Category — Kevin Church

:: On Monday, Chief Health Commissioner Rudolph “Guy” Fenimore sent a press release reminding hungry citizens that the city’s three-year long ban on open air barbecue restaurants ends this Saturday. Blowout celebrations are currently planned at Roy’s BBQ, Captain Jack’s Rib Shack, Shiney’s, the Thai Barbecue House (which will be removing its temporary tarpaulin after closing time on Friday evening), and South Street Jimmy’s, among others.

:: Think you know which building has the greatest number of floors on the west side? If you said the First National Bank building, think again! It’s actually the Richards Center at the corner of Willow Avenue and 5th. Despite its stunted appearance the building, a former slaughterhouse, has five sub-basements!

:: According to a 2006 poll, more residents of the city are worried about red ant infestations than possible corruption at City Hall.

:: Charles Medfield has run Medfield’s 24-Hour Cheesery continuously for over 60 years. It has been closed only once, during the birth of his third child, Marilyn.

:: Animal Planet filmed 3 episodes of the series Animal Cops in the city in the summer of 2006, but the project was canceled and the footage never aired due to the death of an associate producer with the show from an ocelot attack.

:: Singer/Songwriter Andy Partridge of the musical group XTC has specifically requested in his will that he be buried under Wonderland Walk in Mabel Tripp Gardens, but only if his death occurs prior to the year 2020.

:: Hipsters and nerds take note- Local Gotta Dollar? Gotta Deal! stores are flush with original 1980s Transformers Trapper Keeper folders, after a liquidator found thirty cases in a warehouse in northern New Jersey.

:: The city was once home to the largest ball of purple yarn in the western hemisphere. This unusual tourist attraction was housed in the basement of the Zimmer Building, and admission was 12 cents. The ball of yarn was finally disassembled in 1918 to contribute to the war effort. Purple strands can still be seen in military bedding from the time.

:: Local horror show host Count Film-ula declared a five-year “hiatus” from his show on this date in 1997. He currently creates chainsaw sculpture art and declines all interviews.

:: The city’s community garden features grape vines that have been used each year since 1939 to produce three to five bottles of wine that are auctioned off for charity.

:: Theodore Roosevelt’s famous Bull Terrier, Pete, passed away during his visit to the city in 1910.
- D. Andrews, K. Church, S. Levinson, J. Morris, R. White

:: There is a permanent chalk outline on the sidewalk in front of Vincenzo’s Deli in the three-block section of the city that locals call “Tiny Italy.” This is where Alfonzo Venutti was gunned down by two policemen who mistakenly believed that the large sandwich Venutti was bringing home to his wife and children was a shotgun. Whenever weather obliterates this outline, locals reconstruct it to show their respect.

:: Incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs in the city’s subway and bus stops use left-land threads in the bases to discourage people taking them home.

:: Price of a “VIP Skybox” seat in the operating theater at the Thompson Children’s Hospital benefit reenactment of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s gallbladder surgery for the facility’s cancer ward: $2,500

:: Number of internet cafe/oxygen bars in 1999: 8

:: Number of internet cafe/oxygen bars today: 1 (OxyZap’s, at the corner of Professor and Tolerance Streets)

:: All buildings in the Jewelry District are single-ended. The original proprietors would not do business in structures that allowed potential thieves to run through from one street to another.

:: Overheard this week in the Clarion-Journal newsroom:
“Hey, how do you spell the plural of whiskey?”
“Lunch.”
- K. Church, C, Gaines, R. White

:: Munson’s Drugs on the corner of 33rd and Arlington has been in a long-standing dispute with the city concerning signage used each March and 2007 looks to be no exception. The Munson’s March Madness event advertising features a cartoon of Charles Manson standing atop a stack of dead and mutilated bodies, declaring “You’d have to be insane to go anywhere else!”

:: This city’s historic preservation association was the first in the country to have a specific designation for “dive bars.”

:: Lonegal’s Tavern, 3167 Walstreth Avenue, has Tom Waits’ complete catalogue on its jukebox.

:: In the waning years of prohibition (1931-1933), forward-thinking organized crime heads here in the city had already directed their efforts toward pinball rackets.

:: Miles of bike lanes- 7

:: Proposed miles of added bike lanes under the City’s “2020 Vision: Transportation, Conveyance, and Ambulation Planning for the 21st Century”- 12

:: A sampling of the various types of riots the city has had over the years: Student Riots (1966-72), Race Riots (1967-70, 1985), Food Riots (1913, 1917, 1954), Newsseller Riots (1926), Garbageman Riots (1954, 1977, 1981, 1990), Taxicab Riots (1949) and Lightbulb Riots (1921).

:: In what has become a tradition, perennial mayoral candidate Arthur Borden announced his candidacy for the city’s top slot fourteen months before the primary at the city library branch bearing his great-grandfather’s name (the L. Arthur Borden II branch, on Kennesaw Street, near the SavMart). This was the fifth time Mr. Borden has done so.
- K. Church, C. Gaines, R. White