01907 (Fall 2015)

Transcription

01907 (Fall 2015)

Inaugural Edition
FALL
2015 | $5.00
the
GOVERNOR
FIRST
LADY
AT HOME IN
aND
SWAMPSCOTT
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INSIDE THIS EDITION
Who are we?.......................................................................4
A loving look at Swampscott...............................................8
Faces around town............................................................10
Mission almost accomplished...........................................12
Mike Lynch gives his hometown a High 5.........................14
A conversation with Kim Carrigan and Carl Stevens.........16
Rich Doucette’s perspective on Swampscott....................18
Swampscott’s ultimate power couple................................20
Paradise lost?...................................................................24
Mark Gelfand gives and gives...........................................26
5 things you didn’t know about Phyllis Sagan...................28
A taste of Swampscott......................................................30
Tedesco fits Bobby Green to a tee.....................................32
The Brackmans mind their own businesses......................34
Burke’s Tumbling Academy is on a roll.............................38
Tailgating..........................................................................42
Scene in Swampscott........................................................43
Old school is Jim Hughes’ policy......................................48
A publication of Essex Media Group
Edward M. Grant
Publisher
Beth Bresnahan
CEO
Paul K. Halloran Jr.
Editor
William J. Kraft
Vice President, Finance
Contributing writers
Meaghan Casey
Rich Fahey
Sandi Goldfarb
Stacey Marcus
Cyrus Moulton
Maureen Mullen
Photographers
Mark Garἀnkel
Paula Muller
Owen O’Rourke
Bob Roche
Reba Saldanha
Directors
Edward L. Cahill
John M. Gilberg
Edward M. Grant
Gordon R. Hall
Monica Connell Healey
J. Patrick Norton
Michael H. Shanahan
Contributing editors
Steve Krause
Sarah Mupo
Advertising
Joyce Leavitt
Tim McDonough
Phil Ouellette
Cassie Vitali
Production and Design
Gerald Hersh
Tim McDonough
Peter Sofronas
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2 | 01907
From the Publisher
Entering
01907
S
o, what’s the deal with 01907?
“This is exactly the place I want
to be.”
“I may not reside here, but I’ll
always live here.”
“Everyone falls in love with Swampscott.”
Those are some of the sentiments shared
in this inaugural edition of 01907, the
magazine that covers all things Swampscott.
Rave reviews notwithstanding, there are
those who contend – backed up with some
evidence – that the 163-year-old town
suffers from a lack of a true identity. You be
the judge.
One thing that is without dispute: There are
a plethora of stories to be told about the
people, places and things in this town of
only 3 square miles. Hence, 01907.
The goal of this publication is simple: shine
a light on Swampscott. Some of the names
and faces may be familiar to you — we’re
guessing you’ve seen the couple on the
cover before — others may not. In either
case, we hope this magazine leaves you
feeling you know more about them now.
In addition to the First Couple, you will
meet media personalities and a golf pro; a
Realtor and insurance man; a philanthropist
and unabashed cheerleaders for the town.
There are stories about new places to eat
and live, and the winding road each has
traveled.
We hope you agree there is something for
everyone in 01907 – the magazine and the
zip code.
Ted Grant
Cover photo by Mark Garfinkel
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Who are we?
In search of Swampscott’s identity
By Cyrus Moulton
To the northeast is the birthplace of the American Navy and home of The Spirit of ’76.
To the northwest, the world famous Witch City. And everybody in the area (for better or
for worse) knows the rhyme associated with Lynn.
But in Swampscott, people disagree about how to pronounce the town’s name. And
honestly, when you have visitors, do you take them to places in Swampscott, or do you
go to the town’s neighbors?
So if Marblehead is a picturesque Colonial fishing village steeped in maritime history,
Salem is a city of witches and wealth from the East India Trade, and Lynn is a gritty postindustrial city reinventing itself as an artistic hub, what is Swampscott’s identity?
“Honestly, we are unsure of what our town identity is and that is one
of the main reasons we started this group,” said Joanna O’Neil, a
member of For the Love of Swampscott, a community group
that began within the last year. “We look at other communities
in Massachusetts who have strong school systems and new
schools, well-attended annual town events, community centers
that offer something for every age group, a thriving downtown,
well-appointed public spaces, public art initiatives, and
Swampscott is lacking in all those categories.”
For the Love of Swampscott isn’t the only group considering
Swampscott’s identity.
Town Meeting passed zoning to help revitalize the Humphrey
Street corridor between Town Hall and the Fish House and
create a more cohesive downtown. The town is undergoing a
master plan effort to guide its future. Meanwhile, civic groups
and town departments are organizing events to encourage
community traditions.
For full disclosure, I grew up in Marblehead, which makes
asking people about Swampscott’s identity or lack thereof a little awkward.
But my dad’s family is originally from Swampscott and Lynn, and I have fond memories
as a kid at the Beach Club.
Continued on next page
4 | 01907
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After years of covering the town, I’ve
found that Swampscott’s biggest critics
are often its residents. But that seems to
be changing.
together, having public spaces where
they can be together,” Ippolito continued.
“Everything’s coming more together and
more active in terms of community.”
“Swampscott has a lot going for it!”
O’Neil said. “We are all on the road to
make Swampscott great and not just ‘the
town before Marblehead.’”
To facilitate this development, Town
Meeting in the spring approved a
Humphrey Street Overlay District that
establishes design guidelines and
standards for development in the
Humphrey Street corridor roughly between
Red Rock and the Fish House. The
purpose, according to a presentation
given this spring by Town Planner Peter
Kane, is “to promote development and
define a sense of place in the historic
downtown of Swampscott that enhances
and encourages a mix of uses, protects
historic and cultural resources, and fosters
a harmonious connection between the
district and the natural environment of
the waterside.”
A DOWNTOWN
Looking to the past
Whether skyscraper-filled major city or
country crossroads with a post office and
general store, we identify a community
most readily by its most high-density,
compact “downtown.”
But of everything associated with a
vibrant downtown — lots of pedestrian
traffic, a mix of high density shops,
homes, recreational and cultural places,
community gathering places, etc — in
Swampscott, these are divided between
Humphrey Street and Vinnin Square.
For residential, commercial and retail
traffic and growth, Vinnin Square’s
shopping plazas and condominiums have
Humphrey Street beat — just visit Panera
at lunchtime for evidence.
But Vinnin Square could be in any town.
Humphrey Street is unique.
The historical downtown of Swampscott,
the Humphrey Street corridor also has
the greatest concentration of notable
landmarks, historic buildings, and iconic
sites in town — Monument Avenue,
Swampscott Fish House, Town Hall, the
former Red Rock Bistro, Fisherman’s
Beach, King’s Beach, etc.
Humphrey Street is also, after decades
of effort, getting new attention.
“In the early ’60s, there was so much
of the big estate property that had been
sold off and subdivided, and split-level
houses going up, then Vinnin Square got
developed, and nothing was really geared
around people, but built for shopping
malls where you could park big cars,” said
Angela Ippolito, a longtime member of
the planning board. The zoning laws
followed suit.
“Today people are much more
interested in walking to playgrounds
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Of course this doesn’t mean that things
will change immediately. The two largest
residential developments currently in the
works are both in Vinnin Square and will
add more than 250 housing units to
the town.
Humphrey Street also still has challenges
with limited parking and the cost and
taxes of real estate on the water’s edge. It
will never likely have a supermarket
or Cineplex.
Zoning changes take time, especially if
they are trying to fix something that is no
longer desirable.
“Just being able to fix that zoning is a
huge step,” Ippolito said. “Things take a
lot of time to happen; they also take a lot
of time to happen in other directions.”
MASTER PLAN
A town’s identity involves more than
just its downtown. And while historically
preserved neighborhoods can strongly
contribute to a place’s identity, successful
towns and cities are dynamic and
contemporary. Remember, the “residents”
of Plimoth Plantation and Colonial
Williamsburg are actors.
So while part of creating an identity is
looking to the past and what currently
exists, a community has to also look to
its future.
“The master plan has to set out,
essentially, a vision of what the
community wants to be in 2025,”
explained Kane, who is spearheading
Swampscott 2025: The Master Plan. “That
vision is kind of like an identity because
it sets up what Swampscott is going to
be in the future, and it talks about what
exists, and then how to use those things
and combine them with efforts to set up a
new vision for 2025.”
A master plan is a multi-subject report
that evaluates municipal assets and offers
suggestions and recommended steps for
how the town should move forward in the
next 5-10 years.
Swampscott’s last master plan was
approved in 1971, and a new plan has
been in the works for years. The public
outreach phase of the project began last
winter and repeatedly asked residents
to consider questions about the town’s
identity including “What Swampscott
means to me.”
“It really has been a lot about the
beaches,” Kane said of the responses.
“We have a vision statement already
drafted that references the beaches, the
history, and the neighborhoods — and
at our community events we’ve been
asking people to write down slogans for
the community. Almost all of them are
either emphasizing ‘Red Rock’ or ‘ocean’
or ‘sea.’”
Again, Swampscott has some work to
do, because one might legitimately argue
that the town’s identity also includes a
reputation for not maintaining its assets.
For all the community’s pride in athletics,
it took three Town Meeting votes and the
stands collapsing at the 2013 Powder Puff
football game before an artificial turf field
at Phillips Park was approved. It took
Adam Sandler to make the Swampscott
railroad depot look presentable (albeit for
a single shot in a forgettable movie.)
But the town is making progress.
Announcing that the beaches were “ready
to throw in the towel” because their
entrances were so unkempt, the Municipal
Design Committee has redesigned
Continued on next page
01907 | 5
9/15/15 2:25 PM
institution, and in the days of multi-sport
athletes, Swampscott had notable success
on the basketball courts and baseball
diamonds as well.
the town’s beach entrances to include
landscaping, identifying markers and
(perhaps most importantly) designated
spots for trash barrels. The committee has
also worked on aesthetic improvements
at Howland Park and replanted the
Monument Mall.
“Bondelevitch was a great organizer.
He had a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of spirit,
got people revved up, and was smart
enough to build a good organization,”
Stone said.
And the committee’s efforts reference
the final and most salient part of
Swampscott’s identity: its people.
Today, Swampscott’s most famous
resident is in the political arena. Gov.
Charlie Baker returned to politics with
a seat on the Swampscott Board of
Selectmen and is now gaining national
attention as a Republican governor with
a 70+ percent approval rating in a deep
blue state.
“The one thing that makes Swampscott
a strong community is our residents and
their love of the town,” said O’Neil.
Swampscott is a small town,
geographically only 3 square miles. But
about 14,000 residents live within that
area, and they include many volunteers
who have devoted themselves to the
community through community groups,
volunteer events, and other activities.
One thing about identities is that,
over time, they can change — just like
communities.
The Salem Witch Trials happened more
than 300 years ago, mainly involved
people living in what is now Danvers, and
is not exactly a flattering moment in local
history. Certainly the city is a lot more
“There was spirit,” said Myron Stone,
a longtime Big Blue booster. Beginning
with high school football coach Harold
Martin and then with Stan Bondelevitch,
Swampscott football has become an
welcoming to witches – and the tourists
they attract – today.
