Year! 2012 42nd December ASHMONT OUTLOOKashmonthill.org/ah/Outlook_2_files/Dec_12_AHA.pdf · 2016....
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The way city living should be ASHMONT OUTLOOK Published at Dorchester, Massachusetts by the Ashmont Hill Association, Established 1970 Happy Holidays, Neighbors! Many thanks to Judy Planchon for hosting the October 25 Annual Meeting and a very special note of thanks to Charlie O’Hara for sharing some of his memories of Ashmont Hill over the years. See page 2 for meeting notes. The annual AHA Holiday Party is Saturday, December 15, 7 to 10 p.m., at 60 Alban Street, hosted by Gary and Andrea Barsomian-Dietrich. Codman Square neighbor Bill Mooney-McCoy will once again be on hand to provide holiday cheer on the piano. Please bring a holiday dish to share; non-alco- holic beverages are provided. Come celebrate the season, meet new neigh- bors, and catch up with folks you haven’t seen in a while. Another highlight of the season is the annual Peabody Square Tree Light- ing on Saturday, November 24, at Ash- mont Station Plaza. Come at 7 p.m. for refreshments and holiday music by the Boston City Singers; the holiday trolley arrives around 7:30 p.m., when we’ll light the tree and hand out goody bags for kids. This is a wonderful event for neighbors of all ages. Happy and safe holidays to all from the AHA Board. Vicki Rugo President, Board of Directors Ashmont Hill Association Holiday Craft Fair December 1 Discover unique, affordable gifts at the Holiday Craft Fair on Saturday, December 1, from noon to 4 p.m., at the Codman Square Library, 690 Wash- ington Street (at Welles Avenue). Dorchester artists and craftspeople will offer everything from blown glass, jew- elry, pottery, and ornaments to prints, paintings, notecards, and more. One of the more unusual vendors will be the Bird Street Boys Glass- works, who will be selling the pieces they have made as participants in the Bird Street Community Center’s glass- blowing program at Diablo Glass School in Roxbury. (BSCC is located in Uphams Corner and serves young people from that area.) They love to talk about their work, which is both demanding and rewarding, and what they produce is beautiful...and reason- ably priced. As added attractions, the Ashmont Grill and Tavolo Ristorante will be sell- ing gift cards at a discounted rate. And Ashmont Nursery School volunteers will be happy to gift-wrap your pur- chases, or any other boxes you want to bring in; a donation is requested to ben- efit their scholarship fund, which helps ensure that the school maintains a diverse and unique student community. Ashmont Hill Holiday Party Saturday, December 15 7 – 10 p.m. 60 Alban Street, home of Gary and Andrea Barsomian-Dietrich Bring a holiday dish to share Community Calendar Yard Waste Collection Continues Regular trash days through November 30 Free Hatha Yoga Thursdays, 6:30 - 8 p.m. Mini-session Nov. 20 - Dec. 11 Fields Corner Library Wine Club Benefit: Dorchester Arts Collaborative Mondays in December, 6:30 p.m. Ashmont Grill CSHC Open House for New Addition Saturday, November 17, 1 - 4 p.m. Codman Square Health Center “Fall & Rise of Boston’s Elevated Subway” Sunday, November 18, 2 p.m. DHS Headquarters, 195 Boston Street Concert on the Hill: Evensong Sunday, November 18, 5 p.m. (Reception at 4:30) St. Mary’s Episcopal Church 14 Cushing Avenue, Jones Hill 42nd December Year! 2012 (continued on page 4) (continued on page 2)
Transcript of Year! 2012 42nd December ASHMONT OUTLOOKashmonthill.org/ah/Outlook_2_files/Dec_12_AHA.pdf · 2016....
The way city living should be
ASHMONTOUTLOOK
Published at Dorchester, Massachusetts by the Ashmont Hill Association, Established 1970
Happy Holidays,Neighbors!
Many thanks to Judy Planchon forhosting the October 25 Annual Meetingand a very special note of thanks toCharlie O’Hara for sharing some of hismemories of Ashmont Hill over theyears. See page 2 for meeting notes.
The annual AHA Holiday Party isSaturday, December 15, 7 to 10 p.m., at60 Alban Street, hosted by Gary andAndrea Barsomian-Dietrich. CodmanSquare neighbor Bill Mooney-McCoywill once again be on hand to provideholiday cheer on the piano. Pleasebring a holiday dish to share; non-alco-holic beverages are provided. Comecelebrate the season, meet new neigh-bors, and catch up with folks youhaven’t seen in a while.
Another highlight of the season isthe annual Peabody Square Tree Light-ing on Saturday, November 24, at Ash-mont Station Plaza. Come at 7 p.m. forrefreshments and holiday music by theBoston City Singers; the holiday trolleyarrives around 7:30 p.m., when we’lllight the tree and hand out goody bagsfor kids. This is a wonderful event forneighbors of all ages.
