Category — Mabel Tripp Gardens

Commuters will witness a curious sight floating amid the Central Corridor’s skyscrapers tomorrow morning: a transparent dirigible filled with greenery will be seen making its northerly approach from its current week-long stop at New Heath’s Horticultural Center and Casino. The dirigible SS Wassermelone is currently on a transoceanic goodwill/window shopping tour after making several stops abroad.

Controversy has dogged the dirigible’s travels since the tour’s official launch last fall, as many complaints have been made by pedestrians in several cities of peach pits, banana peels and melon rinds raining down upon streets and rooftops, allegedly left in the dirigible’s wake. Although Herr Ambassador Kloop, head of the city’s German consulate, has insisted that such incidents were isolated and nothing more than ballast mishaps, it’s been rumored that the crew may be acting out in a passive-aggressive manner in response to their captain’s leadership style. It must be noted here that Captain Stachelschwein has been characterized in the international press as an uptight, monocled prick with a pointy helmet, hornlike moustaches and a mechanical hand that seems to malfunction at the most inopportune of moments. Reports of his incessant tuba playing have also not yet been verified.

In anticipation, Mayor Wilders has put the city’s composting crews on alert throughout the weekend.

The airship will be moored near the Edwin Halstead Horticultural Center at Mabel Tripp Gardens through Tuesday.
- Victor A. Crawford III

:: The city is home to no less than seven junior and community colleges, one of which (Sparrow Valley Community College, on Cedar Ave and S.Sparrow Valley Dr.) boasts a Zagat-rated three-star cafeteria.

:: The large outdoor clock above the main entrance of the City Hall Annex was accidentally set to Standard Time last weekend. On Monday morning approximately 12 employees and visitors were seen waiting outside the building one hour before official opening time.

:: Amount of leaves a City resident is allowed to burn per week (by volume): 7 cubic feet

:: Distance from freestanding structures (doghouses and meat-smoking lodges excepted, starting in 1989) burning City leaf piles must be: 25 feet

:: Times City Code stipulates a resident must wave arms and “clearly and directly” state “I am burning leaves” before setting leaves aflame, to notify any deaf or blind children who might be playing nearby: 5

:: Times a resident of one of the city’s six unincorporated areas must “thoroughly and purposefully” probe leaf piles with a lawn implement to ensure no children or squirrels have burrowed into the leaf piles before burning: 1

:: An elaborate new storefront window display was unveiled for the struggling Spoiled Brats restaurant, located on Smithson Place, in the Courthouse District. The animatronic diorama depicts a crying bratwurst dressed in overalls and holding a lollipop while being offered an array of toppings and dipping sauces. Owner Reggie Von Leold recently admitted, “I’m not sure that this was the best name to pick for a restaurant and figured it could use some further clarification.”

:: City Parks and Recreations Services announced yesterday that they expect to have repairs to the 1:6 scale model of the Cutty Sark in Mabel Tripp Gardens completed by next Friday. The cherrywood replica vessel has been undergoing renovation and repair over the last four years, to remove more than 1,200 profanities carved into its hull by vandals. The endeavor employed a remarkable 920 pounds of wood putty.
- David Andrews, Benjamin Birdie, Craig Gaines, Jon Morris

It’s once again time to grab your frying pan hats and potted mint plants; DeedlesCon is back in town!

Celebrating its twentieth year of operation, DeedlesCon is a chance for memorabilia collectors and fans alike to come together and share their love of locally created comic strip icon Junior Deedles.

Probably best known for being the one comic strip which New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia refused to read over the radio during a 1945 newspaper strike (“I, er, won’t read this one” explained the mayor, without further comment, before moving on to Li’l Abner), Junior Deedles was actually a wildly popular strip during most of its forty-seven continuous years of publication.

Created by local cartoonist Fred P Skates, Junior Deedles made his debut as the so-called “Canny Oaf” in Skates’ then-titled Humorous Junction comic strip. Within three years, by 1927, Junior Deedles had acquired his name, “adopted” the first of his Magical Mint Plants “Julia,” and had proven so popular that the Humorous Junction strip was renamed in his honor.