Meanwhile, Marblehead can be a little
just too, shall we say, “precious”... just
look at the police log. And if you think
Swampscott has problems parking
downtown, try driving an SUV down
Front Street in Marblehead or through
Salem in October.
“Say Swampscott were a brand of
sneaker, I think Swampscott if it were
a sneaker brand would be like New
Balance,” said David Gardiner, an
advertising executive with Hill Holliday
and a volunteer with the Andrews Chapel
Restoration project. “They are running
shoes engineered by smart, unassuming
people, may not be as flashy as a pair of
Converse Chuck Taylors, may not be worn
by all the famous athletes like Nikes are,
but people choose New Balance because
they just fit perfectly, that’s what’s
important for them.” ■
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A loving look at S
For the Love of Swampscott
members, from left: Heather
Beatrice, Gina Bush, Joanna
O’Neil, Colleen Sachar,
Lindsay Bosken, Susan
Wiernusz, Anne Quagrello,
Rebecca von Barta, Tessa
Cogliano and Holly Hull.
By Stacey Marcus
Photo | Paula Muller
families and lovebirds sharing food and a charming slice of life.
Anyone driving through Swampscott can instantly observe the town’s beauty and
feel its magic. A stroll along Fisherman’s Beach unveils panoramic views of the
Boston skyline. A ride through tree-lined neighborhoods features children playing
ball. A peek inside one of the bustling eateries promises vignettes of friends,
Swampscott’s postcard-perfect setting was ideal to film movie hits such as The Equalizer,
American Hustle, Grown Ups 2, and Ted. To the average onlooker, Swampscott is an AllAmerican town. Lucky for this small town, a handful of residents had a notion for a new
chapter in the Swampscott story.
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For the Love of Swampscott (FLOS)
founder Joanna (Schumann) O’Neil, a native
of neighboring Nahant, said although
she found it hard to move across the
causeway, she fell in love with Swampscott.
“Everyone falls in love with Swampscott,”
said O’Neil, who notes the dynamic
group of residents, beautiful beaches and
wonderful neighborhoods as reasons why
Swampscott is a great place to live and
raise a family.
Although O’Neil was enamored with
Swampscott, she found that there was
a lack of community-wide events and
cohesiveness. She and her family were
spending time in neighboring towns and
longed to find a way to celebrate the town
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and have her children enjoy the joys of
childhood that bookmarked each year.
O’Neil began sharing her feelings with a
circle of friends.
“The idea for the nonprofit civic group
started out as a casual, ongoing dialogue
between friends and acquaintances
concerning our shared observances
regarding the lack of town events,
information and general cohesiveness.
We decided to formally get together to
address these issues and brainstorm ways
we could potentially impact positive
change in our community,” said FLOS
member Susan Wiernusz.
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01907 | 9
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FACES AROUND TOWN
Lei of
the land
More than 100 people enjoyed
a Barefoot Hawaiian Beach
Party on Fisherman’s Beach
Aug. 29. Attendees wined and
dined to music performed by
the Carrtunes, a local jazz band.
Photos by Paula Muller
Left to right: Tom and Midge DeSimone and Chris Dolan, all of
Swampscott.
Left to right: Mike Shanahan of Marblehead and Elliot Katzman
of Boston.
Left to right: James Ryan of Plainfield, Conn. and Debra Leahy
of Salem.
Left to right: Mary Shanahan of Marblehead, Jennifer Adams
and Matt Samalis, both of Swampscott.
Left to right: Pam Larson, Trisha Nagle and Joanne
Vanderburg, all of Swampscott.
10 | 01907
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Mission almost accomplished
Town is hungry
for new restaurant
By Rich Fahey
Close old restaurant. Rebuild, refurbish, open new
one on the same site. If only it were that simple.
But sometimes there’s many a slip twixt the cup and
the lip, and the process of rebuilding and reopening
has been one long obstacle course for the owners of
the new Mission on the Bay Restaurant on the former
site of the Red Rock Bistro at 141 Humphrey St.
The building, adjacent to Driscoll Park, once housed
Bradford’s, then Blaisdell’s, Doane’s, Dale’s and
finally Red Rock.
The partnership of Marty Bloom, Robert Hoffman
and Wellington Augusto – a.k.a., Swampscott
Associates – bought the site in 2013 for $940,000
and closed the restaurant in March 2014, with the
intention of renovating the property.
12 | 01907
Bloom was the founder and former CEO of the
Italian restaurant chain Vinny T’s. He opened his first
Vinny Testa’s restaurant in 1993 and built it into a
nine-unit chain before selling it to a Minnesota-based
firm for $18.5 million in 2002.
Mission on the Bay is now scheduled to open in
mid-to-late fall, said Bloom, probably in late October.
The $2 million facility will have 400 seats and
employ as many as 125 people, he said.
The latest obstacles have been the weather; Bloom
said the record-breaking winter set the project
back about six weeks. Interestingly, an improving
economy has made it difficult to get tradesmen
and materials in a timely manner.
“There’s just not enough good people out there
right now to get all the work done,” said Bloom. “I do
brokerage work in Boston, and I don’t think anybody
I know there is opening on schedule.”
Bloom said he hated to miss the summer season,
since one of the features of the new restaurant will
be a rooftop deck.
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When it reopens, Mission on the Bay —
a nod to the partners’ other restaurant,
the Mission Oak Grill in Newburyport —
will take full advantage of the seaside
location. The plans call for two levels of
dining, including the rooftop deck. There
will also be two large bars — Bloom has
described them as “large eating counters”
— that will take up a large portion of the
dining areas, although
there will also be smaller tables.
A February 2014 Boston Globe article
praised the partners’ Mission Oak Grill
in Newburyport for its generous, popular
affordable bar menu which became a hit,
something they may seek to duplicate
in Swampscott.
The kitchen will be open, and because
people have come to expect them in this
electronic age, the restaurant will feature
charging ports for phones and other
electronic devices.
Beachgoers and passers-by won’t be left
out. Mission on the Bay will also keep
a snack bar/take-out counter for those
wanting something quickly.
The partners had originally planned to
keep the kitchen and bar of the original
building, but problems arose in April 2014
with the Zoning Board of Appeals and the
Historical Commission after the developers
made the decision the entire building
would have to go.
Bloom said there was no way to know
what was underneath until crews began
to take the building apart, and they
essentially found that a large part of it
was a shack perched precariously on a
rocky bluff high above the Atlantic Ocean,
waiting to give way, and wouldn’t support
the roof deck that was part of the plans.
Swampscott building inspector Richard
Baldacci ordered a temporary halt to
construction on May 9 of last year while
the owners ironed out their permit
issues with the ZBA and the Historical
Commission, which pondered whether the
building was historically significant and
whether fines were in order for the full
demolition that took place.
zoning board that the bar and kitchen had
been torn down and that mistakes were
made after workers on the site found
no footings on most of the property and
that the kitchen’s foundation had rotted
away. A new foundation had to be built to
replace the sandy material that was there
before.
The board approved changes to the
plans that included reducing the footprint
of the building by 243 square feet, cutting
the number of windows from 43 to 38,
and rebuilding the bar and kitchen so that
they could support a second floor.
After those issues were resolved, the
federal government chimed in, with
revamped Federal Emergency Management
Agency maps for flood insurance that
were to go into effect in July 2014,
including the property in the newly
drawn floodplain, complicating financing
agreements until experts could be called
in to ascertain the property’s horizontal
and vertical proximity to the water. A
staffing change at the bank doing the
financing also delayed the project.
Seafood will be on as the menu as well
as an oyster bar at the new Mission on
the Bay, which will feature an all-scratch
kitchen with quality ingredients. There
will be a set menu and room for daily
specials, as well as seasonal changes.
Bloom said all is well now with his
relationship with town boards – Historical
Commission Chairwoman Susan Post
Munafo confirmed her board has no
issues – and financing is in place to
complete the restaurant.
“We just need some materials and some
good bodies inside to work,” he said.
“We’ll get there. I promise.”
At least two noteworthy town residents
are looking forward to the opening.
“We’re anxious to see what it looks
like,” said Lauren Baker, wife of Gov.
Charlie Baker. “We love the Mission Oak
Grill. It’s exciting. It will be a lot of fun to
have an outside oceanfront deck to hang
out on.” ■
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By Paul Halloran
Mike
Lynch
A High 5
for his hometown
Once he got a real taste of the business
as Ned Martin’s $100-a-game color
commentator on Harvard football on
the radio, Mike Lynch said he became
“intoxicated with broadcasting,” so it only
seems fitting that a glass of scotch played a
role in his big break.
It was March 26, 1982, the Friday of NCAA
basketball Final Four weekend. Channel 5
was looking for a fill-in anchor for when the
legendary Don Gillis was on vacation and
his No. 2, Brian Leary, was not available.
Lynch, who had carved out a full-time job
at WITS radio as a fill-in talk show host and
sports reporter — after getting his start with
Ray McGuiggin on the old WLYN in Lynn —
was asked to go to Channel 5 to audition.
“On the broadcast were Chet and Nat and
14 | 01907
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“Mr. Thistle, it would take me six months
of 10-hour-a-day training to be ready for
this,” Lynch said.
“Well, you don’t have that long,” Thistle
said. “You’re on tomorrow night at 6.”
And so began a distinguished 33-year –
and counting – career on Boston TV for a
guy who dared to make that his dream job
while growing up in Swampscott. He always
wondered, however, what prompted Thistle
to give him a shot.
Lynch was at Giants Stadium in 2007 as
the Patriots were preparing to complete
an undefeated regular season. He ran into
Thistle’s son, Jim, who happened to be on
the phone with his dad. Lynch asked if he
could speak to the elder Thistle.
“I asked him, ‘What were you thinking?’”
Lynch said. “He said, ‘Well, Mike, it was a
Friday night and I always kept a bottle of
scotch in the bottom drawer of my desk.
By the time you came up I already had one
under my belt. You were the local kid and
you looked pretty good to me, so I was
going to give you a shot.”
Lynch’s performance over the last three
decades has proved beyond a doubt
that the only thing Thistle was under the
influence of that night was his keen instinct
for recognizing talent. Lynch has won 16
Massachusetts Sportscaster of the Year
awards, while giving outstanding coverage
to high school sports through his High 5
segment and Thanksgiving night highlight
show.
Photo | Reba Saldanha
Brian and Dickie Albert,” Lynch said.
“I watched a few minutes and said to
myself, ‘I can do this.’ By 6:10, my jaw
was down to my waist. By 6:30 my jaw
was down to my ankles. I can never do
this, I thought.”
After the broadcast, Lynch was given
Leary’s script and told to hop into the
anchor seat. Unfortunately, it went
about as well as he expected.
“I was very robotic,” he said, recalling
looking down at the script every few
seconds and spitting out the words in
stilted speech. “I wouldn’t have put
myself on Needham access cable.”
