Following up on the wildly successful Eat Outside the Square Foodie Crawl, East Broadway has introduced Two for Tuesdays. Participating restaurants offer a two for the price of one special every Tuesday until March 15, 2012. The specials vary by week, so ask for the details when you stop in. They are available from 4:00 – closing. This week the specials are:

Mt. Vernon Restaurant (14 Broadway): Pork chops or Baked schrod with salad, potato & vegetable for $20.99
Taco Loco (44 Broadway): Tacos
Los Paisanos Restaurant (62 Broadway): Pupusas, tortas, and burritos
Vinny’s Ristorante (76 Broadway): tba
Tapatio Mexican Grille (82 Broadway): Pupusas
Gauchao (102 Broadway): Desserts
Ola Café (112 Broadway): Ham & cheese croissant, medium coffee, and any pastry
Brasil Steakhouse (129 Broadway): 2 all-you-can-eat buffets (BBQ included) for $15.99
Taqueria Montecristo (146 Broadway): Enchiladas and tacos
Fasika Ethiopian Restaurant (145-147 Broadway): tba
Casey’s Tavern (173 Broadway): Appetizers
Maya Sol (179 Broadway): Tacos

Visit eastsomervillemainstreets.org for details on each week’s event.

Happy Eating!

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Participating businesses include:

• Artifaktori (22A College Ave)
• The Boston Shaker (69 Holland St)
• Buffalo Exchange (238 Elm St)
• Cameras Inc. (267 Elm St)
• Comicazi (407 Highland Ave)
• Dave’s Fresh Pasta (81 Holland St)
• Davis Squared (418 Highland Ave)
• Found (255 Elm St)
• Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club (17 Holland St)
• Kickass Cupcakes (378 Highland Ave)
• Magpie (416 Highland Ave)
• Suneri Boutique (67 Holland St)
• Sunshine Lucy’s (93 Holland St)
• When Pigs Fly Bakery (378 Highland Ave)

Some businesses will offer discounts that get progressively higher throughout the night. Those include the gift shop Davis Squared, the clothing resale shop Found, the women’s clothing store Suneri Boutique, and the handicrafts store Magpie. Discounts will range from roughly 5 to 60 percent, depending on the store and the time of night.

Davis Squared and Magpie are among the stores that will be providing free refreshments to shoppers. Other discounts and specials:

• Davis Squared will have a bargain table with pre-packed gift bags offered at a special rate.
• The Boston Shaker cocktail supply shop will offer complimentary beverages along with deals on merchandise.
• Comic and game store Comicazi will offer either a storewide discount or price cuts on selected items; at publication time, co-owner Michael Burke said he hadn’t decided exactly what the discounts would be, but he says: “There will definitely be something special happening.”
• Cameras Inc. will offer 15% off all stock except cameras. The discount applies to items like regular and digital picture frames, photo albums, memory cards, camera bags, and tripods.
• Magpie will have $5 t-shirt bin and other spot sales around the store.
• Suneri Boutique is holding a raffle and a silent auction; a portion of the evening’s sales and the proceeds from some auction items will be donated to help provide breast cancer treatments for Kate Kenworthy Rodrigues.

Dave’s Fresh Pasta will offer food samples, and the sampled foods will be available for purchase at a discount, according to owner David Jick. “We tend to lean toward local foods,” he says. Sampled foods will include Taza Chocolate (561 Windsor St), mozzarella from Fiore Di Nonno (also at 561 Windsor St), and cupcakes from The Chocolate Tarte (199C Highland Ave) — all Somerville businesses. Pickles from Boston-based Grillo’s will also be available. And, Jick says, “We’ll be pouring a couple of different wines — nothing local — and a local beer.”

To be sure of getting a taste, get to Dave’s before 11:00 p.m. Jick says he may close the store then instead of at midnight. And the vintage clothing shop Buffalo Exchange will close at or around 1o:oo p.m., so visit early if your plans include a stop there.

In addition to all the retail events, the car-sharing service Zipcar will have a  booth in Statue Park throughout the event. Thalia Tringo Real Estate (128 Willow Ave) will host an art opening, “Elements and Artifacts,” featuring photographs by T.L. Litt and food and drink from local eateries.