Skates perished in 1959 from complications related to a case of Queensland Fever contracted when he was a child, but Junior Deedles lived on via a long series of replacement artists, a multitude of merchandise and a series of surprisingly vulgar black-and-white animated shorts released during the 1940s.

Although the strip ceased publication more than thirty-five years ago, it continues to delight its former audience and develop new fans along the way. Mitch Prince, organizer of the DeedlesCon since its inception in 1987, claims that new fans are drawn in by the timelessness of the stories and the characters.

“When you talk about the great characters of literature, you have to put Junior Deedles right up there with Hercules, Jesus and Shakespeare,” says Prince, “Not to mention his supporting cast, Deedles’ girlfriend Hotcha, his father Poppa Deedles, the evil shoe salesman The Rattlesnake or even the Hopping Hootenanny.

“These are classics,” added Prince, “They represent the work or one of the great masters of a unique American art form.”

After a moment’s consideration, Prince added “Or as Deedles used to say, “Cushy Coo Coo Coo!”

DeedlesCon 2007 will be held in the Hussar Room at the Lawbell Alley Hilton, east of Exit 551.

Notable Facts About Junior Deedles:

• At the peak of its popularity, Junior Deedles was carried in over seven-hundred newspapers. At its nadir of its popularity, it was carried in only one.
• Fred Skates and Peanuts creator Charles Schulz shared a profound hatred for one another, both personally and professionally. On the occasion of Skates’ death, Schulz sent an infamous telegram to Skates’ widow reading “My apologies as I cannot attend funeral stop may reconsider if I can find my dance shoes stop”
• Names of all the Magical Mint Plants “adopted” by Junior Deedles: Julia, Hortence, Agatha, Alice, Pearl, Posey and Roy.
• Most valuable piece of Deedles memorabilia, according to the 2005 Comic Strip Character Collectible Price Guide (Collector Books): The Junior Deedles Mint-Scented-Spray Gun (1945) - $125,500
• Least valuable piece of Deedles memorabilia: Junior Deedles Christmas Candy Cigarettes (1992) – No Value Listed
• Whatever happened to the statue of Junior Deedles which occupied a place of honor on Wonderland Walk at Mabel Tripp Gardens, until 1983? No one knows.

- J. Morris

:: Clarence ‘Big Stan’ Stanton is the only mayor to be recalled (1910) in the city’s history, though it is widely believed that Mordecai M. Miller resigned (1877) to avoid the same fate. His successor, M. Seymour Haley, faced recall in 1879, but retained his office by a single vote. Both Haley and Miller died in a mysterious warehouse fire at the 17th Street Pier in 1887.

:: According to a poll by local youth blog CityTeenz, the three most popular places to “hook up” are: 1) under the bench in the middle of the Max Schmeling Garden of A Thousand Faces, found within the Jack Dempsey Memorial Statue Gardens; 2) in the greenhouse tool shed at Miles Muzio Memorial High School; 3) anywhere on the Great Lawn of the historic Fonda-Dodge House.

:: The poll, conducted during the week of Aug. 3, also found that it’s becoming popular among “extreme” young men to stick forks in their forearm.

:: Of the 216 area teens who took part in the poll, 78 percent said they “Want to get out of the City as quickly as humanly possible.”

:: Water levels in the central branch of the Ostahanoc River are at their lowest point since 1934. The river was, in fact, completely dry in August of 1934 due to the final phase of construction up-river on the Valley Vista Dam.

:: The producers of the locally cultivated Monet Cabbage (a dark-blue, baseball-sized legume edged with gauzy pink and white frills) have entered litigation today against the Gilroy, CA agricultural firm responsible for the cultivation of the Monet Pear (a dark-green, baseball-sized fruit speckled with pink-and-white ‘freckles’) on charges of “deliberately manufacturing confusion in the produce marketplace” between the two rather dissimilar food items.