“I’m a lucky guy,” Lynch said, while sitting
in the backyard of his childhood home on
Banks Road, where he and his siblings Terry,
Maura and Tara, grew up and their parents,
Dick and Joann, still live. “I have Don Gillis’
job – the job every kid wanted growing up.
(Thistle) gave me an opportunity I really
didn’t deserve. I like to think of myself
as a sixth-round pick that sort of panned
out,” he added, making a not-so-loose
comparison to a certain New England
quarterback who has also outperformed his
draft status.
Lynch’s success comes as no surprise to
those who have known him the longest.
Mike DiPrisco walked to school with Lynch
and Mike Lally every day for 13 years: St.
John’s Elementary, Shaw Junior High and
Swampscott High. Lynch still keeps in close
touch with DiPrisco and Bill Goade.
“This is something he really had a
knack for,” DiPrisco said. “We’d be playing
basketball and he would pretend to be
interviewing Wilt Chamberlain. He was a
student of the games as well as a very good
player.”
Lynch grew up in the glory days of
Big Blue football, when iconic coach
Stan Bondelevitch was in his prime. A
quarterback and kicker, Lynch was part of a
32-game winning streak that was snapped
by St. John’s Prep his senior year (1970),
when one of his childhood friends, Dana
Hughes, caught the winning TD pass for The
Prep in the 19-13 epic.
At far left:
Mike Lynch at his
childhood home
with his parents,
Dick and Joann.
At left, Mike (No.
5) with teammate
Jim Carone
and from left:
assistant coach
Frank DeFelice,
head coach Stan
Bondelevitch,
and assistant
Dick Lynch,
Mike’s father.
After the audition, Lynch reported
to the office of Jim Thistle, the wellrespected news director at the station.
“What’d you think?” Thistle asked him.
FALL
2015
01907 | 15
9/15/15 2:25 PM
A MEDIA
MOMENT
A CONVERSATION
WITH KIM CARRIGAN
AND CARL STEVENS
Kim Carrigan and Carl Stevens have a
lot in common. They are both from the
Midwest, Carrigan from St. Louis and
Stevens – whose real name is Haarer;
a news director convinced him to use a
stage name and it stuck – is from Goshen,
Ind. They have both worked in the Boston
media for more than 20 years, Carrigan at
Chs. 7, 4 and Fox 25 and now as co-host of
the Boston.com morning show on WRKO
and Stevens as a WBZ radio reporter since
1990. And they are both longtime residents
of Swampscott. They sat down with 01907
to discuss why they like it here.
16 | 01907
Photo | Owen O’Rourke
How long have you lived
in Swampscott?
Carl Stevens: We were living in
Charlestown and my ex-wife’s parents
were from Marblehead. I told a Realtor
— Julie Sagan — I’d like a little place
by the ocean. I grew up in the Midwest
there aren’t any oceans there. Some
place in Marblehead or Swampscott
that I could afford. It was in the mid1990’s. She called me up and said
‘Carl, I think I got you a house over
on Sculpin Way.’ That was about 18
years ago.
Kim Carrigan: We lived in
Charlestown when we first moved
to Boston (from Des Moines, Iowa)
in 1993. We, like Carl, had been
landlocked all our lives and (had a)
great interest in living by the water.
So we started to venture north and
south and fell in love with it up here.
We were some of the original owners
in the Phillips Beach condos on the
Marblehead line in 1995.
What has led you to call it home?
KC: Once I had kids. For Randy and I,
Swampscott is like Smalltown USA and
yet we can see Boston right out the
window. We can conduct business in a
major city and we can raise our kids in
a little town. And we’ve loved that.
CS: For me it’s the same thing, my
kids. But also, like last night, I had
some errands to run and it’s 7 o’clock
and the sun’s going down and I hop
on my motorcycle and scoot along the
coast down to Nahant — it’s like being
in Western Ireland. I live across from
the water. I can take my kayak, carry it
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2015
9/15/15 2:25 PM
01907_1/6Ad:Layout 1 8/29/15 10:46 AM Page 4
across to the beach and, boom, I’m in
the harbor.
KC: It’s a pretty good life.
because of luck; I’m there because of
skill, but I’m lucky to be where I am
and ’BZ has been a wonderful place.
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What are the advantages of
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CS: Working the hours I do. I get
up at 4:30 and I’m usually there by
5:30. There’s no traffic. And the one
downside for anyone working 9 to 5
and living in Swampscott, which I
used to do, it’s a pain in the butt to
get into Boston.
KC: I have a couple. I eat at G Bar
pretty regularly. I love G Bar. I also love
a little place, Café Avellino. It’s fun.
Theresa’s got a really cool little deal
going there. I shop at Infinity. Pauline
(Spirito) buys for me. My husband has
the big international “No” sign through
her face on our refrigerator! I’m a
regular there and I’m a regular
at Olympia Sports.
KC: I leave the house at 4 and I
go to the Globe. It’s a real quick
commute.
Working in the electronic media often
requires moving around the country.
What has kept you in Boston?
CS: Hot Cheese for cheesesteak
subs. The wings at Nguyen’s. Five Guys
cheeseburgers. The breakfast buffet at
Whole Foods. Popo’s hot dogs. And a
slice (of pizza) at Cindy’s.
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KC: Time and time again in the
course of my career, my husband and
I have had to make the decision if we
would stay or we would go. I’ve been
blessed because the market here has
been very accepting of me whether
it’s been the television market or the
radio market. I’m lucky to have gotten
to stay the way I have. We’ve been
offered some really great opportunities
outside the market but I didn’t want
to move my kids. My husband is now
settled here. He’s an attorney and
he was in a position that he could
jump with me for awhile so maybe I
could make those jumps then I would
promise him I’d get somewhere I’d
stay, so how lucky are we to get
to Boston.
CS: (To be in the same place for
so long) is not that unusual where I
work. At ’BZ radio after I had been
there for 20 years I was still a relative
newcomer. They had (Gary) LaPierre,
(Gil) Santos, Anthony (Silva), Diane
(Stern). It’s been a pretty stable place
in an unstable media environment.
I’ve worked hard. I’m not there
FALL
2015
What else do you like
about Swampscott?
CS: I like the size, the fact that it’s
small. There’s an ease about life here.
I like my neighbors. I like the fact that
the train is right up the street and
you can go to a Bruins game without
driving.
KC: I go back to why we moved
here. I’m from the Midwest and my
husband is, too. We like the fact that
you know your pharmacist and I know
that makes it sound like we grew up
in Mayberry and we didn’t. We grew up
in St. Louis. People get to know one
another. When you live in a smaller
town like this, the good news is that
people get to know each other. When
your kids are younger and they’re in
the school district — to use the cliché
it takes a village. Everybody’s watching
out for each other and taking care of
each other and I appreciate that. ■
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Rich Doucette, executive director of Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, and Mary Cashman enjoy living in Swampscott.
Rich
perspective on Swampscott
By Meaghan Casey
For Rich Doucette, executive director of the Massachusetts Office
of Travel and Tourism, every day is a vacation visiting the state’s
351 cities and towns in 16 tourism regions. Referring to himself
as “an ambassador of fun,” his job is to promote the seasonal
attractions such as apple picking to events like the Head of the
Charles.
So, after calling Swampscott his home for 16 years, how would
he pitch his own town?
“The beauty is it’s a year-round resort destination,” Doucette
said. “You have everything you need — supermarkets, restaurants,
shops, open space, the beach — and you also have a quaint New
England town center where you’ll find festivals, outdoor movies,
concerts or antique car shows. That’s often the challenge—turning
a summer community into a year-round one without losing
the charm — but it’s been successful here.”
A typical Saturday for Doucette would involve running errands
and getting coffee in Vinnin Square, relaxing by the pool or beach
18 | 01907
and possibly enjoying a bucket of steamers at Woodman’s of
Essex or dinner at Hawthorne by the Sea.
“I don’t go anywhere else in the summer,” Doucette said.
“Why would I want to leave? I can walk to the waterfront from my
house. We have it all right here.”
Despite the brutal winter of his first term in office, if he had to
pick a favorite season, he couldn’t.
“You have to just take advantage of the environment,” he said.
“My third day in office in the midst of one of the winter storms
I said, ‘there’s no crying in baseball and there’s no whining in
tourism.’ If we get a tough winter there’s nothing we can do about
it.”
“I like the change of seasons,” he continued. “I get to ski in
the winter and can go to the beach in the summer. I especially
love this time of year, the shoulder season, when it’s still warm
enough to play golf but the beaches are a little quieter. ”
Turning to look at the not-so-distant Boston skyline as the
ocean waves crash behind him, it is easy to see what he means.
“This is exactly the place where I want to be,” he said. ■
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:25 PM
breathtaking views and our award winning menu
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Dine in our elegant Anthony's Pier 4 Café,
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153 Humphrey Street, Swampscott,
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To see the full menus and online
reservations go to pier4.com/hawthorne
WELCOME
FALL
2015
Swampscott
01907 | 19
9/11/15 10:36 AM
SWAMPSCOTT’S
ULTIMATE
POWER COUPLE
By Paul Halloran
THey are arguably the most visible, influential pair
in the Commonwealth, the ultimate power couple.
They have lived in Swampscott for 22
years and have played an active role in
the political, athletic and social life of
the town. Yet, Lauren and Charlie Baker
would not be so presumptuous as to
consider themselves “townies,” especially
in a place where longevity is measured
in generations, not years.
“We had a 2-year-old when we moved
here. Our kids are now 24, 21 and 18,”
the governor said. “Everything that
happened in between happened here …”
“… But I still don’t think we’re
considered townies,” his wife continued.
“I think you have to be second
generation here before you’re really
considered townies. We’re working
towards that. We’re the parents of
townies. That’s how we fit in.”
Charlie Baker put it in further
perspective. “We live on Monument Ave.
You start at the Civil War memorial and
go up to the World War II memorial
and the names on those memorials are
very familiar,” he said. “You know the
descendants. There are families that
have been here for 50, 100, 150 years.
That’s one of the special parts about the
town — a lot of people who put their
stake here and stayed.”
They may be relative newbies, but the
Bakers have blended into town life quite
nicely, and they are forever grateful for
a fateful ice cream cone that ultimately
brought them here.
“We were living in the city in a condo,”
Charlie recalled. “We had a 2-yearold who had turned the condo into a
playroom. We started looking at houses;
we were trying to find something within
about 15 miles of Boston, because we had
to commute — with the baby. We were
both working in Boston.
20 | 01907
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2015
9/15/15 2:25 PM
Photo | Mark Garfinkel
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2015
01907 | 21
9/11/15 10:36 AM
“We came out here to visit friends
who were renting an apartment on Puritan
Road. We stopped for ice cream and
Charlie Jr. was on that swing set,” he said,
pointing to the swings at Linscott Park,
behind the Hadley School. “We looked
at the (Boston) skyline, the breeze was
coming off the ocean, it was about 100
degrees in Boston… We said ‘this isn’t
that far… let’s look at houses here and
see what happens.’”