Happy and safe holidays to all fromthe AHA Board.
Vicki RugoPresident, Board of DirectorsAshmont Hill Association
Holiday Craft FairDecember 1
Discover unique, affordable gifts atthe Holiday Craft Fair on Saturday,December 1, from noon to 4 p.m., atthe Codman Square Library, 690 Wash-ington Street (at Welles Avenue).Dorchester artists and craftspeople willoffer everything from blown glass, jew-elry, pottery, and ornaments to prints,paintings, notecards, and more.
One of the more unusual vendorswill be the Bird Street Boys Glass-works, who will be selling the piecesthey have made as participants in theBird Street Community Center’s glass-blowing program at Diablo GlassSchool in Roxbury. (BSCC is locatedin Uphams Corner and serves youngpeople from that area.) They love totalk about their work, which is bothdemanding and rewarding, and whatthey produce is beautiful...and reason-ably priced.
As added attractions, the AshmontGrill and Tavolo Ristorante will be sell-ing gift cards at a discounted rate. AndAshmont Nursery School volunteerswill be happy to gift-wrap your pur-chases, or any other boxes you want tobring in; a donation is requested to ben-efit their scholarship fund, which helpsensure that the school maintains adiverse and unique student community.
Ashmont HillHoliday Party
Saturday, December 157 – 10 p.m.
60 Alban Street,home of Gary and Andrea
Barsomian-DietrichBring a holiday dish to share
Community CalendarYard Waste Collection Continues
Regular trash days through November 30
Free Hatha YogaThursdays, 6:30 - 8 p.m.
Mini-session Nov. 20 - Dec. 11Fields Corner Library
Wine Club Benefit: DorchesterArts Collaborative
Mondays in December, 6:30 p.m.Ashmont Grill
CSHC Open House for New Addition
Saturday, November 17, 1 - 4 p.m.Codman Square Health Center
“Fall & Rise of Boston’s Elevated Subway”
Sunday, November 18, 2 p.m.DHS Headquarters, 195 Boston Street
Concert on the Hill: EvensongSunday, November 18, 5 p.m.
(Reception at 4:30)St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
14 Cushing Avenue, Jones Hill
42nd DecemberYear! 2012
(continued on page 4)(continued on page 2)
2 Ashmont Outlook • December 2012
The way city living should be
The Ashmont HillAssociation
was established in 1970. A non-profit 501(c)3 organ-ization, its mission is to provide a forum to enhancethe quality of life in and around Dorchester’s historicAshmont Hill neighborhood by fostering a strongsense of community among all residents.
We welcome news items of neighborhood interest,space permitting. Submis sions (no longer than 250words and including a contact name and phone num-ber) should be sent to P.O. Box 240217, Dorchester,MA 02124, or left on the Message Line. We reservethe right to edit submissions for clarity and length.
AdvertisingClassified: $10/insertion for headingand four lines of copy.Business ads: $30/insertion or $250for full year (10 issues).Leave ad info request on Message Line.
News and advertising deadlines:January 18, 2013The Outlook is distributed approximatelyone week after each deadline.The Ashmont Hill Association neither endorsesnor warrants the products or services ofAshmont Outlook advertisers.
AHA Board of Directors2012 - 2013Vicki Rugo, PresidentVictor Frank, Treasurer Patricia Burson, Assistant Treasurer Lianne Ames, Clerk Sean Wheeler
Outlook staffLianne Ames, layout/productionVicki Rugo, writer/editorAndrea Barsomian-Dietrich, webmaster
Ashmont Hill AssociationP.O. Box 240217Dorchester, MA 02124
Message Line: 617-822-8178Email: [email protected] is grateful to the Codman SquareHealth Center for providing the MessageLine.
To subscribe to the Ashmont Hill list-serve, send email request with your fullname and street address to [email protected]
Holiday Craft FairContinued from page 1
The fair is sponsored by the Friendsof the Codman Square Library, Dorch-ester Arts Collaborative, and AshmontHill Association. Don’t miss thisopportunity to do some holiday shop-ping right here in the neighborhood,support the arts in Dorchester, and buylocal!
November Meeting NotesGuest speaker Charlie O’Hara shared
many memories from his early years inthe neighborhood.
Charlie’s grandfather emigrated fromCounty Cork, ending up in Dorchester.He and his wife owned a number ofproperties in addition to their home onTuttle Street. They were planning tobuy a house on Melville Avenue as aninvestment when the grandmother sawa listing for a foreclosed house onOcean Street for $4,800. It seemed likea more desirable location, so theybought it instead, and in 1935, whenCharlie was four, he and his familymoved here from Quincy, and he hasbeen here ever since.
