody is going to be Picasso, but there are plenty of people who make great art. You just have to find a balance of what makes you happy. The life of a comedian is difficult even if you are successful. No matter what, there’s sacrifices you’re going to have to make. You need to decide for yourself what it is you want out of it. Catch Christa and Ted in a Valentine’s Day-themed edition of Christa’s recurring comedy show, Broad Appeal, on February 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for Arts at the Armory Cafe (191 Highland Ave.).
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WE DELIVER LUNCH & DINNER scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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MindOVERMat AT MORE TO LOVE YOGA, POSITIVITY COMES FIRST By Emily Cassel
I
t’s a sleepy Somerville Sunday, but while much of the city is just crawling out of bed, the Center for Arts at the Armory is bustling with activity. Dancers run through their steps in the main performance hall, young families order breakfast at the café counter and musicians in the building’s practice spaces soundtrack the whole thing with a tapestry of sound that spills out into the lobby. In a studio downstairs, a dozen women are preparing for yoga class— milling around, chatting about their weeks, introducing themselves to instructor Rachel Estapa as they wait for the session to begin. “It’s a little bit of a stretch to get here,” one Brookline-based attendee tells Estapa (pun presumably unintended) as she unfurls her mat. But while her two-hour MBTA journey from across town may give her the edge in “longest commute,” it only helps her crack the top three in “furthest distance travelled.” Another member of the class says she came to the city from New Hampshire, and activist and educator Lisa DuBreuil spent her morning making the trip to Somerville from Salem. These women have gone the distance—braved the Sunday MBTA schedule, crossed state lines—because this isn’t your average yoga class. This is More to Love Yoga, the first course of its kind in the area specifically developed with plus-sized bodies in mind. “So many people have talked to me about feeling traumatized and shamed in yoga class,” explains DuBreuil, a clinical social worker, therapist and advocate who specializes in treating eating disorders. She says she spent months looking for an instructor who understood the needs of plus-sized yoga practitioners, and she went through three
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other classes before finding this one. “What Rachel’s doing is really badly needed in Boston.” Estapa’s class is a new entry to the region’s yoga scene. “I, personally, always wanted to explore yoga,” Estapa explains. “But right away, I didn’t find anyone that looked like me in classes. There was sort of this level of, ‘Okay, I know I’m the only one, so I’m going to sort of do what I can do and learn online how to modify things.’” Already a life coach who focuses on body positivity, she spent last summer studying with the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and the first More to Love Yoga session (which quickly sold out) was held in August. Over the following months, Estapa has welcomed a growing core of regular attendees who come to as many of the Sunday morning sessions as they can. “I realized how much it supported my own body acceptance,” she says, “and how few resources, especially here in the Boston area, there were for women that wanted to try yoga but felt intimidated to go to a regular studio.” The atmosphere at More to Love Yoga is much like that of any other class: tranquil, quiet—maybe a little more lighthearted than your standard session. (“This pose has no name, and that’s okay,” Estapa says at one point, to laughter from her class.) For the most part, the only noticeable distinction is how often Estapa asks her students to check in with their bodies—to take a silent inventory of what feels good, where they’re sore, how their bones and muscles are working together after each sequence of poses. Photo, top, by Emily Cassel. Photo, right, courtesy of M. Davidson-Schapiro Photography.
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John Buccelli, President Best of Somerville Award Winner 28 Years Experience More than 3500 homes sold Call for free over-the-phone appraisal It isn’t until the session is nearly over that she says something not often heard between warrior poses and downward dogs. “What do you do with the belly during a forward fold? Am I a mover or a roller?” she asks, adjusting her own stomach during a series of floor stretches. “It is not annoying. It is a part of you, and like anything else, it needs to be treated with kindness.” This attention to the unique needs of all body types is what has helped Estapa develop such a passionate core of followers. “If you can’t do anything, she’s great at modifying it for you,” says Jennifer Williams, a More to Love evangelist who says the class has aided in her recovery from a recent hand surgery and broken foot. “I know I can sit down if I need to sit down. I know if I can’t do a pose, it’s okay,” adds DuBreuil. “This is a safe teacher who’s going to be okay with you no matter what you can do.” Thanks to More to Love’s welcoming atmosphere, DuBreuil and other attendees have formed their own small community. They now have a tradition of heading to neighboring 7ate9 Bakery after class for coffee, tea and sweets. And that’s the crux of what Estapa is trying to do with her brand of yoga. She wants to make it clear RACHEL that this isn’t a competition or “a race to getting your estapa leg behind your head.” It isn’t about weight, either, or even health (though that certainly is an added bonus). Instead, she says that these sessions are about learning to love and appreciate what you have in the present—your body, your life, your friends—and through that, gaining confidence and accepting yourself. “It makes you feel good!” she says simply. “That’s what I believe yoga should do. Not just for your body, but for your mind and emotions. You should leave yoga feeling better than when you arrived.”
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scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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AGGRESSIVE. ABRASIVE. INCLUSIVE.