The house hunt took awhile — they
looked at “30-40” homes — but their
hearts were set on Swampscott. “We
stopped looking everywhere else,” Charlie
said. “We really wanted to live here.”
The search ended on Banks Road,
where they lived for seven years. After
welcoming A.J. and Caroline to the family,
they moved to their current home on
Monument Avenue, where they have
lived happily for the last 15 years.
Charlie Baker was a Swampscott
selectman long before he was a
gubernatorial candidate and, ultimately,
the governor.
Lauren was the registrar and a coach in
Swampscott Youth Soccer when the kids
were playing, and “I loved every second
of it,” she said, paying tribute to the spirit
of volunteerism that characterizes this
town of approximately 14,000.
“So much of what makes Swampscott
special for families depends on the
tireless efforts of throngs of volunteers
who do everything they can think of just
to make it better for our families and
children,” Lauren said.
If the Bakers could be classified as just
another successful Swampscott couple,
that changed significantly on Nov. 4, 2014,
when Charlie Baker got about 40,000 more
votes — out of more than 2 million votes
cast — than former Attorney General
Martha Coakley. Four years after losing
a tough race to Deval Patrick, Baker
had reached the top of the mountain of
Massachusetts politics, claiming the corner
office on Beacon Hill (even though he
conducts most of his day-to-day business
in a smaller office in the executive suite at
the State House).
So, that had to change things, right?
Safe to say there would be no more
escaping to the relative anonymity of
Swampscott after a long day at the office
in the city (Charlie had run Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care for 10 years before the 2010
campaign and worked at a venture capital
firm between the two campaigns. Lauren
worked at Hill Holiday before working
and serving on the board at Marian Court
College.)
“One of the biggest changes,” he said,
“is that if we go out to a restaurant there
are a lot of people who want to say
hello and have their picture taken. That’s
probably the biggest difference as a public
person and a public couple. It changes
the dynamic wherever you go, which
comes with the territory.”
The First Lady, however, is happy to
report a less dramatic change in lifestyle.
“My personal life hasn’t changed that
drastically,” she said. “And I don’t think
that we’ve changed at all. I still do all the
things I always did. I don’t feel like my
day-to-day life has changed that drastically.
When we’re not together, I can do what I
want. I can still walk down the street in
Boston and people don’t know who I am.”
Her husband has no such luxury. “The
biggest difference is that there’s not much
spontaneity in my day,” he said. “The
whole thing is pretty well-scheduled, and
it’s very hard to call an audible.”
“One of the biggest
changes is that if we
go out to a restaurant,
there are a lot of
people who want to say
hello and have their
picture taken.”
That’s especially true when you are under
the watch and protection of the State Police
24/7, though the governor did confess to
making one “escape” since becoming chief
executive of the Commonwealth.
“One day I kind of snuck out and jumped
in the car (not his prized ’66 Mustang) and
did a few errands,” he said. “I called every
friend I have and said ‘I’m driving my own
car and it feels great.’ It’s the only time I’ve
driven since Election Day.”
When the governor is not governing and
Lauren is not plying her trade as a skilled
marketing professional, they enjoy spending
22 | 01907
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:25 PM
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A selfie with the governor made August 22 an even more memorable day for
Dina Panagopoulos and her new husband, George Mamos.
time in their adopted hometown. They
patronize many local restaurants, but were
hesitant to single out any.
“You can’t go wrong in Swampscott,”
Lauren said. “We like to mix it up.”
Lauren has been a kickboxing
instructor at Paradise Gym, and while her
better half has never subjected himself to
that kind of punishment, they occasionally
take a class with Robin Cotter — “an
absolute machine,” Charlie called her —
and Charlie works with a personal trainer
in Marblehead.
Asked what would be a perfect night for
them in town, they pointed to a special
birthday observance.
“Our favorite was always July 3,” Charlie
said. “We would have friends over for a
cookout, the kids would be in the pool
and then at 9 o’clock we would walk
down to see the fireworks.”
“The whole town is right here. The
fireworks are right there,” Lauren said,
pointing to the ocean across the street.
“It’s one of the wonderful things about
living in a little town. You can fit the whole
town and the fireworks on a football-fieldsize area.”
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781- 477- 9040
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The small-town environment clearly
agrees with the Bakers.
“Swampscott is only 3 square miles,”
Charlie said. “You can walk from one end
of town to another in an hour and a half.
We have sidewalks. We raised our kids
here. We grew up as a family here. And
we did that with a lot of other families.”
ExpEriEncE thE
purE rElaxation
& rEjuvEnation
of radiancE
While Charlie is governor of all 351
cities and towns, including neighboring
Marblehead, he can’t bring himself to be
neutral on Thanksgiving.
Marblehead
“I did really well in Marblehead in both
elections, and I’m very grateful for that.
I have a lot of friends there,” he said.
“But when it comes to Thanksgiving…”
60c Atlantic Ave.
781-639-1708
Salem
316 Derby St.
978-741-8110
Those who know him realize he need not
complete the thought. On Thanksgiving, the
governor is Big Blue, through and through.
That’s a good way to earn that elusive
townie recognition. ■
radiancelifestylesalonandspa.com
FALL
2015
01907 | 23
9/14/15 8:46 AM
Paradise lost?
By Rich Fahey
Development is a delicate balancing
act. The tax revenue it generates is
always welcome. But if the development
is too dense, generates too much traffic
and if its residents (i.e. children) strain
public services and the schools, then the
development can have a negative effect
24 | 01907
on the neighborhood, the values
of adjacent homes and even an
entire community.
about 700 square feet to 1,449 square
feet, with rents ranging from $1,499 to
$2,680 a month.
The 184-unit Hanover Vinnin Square
apartment complex on Paradise Road,
on the former site of the Jewish
Rehabilitation Center, is now renting 1-, 2and 3-bedroom apartments ranging from
The Swampscott Zoning Board of
Appeals approved in December 2013 a
special permit for the construction of the
two 4-story buildings at 326-330 Paradise
Road by the Hanover Company.
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:36 AM
Mixed reviews for new
Vinnin Square development
The complex is located across from
Whole Foods Market, and among the
amenities are a 4,500-square-foot
clubhouse, a fitness center open 24/7, a
resort-style pool, and a business center
with iMac desktops.
The units feature 9-foot ceilings, woodstyle flooring in living and dining areas,
FALL
2015
stainless steel appliances and slab granite
countertops. Pets are allowed.
Developers have said they expect to
be renting to a wide range of people,
including empty-nesters downsizing and
millennials working in Boston, attracted
by the 1-mile distance to the Swampscott
MBTA commuter rail station.
David Hall, a development partner for
Hanover, said the complex is about 15
percent leased and he expected people to
begin moving in September.
Hall said when the complex is fully
assessed as it nears 100-percent
01907 | 25
9/11/15 10:36 AM
Mark Gelfand gives
and gives and …
By Meaghan Casey
Innovator, investor and philanthropist
Mark Gelfand wakes up every day with
one thought in mind: “What can I do to
make the world better?”
Although he has already helped to
initiate approximately 100 hands-on
enrichment projects and educational
programs in the U.S., Israel, Ethiopia,
South Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and
Uganda, Gelfand still isn’t satisfied. He is
constantly seeking out new opportunities
to improve science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) education
and job training, all while trying to stir
up enthusiasm for the field.
“I wish there were 4,000 hours in the
day,” he said.
Gelfand, a software engineer by trade,
grew up in Cleveland and studied physics
at Carnegie Mellon University. He worked
in factories and steel mills during his
youth, and admits he almost lost his hand
in a crane and his shoe once caught on
fire, but he wouldn’t trade his time there.
“I loved it because we made stuff,”
said Gelfand. “We saw the creation of
something. I wish more kids today could
experience that.”
After breaking into the computer science
industry as it was still emerging in the
1970s, Gelfand came to Massachusetts
via Cambridge. He later built a successful
career for himself as co-founder of Intex
Solutions, Inc. in Needham, the world’s
leading provider of structured fixedincome cash-flow models and related
analytical software.
“I was fortunate to walk backwards into
the party and do well,” he said. “Since
then, I’ve realized I can do something
to help the next generation. I can see
problems within the education system
and make solutions happen.”
Gelfand, who retired from Intex Solutions
a year and a half ago, remembers how his
earliest interest in STEM was sparked by
his uncle, an electrical engineer. He has
passed along that same enthusiasm to his
three sons, all of whom have also chosen
careers in STEM. Jacob, 32, is a math
programmer and twins Micah and Evan,
27, have pursued careers in biology and
mechanical engineering, respectively.
“I did a lot of hands-on things with
them as children – using power tools,
building airplanes,” said Gelfand.
“They grew up in this world.”
Calling himself a catalyst, he said
he hopes to light a similar spark in
today’s youth.
“I had my uncle and my children had
me, but what about all of the other
children who need someone to encourage
and mentor them?” he said.
While living in Newton, where his sons
were educated, he began to embrace a
more active role in the school systems.
“I was frustrated by the amount of
useless skills they were learning versus
practical, hands-on application that could
help build our country and our economy,”
he said.
He formed a math club for students in
grades 3-5, teaching them to build circuits
and giving them an early glimpse into the
world of engineering and manufacturing.
“That was the beginning of the
odyssey,” Gelfand said. “Instead of
just giving donations to educational
foundations, I found I could start doing
my own projects.”
He went on to teach an enrichment
program in the Boston Public Schools for
15 years, traveling from school to school.
In 2006 he formed the Gelfand Family
Charitable Trust, which partners with
organizations to provide projects
that inspire STEM teaching and learning.
In Swampscott, where he has lived for
the past six years, he gifted $1.03 million
to the district’s STEM program four
years ago.
“Even though I’m an implant, I feel
at home here,” he said. “It’s an open
community and I made a connection
right away. I wanted to give back.”
The funding has allowed the Swampscott
Public Schools to hire three new STEM
teachers, purchase lab and workshop
equipment and set aside funds for
professional development to help teachers
infuse STEM initiatives at all levels, and
in all aspects of the curriculum. The
money was also used to add robotics
and computer programming courses at
the high school, expand STEM clubs and
create the STEM Academy.
“There’s a big push to make sure
students are college and career-ready
and able to transfer their skills from the
classroom to the real world,” said STEM
Coordinator Brandy Wilbur. “Through
STEM, they’re making connections
and using their skills to solve real-life
problems.”
For the district’s younger students, the
middle school is continuing to participate
in MIT Sea Grant’s Sea Perch program,
which offers project-based classroom
activities and programs that build on
the construction, design and use of a
simple and inexpensive remotely operated
vehicle, and the elementary schools are
26 | 01907
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2015
9/15/15 2:25 PM
Student Andrew Maldonado explores the equipment in the high school STEM lab, which was donated by Mark Gelfand, left.
9/11/15 10:36 AM
5
things
you didn’t know about
Phyllis Sagan
By Stacey Marcus
he began her career as a
1 Sschoolteacher.
If you have ever bought or sold a
home in Swampscott, you are very likely
familiar with the name Phyllis Sagan.