The Thomas Leen and Helen F.Burgess schools, next to each other onBailey Street, were the elementaryschools. Charlie then attended theEmily Fifield School and in 1946, theWoodrow Wilson School. The BurgessSchool is now the VFW post; it wasoriginally two stories but is now one.
When John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzger-ald lived on his estate at Welles andHarley, his neighbors, staunch Republi-cans, were not so friendly to Democrat-ic politicians. “Fitzy,” as the kids calledhim, worked to improve the neighbor-hood to try to get in their good graces.Charlie remembers the big house beingvacant; the barn burned in 1937 or ‘38.After the house was razed, kids usedthe large lot as a playground. It wasrumored that the property was to besold to the government for a postoffice. The neighbors fought this idea,and the property was eventually sold to
a developer and five houses were builton the land.
The iceman would come in and putthe ice in the icebox (no one lockedtheir doors) and you paid up wheneveryou saw him. You put a sign in yourwindow showing how much ice youwanted. Milk was delivered by horse-drawn cart; the horses knew the routeand where to stop, which was fineexcept when someone moved and thehorse still stopped.
The Ashmont Spa was where theEnglewood Apartments are now inPeabody Square. A gas explosion andfire in 1930 destroyed the AshmontSpa; the Englewood Diner came in onthat site after WWII. (It has movedaround since then, and is back in theBoston area, looking for a home.) Thehorse trough near the clock was work-ing in the 1930s. Peabody Square hadthree drug stores, and a hardware storewhere Tedeschi’s is now. There was abakery in O’Brien’s building andanother one up Dorchester Avenue.
In the 1930s, the YMCA with localsupport acquired the large, overgrowntract of land that had been the site of aBoston Elevated Railway car barn andcalled it “Y-LAND.” In 1939 the landwas cleared and fenced, and a ball field,handball courts, playground equipment,picnic area, and a small ticket boothwere constructed. A barracks-typebuilding, with office space and rest-rooms, was built and programs expand-ed; later the current building was built;in the 1950s the swimming pool wasadded; and more recently the gym andother improvements have been made.
Codman Square was a bustling shop-ping district but it suffered a downturnin the 1970s from which it has signifi-cantly recovered.
The Eastmans, who owned 42 and 60Ocean Street and land extending downRoslin Street, threw lavish garden par-ties between two houses. Cows fromthe Loring Estate (at 16 Harley Street)would graze on the Eastmans’ land intothe early 1900s.
(continued on page 4)
Ashmont Outlook • December 2012 3
The way city living should be
About theNeighborhood
Health Center Open HouseThe Codman Square Health Center,
637 Washington Street, invites its neigh-bors to an Open House on Saturday,November 17, from 1 to 4 p.m., to tourthe new, $18 million health and educa-tion center addition. A health fair withfree blood pressure screenings, a flu clin-ic, and patient information will also bepart of this community event, along withfree giveaways, including gift cards toplaces like Target and Stop & Shop andan iPad. Refreshments will be served.
Concerts on the HillThe Choristers and Schola of Trinity
Church, Copley Square, will performEvensong at St. Mary’s EpiscopalChurch, 14 Cushing Avenue on JonesHill, on Sunday, November 18, at 5p.m. The concert is preceded by areception at 4:30 p.m. There is noadmission charge, but a free-will offer-ing is requested to support the mainte-nance of the historic (1888) churchbuilding, which is on the National Reg-ister of Historic Places.
Dine in the Spirit of GivingNo-Shave November/Movember
Brunch: On Sunday, November 25,grow a mustache or wear a fake one tobrunch at the Ashmont Grill (10 a.m. -3 p.m.) to raise funds for men’s healthat the Codman Square Health Center.
December Wine Club: The Dorch-ester Arts Collaborative is the benefici-ary at the Ashmont Grill’s MondayNight Wine Club each week duringDecember. For every meal sold at $38,$5 will go to DAC. A weekly winetutorial combined with four small-platecourses of seasonal fare, Wine Clubsupports civic and educational organi-zations throughout Dorchester. WineClub starts at 6:30 p.m.; reservationsstrongly encouraged: 617-825-4300.
)Ashmont Book Group
The next Book Group meeting isWednesday, December 5, at 7:30 p.m.,at 91 Alban Street, hosted by FlorriAversa. We will be discussing Walkingwith the Wind: A Memoir of the Move-ment by John Lewis. Our book for Jan-uary is The Fortune Cookie Chronicles:Adventures in the World of ChineseFood by Jennifer 8. Lee. Book Groupmeets the first Wednesday of themonth. Join us! Info: [email protected] call the Message Line.