Boston Roller Derby Not Just for Dames By Emily Cassel Photo by Mary Schwalm
T
en year anniversaries are traditionally commemorated with gifts made from tin or aluminum—metals representing strength and pliability, symbols for a relationship that can be bent but not broken. But while the athletes skating for Boston Roller Derby, née Derby Dames, are well-acquainted with taking a beating and staying strong, there’s no symbolism in the way their league is celebrating its upcoming tenth season. When they lace up their skates in 2016, these athletes will be feeling the love thanks to a new, gender-neutral name. “I think that [changing the name to] ‘Boston Roller Derby’ is a really good thing,” says skater Jamie “Flyin’ King” Bartholomay, who uses gender-neutral pronouns (they/their). “I know I’m just one person and there’s a lot of people in the league, but it just makes me feel so much more comfortable. It makes me feel like I belong there more.” Bartholomay says that the “Derby Dames” moniker never felt quite right to them. In fact, when they first started competing, they almost joined nearby Providence Roller Derby instead, despite the fact that they preferred to join the higher-ranked Dames. And it wasn’t just the word “dames” making Bartholomay feel less-than-welcome. Compounding this was the archaic gender policy of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (the international governing body of the sport), which said that transgender athletes had to be tested by a healthcare provider to ensure “sex hormones are within the medically acceptable range for a female.” “It felt like I couldn’t really talk about gender at all,” Bartholomay recalls. “I had just resigned myself to being like, ‘Okay, I’m just not going to talk about that, and I’m going to let everybody assume what they want, and everything will be fine.’” “The name change reflects the changes that have happened over the past decade, in the sport and in the league,” explains Boston Roller Derby public relations chair Katherine “Space Invader” Rugg. In the 1970s, when derby first debuted, the fledgling sport was similar to pro wrestling, and even in the early days of Boston derby, things were a little more rough and tumble than they are now. Rugg grins, recalling stories swapped at the league’s recent anniversary party about how fights used to break out on the track. But the sport has gotten a bit more serious and intentional as it’s grown, and the WFTDA adopted a more inclusionary gender policy in 2015. “It’s really awesome that we have this safe space where athletes can claim their own identity and determine who they want to skate with,” Rugg says. Derby, as a sport, may have evolved over the last decade, but what hasn’t changed is the love that these athletes feel—both for one another and for the game. Because they want to retain full ownership
over their league, Boston Roller Derby skaters aren’t sponsored (or paid), and in fact pay out of pocket for everything from equipment to travel expenses. When the league lost its longtime Somerville practice space in December 2014, it was the players who footed the bill for rink rentals at local arenas and empty warehouses. There’s also the time commitment; Rugg, who lives in Somerville, says she has a relatively modest commute to their practice space in Lynn. Bartholomay commutes from Quincy, a trip that takes between a half hour and 45 minutes each way (on a good day). Other skaters come from as far as Worcester, Providence and New Hampshire. “It really is a community—it’s not like we just practice together and then we all go home,” Rugg says. “We’re invested in growing the business as well and making sure that [the] business is a positive representation of ourselves and also of our community.” To see the pride these athletes feel for their league, you need look no further than the way they sprang into action after the name change was announced. One skater, Ren “Artoo Detonate” Caldwell, who coded and maintains the league’s website, made the (numerous) necessary online updates in just 24 hours. Anna-Ellen “Slam Chowdah” Lenart officially processed the LLC name change handled the business side of the rebranding. Zack “You++” Youngren followed up on the changes to the league’s email addresses, and all of the players remained communicative and supportive as the league prepared to go public with the announcement. It might seem counterintuitive that roller derby fosters such a caring and safe community—after all, it’s a hard-hitting sport, one where injuries from gnarly bruises to fishnet burns are not just an occupational hazard but are practically a guarantee. But, Bartholomay explains, that too comes from a place of love. “It’s not aggressive in a mean way, or in a destructive way, it’s aggressive in that I’m hitting you really hard to make you better!” they laugh. “That’s where the aggression comes in. We just push each other to be better and better every day.” Rugg, a lifelong athlete who grew up playing soccer and running track, says it was only when she got into skating that she fully understood what it is to be part of a team. “I remember at practices when I first started playing roller derby, being like, ‘This is crazy, I feel like people want me to succeed.’” For Rugg and Bartholomay, that’s what derby is all about: providing a space for marginalized groups and empowering athletes, both on the track and off. “I am a completely different person from when I started playing roller derby,” Bartholomay says. “I’m way more confident in myself … in every aspect of my life. I’m more comfortable speaking in front of people and more comfortable just being myself and doing what I want to do—forget what everybody else thinks or says.” Now, the league has the name to match.
Jamie “Flyin’ King” Bartholomay demonstrates how they got that nickname, while Angela “Pax-A-Punch” Percy (left) and Kat “The Kat’s PaJAMas” Eagly stand their ground.
scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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BANDS BY JENNIFER USOVICZ
0N
BREAKUPS
S
ometimes, love can change your life, affirm your existence, shift your worldview. Sometimes, in the words of the immortal J. Geils Band, love stinks. In case your romantic life is currently trending toward bitter rather than sweet, we asked some of our favorite Somerville-based artists to share their most-played breakup songs with us. Because misery loves company.
The Doubl e Buscemis (thedouble busce mis.bandca
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p.com) JEFF THE BRO THERHOOD, “PRAIRIE SON “Because we G” all want to die sometimes.”
Darlingside (darlingside.com)
JOSH RITTER, “NEW LOVER” “I can’t speak for all of us, but I’m really into [this]!” – Don
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January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
e Saccharcain mp.com) nd
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VER KNOWN” THE DURUTTI COLUMN, “NEtime s of intense heartache and
d to me during “This song has been a good frien being in love smic state-of-mind that typifies mia always conveyed to me the despair, the pure and pain atic ecst llations of with someone: the extreme vaci gleaned, the be to ch there really is no sense over analysis of feelings from whi part of the a to d gate rele al needs typically resurgence of childhood emotion indeed!” ht, brig is pain The etc. , n in love mind that is only accessed whe
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USINS” “KISSIN’ COice.” – Cody , S T IN A S E tw TH me relative
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Hot Molasses
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com)
U” “It’s a great breakup song because it’s beautiful and painful at the same time and per fectly articulates the feelings you have when rememb ering lost love.”
Peachpit
(lepeachpit.bandcamp.com)
PAUL SIMON, “GRACELAND”
“I couldn’t explain why any better than the actual lyrics. If they don’t resonate with your broken heart, I don’t know what will.” – Jordan
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BLIND LUCK, CHANCE AND UTTER CHAOS MINI DRESSES ON LOVE AND MUSIC By Jennifer Usovicz
L
ira Mondal and Caufield Schnug, who make up two-thirds of the dream pop band Mini Dresses, are a couple—though you wouldn’t know it listening to their songs. The Somerville-based lo-fi act met in college in Arkansas and did a stint in Austin (Schnug’s hometown) as Silkies before forming Mini Dresses, a side project that quickly became the duo’s main focus once they moved to the Boston area. But while the pair have been dating for more than six years, their relationship doesn’t make an appearance— lyrically or otherwise—in their music. We sat down with the collaborative couple to talk first impressions, making art with your partner and the separation of music and love life. Scout Somerville: How did you two meet? Lira Mondal: We met in the basement of the music building on our college campus. I was in a band (and I use the term “band” ever so loosely!) with some fellow music major mates and we were practicing late one night. Caufield was lurking about, making music of his own in one of the other rooms. He heard us, poked his head in the window, and immediately demanded of us, “Are you guys in band? Can I join you?” And the rest is history.