Sagan Realtors’ red-and-white signs have
been dotting the lawns of properties
on the North Shore for more than three
decades. Her home, business and heart
reside in Swampscott, but her name is
known throughout the North Shore for
her civic involvement.
Participating and supporting community
organizations is paramount to Sagan,
who gives back to the community both
financially and with her time. You may
know her as the owner of the thriving
Sagan Realtors, which employees more
than 30 Realtors, or perhaps as the
co-chair of the North Shore Medical
Center Cancer Walk, Woman of the Year
at Aviv Centers for Living or as a life
member of the North Shore Association
of Realtors. You may support one of
the numerous organizations where she
donates her time, such as Girls Inc., the
Jewish Federation of the North Shore, My
Brother’s Table or the Anti-Defamation
League. Maybe you are familiar with
Sagan as the loving grandmother of
Austin and Mason Sagan of Swampscott
or Lily and Emma McGuirk of Marblehead.
28 | 01907
Sagan earned a bachelor of education
from UMass Boston. She launched her
teaching career at a religious school in
Marblehead. After her first year, in which
she had a “challenging” classroom, she
quickly decided to jettison the notion
of being a teacher and open her own
business. She says her former students,
now in their 40s, feel they are entitled to
a piece of every commission since they
were the motivation for her move out of
the classroom to find her true identity in
real estate.
er real estate business
2 Hbegan
in the basement of
her home.
Back when copies were produced with
carbon paper, Sagan and a handful of
agents juggled caring for young children
with building the foundation of a thriving
real estate business. “When things got
too stressful, I went upstairs and baked a
sour cream coffee cake,” she says.
3 She loves to dance.
Sagan likes swing, ballroom, salsa
and basically any type of movement
that resembles dancing. “If I were
taller and slimmer, I would have been
a Rockette,” she jokes.
kitchen is probably the
4 Tlasthe place
you will find her.
Yes, she said she escaped the pressures
of her home-based real estate business by
whipping up a coffee cake, but the kitchen
is the last place you will find the real
estate mogul these days. A social butterfly,
Sagan would prefer spending her time
volunteering in the community or enjoying
the company of family and friends.
hobby happens to be
5 Hherer work.
“If you love what you do, you never
really have to go to work,” the vivacious
entrepreneur says. “ I just love my
job. We are blessed to live in such a
wonderful community like Swampscott
that features gorgeous beaches, fabulous
people, community spirit and pride
in our local business. 01907 is a great
place to live and work!”
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:26 PM
53 Tupelo Road
Three-story Swampscott home
with water views
Seven bedrooms, six bathrooms;
5,022 square feet
A SAGAN PROPERTY
$1,799,000
Diana Goldberg of Sagan Realtors
info@saganrealtors.com
Photos | Paula Muller
Built in 1911, this beautiful, fully renovated home has kept its integrity
and elegance amidst all of its modern conveniences. The many windows
highlight breathtaking views of the ocean below and enhance the home’s
nautical charm. The elegant foyer is enhanced by a grand staircase leading
up to four bedrooms on the second floor and three bedrooms on the third
floor. The kitchen features a breakfast bar and marble countertops, while
both the dining room and the formal salon living room have wood-burning
fireplaces and water views.
FALL
2015
01907 | 29
9/11/15 11:31 AM
A TASTE OF SWAMPSCOTT
Tale of two tunas
Broiled, blackened, seared or raw, ahi tuna is one of America’s most popular seafoods.
Here, we try two different takes on the dish, at two different price points.
What: Tuna Tataki
What: Tuna
The appetizer dish — listed as a “must try” — features ahi tuna
lightly boiled, topped with scallions and served with the chef’s
special sauce over a bed of rice noodles.
Chef Gregg Brackman sears the tuna and serves it with wasabi-basil
potato, Asian greens and sake-ponzu buerre-blanc.
Where: Gourment Garden, 430 Paradise Road
Price: $28
Price: $9.15
Where: G Bar, 256 Humphrey St.
Bacon bits
An icon in the sandwich world, the BLT — bacon, lettuce and tomato —
has been constructed in kitchens across the country since the early 1900s.
While the delicious simplicity of the three ingredients is enough for it
to stand on its own, a number of restaurants are putting their own spin
on the classic with additions that include lobster, avocado and even hot dogs.
What: Lobster BLT — fresh lobster meat
layered with mayonnaise, romaine, ripe
tomato, and cob-smoked bacon served on a
toasted ciabatta roll.
Where: Hawthorne by the Sea, 153
Humphrey St.
30 | 01907
What: Roasted turkey & avocado BLT
— roasted turkey, applewood-smoked
bacon, lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes and
fresh avocado with olive oil mayonnaise on
freshly baked bread.
What: BLT hot dog — hot dog with diced
tomatoes, lettuce and bacon bits.
Where: Popo’s Hot Dogs, 168 Humphrey St.
Where: Panera Bread, 433 Paradise Road
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:26 PM
Do you want
to own the
Swampscott market?
Advertise in
Contact: Joyce Leavitt
781-593-7700 ext. 1217
jleavitt@essexmediagroup.com
FALL
2015
01907 | 31
9/11/15 10:36 AM
Tedesco fits
Green
to a tee
By Maureen Mullen
When Bob Green first walked into the
pro shop at Tedesco Country Club, he
had no idea he would still be there 37
seasons later as the longest-tenured
golf professional on the North Shore.
“I didn’t start out thinking I would be
here for the rest of my life,” Green said.
“But I didn’t start out thinking I was going
to move, either. It’s kind of just evolved
into 37 years.”
Growing up in Swampscott, Green’s
affiliation with Tedesco stretches for most
of his life. Lynn’s Gannon Golf Club –
which was known as Happy Valley while
he was growing up – and Tedesco are like
home to the 65-year-old Green.
“I grew up at Happy Valley and I
consider that home for as much golf as
I played as a youngster, as a teenager,”
said Green, who lives in Marblehead. “But
this is next to it also. I actually caddied
here, was an assistant here. So my
association with Tedesco probably goes
back to when I was 13 years old. So that’s
a long time.”
Green began working at Tedesco in 1970
as an assistant for longtime pro Lester
Dunn. But it took a push from Green’s
father for him to accept the job Dunn
offered. The thought of getting his dream
job at such a young age caught Green
somewhat off guard.
“I came over to play the state amateur
qualifying (tournament) and Les Dunn
approached me before I teed off,” Green
said. “He asked me what I’d been doing,
if I was thinking of getting into the
business, and he needed an assistant.
His long-time assistant at that point
was moving on.
“I can remember going home and
speaking to my father about it. And, he
looked at me like, ‘What are you delaying
this for?’ He says, ‘Is this what you always
wanted to do?’ I said, ‘Yeah, and that’s
always where I wanted to do it.’ I lived
off the 14th hole here, caddied here. So
I called Lester up the next morning and
told him I’d take the job. I started the next
Photo | Bob Roche
32 | 01907
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:36 AM
Friday which was just two or three days
relationships with his members, and
say, ‘Oh, Tedesco, Bob Green.’ Everybody
later.”
that’s probably the best thing that I ever
knows him. Bobby is really an institution
learned. I think it says a lot about who
over there, a great goodwill ambassador.”
His first day was a memorable one.
“It was the first day of our Tedesco Cup,
which was a busy, busy tournament,”
Green said. “Rain came down sideways.
It was 55 degrees. I was starting them on
the 10th tee. I didn’t know anybody. That
was my first day.”
He took over as head pro for the 1979
season. That day was no less eventful.
“I officially took over Jan. 1 in ’79, when
we remodeled the pro shop,” Green said.
“We were tearing down things in the pro
shop. It was a fight to get it done before
opening day. So it was a busy winter.”
And it’s been a busy 37 years. But he
wouldn’t change a thing.
“He’s indispensable,” said John Kinner,
he is. He’s a consummate professional, a
classic golf professional.”
It’s those kinds of relationships that
make the job what it is.
“It’s just been an amazing labor of
“The relationships that you build with
love,” said Tom Burke, a past president
the members is the best part,” he said.
at Tedesco. “He loves the members. He
loves the club. He was a kid when he was
an assistant pro to Les, and I think this is
much more than a job to Bob.
“I’ve built so many great relationships
over my career here. Some people aren’t
members anymore and you still have
great relationships with them.”
“It’s his life. Bob’s work ethic is crazy.
He’s there constantly and I think he just
loves it. It’s family to him. I know when
he’s there he’s where he wants to be. He’s
really been remarkable for our club.”
Green is stumped when asked what he
would like his legacy to be. He pauses
before answering.
“I think that I worked very hard so that
other people would enjoy the game,” he
“He’s a very nice guy,” said Jim
said. “Nothing gives me greater pleasure
McCathern, also a past president. “I’ve
than having somebody have a great time
known him my whole life. He’s been at
Tedesco ever since I can remember, and
Tedesco’s general manager. “He knows
I’ve been there for 25 years as a member.
literally every member. He knows their
I think one of the things that strikes
children. He knows the members that
me, when I go to another club in New
resigned 10, 20, 30 years ago, and knows
England, and sometimes even in Florida,
the guests that come to the member-
and I wear a Tedesco shirt, people always
playing golf, or being a member of the
club, making them feel comfortable and
welcome at the club. It’s a terrifically
gratifying thing. I try to make golf a
better game and the club a better place
for everybody to be a member.” ■
guest events and greets them by name.
He sets the standard for his staff. He’s
terrific at attracting and keeping really
good people. There’s a huge number of
golf professionals out there that started
with him and that speaks to not only the
quality of people that he attracts but the
passion that he builds in them and the
foundation that he gives to them to help
them be successful.
“He makes his job look easy,” Kinner
added. “Most people think of a golf
professional, all he does is smile, slap
backs and play good golf. But it really is
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the members, with his staff, takes good
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Todd Cook is one of about 16 former
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“He’s a great, great people manager,”
said Cook, now the head pro at the
Milton Hoosic Club. “And as well as he
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FALL
2015
01907 | 33
9/11/15 10:36 AM
THE BRACKMANS
MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESSES
34 | 01907
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:36 AM
By Sandi Goldfarb
Two of Swampscott’s most successful entrepreneurs have a lot
in common. Each is the sole proprietor of a business that requires
attention to detail, access to the highest-quality products and
solid relationships with the clients they serve. They share goals,
dreams and values. They also share a home and family.
Amy Brackman, owner of LuxeBeautiQue, and her husband,
chef and restaurateur Gregg Brackman of G Bar and Kitchen,
are committed to each other, to their three children — Alex, 14,
Cailyn Elle, 6, and Grayson, 4 — and to the town they have called
home for more than seven years. Long before the Brackmans
became Swampscott’s dynamic duo, each was determined to
follow their hearts and their passions.
Gregg Brackman learned from the best. In fact, the legendary
Julia Child taught Gregg to cook. Well, sort of. At 13, Gregg
began learning the tricks of the trade by watching Child and a
slew of other PBS chefs, then preparing meals for his mother.
By 15, he was working behind the scenes, cleaning floors at
local eateries in his hometown of Needham. Gregg soon traded
his buckets and mops for pots and pans.