:: Number of local businesses with “Belly” in the name: 3 (”Belly-Busters” Restaurant on Elmer St. and Avenue D; “Pink Bellies” suntan salon in the Civic Center Mall; and “Bellies,” low-impact fitness centers for expectant mothers, multiple locations)

:: After reviewing hundreds of entries over the last several months, it has been decided that the official name for the 50th Annual Meatloaf Festival being held at Mabel Tripp Gardens in late October will be called “Meatloafia!”
- David Andrews, Craig Gaines, Jon Morris

:: The WUIH-TV Weathersphere atop the Beacon Financial Tower has four colors of neon tubing (soon to be relaced with LED): Red (weather alert), Green (calm), Purple (rain and wind), Blue (ice and snow)

:: According to a poll of more than 2,000 city residents, the most popular remedies for a hangover include raw eggs and beer, vitamin B6, and floating face-up in a lukewarm pool. Hangover cures which received only a single vote included consuming BLTs, dog food and unsweetened Kool-Aid, among others.

:: Local bookseller Jonathan Franklin was awarded a place in the 2004 edition of the Guiness Book of World Records after drawing a continuous line 27.4 miles long with a single Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil.

:: Joel and Ethan Coen are scheduled to begin shooting a new film in several locations througout the city in the Fall of 2008. The movie, (working title Like Pulling Teeth), stars John Turturro as a narcoleptic dentist, and Frances MacDormand as his estranged wife.

:: On Monday, the city council adopted a measure to appoint an official bird for each of the World Conservation Network’s 1994 Categories and Criteria of endangered species. The Official Bird of the City (”Extinct” Status) will be the Nycticorax carcinocatactes , or Night Heron, which were common in the city and surrounding area until the late 18th century. The Official Bird of the City (”Least Concern” status) will be the Merops leschenaultia, or Chestnut-Headed Bee Eater (Which is native to southern India, although several taxidermized examples of which are on display at the “Aviarium” at Mabel Tripp Gardens).
- R. Ingraham, J. Morris, R. White

Television dramatist Stirling Silliphant famously wrote that “there are eight million stories in the naked city.” Local author Burton Becker is out to prove that our city has a few million stories of its own, even if they are a bit more conservatively dressed. Becker has just published his fourth novel, Same Time Last Year, a detective story that takes place in a fictional city that local residents will find somewhat familiar. Becker has set each of his four published works in the urban milieu he understands best, a working class neighborhood not unlike the industrial district on the city’s south side. But you won’t find any references to existing local businesses, streets, or colorful characters in Becker’s literary world. He is careful to avoid mention of any actual landmarks or living persons. “I want people to recognize to what I am referring,” says Becker, “but I don’t want people in other cities or towns to feel that the story doesn’t apply to their own neighborhood.” Thus Whittingers Park becomes “Whitmann Park,” Mabel Tripp Gardens is transformed to “Fern Falls Arbor,” and the town’s real estate tycoon is “Howard Marlowe” instead of local icon Hugo Chandler.

“It’s a delicate balance,” says Becker. “My editor called me three months ago asking who this new ‘Chandler’ character was on page 229. I had to tell him he was ‘an honest mistake.’”

Becker spends most of his time at the library, or in the public records section of the City Hall Annex. “I think history is very important,” says Becker, “and the history of our city is truly fascinating.”

Thus careful readers will find cleverly veiled references to former mob boss Rory Sheehan, Livery District landmark The Legacy Diner and a criminal’s alibi that crumbles based on his ignorance of The Spaghetti Giant, or as he is known in Becker’s second novel “The Linguini Leviathan.”

“Sometimes I crack myself up,” acknowledges Becker, “and other times I change and re-change names until I find a pseudonym that’s just right.”

Many things have turned out right for the local author since 1999. His first city-based novel, Something to Die For published in 1995, was only a modest success, but his second book, the 1999 mystery novel The Shoe-In that introduced detective Simon ‘Spats’ Dugan, earned him a devoted cult following that helped push his third effort, Off the Beaten Track, to number 11 on the New York Times best-seller list. His current offering opens with ‘Spats’ Dugan buried six feet deep under Woodlawn Park (Elmwood Memorial Cemetery). Fortunately for Burton Becker, the novel itself opens a bit higher – on the best-seller list this week debuting at number 54.