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January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
Caufield Schnug: All I remember is hearing Lira singing and playing bass from the other side of a paper thin wall. Before having seen her, I was already thinking, “This is somebody I want to get to know.” SS: What were your first impressions of each other? LM: When I first met Caufield, I thought he was the coolest guy around. He used to longboard around campus, and whenever I saw him I’d go, “Whoa. He’s so dreamy.” CS: I was 18 when I met Lira; I thought she was super smart and perhaps a bit mysterious! She had the best music taste in college (she would share her dark post-punk and goth mix tapes with me, which warped my nervous system. In return I only had meeker offerings: ‘60s folk tunes, French pop, light electronica and shoegaze). SS: When did you decide to make music together? LM: Shortly after we first met, it somehow came up in conversation that we both really loved the Mazzy Star song “Give You My Lovin’.” Once we figured out we were into the same stuff, we were both like, “Hell
yeah, let’s write our own songs together!” I’ve learned a lot about music from Caufield over the years. He got me into a lot of great stuff … he got me into Broadcast, and for that I am eternally grateful. CS: We have a long history of making music together. We played in bands before we started dating over six years ago. To be sure, there are a lot of really unspeakable projects in our shared catalogue—maximalist indie pop quintets, ill-advised college rock side projects, bad drone-psych adventures—but truly we can only look back in fondness! SS: Besides making music together, do you share other hobbies? LM: We both love to travel, and we want to do more of it. We went to Iceland over the summer, which was indescribable. CS: And we are both cinephiles! We share taste in international art films, avant-garde cinema and bad TV. Interesting film references are scattered everywhere in Lira’s lyrics. And sometimes we read together (this is my favorite). SS: Do you guys write about your relationship? LM: Nope. We like to completely downplay, if not outright exclude, that part of our lives from our musical life. When I write lyrics, they’re pretty much never autobiographical. They’re always about some made-up character, from her point of view. CS: Our relationship is anathema to our songwriting process, it’s true! Being in a band allows us to explore different dimensions— not necessarily amorous ones!—of working together and being with each other. SS: Do you have songs about crushes, real or imaginary? LM: Well, we wrote this new song about someone who falls in love with a manicure … not even the person to whom the manicure belongs, but the manicure itself. It’s called “Fantasy Nails.” It’s incredibly romantic, actually! SS: What are your star signs? LM: Caufield is a Virgo, and I’m a Libra. SS: Do you believe in horoscope relationship compatibility? LM: You know, the funny thing about horoscopes and astrology is that, a lot of the time, the personality traits of each sign are described so generally that they could really be applied to anyone. There’s a lot of reading your own unspoken desires and inclinations into horoscopes, so that you bend them around you to suit your bidding. As fun as it is to think about star signs and how they predetermine our personalities and relationships, I don’t put too much stock into them; traditionally, Virgos and Libras shouldn’t be compatible because we’re “too different.” But we seem to be making it happen, so … there you have it! CS: I don’t know anything about horoscopes, so I was not aware that Virgos and Libras are symbolically warring factions in the cosmos. But perhaps there’s interesting matter here to explore between us, our astral signs. Surely love has to do with star-crossed stuff like blind luck, chance and utter chaos, right?
ALLSTON PUDDING CRUSHIN’ PLAYLIST
L
ove is in the air—or maybe it’s in your stomach after a nice first date with your new crush. You swiped right to find out that he/she/they dig well-curated playlists about love, and your ol’ pals at Allston Pudding have you covered! We asked our favorite local music bloggers to share their top tracks for sensitive, sappy suckers. Check out their picks below, then grab your headphones and stream the whole mushy mixtape at 8tracks. com/allstonpudding/crushin-onscout-magazines. Get ready to have feeeeelings.
this song is how my crush makes me feel sometimes, but honestly, GBV is simply my girlfriend’s absolute favorite band and this is for her.
SWEARIN’, “JUST” I just want you to love me.
A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW, “CRUSHIN’” Pretty much every song in their catalog feels as recklessly liberating as yelling a crush’s name from your rooftop, but how could we not pick a song that is literally called “Crushin’?”
FRANKIE COSMOS, “ON THE LIPS” This song goes out to all the awkward weirdos who didn’t kiss someone on the first date, immediately regretted it on the way home, and then realized it’s for the best. BIG BOY CLUB, “KISS ME” (SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER COVER) With mushy-gushy lyrics about wanting to smooch under the stars, this cover is gonna make your heart flutter. SAT. NITE DUETS, “HANG OUT WITH ME TONIGHT” This is a great song for the best kind of healthy crushin’—the feeling of being okay alone but finding someone you like spending time with so much that you wanna be around them all the time anyway. GUIDED BY VOICES, “TEENAGE FBI” I could say the typical “I grew up in the ‘90’s,” or tell you that
YO LA TENGO, “OUR WAY TO FALL” Crushin’ is the hard, fast process of memorizing everything about a person and hoping said person does the same for you, “even if it lasts an hour.” LOS CAMPESINOS, “YOU! ME! DANCING!” All those exclamation points are just so rich with meaning.
KEVIN MORBY, “ALL OF MY LIFE” This song is so simple and romantic and just oozes yearning for an unknown companion who never seems to come. MITSKI, “I WILL” Love can be too much work and desperate but somehow still worth it... maybe? OBERHOFER, “YR FACE” I used to put song lyrics in my AIM buddy profile and hope my crushes would find them, actually talk to me and then our love would finally blossom. LADY LAMB, “ATLAS” After the gut-wrenching heartbreak detailed on Lady Lamb’s debut album Ripely Pine, “Atlas” seems like a bright nod to a crush that worked out after all. scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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y ll a u t c a F , e Lov By Laura Quincy Jones Photos by Jess Benjamin
V
alentine’s Day is arguably the most political holiday we celebrate all year. If you’re in a couple, you might be faced with the societal expectations of the day: the card, the gift, the dinner reservations. If you’re uncoupled, you’re all but forced to weigh in on the holiday, like a pundit trying to find new takes on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. But when you peel away the trappings of Valentine’s Day, it really is a time to celebrate the people you care about. To that end, we searched Somerville for some good ol’ love stories. From a pair of cyclists who got together just over a year ago to a couple that will celebrate their 60th anniversary this year, these lovebirds get right to the heart of what this holiday is all about.
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January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
Kelly & Jonathan Best MARRIED SINCE 2009
With their hands full of three energetic little ones, Kelly Best asks her husband Jonathan, “Do you remember when we used to get the Sunday paper?” Mutual friends introduced the goodnatured couple in 2002. They bought their Winter Hill house five years later and spent years travelling together. They were married in 2009, and in 2010, they started their family. Kelly is a teacher in the Boston Public School District, and Jonathan paused his architectural design practice to take care of the family’s daily needs for the last few years. When his daughters were younger, he was active in the Somerville Family Network and facilitated the “Dads’ Playgroup,” which is mostly full-time fathers and their children. “Now that we have kids, we look forward to the Somerville festivals—to apple picking and pumpkins. Some of that fun stuff we haven’t done in years, now we get to do with the kids,” says Jonathan. A smile stretches across his face as he recalls: “We used to get home from work, have a glass of wine, make dinner, chat about our day for as long as we wanted. Now, we still have the routine of eating dinner together, but ... we don’t get to talk much to each other ‘til well after the kids go to bed.” “We got to really enjoy our time together before our kids came, now we’re really enjoying this,” Kelly says, as her children play in their living room. “It won’t last forever, so we’re just enjoying what it is.”
scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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The Love Issue
Michael Mulcahy & Daniel Lucas
Barbara & Edward Pitts
TOGETHER SINCE 2010
MARRIED SINCE 1956
If it’s your relationship, you get to make the rules. Just ask Michael Mulcahy and partner Daniel Lucas, who met at a party one October. They’re not sure of the exact date, so they chose Halloween as their adopted anniversary. “More people should pick an anniversary— then they wouldn’t forget!” says Daniel, a massage therapist at Body Mechanics in Allston. That laid-back type of love radiates throughout their cozy Arlington home, where they live with their dog, Joey, and three cats. Both Michael and Daniel enjoy the outdoors, but in slightly different ways: Michael fishes, Daniel gardens. They both like cooking, but share an understanding that Daniel is a (much) better chef. They agree that children are great—“as long as they’re 75 yards away.” The two are firm believers in staying true to yourself, in being honest—and in compromise. “We almost went to a movie the other night!” jokes Michael. “We were a block away,” laughs Daniel, before Michael, a politics junkie, realized the Republican debate was on that night. Michael is a lieutenant with the Somerville Police Department, where he’s served for 29 years. He made history in 1999 when he became the city’s first openly gay officer. “It was kind of gradual … I was done hiding,” he explains of his decision to come out. “It was a very difficult thing to do, but the most empowering day of my life.” “I always say falling in love is like stepping in dog shit. Nobody plans on stepping in dog shit, but it happens!” Michael adds. “We have this chemistry that connects on every level. I miss him as soon as I leave him.”
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scoutsomerville.com
Barbara and Edward Pitts have been married for 59 years. Their romance began at the Wonder Donut Shop in Inman Square, where they were both regulars. Edward would stop in before going out dancing; Barbara often hung out there with her friends having soda. “Finally, after about a year, he asked me out,” Barbara says. The couple was married a year later, and in the following decades, they raised six children in Somerville. Now, they have seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, all of whom live in the area. Edward’s work as a millwright took him to Puerto Rico, and Barbara, who loves to travel, joined him there for a time. “Every chance she gets she says, ‘We gotta go!’” Edward chuckles. “He still asks me every day, ‘Where are we going today?’ or, ‘Anywhere you want to go?’” Barbara chimes in. “He’s right there for me.” Mayor Curtatone is popular with this couple, particularly because of the funding to the Somerville Senior Center, an active social hub not only for meeting pleasant folks and weekly activities but also for seasonal trips. “We went down to Amish country in Pennsylvania, and Elvis’s house in Tennessee. Everybody loved it. We couldn’t have done it without that program for seniors,” says Barbara. Now that their international travel is winding down, this couple keeps it local: Edward makes daily trips to Dunkin Donuts in Magoun Square for coffee, and Barbara goes bowling on Thursdays. “He drives me, and waits in the car,” Barbara says. “My friends say he’s my lucky charm—they say, ‘You’re winning because he’s right there.’”
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Marie-France Hivert & Dylan Callahan TOGETHER SINCE NOVEMBER 2014
Strong roots can sprout fast. Marie-France Hivert is known to her friends as “Flash” because of her quick feet in competitive ultimate Frisbee, running and dancing—not to mention her professional precision as an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and physician at MGH. The spark in her eye is matched by her partner Dylan Callahan, a quiet and steady IT Director, also an avid runner, musician and sailor. Auspicious timing brought them together through a wide network of common friends at just the right moment for them to connect. Though their paths could have crossed any number of times before they actually met, they agree they may not have been ready for the relationship that has sprouted up in the last year. From their first date—ice skating in Kendall Square—Flash and Dylan soon devised their own romantic adventure: “bike dates.” On each bike date, they would choose a destination in the Boston area, cycle there, have a nice dinner and drinks, then meander home, taking turns leading and finding new routes. But about eight months into their relationship, the sweetness of city cycling took a traumatic turn. Cycling in downtown Boston, Flash was hit by a vehicle and left with a broken shoulder and collarbone as well as a slew of broken ribs and an injured lung. While she was consulting with her doctors about her condition, Dylan communicated with her family and friends and stayed with her constantly. “Even before the accident, we were strong,” Flash says, “but the accident confirmed that strength that Dylan has, that we have together, to go through hard stuff together.” Dylan adds gently, “But she was also caring for the people around her. When someone’s hurt, the way they deal with getting better affects the people around them, whether they know it or not. It’s not just a one-way street.” Flash and Dylan look forward to getting back to their running and bike dates soon. “Wearing lots of bright visuals,” they agree.
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scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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The Love Issue
Patricia Wild & David Myers MARRIED SINCE 1994
David Myers and Patricia Wild, married 21 years, still seem radiantly tickled by each other’s company. They met at the Friends Meeting at Cambridge, a Quaker gathering. in 1991, when they were both at the end of failing marriages and had a handful of children between them. “When he asked me out on a date for the first time,” Patricia recounts, “David said, ‘I’d like to take you out, by yourself or with your children. Which would you prefer?’ That got me.” At various times, each of David and Patricia’s adult children have returned to live in their Somerville home for a year or two. Now, they have five grandchildren, including one for whom David and Patricia care every week. “Because we never raised children together, we’ve had this opportunity to discover our parenting styles together with our granddaughter. It’s been a real sweetness,” say Patricia. “We were there the day she was born. There’s no such thing as a ‘step-grandchild.’” Although the couple has a social calendar that could rival most Somerville twenty-somethings, Patricia and David calmly point out, “We’re in our 70s, so an event in our relationship is thinking and talking about the end of our lives, how we want to spend it, what we want to leave, or not leave. We don’t want to leave an attic full of our kids’ third grade papers, for instance.” What they are building is a legacy of community-minded care, from actively participating in Prison Ministry at FMC together to organizing block parties on their street. Good neighbors, sweet love.
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COMPANY
Local, seasonal ingredients, modern American cuisine and an independent spirit in a fun, casual atmosphere.