Midnight Madness is organized by Davis Area Resident/Business Initiative (DARBI).

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When my friend, Holli Banks, publisher of my local bimonthly magazine, The Somerville Scout, approached me about helping with their first annual holiday gift guide, I was thrilled.  At last, my penchant for shopping locally could be put to good use!  Scouring my neighborhood squares for great goodies is a favorite weekend pastime that I never have a problem indulging in.  I am lucky to live in a small city with a vibrant local scene of shops, restaurants, music and artist studios (NYC is the only US city with more artists per capita!) and try to take advantage of this awesome locale every chance I get!  I quickly got to work, brainstorming and popping around to my favorite neighborhood haunts to see what they had in store for the holidays.  After a few inspired emails on my favorite findings (you may have noticed, I can be rather verbose about my passions), Holli asked if I would author the guide.  I’ve never had an official writing gig, but hey, why not?

To read the rest, go to Amanda Williams’ “Scribbles and Schemes” blog!

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When we spoke to SLF executive director Joe Grafton recently, he softened that statement, explaining, “Our position is not a straight ‘no Wal-Mart under any circumstances’ position.” In speaking to us and on SLF’s blog, Grafton said SLF and other community groups were figuring out a set of conditions under which they would support a Wal-Mart store opening in Somerville.

We decided to weigh the pros and cons of having Wal-Mart move into town, based on input from SLF, the City of Somerville and others.

PRO:
If a Wal-Mart moves in, it could help get the ball rolling on Assembly Square redevelopment.
Improvements being made to roadways and the physical plant, together with planned new housing units, should help draw businesses to the area. Redevelopment is just getting started; if a large, well-known business like Wal-Mart moves in, it would be a vote of confidence that could well attract other tenants. “Every new foot in through the door makes it a more attractive area to the next foot in through the door,” says Michael Meehan, the city’s former director of communications. (At the time Scout spoke to Meehan, he still held the position.)

CON:
Average wages could be lower than the $13.18 per hour Wal-Mart cites as the average for Massachusetts employees.
Wal-Mart lists the average hourly wages for “regular, full-time associates” in each state. As we reported in our earlier post, it makes a difference whether the average wage Wal-Mart cites includes both full- and part-time workers, because many Wal-Mart workers are part-timers who might earn less. Wal-Mart spokesman Steve Restivo said the majority of jobs Wal-Mart creates are full-time, but he didn’t provide a specific percentage.

We look at other pros and cons of how Wal-Mart could affect employment, grocery prices and other factors in the November/December print issue of Scout.

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Winter Hill resident Bob Massie has thrown his hat into the U.S. Senate race, and the Herald's Wayne Woodlief believes he has a chance.

Sometimes the Scout staff gets so caught up in creating the next print edition…a few days, nay, weeks go by without a single blog post.

So I figured I it was high time to weigh in with something. Luckily, today’s Herald provided ample grist:

1. A story by Richard Weir about MBTA officials approving $56.5 million for the Assembly Square T stop.

2. Wayne Woodlief’s column about how Somerville’s own Bob Massie (a Winter Hill resident) still has time to take the lead in the Democratic primary race for Scott Brown’s Senate seat.

Massie, in case you missed it, also has Mayor Joe Curtatone’s endorsement.

And that’s what we’ve got, for now. Back to work on another kick-ass print edition…and on finding a way to blog more frequently.

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A Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. This is the type of store that's being proposed for Assembly Square. Photo: Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart hasn’t even applied for a permit yet, but predictably, there’s already controversy about its plans to open a Neighborhood Market grocery store in Assembly Square.

Some don’t see a need for the store. Maureen Barillaro of Somerville Climate Action told the Scout:

“We have Market Basket, we have Shaw’s. We have Stop & Shop. We have Johnnie’s Foodmaster. Somerville’s four square miles, so there is a way to get to any affordable market already.”

Mayor Joe Curtatone disagrees. “We know from Shape Up Somerville and our transportation data where produce and grocery stores exist [and] where there’s a need. There’s a rising need in the East Broadway corridor and Assembly Square.” And he pointed out that plans to build 2,100 residential units will only increase that need.