And what’s next on this best-selling author’s plate? “Well, to be accurate, it’s ‘what’s in my mug,’” says Becker. “Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time in Belgium Town, drinking beer and soaking up the local atmosphere.” And what has he learned in his time there that he can use? “Oh, you’ll have to read my next book,” he continues, “but clearly there’s something rotten in the state of…Denmark Town.”
- D. Andrews

With this Friday being Arbor Day, let us take a moment to examine some of this city’s famous foliage.

Independence Elm (1781)
During colonial times the city was just two muddy streets– a small collection of homes surrounding the church and graveyard. Word of the Continental Congress was slow to reach our isolated hamlet, but by 1781 “independence” was the buzzword. A copy of the Bill of Rights was posted on an enormous elm tree in the cemetery behind a church. For weeks during July and August the community gathered around the tree to debate the war against England. (By this point, the outcome of the war had actually been decided, but news was slow to reach the hinterlands). The English garrison, disturbed by the rambunctious rabble-rousers, tore down the document and posted a guard in graveyard. The city population, whipped into a frenzy of anti-Anglo agitation, and wanting to strike a blow before the war was officially over, attacked the guard and drove him from the cemetery. He returned moments later with reinforcements. According to city legend, a pitched battled ensued, and five villagers were killed. The battle passed into history, and the elm was celebrated as a meeting place for liberty– a commemorative plate featuring a picture of the elm was produced for the 1876 centennial. During an archeological investigation in 1976, musket shells from the period were removed from the tree, thus lending credibility to the battle story that was once considered apocryphal. The tree succumbed to Dutch elm disease in 1980, but shells from the famous battle and a ring from the tree can be seen on display at the Watson Museum of Furniture and City History.

Sycamore Street (1868)
Fast forward eighty years, and the city had changed drastically from its colonial beginnings. In the eighteen-sixties, our city was experiencing a boom from lumber, mining and an embryonic textile industry. Jacob Rutledge, city council president, mining tycoon, and man-about-town decided to begin a city beautification campaign. He was tired of wagons becoming bogged down in unpaved thoroughfares, particularly in front of his palatial estate (on present-day Sycamore Street near South Birch). After spending a morning listening to a mule driver curse his team as they descended deeper into the muddy morass, Rutledge decided to take action. That summer he began construction of the famous wooden streets. Beginning in front of his manor, he laid wooden planks across the boulevard, initially he used sycamore, but switching to pine when the costs became too high. Despite this change, the street acquired the nickname “Sycamore Street”, which became its official designation in 1888. The wooden streets became a calling card for our city, and were even featured on city stationary for a time, with the motto “City of Progress.” Slowly the wooden streets were replaced with concrete, which posed less of a fire hazard. The last section of remaining planks, in front of the Rutledge Estate, was removed in 1912 to make room for the new trolley system.

America’s Tallest Flowering Eucalyptus (1899)
Mabel Tripp Gardens, our city’s botanical centerpiece, is home to the nation’s tallest flowering eucalyptus. It was grown from a seed planted in 1899 to commemorate the dawn of the new century. The seed was carried half-way around the world in a velvet pouch, presented as a gift from the Archduke of New South Wales. The seed and tree it created represent a connection with one of our sister cities—Brisbane, Australia. (In return we sent them a sample of our famous shrub, the Western Creeper). The tree was nearly destroyed during a wave of anti-Aussie hysteria immediately following the first outbreak of Queensland Fever. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed, and the tree was spared. Seedlings from this tree have provided specimens for the National Botanical Gardens, and the tree was featured in the documentary Famous Trees In Our City (1977). During a two-year period in the 1970’s, environmental activist Paulis Stevenson climbed the tree daily to promote renewable agriculture.