Photos by Kelly Benvenuto Photography
TREAT YOUR GUESTS TO ALL THE AMENITIES AN AWARD-WINNING RESTAURANT CAN OFFER. From intimate cocktail receptions to multi-course dinners in our elegant dining room or new private event space, our team will treat each of your guests as our own. Our event coordinator, Rebecca, is waiting to help you plan your special event! www.puritancambridge.com | 1166 Cambridge St. | Inman Square | Cambridge | (617) 615-6195
scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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Y
ou don’t have to stop handcrafting valentines for your loved ones just because you’re no longer in elementary school—in fact, making a gift yourself is a great way to show how much you care! We asked Amy Lou Stein, owner of the new Craftwork Somerville (259 Highland Ave.) to share a simple crocheted heart pattern for beginning stitchers with us. All you need for this project is a few tools and knowledge of some basic stitches, which you find in YouTube tutorials or by dropping in on one of Craftwork’s classes! PATTERN: EU TE AMO MATERIALS: Yarn: Lanaloft Worsted Hook: Size F or 3.75mm crochet hook Stuffing Stitch marker GAUGE: DOESN’T MATTER STITCHES: ss=slipstitch sc=single crochet pm= place marker When decreasing, always use an invisible decrease. Simple directions: From rows 1-10, you are increasing until you have 24 stitches (sc 2, 2 sc in next stitch). Then, start from row 8 to complete the heart. BEGIN: chain 2 or magic loop Round 1: 4 Sc in second chain from hook or into magic loop, place marker in last stitch. Round 2: 2 Sc in next stitch, sc in next two stitches, 2 sc in last stitch pm (6) Round 3: Sc in first two stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in last stitch pm (8) Round 4: Sc in first two stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in last two stitches pm (10) Round 5: 2 Sc in first stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in
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scoutsomerville.com
next stitch, sc in next two stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next two stitches, 2 sc in last stitch pm (14) Round 6: Sc in first two stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in last 2 stitches pm (18) Round 7: 2 Sc in first stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch, sc in last two stitches pm (24) Round 8: Sc around pm (24) Round 9: Sc around pm (24) FIRST PEAK Round 10: Sc in the first 6 stitches then fold the heart flat and crochet in the last 6 stitches (12) pm. You are making one of two heart peaks. Round 11: Sc in 12 stitches of peak (12) Round 12: Sc in 12 stitches of peak (12) Round 13: Sc invisible decrease over two stitches repeat around (6) Round 14: Sc invisible decrease working only the second stitch and fifth stitch together. Pull closed to finish the bump being careful not to break your yarn. SECOND PEAK Join to other set of 12 stitches with a slipstitch to center stitch of finished peak to make the opposite peak of the heart. Round 15: Repeat rows 10 – 14 for second peak. After row 12, be sure to stuff your heart. (Sometimes a chopstick is helpful in placing the stuffing!) If the two peaks have any separation pull, the gap closed with yarn before weaving in your ends. You can fill with stuffing—or use some herbs like lavender, rosemary or rose. You can find more cool crafting inspiration online at www.craftwork.rocks.
PetsiPies_ScoutAd_HalfPageHorz_1_4_16.pdf
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519 Somerville Ave., Somerville | 617-591-0199 | store4978@theupsstore.com www.theupsstorelocal.com/4978 | http://store4978.upsstoreprint.com | facebook.com/theupsstore4978
scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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SCOUT OUT
HIGH ENERGY VINTAGE CRANKS IT UP IN UNION SQUARE By Sean L. Maloney Photo by Emily Hopkins
“I
t’s this constant struggle—but that’s my favorite part of it too, the hunt.” It is a cold Monday afternoon in Somerville, but Wiley Andrew is sending enough positive vibes through the phone to warm up the whole office. We’ve caught the proprietor of High Energy Vintage in the final stages of preparing his new storefront. Formerly based in Teele Square, Andrew has migrated a few miles across town to Union Square (429 Somerville Ave.), bringing his vintage video games, records and clothes with him. What started out “kind of accidentally” as a booth at SoWa’s Vintage Market has grown and evolved into a vital, permanent fixture in Greater Boston’s secondhand scene. With the move across town High 36 January | February 2016
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Energy is upgrading from word-of-mouth phenom on the outer edge of a main shopping district* to a spot in—we’ll just go right ahead and say it—New England’s hippest ‘hood. “I’m really excited about this store,” Andrew says. “The last store I sort of threw together in maybe three weeks, between the time I signed the leased and moved in and when I opened up. I always wanted it to look more professional, and I’m really excited that the new store is going to look the way I want it to ... When I was in Teele Square, the neighborhood was super supportive. There’s no way I could have stayed in business [without the community].” And not just around the storefront. Andrew says the whole of Camberville has rallied behind him. There aren’t a ton of vintage stores
around, and even fewer hawk the particular items that have folks schlepping to High Energy. “When it comes to vintage video games, I’ve had people come from Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire ... it’s kind of flattering.” Andrew has developed a reputation among vintage collectors of all stripes by amassing a collection that’s as vibrant and diverse as the community in which he’s based. But one of the great challenges—one of the challenges for any vintage retailer—is not only acquiring stock but acquiring stock that will actually sell. Just because something’s old doesn’t necessarily mean that contemporary consumers are going to be interested. So, where does one find the hippest accoutrements for New England’s coolest community? “Everywhere. People ask me this all the time: ‘Where do you get your stuff?’ It’s everywhere,” Andrew says. “I’m literally always on the hunt. I can be at a party and somebody will be like ‘Oh man, I’ve got this bladdyblah,’ and it ends up they’ve been hoarding, I don’t know, Turkish records for the last ten years or hoarding 1980s floral dresses. People hoard weird things.” And while you might think that a proven picker like Andrew could make a killing just by concentrating on the ravenous collectors lurking in the dark and cheetoh-smelling corners of the Internet, he likes to keep
“Why do people want old video games that they can’t play to put up on their shelves? I don’t know.” his sales local. “The operation is just me, I don’t have a lot of time” to hawk things online, though he says he doesn’t rule it out entirely. Last winter, for instance, it saved his bottom line while we were all snowed in. “Why do people want old video games that they can’t play to put up on their shelves? I don’t know, whatever,” says Andrew. “But I really dodged a bullet on lost in-store sales during that two months of Snow Apocalypse.” It’s this sort of business savvy that has allowed High Energy to grow from a booth in the South End to a successful store on the verge of expanding into a newer, pricier market. Rents around here aren’t cheap, and it takes more than a little cunning to turn the flotsam and jetsam of modern culture into a money-making proposition. But more than cunning, it’s Andrew’s effervescent personality and, well, high energy that keep customers coming in. Don’t expect the brooding-record-store-dude or the cranky-comic-monger that we generally associate with the more, um, obsessive ends of collector culture when you enter High Energy. Andrew may be peddling some rare objects but he’s not running a museum. He’s happy to meet customers that like the same things he likes. And as he talks about preparing his new location, you can hear the joy, the unadulterated excitement in his voice. “I’m looking forward to having a bigger store, a nicer store,” he says. “I’m interested in meeting all the new people that are going to come.” *We love you, Teele Square, don’t ever change. No, seriously, don’t change. Please. We enjoy how chill you are.