Gregg gained invaluable experience by training in all aspects
of the hospitality industry. After earning a degree in restaurant
and hotel management from Johnson and Wales University in
1995, Gregg did stints as a bartender, a waiter and as a food
and beverage director at Westin Hotels. He honed his culinary
skills working in a number of professional kitchens, as a caterer
in Connecticut and later as a personal chef aboard a yacht.
By 1998, Amy — a Lynn native with background in show
business and fashion — was a much-sought after makeup artist
Focused on launching his own restaurant, Greg moved to
for top cosmetic lines like MAC, Trish McEvoy and Chanel.
Swampscott in 2008 and started scouting locations. He chose 256
During her seven years with Neiman Marcus and Saks while
Humphrey St. and quickly began renovating the space, creating
representing the luxury cosmetic brands Chantecialle and
a warm and welcoming setting anchored
Sisley and later with beauty giant
by an open kitchen. The couple met
Avon,
Amy
supplemented
her
when Amy asked Gregg to cater the party
extensive knowledge of skin care,
celebrating the opening of the second
fragrance and cosmetics with sales and
owner of LuxeBeautiQue
LuxeBeautiQue location.
management experience. She soon
expanded her portfolio as a freelance
Today, G Bar and Kitchen is recognized
makeup artist, making brides look beautiful
for preparing fresh, seasonal foods from
on their big day, teaming with
top local sources. Guests at the 28-seat
owner of G Bar and Kitchen
photographers to prepare models for
restaurant enjoy flavorful fare — a subtle
magazine shoots and traveling to balmy
fusion of American, Italian and Asian cuisines.
locales to ready the New England Patriots
Since meeting, the couple has worked as team, deftly
cheerleaders for their annual calendar.
balancing their work and personal lives. “Let’s just say we’re
Determined to launch her own spa, Amy enrolled in a program
good jugglers,” said Amy.
at the Enterprise Center at Salem State, which helped her refine
The Brackmans are committed to making time for their kids
her skills, prepare a business plan and secure funding. In 2007,
and for themselves, emphasizing the importance of both family
LuxeBeautiQue Beauty Bar, Cosmetics and Luxury Spa made its
dinners and date nights. Having a dedicated staff allows
debut at 222 Humphrey Street. One year later, Amy relocated to
Gregg to enjoy some evenings at home, a rare respite for a
larger quarters at 433 Humphrey St. And this month, The Beauty
professional chef. “We wouldn’t have made it this far without
Loft at LuxeBeautiQue will open at 410 Humphrey.
our dedicated teams. They are like family,” said Amy.
The two-story, 2,600-square-foot space boasts spectacular views
The Brackmans truly appreciate the fact that they live and work
of the Boston skyline and eight private treatment rooms. This
in the same community. And it’s not just the short commute
full-service day spa will offer hair cutting, coloring, and styling;
that keeps them here. Gregg cites Swampscott’s proximity to
manicures and pedicures, facials, lash extensions, massage,
Boston and the small-town feel. Amy loves being near the
custom airbrush tanning; a wide range of skin rejuvenation
ocean. And both appreciate the benefits and blessings of living
services; and a carefully chosen selection of cosmetics and skin
in a neighborhood with “an open door policy.” “I now know
and hair care products, all in a chic, comfortable and relaxing
what it means when they say ‘it takes a village,’ said Amy. Our
environment. “I’ve always wanted to offer our clients a oneneighbors help us with carpools, cookouts and babysitting. Our
stop shop,” said Amy.
kids literally run from one backyard to the next. We couldn’t
Back in 2007, while Amy, a single mother, was busy raising
imagine living anywhere else.” ■
her then 7-year-old son, Alex, and building a business, Gregg
was on his own journey, one that began when he was a middle
school student.
Amy Brackman
Gregg Brackman
FALL
2015
01907 | 35
9/11/15 10:36 AM
Mark Gelfand
Artful grace in food, wine, design & photography
Continued from Page 26
continuing to offer the Know Atom
enrichment program, which started
with earlier funding from the Gelfand
Family Charitable Trust.
Gelfand has also supported
enrichment and robotics programs
in districts such as Beverly, Danvers,
Lynn, Peabody and Salem and has
helped to build STEM design labs in a
number of local communities – most
recently at the Youth Development
Organization in Lawrence.
Find Laurie Nash Personal Chef on Facebook
Find Laurie Nash Design on Facebook
Elsewhere in the state, the
Gelfand Endeavor in Massachusetts
Schools (GEMS) teamed up with
the Massachusetts Science and
Engineering Fair through its Curious
Minds Initiative. The collaborative
goal is to help increase the number of
Massachusetts schools and teachers
that use inquiry and project-based
learning for teaching STEM.
Find Laurie Nash Photography on Facebook
Ljn1165@gmail.com
Time to decorate your windows for the holidays!
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reward card and mailed within 6 weeks of rebate claim receipt. Funds do not expire. Subject to applicable law, a $2.00 monthly fee will be assessed against card balance 7 months
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36 | 01907
Internationally, Gelfand makes
frequent trips to East Africa and Israel
and is co-founder of Today Tomorrow
Ventures, dedicated to supporting
business ventures throughout Africa.
He has worked with a number of
local governments to build new
schools and science labs, organize
symposiums and create research
institutes and museums. In Ethiopia
alone, he has helped to build 14 high
schools and has established a unique
array of interconnected STEM centers.
As recently as three months ago,
Gelfand pitched an idea for a shared
science high school in Ethiopia, which
is already in operation. The Kotebe
Science Shared Campus offers space
for five high schools to share science
curricula and labs.
“Parents are clamoring to get their
kids into it,” said Gelfand. “This is
what I love to see. I enjoy working
in places that are welcoming and
visionary.” ■
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:36 AM
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01907 | 37
9/11/15 10:36 AM
Burke’s Tumbling Academy
is on a roll
Jennifer Burke DeMagistris helps Jennifer Bartram of Swampscott as she performs a backbend.
38 | 01907
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:36 AM
By Stacey Marcus
S
ome people are born to rock.
Others are destined to roll.
Jennifer Burke DeMagistris is one
of those enviable balls of energy
who manages to do both beautifully. The
athletic entrepreneur has been tumbling
with joy since she was a young girl.
“My mother-in-law always laughed at
Jen because she used to walk out of her
bedroom on her hands,” said Mary Burke,
DeMagistris’ mother and office manager at
Burke’s Tumbling Academy in Swampscott.
DeMagistris grew up in Swampscott and
at the age five began competing in local
and national gymnastics competitions.
Her family moved to Chicago and Atlanta,
before returning to Swampscott where
DeMagistris enjoyed gymnastics and
helping out with Pop Warner cheerleading.
“Jen really came into her own when we
moved back to Swampscott,” said her
father, Tom Burke.
Her business began at age 16 when
a couple of parents approached her to
teach gymnastics to their children and
bought DeMagistris her first mat. She
began teaching gymnastics in her parents’
basement and within six months her
student roster grew from two to
20 students.
When DeMagistris became a junior in
high school her parents told her she
needed to get a summer job. She asked
them if she could create a summer
gymnastics camp in their backyard. The
Burkes opened their home and hearts
to their daughter’s dreams. DeMagistris
started with 20 girls, which grew to 50.
When senior year rolled around and all
her friends were applying to college, she
was unsure if that was the route her
heart and soul were destined to travel.
Two women from A Performing
Arts Academy in Salem approached
DeMagistris about renting space at their
dance studio to accommodate her growing
number of students. After applying to
Suffolk University, DeMagistris tearfully
told her parents that she did not want
to go to college right away but instead
wanted to open her own studio.
“My dad looked at me and said, ‘You are
so young. Chase your dreams. You have
FALL
2015
plenty of time to go back to college,’”
DeMagistris said.
She did both. DeMagistris attended
Marian Court College for two years and
opened Tumble with Jen at age 19, renting
space in Salem. True to form, her business
quickly grew from 50 to 100 students. She
always dreamed of owning her own place
and at age 22 opened Burke’s Tumbling
Academy. “She did it all on her own,”
Mary Burke said.
Today Burke’s Tumbling Academy (BTA)
welcomes more than a thousand students
from age two months to adult, with a
robust roster of classes for all levels from
beginning to elite. In addition to tumbling
the facility offers training for cheerleaders
and hosts birthday parties.
“I never think of it as work,” said
DeMagistris who believes all her
employees feel the same. “In the
summertime we act like kids playing and
having a good time. Her 7,800- squarefoot, state-of-the-art facility includes
equipment suitable for beginners through
elite tumblers and cheerleaders. Along
with a 42' x 54' spring floor, BTA features
a 40-foot in-ground tumble track, an
in-ground trampoline, a foam pit and a
non-spring floor for cheerleaders.
Melissa Sherwood has been bringing
her two daughters, Maeve and Tegan, to
Burke’s Tumbling Academy for more than
a decade. Maeve, now 15, is a member of
the Marblehead High varsity cheerleading
squad and an accomplished tumbler
and gymnast who helps out at BTA as a
counselor and with birthday parties.
“There is a great energy about the gym.
The programs are building blocks to build
great tumbling skills. There aren’t many
places locally where kids can learn that.
Jen has an entrepreneurial spirit and is a
real go-getter. She is a great person and
the kids have a great time. It’s all about
passion,” Sherwood said.
Elisa Torstensson enrolls her three
children, Rory, Nina and Owen, in classes
at BTA. Rory, now 13, has been attending
BTA since it first opened. After she went
to a friend’s birthday party at BTA, Rory
asked to attend classes. The other
children followed suit soon after. “Both
girls dance four days a week but they
have to fit in tumbling. If they can’t fit
in a class, we sign up for semi-private
lessons. Owen enjoys hip hop and the
tumbling really helps” Torstensson said.
“I really like that BTA is not just about
tumbling or tricks, but about strength
training which is so important to overall
health. I love the environment in the
gym. There is never any yelling.”
Christina Ackerman of Gloucester
registered her daughter, Sarah, for classes
last spring. Although it takes them an
hour to get there, “It is worth every
minute in the car,” she said. “Jen is an
amazing instructor and just the coach
Sarah needs. She possesses the important
techniques in a coach. She know exactly
when to push, however she is very
sensitive and understood what Sarah
needed right from the beginning.”
DeMagistris tried to use her keen
coaching ability to train her thenfiancé Rob DeMagistris so they could
simultaneously flip into their wedding.
“Jen had flipped into my brother’s
wedding to a standing ovation and she
pushed me into adult class to learn to flip
for our wedding,” Rob said. “I maxed out
with a cartwheel. Although the plan didn’t
work out the way we wanted, she still lit
up the room.”
“Jen is a hard working and driven
woman. She has a real connection with
her students. You can see it in the smiles
on their faces. It is remarkable how she
creates a fun and energetic atmosphere.
It was hard for her when she was
pregnant to not be so involved every
day. After she had our son, Jameson,
she has a new appreciation and outlook
on coaching. We are so lucky to have
the gym for Jameson,” Rob DeMagistris
added.