AHCM Winter ConcertAshmont Hill Chamber Music pres-
ents a Winter Concert on Sunday,December 9, 3 p.m., with GabrielaDiaz, violin; Jan Muller-Szeraw, cello;and Rachel Goodwin, piano. The pro-gram includes Trio in D, “Ghost,” byBeethoven; Duo for violin and cello byErwin Schullhof; Rondina & Romancefor violin and piano, by Jean Sibelius;and Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102,for cello and piano by Robert Schu-mann. The concert takes place at AllSaints’ Ashmont, 209 Ashmont Street;admission is free, through the supportof the Free for All Concert Fund andthe Massachusetts Cultural Council.Info: Christina Keefe, 617 680 7542;[email protected];www.ashmonthillchambermusic.org.
Lessons & Carols at AllSaints
Neighbors are invited to A Festival ofNine Lessons and Carols on Sunday,December 16, at 4 p.m., sung by theAll Saints’ Choir of Men and Boys. It’sa beautiful way to enter into the season.
More Gifts to Wrap?Ashmont Nursery School will pro-
vide gift-wrapping services at TavoloRistorante on Sunday, December 16,from 5:30 to 10 p.m., with donationsgoing to their scholarship fund. Bringyour presents, sit back and enjoy thePatriots game (8:20 kickoff), and haveall your holiday wrapping taken care of.
DHS EventsOn Sunday, November 18, at 2 p.m.,
the Dorchester Historical Society pres-ents “Conservation of Matter: The Fall &Rise of Boston’s Elevated Subway,” byfilmmaker Tim Wright. This award-win-ning documentary traces what happenedto the 100,000 tons of steel removedwhen the Orange Line elevated was takendown in 1987. It was quite a journey.
The annual DHS Holiday Open Houseon Sunday, December 9, 2 to 4 p.m., setsthe holiday spirit with music, refresh-ments, and the 1806 William ClappHouse in full festive splendor. Check outthe Gift Shop for holiday gifts large andsmall, from reproduction Dorchester Pot-tery fruit plates, to Clapp Pear jam andpotpourri, to gift-boxed dark chocolateDorchester Town Seals locally made byPhillips Candy House.
All DHS events are open to the publicand free of charge and take place at DHSHeadquarters, 195 Boston Street. Info:www.dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org.
Winter Market ReturnsThe Dorchester Winter Farmers Mar-
ket returns to the Great Hall at the Cod-man Square Health Center, beginningon Sunday, January 6, and runningevery Sunday through March 24. Mar-ket hours for 2013 are 12 noon to 4 p.m.Look for some of your favorite vendorsfrom last year, plus new ones...it’s agreat way to support local farmers andother businesses and to find fresh foodsright in the neighborhood.
Bulbs and More Bulbs!Many thanks to Lianne Ames, Pat
Burson, Bob Chapin, Barbara Hough,David Hough, Michael McCormick,Bob Rugo, Vicki Rugo, and Earl Taylorfor planting close to 200 daffodil bulbsin Ashmont Hill’s two sidewalk exten-sions in late October after doing exten-sive cleanup in both of those gardens.The bulbs were provided to AHA aspart of the Mayor’s “Boston Blooms”program. Watch for them in the spring!
4 Ashmont Outlook • December 2012
The way city living should be
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Community CalendarContinued from page 1
Peabody Square Tree LightingSaturday, November 24
7 p.m.: Caroling and refreshments7:30 p.m.: Holiday trolley arrival
& tree-lightingAshmont Station Plaza
Wear a Mustache to Brunch for Men’s Health
Sunday, November 25, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.Ashmont Grill
Holiday Craft FairSaturday, December 1, Noon - 4 p.m.
Codman Square Library
Ashmont Book GroupWednesday, December 5, 7:30 p.m.
91 Alban Street
DHS Holiday Open HouseSunday, December 9, 2 - 4 p.m.
DHS Headquarters, 195 Boston Street
Ashmont Hill Chamber MusicWinter Concert
Sunday, December 9, 3 p.m.All Saints’ Ashmont, 209 Ashmont Street
A Festival of Nine Lessons & CarolsSunday, December 16, 4 p.m.
All Saints Ashmont, 209 Ashmont Street
Ashmont Nursery School Gift-Wrapping
Sunday, December 16, 5:30 - 10 p.m.Tavolo Ristorante,
1918 Dorchester Avenue
Winter Farmers Market OpensSunday, January 6, 2013, noon - 4 p.m.
Great Hall, Codman Square
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November Meeting NotesContinued from page 2
C-11 Community Service OfficerMike Keaney gave a report andreminded everyone to report incidents,even after the fact, which helps policetarget patterns of behavior. AttorneyAllison MacLellan introduced herself;she will be opening a new law office inthe Peabody Building on AshmontStreet in November. Representativesfrom the Y asked for help with theirturkey give-away on November 17. TheBoard for 2012-13 was elected; seepage 2 for the members.