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scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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Scout Out Behind the Brown Paper
BEHIND THE BROWN PAPER MAYBE YOU THINK OPENING A RESTAURANT LOOKS EASY. THE PROS WILL TELL YOU: IT ISN’T. By Emily Cassel Photos by Jess Benjamin
S
ipping from a mug of lukewarm coffee and peering out from behind the screen of his shiny, silver Macbook, Tse Wei Lim seems at peace. The air is warm inside Journeyman, and soft music spills from the speakers as the staff bustles about, preparing for the evening’s service. Today, everyone is at ease, everything is in the right place. But five years ago, the atmosphere wasn’t quite as relaxed as it is on this November afternoon. “We were expecting it to be pretty difficult,” says Lim, who operates Journeyman and Backbar as well as Ames Street Deli and Study in Kendall Square with partner Diana Kudayarova. The couple knew there would be challenges when they opened Journeyman, their first restaurant, in 2010. The nature and extent of those challenges, though, were something of a surprise. “Somehow you always wind up doing hilarious things that you didn’t expect to be doing, like bailing water out from the roof in the middle of a giant thunderstorm.” Opening a restaurant isn’t for the faint of heart, but then, Somerville’s chefs aren’t faint-hearted. We asked area restaurateurs to tell us what’s really going on when they’re readying to open a new eatery—and to share their hard-earned wisdom on making the process (relatively) painless. IT’S GOING TO TAKE LONGER THAN YOU THINK. AND IT’LL PROBABLY BE MORE EXPENSIVE, TOO. When Union Square Donuts owner Heather Schmidt started renovating the space at 20 Bow St., a local chef told her to take
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the amount of time she believed the project would require and the budget she thought she’d need and double both. “I, of course, thought everything would go to plan,” Schmidt says. “I was a little naive.” As it turns out, that prediction was absolutely right. The USD team faced unexpected problems, and they paid—with time and with money. As Schmidt points out, opening a restaurant that’s all your own means making choices every day that will affect the life of your business. She advises would-be restaurateurs to work in the industry first so they learn to intuit the right course of action and trust their gut. “If you make the wrong decision, which you will do, look ahead, move forward and learn from that wrong or bad decision,” she says. LITTLE MIX-UPS CAN TURN INTO BIG SETBACKS. Jeremy Spindler started operating Spindler Confections out of his Somerville kitchen in 2012, but as the business began to overtake his home, he realized that he needed a brick-and-mortar storefront. So he signed a lease in Cambridge in April, in a space he thought was properly zoned to host a confectionary. It wasn’t. “It was a little bit of a shock at the beginning,” Spindler recalls. “We had just signed the lease, and I was so panicked that, you know, I’m not going to get the permit, I’m not going to be able to operate and we’re going to be locked into a lease that we can’t get out of.” He applied for— and was eventually granted—a special permit to resume construction in the space. But that initial stumbling block, a simple misinterpretation of the city’s zoning codes, set his plans back about three-and-a-half months.
In any buildout, seemingly small issues—scheduling conflicts, bad weather, unexpected illness—can quickly snowball into time-consuming problems. “Maybe the plumber can’t do what he needs to do until the electrician is done what he needs to do,” Spindler explains. “They can’t run wiring through the walls until the contractor builds the wall … A lot of the individual tasks don’t take that long, it’s just they have to be done in a very specific order.” YOU NEED TO HAVE A GOOD TEAM BEHIND YOU. It was March 15, 2010, and Bergamot co-owner Servio Garcia had just picked up the keys to his restaurant. He was behind due to a legal dispute with his landlord, and he couldn’t afford to suffer another setback as he made the last-minute preparations for an April Fool’s Day opening. Luckily, his staff had his back. In the time between grabbing the keys and opening the doors, the Bergamot team made a final, desperate push to get the building ready on time. “They were the kind of days where we’d arrive at six in the morning and work until one, two in the morning,” Garcia recalls. Chefs and line cooks cleaned the kitchen and readied appliances, while the front of house team helped organize the dining room, picking up rollers and brushes and moving furniture. “We were really, really happy and proud that we were able to overhaul the restaurant in two weeks,” Garcia says. “That was all thanks to the staff who helped to do that.” THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING ELSE. With four restaurants under his belt, Tse Wei Lim has been through practically every kind of snafu a restaurant owner could experience. There’s the aforementioned rainwater incident. A lastminute miscommunication with NSTAR set Journeyman’s opening back an extra two months after their buildout was already finished. His pastry chef walked out three days before Ames Street Deli was scheduled to open in Kendall Square. And running a restaurant doesn’t necessarily get any easier once you’ve opened—this is a demanding, all-consuming kind of job. So, what advice would Lim give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break into the biz? “Other than, ‘don’t?’” he asks, a wry smile playing about his lips in a way that implies he’s only half kidding. “Go take a plumbing course, go take a course in refrigeration repair, go learn how to be an electrician. On a Saturday night, when your ice machine breaks, you’ll wish you knew how to fix it.” Oh, and also: “Be nice to people.”
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“I feel like the stigma of opening a business is that’s it’s sluggish and slow—red tape everywhere,” says Nick Robertson, who will open the doors to Somerville Bread Company at 415 Medford St. on January 23. “I have to say, though, what has not really slowed the process down is the city.” Yes, permitting can be a nightmare, but we learned that the city is actually doing a lot to make Somerville more welcoming to entrepreneurs—so much, in fact, that we couldn’t fit it all here. Head to scoutsomerville.com to hear from Inspectional Services Operations Manager Ellen Collins, Urban Revitalization Specialist Max MacCarthy and Ben Lipham from the Somerville Health Department about city programs aimed at giving local business owners a hand.
scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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CALENDAR
1 BOOKS | January 14
Tanwi Nandini Islam 7 p.m., Free Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Cambridge Tanwi Nandini Islam’s debut novel, Bright Lines, is a globe-spanning story of adventure, family and self-discovery. Stop by Porter Square Books on January 14 to hear more about the book the Denver Post calls “A Brooklyn-by-way-of-Bangladesh Royal Tenenbaums.”
3
VOLUNTEERING | January 18
Martin Luther King Day of Service 2-5 p.m., Free Central Square, Cambridge Anyone can help out at the sixth annual Many Helping Hands MLK Day of Service—whether it’s by making fleece scarves and blankets for the homeless, decorating Valentines for elders and veterans or sorting food, winter clothing and other necessities for those in need. Register to serve online at manyhelpinghands365.org.
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ATHLETICS (& BEER!) January 20 and February 17
Bike Talk Social Hour 5:30-7 p.m. and 6-7:30 p.m., respectively, Free Aeronuat Brewing, 14 Tyler St., Somerville Nothing goes hand in hand(lebar) like bikes and beer, which is why the Somerville Bicycle Committee has been hosting a series of monthly meetups with community cycling experts at Aeronaut Brewing. Join them in January to hear from Metro Pedal Power’s Wenzday Jane, or stop by in February for a presentation from Stephen Carrabino, deputy chief at the Somerville Police Department.
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THEATER | January 17-February 7
“Nice Fish” 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., $25 Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge Minnesota’s ice fishing season is drawing to a close, but two men are out on the creaking, cracking frozen lake for one final angling session. Of course, this play isn’t just about fish—it’s based on the prose poems of Luis Jenkins, who writes that this pair is “after something big, something down there that is pure need, something that, had it the wherewithal, would swallow them whole.”