Not surprisingly, Jen has already added
a class for two-months-olds. “It’s been
an amazing journey watching Jen grow
her business,” said Tom Burke, who, as
an executive in a traditional corporate
environment, is in awe of his daughter’s
creativity and intuition.
“She has a great work ethic and she loves
what she does. Everything she does turns to
gold. She is a generous person and a great
role model,” said her proud father. ■
01907 | 39
9/11/15 10:36 AM
For the Love of Swampscott
Send us your
SWAMPSCOTT
stories
Have a story for
01907?
We’d love to hear it.
CONTACT US AT:
info@essexmediagroup.com
THE MARKET HAD A BAD DAY.
QUICK, DON’T DO SOMETHING.
OR
Rem aining f oc us ed on t he long t er m .
Medically speaking, checking reflexes is an important test of the nervous system. However,
in our opinion, the doctor’s office is the best place for knee-jerk reactions. Especially when
it comes to investing. We realize that it’s natural to want to react impulsively to a down
day or two, but we believe remaining steadfast is the more prudent course.
And when it’s time to take action, it should be done thoughtfully and strategically, regardless
of the ups and downs. Which is why we approach financial planning with you and your long
term future in mind. Find out what a Raymond James financial advisor can do for you.
LIFE WELL PLANNED.
MATTHEW E. SACHAR, CFP®
Financial Advisor
530 Loring Ave. // Suite 203 // Salem, MA 01970
978-745-5005
matthew.sachar@raymondjames.com // falconfinancialcorp.com
©2014 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.
Raymond James is a registered trademark of Raymond James Financial, Inc. 13-BR-InCr-0433 EG 1/14
40 | 01907
The group formed a board including
O’Neil, president; Gina (Leone) Bush, vice
president; Rebecca von Barta, secretary;
Tessa Cogliano, treasurer; and Heather
(Murphy) Beatrice, Lindsay Bosken, Holly
Hull, Anne (Iarrobino) Quagrello, Colleen
(Neal) Sachar and Wiernusz.
“We began with our Facebook page, which
garnered a lot of attention very quickly, so
we knew we had instantly tapped into a
much-needed resource of communication.
In less than one year we have close to
1900 ‘likes’ and the page has become a
major platform in which to effectively raise
awareness and spread information on
Town Meeting topics and important events
pertaining exclusively to Swampscott,”
Wiernusz said.
One of FLOS’ goals — to create a more
unified and interconnected community
through social media — has proven a
reliable and tangible way to connect
regularly with residents. Postings include
historical facts, business highlights, Town
Meeting details and general information
regarding activities in town.
“Communicating positive information with
residents supports our goal to strengthen
the overall cohesiveness within Swampscott.
In addition to launching the Facebook
page, we designed our website to ensure
we could extend our online communication
to those who are not on Facebook and,
most recently, we have strengthened our
online presence with an Instagram account,”
Wiernusz said.
Her most memorable experience over
the past year was when FLOS officially
received its 501c3 nonprofit status. “This
has been a huge milestone in the creation
of our group, crystallizing our legitimacy
as we move forward in shaping goals for
the future of our town,” Wiernusz said. “I
am proud of the level of motivation and
commitment each member of FLOS brings
to the table. Over the past year we have all
worked so well together to build our vision
for the future of our organization. We have
identified individual strengths, which blend
together in a productive, effective way to
implement our ideas into action.”
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:26 PM
Along with brainstorming, meeting,
launching a successful social media program
and becoming a bona fide nonprofit civic
group, FLOS has been literally been painting
the town with love through community
activities. After the history-making wicked
winter, FLOS celebrated Valentine’s Day by
stenciling red hearts on the snowbanks
of major intersections and in front of the
police, fire and public works departments to
make residents smile and show gratitude for
public servants.
FLOS had a table at the Strawberry
Festival for its youngest members to help
paint DPW trash barrels with colorful
handprints to beautify the town and as a
keepsake for the children to stumble across
the trash barrels and remember the fun
time they had decorating them.
If you are driving by Orchard Circle in
Swampscott, be sure to note the community
herb garden planted by FLOS. Residents are
encouraged to help themselves to the fresh
herbs. This fall FLOS hopes to work with a
local chef to create harvest recipes such as
squash soup and pumpkin risotto. Plans are
also underway for a community Halloween
contest, where residents can decorate their
houses and win prizes based on voting by
the community.
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for all of your
Coastal Insurance needs today.
Salem Office
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johnjw@walshinsurance.com
87 Margin St.
P.O. Box 4407
Rockport Office
Tel: 978-546-6734 | Fax: 978-546-9760
21 Broadway
We have a commitment to maintain a high standard
of mutual trust and service with each of our clients.
Recently the town provided residents
with flags to write on what they love about
Swampscott and flew them along the
boardwalk. “It was so wonderful to see the
many ways people love Swampscott,” said
Beatrice, who noted the answers ranged
from memories to traditions to something
as simple as, “I like my neighborhood cat.”
Beatrice’s affection for Swampscott includes,
“a beautiful seaside community, sharing the
town’s traditions and its proximity to the city
via the commuter rail.”
“I follow For The Love of Swampscott,
because I want to know what is happening
in my town and I also want to share with
others how much I care about the town of
Swampscott,” said resident Ginger Zeller.
As the summer comes to a close and FLOS
approaches its second year, O’Neil reflected
on the first year of FLOS. “We have had a
great year. We really could not have asked
for a better first year. When I first came up
with the idea I could not have imagined a
better group of people with great ideas,”
she said. ■
FALL
2015
01907 | 41
9/15/15 2:26 PM
Tailgating
Fall is the perfect time to celebrate friends, family and football. For many, the socialization and preparation for game day
is just as anticipated as the game itself, particularly for recent alumni returning to reunite with former classmates. Whether
you’re rooting for the Patriots, a college alma mater or Swampscott’s
Big Blue, food plus football equals fun, which is why tailgating has
become such a time-honored tradition. From coordinating menu
options to finding just the right school spirit trimmings, planning
for a tailgate can take careful consideration. We shopped at a few
businesses around town to find some essentials for the big game –
from food and drink to blankets, serving ware, hand-painted
signs, and cowbells.
Marshalls:
Drink cozy $12.99
12th man cowbell $9.99
99
Cutting board $9.99
9.99
Maison de Mer:
nd white gingham lin
Set of four blue and
linen napkins $75
te $16.95
White porcelain plate
ilverw
Blue and white plaid silverware
set $20
Hand-spun linen blanket made in India $145
42 | 01907
Sea Glass Wine and Beer:
Craft shot glasses $15
Riverwalk Brewing Co. hoppy pale ale
made in Newburyport $6.99
Slum Brew pale ale made in Ipswich $8.99
01907 hand-painted sign $20
Beer bread mix $8.99
Bruschetta spread $8.99
Champagne garlic honey mustard pretzel dip $5.99
Reusable totes for wine $14.99
Sea Glass wine, Fisherman
Fisherman'ss Beach Blend
and King's Beach blend $19.99 each
Stop & Shop:
Six cupcakes $3.99
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:26 PM
SCENE iN SWAMPSCOTT
The big screen came to Linscott Park on Aug. 20 as the Swampscott Recreation Department sponsored a showing of “Ghostbusters.”
Subscribe to
Only $15 for four issues.
Call 781-593-7700 ext.1253
or email info@essexmediagroup.com
FALL
2015
01907 | 43
9/15/15 2:26 PM
Mike Lynch’s High 5 segment shines a light on high school athletes.
Mike Lynch
“Bob Ryan covered the game and he
remembers calling the desk at the Globe
and telling them, ‘We’ve got a new lead.’ It
was above the fold,” Lynch said.
While he was plenty good with his arm,
Lynch’s most noteworthy football moments
were accomplished with his right foot.
On Thanksgiving Day 1969, Swampscott
trailed Marblehead, 14-12, with a minute left
and the winning streak was very much in
peril. The Big Blue marched down the field
inside the 5-yard-line and Lynch, a junior,
was called on to attempt a 21-yard field
goal. He made it, Swampscott won, 15-14,
and the streak lived.
Fast forward six years and Lynch is a
senior at Harvard. The Game is tied, 7-7,
with 33 seconds left and a crowd of almost
67,000 watching at the Yale Bowl in New
Haven. Lynch kicks a 26-yard field goal to
win it for the Crimson.
kick. “I had made that kick in my mind
1,000 times. I had dreamed about that all
week long.”
shower. “There I am in the pictures, holding
my sister, with sweaty, greasy hair,” he
laughed.
Lynch attributes his success in those
moments to the training he received as a
3-sport athlete in Swampscott.
Lynch would not trade his upbringing for
anything.
“I knew how to win because we had been
through it,” he said. “Of all the games we
won, not all of them were 40-0. We had to
face some adversity.”
The coaching wasn’t bad either, from
Bondy to his crew of top-notch assistants,
including Lynch’s father, Dick, who also
served as basketball coach, and football
assistant and head baseball coach Frank
DeFelice, whom DiPrisco called “the best
line coach I ever came in contact with.”
DeFelice almost unwittingly played a role
in Lynch’s earning a permanent spot in the
family doghouse.
“It traveled 26 yards and 3 inches,” he
joked, but he had been very serious in
his preparation for that moment, and that
includes the game-winner vs. Marblehead.
“My sister (Tara) was born my junior year
and the Christening was on a Sunday,” he
said. “Frank had us running 50-yard sprints
and I didn’t have my watch, but I knew it
was getting late. My father comes marching
on the field in his suit: ‘What are you doing,
Frank? He’s the godfather. Everyone is
waiting at the church.’”
“I was hoping it would come down to
that,” Lynch said of the pressure-packed
Lynch made it to the church on time
– barely – but without the benefit of a
44 | 01907
Photo | courtesy of WCVB TV
“It was magical,” he said. “I don’t have
one bad memory of growing up here. I
never knew unhappiness or sadness. I went
to bed every night eagerly looking forward
to the next day.
“We had great role models,” Lynch added.
“Everybody’s parents wanted their kid to
grow up like Barry Gallup or Dick Jauron.
The way we were brought up it was almost
impossible to fail at whatever endeavor we
were going to tackle.”
Lynch and his wife, Mary Ellen, have lived
in Winchester for almost 30 years. She and
their three daughters, Kelly, Molly and Katey,
have heard all the stories, over and over
again, of the splendor of his youth. They
still gather at the Beach Club on summer
Sundays.
“My wife calls me ‘High School Harry,’”
he said, though he will never apologize
for the reverence with which he holds his
hometown.
“I always tell people, I may not reside
here, but I’ve always lived here,” he said. ■
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:37 AM
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FALL
2015
01907 | 45
9/11/15 10:37 AM
Paradise Lost?
“It would help if it was uniform all along
that stretch,” said Barden, who has lived
on Paradise Road for 58 years.
occupancy, it could generate as much
as $500,000 annually in property
tax revenues for the town, based on
comparable properties the company owns.
The JRC made an annual $8,000 payment
in lieu of taxes.
He has also seen many traffic studies by
developers that promised what Hanover
is promising, and vows to make sure
Hanover lives up to the promises
it made when the project was approved
in December 2013.
