The
Upper Falls News is an email newsletter about what's going on in our
village. The Upper Falls News is brought to you by the Upper Falls Area
Council but it's intended to cover any and all news in the village.
Upper Falls Historic Trivia -
Reader Larry Smith sent another great but off visual historical
trivia. Where in Upper Falls would you have seen this in the 1940's?
(answer below)
Brian Yates and Violins - Alderman Brian Yates is
hosting a campaign event tonight from 5:30-7:30 at Carriage House
Violins (1039 Chestnut St) and the public is invited.
Carriage House Violins is probably the most interesting and beautiful commercial space in Upper Falls, so stop by and meet the candidate.
Upper Falls On Two Wheels -
The Tour de Newton, a 20 mile, 13 village bike ride originally
scheduled for Oct 6 was rained out that day. The Tour went off without a
hitch this past Sunday. Upper Falls was well represented with
a crew of 23 riders, including
kids,
teenagers and
adults sandwiched between two Upper Falls Jims. Leading the Upper Falls riders was Jim Lerner and taking up the rear was "sweep"
Jim Purdy.
They took off from The Depot and stopped at each of the other 12
villages along the way, Meanwhile, groups of riders from around the
city arrived every 10 or 15 minutes and were greeted in Upper Falls by
Jen Kohl
and Chris Murphy who handed out Upper Falls badges and gave the
visitors a crash course on the pleasures and history of Upper Falls.
Special thanks to Dunn-Gaherins who was our village sponsor. Thanks to
them, all the riders received Tour de Newton T-shirts, route maps and
village pins.
Greenway Ground Breaking - On Friday Oct 25, at 1 PM,
there will be a ceremonial ground-breaking for the Upper Falls Greenway
at Oak and Chestnut St. The mayor will be there, the state's Secretary
of Transportation, our local aldermen and various other dignitaries.
Iron Horse Preservation will also be there with their rail removal
equipment. Once the formalities, the handshakes, and the photos are
dispensed with, the real fun will begin.
The Newton Bicycle Pedestrian Task Force (aka Newton Bike/Ped) are the
ones who first dreamed up the idea for the Upper Falls Greenway. The
folks at Newton Bike/Ped have contacted hobbyists that have
self-propelled rail riding vehicles. They're going to bring two of
these rail-riders to Upper Falls for the day and the public will be
invited to take the final ride on this mile of track just before its
torn up to make way for the Upper Falls Greenway, our new mile long
walking/jogging/biking trail and park. So come on down and ride the
rails and enjoy green tea on the Greenway, and maybe a bowl of hot &
sour soup courtesy of Taam China II, our neighborhood kosher Chinese
restaurant.
Politics at the Emerson - Many of the candidates for
contested seats in the upcoming election will be at the Emerson Center
in Upper Falls for a Candidates Night on Oct 30 7-9:30. The three Ward
5 Area Councils (Upper Falls, Highlands, and Waban) are working to put
together a Candidates Night at the Emerson Center on Oct 30. The Ward 5
Aldermen-At-Large candidates (Deb Crossley, Chris Steele and Brian
Yates), and the Ward 2 School Committee candidates (Margaret Albright
and Andrea Steenstrup) will all be there. If you have a question for
any of the candidates, particularly any issues that are pertinent to
Upper Falls or if you'd like to help organize the event,
contact Anil Adyanthaya.
If you like your car staying where you left it, be sure not to park in
the residents' spots at the Emerson - they tow. Not to worry though,
there's plenty of on-street parking on Pettee St.
The Award Winning Biltmore - Congrats to Jayson
Goldstein at the Biltmore Bar & Grill. Jayson just won the 2nd
annual Newton Upper Falls Village Business Award from the Economic
Development Commission. The award will be presented at a cocktail
reception on Monday, Oct. 21, from 5:30- 7:30 p.m. at the Newton War
Memorial at Newton City Hall and every one is welcome. Not to pick nits
but .... shouldn't they be serving pints from the Biltmore's collection
of craft brew beers rather than cocktails at this event?
Disappearing House Stirs Up More Trouble - Last issue we reported on
the house at the corner of Wetherell and Elliot St
that was razed this summer. Local resident Paula (Daley) Kelleher
realized that the house next door is also slated to be a tear down.
This week the plot thickened. Resident Carol McPherson sent
this letter to the Newton Historic Commission chairman, raising concerns about the process around the approval of the demolition permit for the house on Wetherell Street.
Did You Know ... that a
crocodile can't stick its tongue out.
"Did you know ..." features an interesting and random fact every issue, collected by ten-year-old Upper Falls resident Jayla Reilly.
Send Us Your News - If you have any upcoming events,
activities, news, trivia, stories, anecdotes or jokes related to Upper
Falls just send them to
news@UpperFallsNews.org
and we'll include them in the next newsletter. For those who prefer
living in the past, back issues of the Upper Falls News are archived at
UpperFallsNews.org.
"Upper Falls Historic Trivia" Answer - The answer to "Where in Upper Falls would you have seen that image in the 1940's?" says Larry Smith is "
in your living room or more likely in a shop window in the block where the Biltmore is now located". Says Larry, "
That is a TV test pattern including the Indian Head. When TV first came into the homes in the 1940’s it would not broadcast TV til 6 pm and the first item on was the test pattern which would last for about 15 minutes so that the home owner could adjust his TV set picture as good as he could to the images on the test pattern. The TV broadcast would only be on from 6pm til 12 midnight and then it would sign off by playing the national anthem.
Before we
could afford a TV set, we could watch TV through the window of Bob
Turners Radio Shop. Bob sold TV’s and set a TV up in the front window of
his store which was part of the Biltmore complex. There would be a
pretty good crowd there and some would bring their own chairs and put
them on the sidewalk. We could sit through the night watching TV
programs. A popular show were the Friday night boxing events from
Madison square Garden New York.