ARTS | Every day beginning February 5
Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $10-$15 (Free to Cambridge Residents) Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge HBO’s True Detective may have made famous the phrase “time is a flat circle,” but it’s Aboriginal Australians who developed the concept of “everywhen,” in which the past is understood to be part of a cyclical and circular order. This latest exhibit explores that idea, with more than 70 works from some of the continent’s most significant contemporary indigenous artists, and many of the pieces have never been displayed outside of Australia. Runs through September 18.
FOOD | February 6
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Eighth Annual “Some Like it Hot” Chili Tasting Contest 1-2:30 p.m., Free Brattle Plaza, Cambridge Pregame Sunday’s Super Bowl with a bowl of a different kind— namely, one that’s full of chili. Harvard Square’s best chefs bring their spiciest game to this annual food festival, and one eatery will walk home (or waddle home, depending how much food they fill up on) with the ultimate prize: the Harvard Square Chili Trophy.
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FILM | February 5-15
41st Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival Times vary, $112.50 Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville One of the oldest genre-specific fests in the world, the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival returns to Somerville in February for 11 days of classic, campy, cutting-edge and defining works of cinema. Can’t commit to the full festival? Consider alt-Valentine’s Day plans with a ticket to the closing event: a 24-hour sci-fi marathon ($57.50), that kicks off at noon on February 14.
#2: Photo by Randy H. Goodman, #4: Photo by Richard Termine
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MUSIC | Tuesdays
Heavy Metal and Pizza Night 8-11 p.m., No cover The Lounge at ONCE, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville Heavy metal? Great. Pizza? Also great. Heavy metal and pizza... I mean, do we have to spell it out for you? Every Tuesday at Cuisine en Locale’s ONCE Lounge, guitar shredding meets shredded cheese in a most delicious way.
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POETRY | February 23
To Keep Us Warm: A Night of Poetry with Sarah Kay, Clint Smith and Hanif WillisAbdurraqib 7-10 p.m., $25 Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm St., Somerville No offense, February, but you’re kind of the worst: cold, dark, wet and generally just, like, full of despair. The one thing getting us through the month is the promise of this evening spent huddled together with the warm words of the incredible poets Sarah Kay, Clint Smith and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib. This is a can’t-miss evening full of poetry powerhouses, so grab your tickets on Eventbrite.
Valentine’s Day February 11
Scout Lovefest 6-10 p.m., No Cover Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., Somerville You love Scout, we love you—and we’re showing our appreciation with the first ever Scout Lovefest! We’ll have music from the Funky Bubblers, a Valentine’s Day crafting station and beer. Plenty of beer. Come share the love!
February 14
Valentine’s Day for the Haters Dinner from 5-9 p.m., Bar until 10 p.m., No Cover Area Four, 500 Technology Sq., Cambridge Does your player hating rival that of Silky Johnson? Avoid cloying couples this February 14 and join your bitter brothers and sisters at Area Four. In addition to anti-lovers menu specials, they’ll be spinning a heartbreak playlist—that’s right, this is a shame-free environment to belt those emo lyrics that speak to your angst and agony. Rather sulk silently? Turn your attention to the TVs, where they’ll be screening films of the enraged persuasion all night.
February 14
2nd Annual Back Alley Blackheart’s Ball 5 p.m., $30 Night Market, 75 Winthrop St., Cambridge For a unique V-Day experience, take your date to a spot that’s underground—literally. At Blackheart’s Ball, guests can feast on specialty Asian street food dishes designed by chef Jason Tom and the Night Market kitchen staff and wash it all down with fun and funky Valentine’s Day-themed libations.
COME IN AS A CUSTOMER, LEAVE AS A FRIEND “Years ago, my brother bought a car from John’s Auto. I could see how much he loved it, so I had that John’s Auto sticker in my mind when I recently decided to find a new car. The service at John’s is unrivaled. I gave him my down payment, and I told him to pick out a car for me. It was that simple. When the process was over, I went in and he pointed out a BMW in the parking lot. I said, ‘that’s not my car, there’s no way,’ and he just smiled. I was stunned! You know how it feels when a friend just lands himself in a great situation? You see what your friend has, and you think, man, I wish that were me. For the first time in my life, thanks to John’s Auto, I’m that guy! I’m so proud of the car John found me. John’s kindness, and the eye he has for his customer’s taste is exceptional. It’s an honor to be able to speak to my experience with him and recommend him to others. Would I return? Of course. Would I recommend John’s Auto to a friend? Absolutely. They got me the car of my dreams.” - Alan Kinbell
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SCOUT THIS!
Scout This! Winner Donna Wade
Win $35 0!
Scout This: Love Letters Edition
C
ongratulations to lifelong ‘Villen Donna Wade, who correctly identified the photo from our November/December edition as the mural on the wall of the Winter Hill Post Office on Broadway! “I remember when they put it up,” she says. “I was a school teacher in Somerville, and I taught Somerville history. So having the oldfashioned picture and then putting the modern take on it—well, modern in the ‘80s—I always loved it. I thought it was so special.”. Wade doesn’t yet know how she’ll spend her Scout This prize, but she is pretty certain about one thing: “I’ll probably spend it in Somerville!”
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January | February 2016 scoutsomerville.com
W
here is the love? No, seriously, where is it? We’re doing our bimonthly scavenger hunt a little differently this time around. If you can correctly identify each of the restaurants whose signs bear the letters above, you’ll be entered to win gift certificates each of those four eateries totalling $350 —enough for a Valentine’s Day date and then some! Here’s a hint to help you get started: Look for the L, O, V and E in Davis Square, East Somerville, Spring Hill and Union Square. Keep an eye out on Twitter (@scoutsomerville) and Facebook (Scout Somerville), where we’ll be dishing out additional clues over the coming weeks. Happy hunting!
Three Ways to Enter:
» E-mail scout@scoutmagazines.com with “Scout This!” in the subject line. » Call 617-996-2283. » Enter on our website at scoutsomerville.com.
Please include your name, contact info and a photo of you with the object in the photo, if possible. Winners must be available for interview and photograph.