He also said he expects the traffic
study presented to town boards will hold
up when the complex is fully occupied
and traffic in and out of the property is
counted.
Barden noted during the permitting
process that the planned entrance for
the complex was on a lot zoned as
residential, forcing a change in the plans
so that none of the entranceway was
located in the parcel.
“We’re very confident on that,” he said.
“We hired a good traffic consultant we’ve
used before in the past.”
Consultant Jeffrey Dirk of Andover-based
Vanasse & Associates said in his study
that the amount of traffic – based on a
similarly sized Hanover development in
Braintree – would be roughly the same
as the amount of traffic generated by the
JRC.
When the complex is 90-95 percent full,
traffic counts will be made. If the count
exceeds 110 percent of the projections,
mitigation will be in order, possibly taking
the form of retiming traffic signals, to be
paid for by Hanover.
Dirk also said in his report he believed
the volume of traffic would never
reach the threshold required by the
state to approve a traffic light for the
development.
Some abutters and town officials have
adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards
what impact the development will have on
traffic in always busy Vinnin Square.
Longtime Paradise Road resident Gene
Barden, who spent 30 years on the
Planning Board, praised the owners of
Hanover Properties as “nice people who
listen” but still foresees traffic issues
when the complex is fully occupied.
Barden is working with Town
Administrator Thomas Younger to petition
state officials to try to get the speed limit
on the Swampscott side of Route 1A,
currently 35 mph, in sync with the stretch
of 1A on the Salem side from Salem
State College to Vinnin Square, which is
currently 30 mph.
46 | 01907
At the December 2013 ZBA meeting,
Longwood Drive resident Anthony Scibelli
threatened legal action if the conditions
imposed on the project don’t adequately
protect the neighborhood. Scibelli did
not return phone calls seeking further
comment.
Dreeben said she expects any traffic
problems to be addressed by a new traffic
study when the complex is more fully
occupied, with resulting modifications if
traffic becomes problematic.
Hall said he expects the development’s
impact on public services to be minimal.
He predicted there would be about 18-20
children living in the complex when it is
fully occupied, and the number of schoolaged children attending public schools to
be less than that.
“I think both we and the town didn’t see
that as an area of concern,” he said. ■
ADVERTISERS INDEX
Accurate Graphics.................................... 37
All Chic Boutique...................................... 45
Anthony’s Pier 4 Cafe............................... 19
Emergency access to the Hanover
complex was also an issue before the
ZBA gave its blessing. The original plan
for emergency access for public safety
personnel via Longwood Drive and a
second plan for access from Eastman
Road behind the complex both upset
residents. Those plans were superseded
by a new plan for emergency access
through Crown Pointe condominiums land
via a connecting path in the northwest
corner of the Hanover site. Hall reported
at the time that Crown Pointe was
amenable to the idea, which he
called “reciprocal.”
Avico Mason Contractors, Inc.................. 17
Naomi Dreeben, chairwoman of the
Board of Selectmen, wasn’t on the board
when the complex was approved but
said she has heard both positives and
negatives about what it will mean for
the town.
Lynn Auditorium......................................BC
“I’m happy for new, additional housing
opportunities in town and the tax money
is always welcome, but I’m also for a
more livable, walkable Vinnin Square,”
she said.
Moynihan Lumber.................................... 45
Dreeben said the town is planning
more pedestrian options in the area.
Sagan Realtors........................................... 1
“It’s fine having nice, new housing
options but we also want to keep
Swampscott a desirable, affordable,
livable place,” she said.
Stacey’s Home Decor............................... 36
BaneCare.................................................. 13
Benevento Insurance Agency................... 45
Carrigan & Bacik, LLC Attorneys at Law.. 13
eAsi Self Storage........................................ 9
Fast Frame............................................... 23
Flagship Motorcars of Lynnfield..............IFC
Infinity...................................................... 41
John J. Walsh Insurance.......................... 41
Laurie Nash.............................................. 36
Law Offices of Lausier & Lausier............... 6
Leahy Landscape................................... IBC
Lynn Restaurant Week............................. 37
MacDonald Landscaping............................ 9
MarketStreet Lynnfield............................... 3
Matthew E. Sachar, CFP........................... 40
North Shore Jewish Community Center... 33
Periwinkles............................................... 37
Radiance Hair Salon................................. 23
Shore Village............................................ 17
Step by Step Carpets and Interiors.......... 11
Tower School............................................. 7
FALL
2015
9/11/15 10:37 AM
Jim Hughes
And even if he is, arguing with him does
not typically meet with great success.
That’s one of his endearing characteristics,
his friends will tell you.
“Jimmy can sometimes come off as being
a little hard, but he really is an awesome
guy. I can’t say enough about him,” says
Arthur O’Neil, a friend for more than three
decades. “He has done an awful lot for
kids in this town.”
O’Neil can attest to that. When his
daughter Kristin was in middle school and
looking for an organized girls basketball
team to play on, the options were limited;
in fact, they were pretty much nonexistent.
O’Neil went to Jack Hughes (no relation),
who was the high school coach and also
worked for the recreation department.
They decided that a CYO girls program
would be a great idea and they knew
exactly whom to call: the guy who had
year old. That was 81 years ago. He grew
up on Humphrey Street, across from the
former Temple Israel. His parents, J. Lee
and Geneva Hughes, wanted him to go
to Catholic school so they sent him to
St. John’s elementary and then St. Mary’s
Boys High School in Lynn.
“I was there for two days,” he recalls.
“I was not going to fold my hands
anymore. The nuns were too tough.”
Hughes ended up at St. John’s Prep where
he played football and graduated in
1950. He went on to Holy Cross and was
there for two national championships:
a College World Series title in 1952 and
NIT championship in ’54, his senior
year. Hughes had friends on both teams,
including Tom Heinsohn on the ’54 hoop
team and Ron Perry, who played on both
championship clubs.
Hughes planned to go into the Air Force
after graduating, but a car accident in
Swampscott ended that dream. “I blew my
back apart,” he says.
Swampscott eventually did enter the CYO
league and the results were spectacular.
O’Neil says he thinks St. John’s went
about seven years without losing a game.
For Hughes, there was a number even
more important than that.
“We had about 150 kids playing
basketball every Saturday morning,” says
Hughes, who appreciates the fact that the
town got behind the program.
“The head custodian at the high school
was a guy named Dan Myers. He would let
me in the gym every weekend and tell me
to call him when we were done. He never
got paid a dime for that. He was a great
guy,” Hughes says.
Golf has been another of Hughes’
avocations over the years, and he was a
45-year member at Tedesco Country Club.
He served as the high school assistant
coach under his good friend, the late,
great Bob Jauron. Hughes also has golf to
thank for the best claim he ever filed.
It was 1960 and Hughes and his friends
If he had an email address it would be Idontuseit@givemeacall.com
started the ultra-successful CYO boys
program in the town more than two
decades earlier.
“We needed a feeder program for the
high school,” O’Neil said. “Jim’s daughter,
Kristin, was going into high school at the
time so he knew that. He was always very
supportive. If we ever needed anything
(financial or otherwise), he was always
there for us.”
All sports-crazed towns have people who
are willing to do the behind-the-scenes
dirty work in order to support the overall
program. In Swampscott, Hughes is one
of those guys.
“He doesn’t like the limelight,” O’Neil says
“but he supports the teams. He never
lost contact with the girls program. He’s
still very interested in what goes on in
Swampscott – in athletics, academics and
government.”
Hughes can’t accurately be called a
lifelong resident, because he was born in
Brockton and moved here when he was a
FALL
2015
He went to work for Aetna Life & Casualty
in a program for those new to the
insurance business. After only a year, he
decided to hang a shingle in 1960.
“I decided I would be better off opening
my own place,” says Hughes, who worked
out his house for the first 10 years. “I was
27 and I started with zero dollars.”
Sports has always been a passion for
Hughes, who remembers the day he was
leaning on the fence at Blocksidge Field
when legendary Big Blue coach Stan
Bondelevitch approached him and asked if
he would like to coach the JV team, along
with Leon “Doc” Marden.
Dick Lynch was Bondy’s top assistant
and also the varsity basketball coach. He
asked Hughes to start a youth basketball
program, which led to the creation of the
boys CYO program.
“We couldn’t get in the CYO league at
first so we played in the Salem Grammar
School League,” he recalls. “We won
every game and they threw us out.”
were hanging around the old Sunbeam
Golf Range on Paradise Road, on the
parcel where Uno now stands. Nancy
Neville had come over from Salem to hit
some balls and she immediately caught
his eye.
“I chased her down and asked her name,”
he says. “The rest is history.”
Nancy and Jim were married in 1962 and
they have been living in the same house
on Nason Road for 50 years. They have
three daughters — Kim, Tricia and Kristin
– and two granddaughters. Kim recently
moved back to Swampscott from Greece;
Tricia is a social worker in the psychiatry
unit at a Boston hospital; and Kristin is
the new athletic director at Smith College.
At age 82 and in business for 5½ decades,
Hughes is not pondering retirement.
“What would I do, chase women? That’s
not going to do any good,” he quips,
unsure if Nancy would chastise him or buy
him better sneakers. ■
01907 | 47
9/11/15 10:37 AM
Our roots are planted
in Swampscott.
DESIGN | BUILD | MAINTAIN
le a hy l a n d s c a p i n g. c o m | 7 8 1 . 5 8 1 . 3 4 8 9
9/11/15 10:37 AM
Jim Hughes
Old school is his policy
By Paul Halloran
If you want to reach Jim Hughes, don’t bother using
email or text or Facebook or Twitter. Just give him a
call. And make it a landline.
“I have one right here in my pocket,” Hughes says
when asked if he owns a cell phone, though a follow-up
question sheds more light on the situation.
“Do you know the number?”
“No,” he says, in a tone two-thirds defiant and onethird proud.
As for email? If he had an address it would be
Idontuseit@givemeacall.com
“I have no qualms about picking up the telephone
and talking to people,” he says. “I think people still
like that.”
Despite the aversion to high, or even medium,
technology, Hughes manages to run a very
successful (500+ clients) insurance business, as he
has done for the last 55 years.
That’s right: 55 years. That would almost certainly
make his the longest continually owned business
in Swampscott and him the oldest business owner.
But who’s counting.
Thankfully, Hughes’ longtime assistant, Tina Brown,
is somewhat more versed in technology and handles
all transactions above fax-machine level.
“The big problem I find with automation,” Hughes
says, “is that it’s wonderful as long as things run
smoothly. But if a problem comes up — on a claim
or coverage or whatever — it still has to be handled
head to head. That’s my philosophy and I don’t
think I’m wrong.”
Continued on previous page
48 | 01907
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:26 PM
Mayor Kennedy & The City of Lynn announce shows at the...
Lynn Auditorium
LynnAuditorium.com
50 | 01907
781-599-SHOW
1-800-745-3000
FALL
2015
9/15/15 2:35 PM

01907 (Fall 2015)

Transcription

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