“This is not a Wal-Mart superstore that would give rise to the concerns about cannibalizing small business,” Curtatone said. (The plan is for a 34,000 square-foot grocery store.) “It may give competition to Stop & Shop, but in that case competition’s good, so we can have more affordable access.”

Is the mayor correct in that last statement?

“I don’t know that there’s enough data yet to fully analyze the impact of smaller [Wal-Mart] stores,”  says Ken Jacobs, chair of the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education. But he adds: “Given Wal-Mart’s supply-chain management system, which is the chief reason they are able to undercut competitors, one would expect that they would still have a competitive advantage, and that that would have an impact on other retailers.”

One impact might be lower retail-employment rates in Somerville; Jacobs says a study by economist David Neumark at the University of California, Irvine found that for every retail job created by Wal-Mart, 1.4 retail jobs are lost.

And, counter to Wal-Mart’s claims that its wages are competitive (see the September/October Scout), the Labor Center’s research shows Wal-Mart’s average wages are substantially lower than the general average for both general merchandise and grocery workers — and that, in turn, pushes down wages at other businesses.

Wal-Mart spokesman Steve Restivo said the average wage for the company’s non-management workers in Massachusetts is $13.18 per hour. Jacobs said it would be important know whether that average included both full- and part-time workers, because many Wal-Mart workers are part-timers who might earn less. Restivo told us the majority of jobs Wal-Mart creates are full-time, but didn’t provide a specific percentage.

The city would want to clarify Wal-Mart’s employment practices, and would look for a guarantee that Somerville residents would get preference in hiring, according to Curtatone. Asked how such an agreement would be enforced, he said it would depend on the type of agreement. “We’ll be waiting to see what they [Wal-Mart] put on the table.”

As an example, the agreement the city struck with IKEA calls for the company to donate $100,000 toward a job-training and readiness program. “It will provide training for any job, not just at IKEA,” Curtatone said. “In addition, the city will work with IKEA to make sure Somerville residents get notice of any job opportunities.”

A similar agreement with Wal-Mart would probably be a step in the right direction; according to Jacobs, local-hire agreements tend to work much better if there’s a local training program that can provide job candidates (versus, say, trying to assess after the fact whether local candidates have been hired).

Another big issue: how much a Wal-Mart would contribute to the city’s tax base. Critics say tax revenues from retail stores tend to be less than promised. We look at that question, and at reports that a high percentage of Wal-Mart employees are on public assistance, in the September/October Scout.

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A long-time Somerville resident poses 26 questions from A to Z for Ville-ans old and new—with bonus questions at the end.

1. Signs all over town herald Somerville as an “All America City,” an award Somerville received for the second time in 2009 (the first was in 1972.) What does that mean?

a) It honors Somerville’s role in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, which inspired citizens throughout the nation.
b) It’s recognition of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich being invented in Teele Square.
c) The National Civic League awards this honor to 10 cities, towns or counties annually on the basis of neighborhood and school renewal, job creation, crime reduction, diversity and inclusion.
d) Somerville, as a typical American city, was chosen to partner with more sister cities around the world than any other city in the US.

2. On April 4, 1877 Alexander Graham Bell ran the first outdoor telephone line from the home of Charles Williams on Arlington Street to the workshop on Lincoln Street where he manufactured telegraph machines. (Williams supplied parts for Thomas Edison, and let Bell establish a lab in his building on Court Street in Boston.) What were the numbers of these first two residential
phone lines?

3. Who built the Circular house on Atherton Street?

a) Enoch Robinson, a locksmith also known for his eccentric inventions and his interest in perpetual motion machines, in 1856.
b) Alexander Graham Bell, for experiments in acoustics.
c) Nathaniel Tufts, to promote his classroom-in-the-round and for egalitarianism in town meetings.
d) George Washington, as a stable for military horses.