MARKETPLACE Second Chance cambridge real estate spring 2014: Dog Walking Spring Market Surges On & Sitting • Prices are already up quite a bit over 2013, which was Thalia Tringo the strongest market in years. More inventory has a Join President, Realtor ® started to appear, but it is still not enough to satisfy 617.513.1967 cell/text demand. Consequently, prices should continuetoday! to pack things 617.245.3902 Shiny vm/efax
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Please call us for more information on the market, or to get a sense of the current value of your home. ~Thalia, Todd, Niké, Jennifer, and Lynn
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Our New Listings
Todd416 Zinn Highland
Ave | 617-623-3330 www.magpie-store.com
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.852.1839 cell/text 617.245.3902 vm/efax Todd@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
204 Morrison Ave., Davis Square, Somerville ~ $1,495,000
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Jennifer Rose
64 Prentiss St. #3, Cambridge ~ $519,000
FULL BREAKFAST, BURGERS, Lovely Agassiz 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with private porch on a pleasant side street between Harvard and Porter Squares. Near great shops, restaurants, and Harvard campus. SANDWICHES, PASTA AND SALADS 35 Putnam Road #1 , Somerville ~ $349,000 All made to order • Free wifi Roomy Ten Hills 2 bedroom/1 bath condo with charming details, reonvated kitchen, parking, and storage.
Near Medford Sq., this 1 bedroom/ 1 1/2 bath condo is in an elevator building with parking.
Coming Soon 30 Chester St. #8 , Somerville
In the heart of Davis Sq., this 2 bedroom/1 bath condo in a brick building has a parking space.
Location TBA , Somerville
Equidistant from Davis and Porter Squares, this 3 bedroom/1.5 bath condo on two levels has in-unit laundry, 2 porches, private yard, and exclusive driveway for 3 cars.
69 HOLLAND ST, SOMERVILLE | (617) 718-2999 THEBOSTONSHAKER.COM
Niké Damaskos
This is a very rare opportunity to own a single family home with garage on one of the largest lots in Davis Square (9,143 sq.ft.). The Victorian-era house has 4 bedrooms and one and a half baths on two levels. The detached garage sits in the rear of the lot at the end of a long driveway. To the left of the driveway, at the corner of the Morrison Ave. and Grove St., is the very large, open, level yard. Owned by the same family since 1955, this unspoiled home is ready for a new family to make their own updates and memories.
24 South St. #33, Medford ~ $229,000
CATERING TO THE SEASONED MIXOLOGISTS AND THE COCKTAIL CURIOUS ALIKE
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
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Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
About our company...
We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. We are also commi ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction. Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
Location TBA , Somerville
Renovated 1 bedroom/1 bath near Prospect Hill with central air, in-unit laundry, private porch, and shared yard.
PERFECT BREAKFAST SPOT IN MAGOUN SQUARE 501 Medford St, Somerville 617-625-2868 • www.modelosmarket.com
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PATTY CHEN’S DUMPLINGS ARE FULL OF LOVE.
Dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. Committed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction.
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scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
43
MARKETPLACE JULY/AUGUST 2015
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e ierc FOVER 40 JJ GONSON, WENDY BLOM AND NINE OTHER LOCAL LEGENDS WHO HAVE BEEN ROCKING FOR DECADES
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
AN INTERVIEW WITH ASHLEY ROSE
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44 January | February 2016
LADIES OF COMICAZI
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No one knows Somerville like a Hammond agent.
Online booking & gift On- lin e boo ki ng and gift certif icat es a va ila ble certificates available
28 Rotating Taps Innovative Food www.rasa-yana.com
175 El m St., Su ite C3 | S om ervi lle, MA | 617 3 31.6303 175 Elm St., Suite C3 | Somerville,(Between MA Davis and Porter Squares) 617.331.6303 (Between Davis and Porter Squares)
www.rasa-yana.com
Hammond Real Estate is the only real estate company in the area that has been locally owned and operated for over 35 years. TWO BRATTLE SQUARE • 617-497-4400 • HAMMONDRE.COM
SUPPORT LOCAL MEDIA
& ADVERTISE HERE FOR AS LITTLE AS $115/MONTH
Sunday Roast Monday Meatloaf Tuesday Trivia Wednesday Mac & Cheese Thursday BBQ Friday Fish & Chips Saturday Fajitas 518 Medford Street, Somerville, MA 617.776.2600 • magounssaloon.com follow us!
Leone’s Sub and Pizza Pizza and Subs fit for a king!
Since 1956 3-time Winner!
Everything made in-house to order! 292 Broadway, Somerville 617-776-2511 • Open Daily 8am-11pm
VOTED BEST BREAKFAST BY BOSTON.COM
Lofts for Living & OfficeStudio Use! Brickbottom, Somerville: $620K >1850 sq ft Winchester: www.telephoneexchangelofts.com >3000 sq ft ea. $985K & $1,550K
704 BROADWAY • 617.623.8338 • OPEN 6:30AM - 9:30PM WWW.SOUNDBITESRESTAURANT.COM
Presented by Louise Olson & Scott Kistenberger Your Team for Exemplary Real Estate Service
H A R VA R D S Q UA R E 19 Arrow Street, Cambridge
thank you again, Somerville, for voting us Best Gift Shop! fun, modern gifts for him, her, house and baby.
617.666.6700 409 highland ave Davis Square
NEW GRAB AND GO ITEMS AS WELL AS FULL MENU PREPARED TO ORDER.
davissquared.com
www.olsonhomes.net | (617)470-5077 lolson@robertpaul.com scoutsomerville.com January | February 2016
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SCOUT YOU
Photos by Jess Benjamin
People wait for the train at the Davis Square T stop.
John Babin enjoys a sunny Somerville afternoon.
Jose, 82, from Portugal, has lived in Somerville for 38 years.
David Plunkett, owner of Somerville Grooves in Union Square, sifts through the stacks. Aaron Horth and mother Carol Horth take the train from Lechmere to Aaron’s bar admission ceremony.
Anne Sholley, space and community manager at the new Workbar in Union Square. 46 January | February 2016
scoutsomerville.com
At Open Space Community Acupuncture in Union Square, Daphne Jochnick works on Jesse Dornelas.
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617-616-5801
42 Merriam St., Somerville, MA
YOU MAY NOT GET A WARM AND FUZZY FEELING... But Marco can definitely help you find the perfect bottle or brew. So fear not. Go ahead and ask. He grew up in this business and really knows his product. Marco may even set aside for you that special, hard-to-find something you’ve been looking for.
MARCO LOVES
TRY THEM TOGETHER IN THIS PERFECT VALENTINE’S DAY RECIPE
PRIVATEER BANTAM EQUINOX 2 Parts 1 Part 1 Part 1 Dash 4 Parts
Cinnamon Infused Privateer Silver Rum Fresh Lemot Juice Maple Syrup of Bitters Bantam Cider
Combine rum, lemon juice, maple syrup, and bitter in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake for 10-15 seconds. Strain into highball glass filled with ice. Top with Bantam Cider. Infusion: Place 4 sticks of cinnamon in bottle of run for approximately 24 hours.
liquors 329 Somerville Ave, Somerville (617) 666-5410
MARCO IS ALSO SWEET ON...
coloRADo
N.Carolina