More loss in 2007

By George P. Hassett

The past continued to slip away from Somerville in 2007 as the city lost many of the people and landmarks that until this year had helped shape its character and identity for decades.

The longest serving officer in the police department – Acting Chief Robert R. Bradley — resigned after 38 years. A coffee shop credited with jumpstarting the renaissance of Davis Square in the 1990s was replaced with a crepe shop. And history itself was lost when Isobel Cheney, the city’s unofficial historian and author of “A Brief History of Somerville” died at 99.

Loss was everywhere in Somerville in 2007. From theaters to pastry shops to the composer of  “Monster Mash” many of the businesses and people who had made Somerville what it was faded away this year.

Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway Theater hosted an eclectic mix of fundraisers, R-rated comedy shows and free children’s events since it opened in 2002. In November it closed its doors for good as Tingle cited burnout. He estimated the theater’s wide array of events brought 75,000 people into Davis Square in five years.

“That’s a lot of folks. It wasn’t good for parking but I hope it was good for the neighborhood and the city,” he said.

A short walk from the theater, La Contessa stopped making cannoli and other Italian treats in May after their rent was doubled.

Joseph Magliaro opened La Contessa in 1947 and was soon dubbed Joe Cookie by the neighborhood kids who went to him everyday for free treats. In the ensuing years, La Contessa became a neighborhood institution with its triangular sign carving out an iconic place in the Davis Square landscape.

Magliaro passed the shop on in 1999 to Annette Serrao and her brother Felix Sabatino – who had worked at the bakery since they were kids.

Serrao said La Contessa’s departure from Davis Square is the latest sign of a community disappearing.

“[Davis Square] has been cleaned up some, and there are more restaurants but nobody knows who anyone else is. I prefer the old Davis Square when you could sit out on the sidewalk and see your old friends. It was a friendlier square, everybody looked out for each other. If you ask me that’s much better than all these restaurants,” she said.

At year’s end the space that once housed Joe Cookie and La Contessa was empty, boarded up with a sign promising a sushi restaurant.

It was not just the landmarks of so-called Old Somerville that were lost this year. Two businesses – the Tir na nOg and the Someday Café – that helped shape Somerville in the 1990s were pushed out too.

The Someday, closed in 2006 after helping usher in a new era of Davis Square hipness in the 1990s, was replaced with Mr. Crepe in January.

The nOg, a bar regulars say fostered a sense of community rarely seen in modern pubs where oversized televisions rule, closed in March. For the next few months it was down but not out as regulars still met at house parties featuring the nOg staples of liquor, live music and conversation.

In August the nOg and its devotees returned, this time a few blocks down the road at the Union Square club Toast. The televisions are shut off and the nOg spirit and its regulars fill Toast Sunday through Wednesdays for “Toast the nOg.”

Landmark businesses that gave their neighborhoods an identity disappeared this year but Somerville also lost many of its notable people in 2007.

Cheney, widely recognized as the authority on all things Somerville, died in March at the Little Sisters of the Poor from complications of Alzheimer’s. She taught civics to generations of Somerville kids beginning in 1929 at the Western Junior High School and made a lasting impression on the city with her encyclopedic knowledge of its history, riding hrough its streets in a white Karmenn Ghia she brought home from a teaching trip to Germany and performing traditional Hawaiian dances in a hula skirt at senior centers.

One of her students, former mayor Eugene C. Brune said Cheney’s death marked another piece of Somerville lost forever.

“She was a community person. She always wanted to give to the city. Now a little piece of that compassion is gone for us here in Somerville,” he said.

Also gone is another educator who reached out to decades of Somerville kids. Anthony V. Fedele, who mentored countless city kids as a history teacher, administrator and headmaster of Somerville High School, died in May. Fedele always received the loudest ovations at city events, according to Brune, and helped many Somerville High students move on to college and successful careers.

“He was truly one of the most beloved Somerville characters we had,” he said.

The son of Italian immigrants and a graduate of Somerville High, Fedele was still concerned with the city’s children just a few weeks before his death.

“He was concerned about the children of the more recent immigrant populations like the Brazilian and Salvadoran families. He was worried that these kids weren’t getting the programs they needed to be successful in school,” said David Mangan, a 1980 graduate of Somerville High who considered Fedele a mentor.

Bobby “Boris” Pickett did the mash. He did the monster mash until he died on April 25 in Los Angeles. A graduate of Somerville High, he carved out a place for himself in the annals of pop culture with his 1962 song “Monster Mash.” The Halloween-themed hit featured a Boris Karloff-inspired monologue and a narrative involving Dracula and partying zombies.

Former Ward 4 Alderman and state representative Joseph K. Mackey died in January leaving behind admirers who praised him for his ability to work with people and bring them together.

Brian Liberatore died Oct. 3 after falling out of his best friend’s car. Thousands of mourners lined up around Doherty Funeral Home to pay their final respects to Liberatore, who was remembered for his community involvement and volunteer efforts.

A 38-year era came to a close in December when Acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley announced his resignation from the department. He resigned after failing to be selected by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone for the permanent position. He said his status as a native of the city hurt him most in the selection process.

“There are a lot of new faces in Somerville in the past five, 10 years. It isn’t like years ago when being Somerville born and bred meant something. Everybody’s looking for fresh faces now,” he said. 

Comments

[Jim Gray]

La Contessa's pastries, with all due respect, were pretty mediocre.

[Humberto]

Your bloated, smoking and beer swilling Latinos finally agree with you Jimmy!

[Ron Newman]

I miss the apple squares.

[Snowflake's Eleven!]

Can anyone tell me if Newman is on that lost list anywhere?

[TinaTurnerlover]

How can we miss Ron if he never goes away?

[HappyNewYear]

Life is loss. Live with it.

[fwwest]

2007 also felt the loss of another Somervillian. Billy Capizzi.
Brother of the coauthor of the "Monster Mash",Lenny Capizzi.
Billy passed 2 wks. after Bobby Pickett. He was an actor and did voice overs in the movies. "Babe pig in the city for one". Anyone who knew Billy knew him for other things. His generosity,friendship,wonderful sense of humor,and his great voice. Something unfortunately most people didn't get to hear. But if you were of his generation in this city he was legend. If I shut out all else I can still hear it. From "Vesti le Giubba","Mama"and "My Funny Valentine" to "Righteous brothers" duets with another kid from Somerville Wilie Zango.
Bravo Billy
RIP

[Jose Canusee]

Nice article George.

[jerry jewers]

When I was in the USMC I was stationed at Camp Pendeleton Ca. & my very good friend Paul Heffernan was at Los Pulgas Ca. We went to my aunt's house in Whittier (she was a Davis Square transplant) & from there we went to Hollywood & met up & spent some time with Lenny & Billy Capizzi & other Winter Hill/Foss Park denizens. They had a group that sang in clubs wherever & whenever they could. The hospitality was wonderful, which goes to show you, back then you could take the people out of Somerville but, you can never take the Somerville out of the people.