4. Who is Davis Square named for?

a) The Davis Cup, as early tournaments were played on what is now the central plaza of Davis Square.
b) Private Smith Davis, a squadron-mate of George Dilboy, who fought with him in the Infantry.
c) Jedidiah Davis, an ancestor of Sammy Davis, Jr., who settled in Somerville after the Civil War.
d) Person Davis, a nineteenth century merchant and alderman, whose estate occupied the site.

5. The Economy Grocery Store opened in Somerville in 1914. This store later expanded and grew into what chain?

a) The Home Depot
b) Economy Hardware
c) Stop & Shop
d) Star Market

6. Many people made their fortunes in Somerville. Which of following did not?

a) George Charles, who supplied cobblestones made from mud in Somerville, when the swamp in the Back Bay Fens was filled.
b) Charles Foster, who lived in an estate on Winter Hill, made his money by manufacturing, then creating a need for wooden toothpicks, which he observed on a business trip to Brazil.
c) Dairyman Harvey Hood moved to Somerville from Vermont, and pioneered the use of pasteurization, glass milk bottles and frozen yogurt in his plant along what is now I-93.
d) Alfred Carl Fuller made wire brushes by hand and sold them door to door. He founded the Fuller Brush Company which by 1919 had sold over one million dollars worth of products.

7. The Green Line Extension, proposed to be operational in 2014, plans to include stops at all of the following except which one?

a) Inner Belt/Brickbottom, near Washington Street
b) Gilman Square near Pearl, Medford, and School Streets
c) Magoun Square
d) Ball Square

8. McLean Asylum for the Insane was originally located on Cobble Hill but had to be relocated to Belmont in 1895 because of :

a) A fire that started in a nearby candle factory and spread through Cobble Hill.
b) Protests from neighborhood cobblers, who objected to the noise emanating from the grounds.
c) Revisions in the city’s zoning laws, which prohibited doctors and patients from living on the same grounds.
d) Encroaching development in the form of railroads, slaughterhouses and rendering plants.

9. Isaac Asimov is one of Somerville’s many famous one-time residents. Which of the following never lived here?

a) Barack Obama, while attending Harvard Law School
b) Jimmy Somerville. who sang with Bronski Beat and The Communards, and took his name from his adopted home.
c) Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections and Freedom
d) Bobby “Boris” Pickett, composer “Monster Mash”

10. On January 1, 1776, what happened in Somerville?

a) The Stamp Act was repealed on the site of the current post office in Union Square.
b) A cannon ball was dropped from the top of the Powderhouse, which was the precursor to the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
c) One of the first Union flags was raised, under orders of General George Washington.
d) Members of the Continental Congress stayed on the current site of the Holiday Inn on their way to Boston.

11. At Key intersections and entryways to the city there are blue flashing lights. Why?

a) The lights flash when there is a prediction of four or more inches of snow and a snow emergency is declared, and continue to flash until the emergency is removed.
b) They monitor foot and vehicle traffic for the MBTA Green Line expansion.
c) They are part of a test project to see if artificial intelligence can reduce wait time at red lights when no vehicles are using the adjacent green light.
d) They are crucial links in GPS satellite transmission.

12. How many Languages are spoken in the Somerville Schools?

a) 1
b) 2
c) 17
d) more than 50

13. What is the motto on the seal of the city of Somerville:

a) “Municipal Freedom Gives National Strength”
b) “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”
c) “God Be with Us as He Was with Our Fathers”
d) “In Unity, There is Strength”

14. Which Nursery rhyme character originally lived in Somerville?

a) Peter Pumpkin Eater, who owned the Milk Row farm, famous as a champion gourd grower
b) Jack Sprat, who worked at the rendering plant
c) Little Jack Horner, who lived next to the circular house but never sat in a corner in it
d) Mary Sawyer, who had a little lamb, and even took it with her to school.

15. What was the original name of Somerville? When settled in 1630, Somerville was part of Charlestown, and was frequently called “the area beyond the Neck,” the northwest corner of where Charlestown joined the mainland. In 1842, a
separate town was created. A group of citizens met and the name they chose was:

a) Walford, after the first white settler of Charlestown.
b) Summerville, because of the Boston residents who summered here
c) Somerville, after Colonel Richard Somers, colonel in the militia and later a judge
d) Great Neck

16. Somerville’s emblematic Powderhouse is called that because it

a) was used to store powder from Somerville’s talc mines, which was used in wigs, including George Washington’s.
b) housed gunpowder for Revolutionary soldiers, although originally built as a windmill for grinding grain.
c) was built by Jeremiah Powder in 1703 or 1704 as a look-out tower for lost cows and British Redcoats.
d) was where the Hood dairy company stored its newly-created powdered milk.

17. What did Archibald Query invent in Somerville in 1917?

a) A system of maps for the insurance industry, which simplified the haphazard street patterns in congested cities.
b) The modern adjustable pipe wrench.
c) Volleyball, as a summer pastime on the spacious lawn of his Spring Hill estate.
d) A soft, sticky mix of corn syrup, sugar, vanilla and egg whites, which he peddled door-to-door, then sold the recipe to Allen Durkee and Fred Mower, who marketed it as Marshmallow Fluff.

18. On his famous Midnight Ride to Lexington and Concord on April 18, 1775, Paul Revere was almost captured by the British. A stone marker commemorates this at what point in the city?

a. Next to the Police Station.
b. At the top of Prospect Hill
c. In front of the Holiday Inn on Washington Street.
d. At the lowest point in Somerville, on Beacon Street.

19. After a Snow Emergency is declared, how much time do residents have to move their cars before ticketing and towing starts?

a) Two hours
b) Four hours
c) Twenty-four hours
d) Until sundown of the following day

20. Which statement about Tufts is not true?

a) Charles Tufts, a businessman who made his fortune in livestock, donated the land
b) P.T. Barnum, a Tufts trustee and benefactor, donated Jumbo’s stuffed hide after a train in Toronto killed the elephant.
c) In 1975 a fire in Barnum Hall destroyed all of Jumbo except a piece of his tail and some ashes. The ashes remain in a peanut butter jar and Tufts athletes often rub the jar for good luck.
d) The first veterinary school in the U.S. was established in honor of Jumbo, the circus elephant.

21. Union Square got its current name after the Civil War, when the Union Army used the area for recruiting soldiers and calling together troops. What was Union Square’s original name?

a) Brick Square, for the manufacturers of decorative and ornamental brick from clay taken out of nearby Miller’s River.
b) Sand Pit Square, because manufacturers of glass came to the area to collect the sandy soil.
c) Hood Square, after dairyman H. P. Hood who was among the founders of the Prospect Hill Congregational Church on Bow Street.
d) Victoria Square, to commemorate both the Union’s victory in the Civil War and Queen Victoria’s son Edward’s visit in 1860.

22. What did the Somerville Light Infantry of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia do in 1903?

a) Had the Armory on Highland Avenue built.
b) Guarded the Mystic River in case German soldiers tried to use it in a sneak attack on Boston.
c) Predicted the coming of the First World War and started stockpiling arms and ammunition.
d) Protected Nobel Prize winners Pierre and Marie Curie when they visited the city on their world tour, carrying radioactive materials including radium and polonium.

23. Which member of the Winter Hill Gang won an Emmy Award for his performance in “The Famous Teddy Z,” a series in the 1989-1990 season, and portrayed Play-Tone Records owner Sol Siler in That Thing You Do!

a) Howie Winter
b) James “Buddy” McLean
c) Alex Rocco
d) James “Jimmy” Simms

24. Francis X. Bushman, who drove a chariot in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur, performed at the Somerville Theatre. Which of the following did not perform or direct at the Somerville Theatre:

a) U2
b) Bruce Springstein
c) Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz)
d) Minnie Pearl, for whom Pearl Street was named

25. Yorktown Street sits on what was once a military camp called Camp Day (or Camp Cameron.) Which adjacent street was NOT named for a famous battlefield?

a) Gorham Street
b) Seven Pines Avenue

26. Currently Somerville has almost 30 Zoning districts, including Arts Overlay, Waterfront Overlay, University, and Open Space. On December 30, 1926, the first Building Zone Ordinance was adapted, dividing Somerville into 6 classes or districts. What were the 3 categories these districts fell into?

a) Farm, Manufacturing and Religious
b) Historical, Educational and Household
c) Residence, Business and Industrial
d) Detached Houses, Apartment Buildings and Commercial Properties

EXTRA CREDIT QUESTIONS

1. To date, Somerville has four Sister Cities, listed below. Which was the first (formalized in 2007)?

a) Nordeste, on Sao Miguel island in the Azores
b) Yucuaiquin, El Salvador
c) Gaeta, Italy
d) Tiznit, Morocco

2. Why are the numbers 311 significant to Somerville?

a) George Washington slept here on March 11, 1778.
b) It’s the phone number for Somerville’s customer service helpline, where residents can call to request city services, information or reach a city department.
c) In the first Census in 1790, George Washington’s marshals counted 311 residents.
d) The US Transportation Security Administration’s 3-1-1 for Carry-Ons procedure was developed and tested by government researchers in the Inner Belt Industrial District.

3. The oldest cemetery in the city is on Somerville Avenue at the end of School Street. What is the original name of Somerville Avenue?

a) Walford Street
b) Tufts Lane, after Oliver Tufts donated part of his farm for the cemetery
c) Milk Row, after family farms there that produced milk and vegetables for Boston residents.
d) Olde Charlestowne Path

4. According to the 2010 Census, what is the population of Somerville?

5. What is the maximum length of time a vehicle can remain in the same space on a street before being subject to towing?

6. How did Assembly Square get its name?

a) It served as an assembly point for George Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War.
b) It was a meeting place for the first settlers who migrated south from Plymouth Plantation.
c) In honor of the Grande Assemblée of France, which supported the Colonial troops’ revolutionary efforts in 1775.
d) In 1926, the Food Motor Company filled in Mystic River wetlands and built a plant there to assemble cars (including the 1957 Edsel.)

7. On his Midnight Ride, Paul Revere slipped past the British and rode to the top of Winter Hill, where he turned right toward Medford at what is now the intersection of Broadway and Main Street. There, at the highest point in Somerville, is Somerville’s smallest park: Paul Revere Park. The Paul Revere Apartments sit behind this park. They were built in the early 20th Century
and featured which cutting-edge conveniences:

a) beds and ironing boards that folded into closets to save space
b) telephones in every apartment
c) air vents with special baffles to keep out smells from the slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants wafting over from East Somerville
d) garages for residents who owned the latest technological invention, an automobile

8. Which, if any, of the following city/cities has or have more Artists per capita than Somerville?

a) Miami

b) Chicago

c) New York

d) Woodstock, VT

9. When do residents have to shovel snow from their sidewalks?

a) As soon as the snow stops falling.
b) Before school buses start running.
c) Six hours between sunrise and sunset after the snow stops.
d) Within 24 hours of the end of the snow fall.

ANSWERS

1. c Somerville won the All American City award in 2009 represented by a delegation of 40 civic and business leaders and residents. At the conclusion of the 3-day event they presented a short skit about the Green Line Extension Project.
2. Their phone numbers were 1 and 2.
3. a
4. d
5. c
6. a
7. c
8. d
9. b
10. c
11. a
12. d
13. a
b) is the motto of the state of Massachusetts, c) is the motto of the city of Boston and d) is the
motto of Brooklyn
14. d
A statue of a lamb commemorates this in Powderhouse Park.

15. a.
The name they chose was Walford, although some people preferred Warren. But that December, prominent citizen Charles Miller convinced them to change the name to Somerville—and no one really knows where that name came from.
16. b
17. d
18. c
19. b
20. d
Although Tufts University is formally considered in Medford, the Somerville-Medford line runs through the Tisch library—among other places. Since only around half of Tufts is in Medford, this question receives only half credit.
21. b
22. a
23. c
24. d
25. a

26. c
Extra Credit Questions, worth 2 points each
1. c
2. b

311, with the tag line “Once call to city hall,” has operators who speak Portuguese, Spanish and Creole. (911 is still the number to call for fire, police and health emergencies.)

3. c
4. b
5. b
6. d
7. a
8. b
9. c

Scoring Your Somerville Skill

Give yourself 3 points for each correct answer in the first set of questions; 2 points for each extra credit question.

0-20 Go back to New York and take the Yankees with you
21-35 Stay in Revere and wait for rents to drop in the Ville
36-50 Think about buying a triple-decker and planting a garden
51- 70 You’re Somer-brilliant.
71-84 Somer-virtuoso: Did you ever consider running for alderman?
85 or higher Veritable Villen: You just can’t hide your Somerville Pride.

As Mayor Edward Glines said in his inaugural speech in 1902, people come to Somerville because it “is healthy, morally clean, comfortable and convenient.”

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Vendors at the Somerville/Davis Square Farmers Market arrive around 10 a.m. every Wednesday. Photo by Maja Orsic.

On the evening of June 21, to honor the summer solstice (and because I missed the 87 bus), I walked 1.7 miles from Davis Square to the intersection of Beacon and Washington Streets. Along the way, I noticed other Somerville residents celebrating the first day of summer in style.

Outdoor seating was plentiful at Mike’s Food & Spirits (9 Davis Sq), The Burren (247 Elm St) and Posto (187 Elm St), where I saw groups, couples, and solo diners enjoying food and taking in the fresh air. Even patrons of The Pulse Café (195 Elm St), which does not offer sidewalk seating but whose indoor lights flooded the sidewalk, seemed to be soaking up the 70-degree weather.

Before reaching Union Square, I stopped at Conway Playground (560 Somerville Ave) to take in a few minutes of recreational softball. The air was still and, as bikers zipped by on the street behind me, I witnessed an effortless double play by the team in the field.

Most Somerville realtors call the area bordering Beacon and Washington Streets Dalì, referencing Dalì Restaurant & Tapas Bar (415 Washington St), which has anchored the intersection since 1989. Like Dalì, most corners of Somerville are defined by food and those who seek it out. To celebrate local flavors this summer, try the Somerville/Davis Square Farmers Market (Day & Herbert St), which takes place every Wednesday from 12 p.m to 6 p.m. through November 23.

Cover thumbnail of Somerville/Davis Square Farmers Market courtesy of yelp.com

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Miss Black Massachusetts, Claire Elise Johnson, admires the strawberries at Mystic Market

Somerville resident Claire Elise Johnson, Miss Black Massachusetts, was on hand to open the new Mystic Market in the Mystic River Development/Mystic View Apartment complex Saturday, June 18. The market is an initiative of Shape Up Somerville to bring fresh food to the North side of Winter Hill. When I arrived, Claire was playing games with some of the neighborhood kids. When she took a break, I asked her why she was here. She told me that her platform, “Generation ACTIVE: Accompanying Children Towards Increased Vitality via Exercise,” is about healthy movement and healthy eating. She is excited about the new market and the food access opportunities it brings to the Mystic View Apartments. Claire hopes to attend more of the markets this season as her schedule permits.

The market is open from 11 a.m. to3 p.m. every Saturday, from June through October. Stop by and pick up some fresh food!

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Artists rendition of Assembly Row office building. Courtesy of Federal Realty.

More than 20 years in the making, preparations for construction finally began this month upon the banks of the Mystic River on Assembly Row.

“Bigger than the North End, more river frontage than Beacon Hill, more green space than South Boston,” is how the hucksters pitch Assembly Square Mall on their official website.

Styled as the “largest new neighborhood since the Back Bay was created,” Assembly Row is intended as an addition upon the already existing Assembly Square Mall. The row, when completed, is projected to provide more than 40 acres of residential, commercial and recreational space to the citizens of Somerville.

The biggest new construction for the Row will be the addition of an Ikea furniture store, a luxury hotel and a block of office buildings.

Another big selling point is the development of the land beside Mystic River. Originally an old salt marsh, developers intend to turn the land into a park and pavilion for surrounding residential districts.

The MBTA plans to get in on the project as well. Recently the government bureau shoveled in funds for the construction of utilities and services intended for a new Orange Line station, which will provide Assembly Row with connection to the rest of the greater Boston area. The station would be the first built on the Orange Line since 1987.

Construction will not officially begin, according to Federal Realty Investment Trust, until this summer. No projections of how long the project will take have been released at this time.

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