Oakland Drive (1951)
Visitors to Oakland Drive today are certain to enjoy an unparalleled shopping experience, with its pedestrian mall, used sporting good warehouse and ample parking. But someone traveling down Oakland Drive sixty years ago would have seen a very different vista—miles and miles of oak trees that gave the road its name. Enter acorn farmer Wally K. Franklin. The oak groves on either side of Oakland Drive had been in the Franklin family since the Civil War. Wally eked out a living making acorn flour and acorn paste, which he primarily sold to the military. During the Eisenhower years, the military’s demand for acorn paste decreased exponentially, and Wally needed to look for a new way to make a living. Taking advantage of a post-war building boom, Wally auctioned off the oaks and made a killing in the lumber business. Flush with cash, he created the Oakland Pedestrian Mall and Tabernacle. The mall soon attracted foot traffic and business thrived, but Wally’s main focus was on his great Oak Tabernacle, which he envisioned as a non-denominational tourist attraction/church. He recruited the finest craftsmen to create elegantly carved oak pews, and oak altarpiece shaped like an acorn. He hired architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design an oak organ (the blueprints were completed, but never constructed). The Tabernacle enjoyed immediate success, but its prosperity was short-lived. In his desire to construct the building entirely of oak, Franklin declined to install an up to date sprinkler system. On Palm Sunday 1952, a large pile of fronds caught fire and within minutes the entire building was consumed. Wally never recovered from the loss, and left the city soon after. The pedestrian mall continued to thrive, and was opened to automobile traffic in 2001.
- M. Vermeulen

:: Between 1975 and 1988, city-wide legislation prohibited the use of the words “New York” or “Chicago-style” in describing foodstuffs.

:: Our city was home to the next-to-last surviving Passenger Pigeon, Matilda. Matilda passed away August 22, 1914.

:: Number of businesses within the city limits with “Hugs” in its name: Three (The “Bun Huggs” clearance jeans outlet store, the “Huggable Hounds” pet salon and ”Hugs Hugs and More Hugs” creative gift boutique)

:: Number of businesses within the city limits with “Kisses” in its name: Seven (including “Cuddly Kisses” custom made teddy bear emporium, “Mrs. Kisses” children’s daycare, and “Kisses” gentlemen’s club)

:: Number of businesses within the city limits with “Hugs and Kisses” in its name: One (“Hugs and Kisses,” bed-and-breakfast operated by former “Ballad of Billie Jean” actress Helen Slater and her husband Kevin)

:: The human population of the city surpassed the cattle population in 1856.

:: The “Photon Torpedo Pranksters” make an annual one-night event of painting Star Trek uniforms on statues around the city (don’t worry, the Pranksters make sure to use washable paint). This year, targets included painting the statue of Pinnochio at Mabel Tripp Gardens’ Wonderland Walk to resemble Enterprise engineer Geordi LaForge, tinting the fiberglass cow outside of City Hall in the colors of an original series medical officer, and - as usual - the bronze statue of President William Taft in Mabel Tripp Gardens painted to resemble James T.Kirk’s Starfleet Academy tormentor, Finnegan.

:: The Digital Clock Wall at Mabel Tripp Gardens contains more than twenty-five hundred digital clocks, ranging anywhere from an inch to several feet across in size, and many coming from as far away as China.
- D. Andrews, J. Morris

:: This Saturday is the 34th annual Last Year’s Easter Egg Hunt at Whittinger’s Park. The Greek Gardening Consortium insists that they hid more than 12 eggs and that if the rest aren’t found there will be no 35th annual Easter Egg Hunt at Whittinger’s Park.

:: Acts of violence committed against actors dressed as “Ronald McDonald” since 1980: 17

:: Acts of violence committed against actors dressed as “The Hamburglar” since 1980: 12

:: Acts of violence committed against actors dressed as “Birdy the Early Bird” since 1980: 30

:: Apples are the third most popular fruit currently sold at Haspiel’s Produce.

:: When asked, in a 2006 Evening Press poll, which insect they’d be most willing to eat “if worse came to worse,” the majority of the respondents preferred “crickets.”

:: Jumbo, P.T. Barnum’s famous elephant, visited the city seven times before he was killed in a locomotive accident in 1885, and once after.

:: Exotic dancers are required to wear jackets during the Winter season, according to a 2002 city ordinance, as part of a concerted effort to reduce instances of cold and flu.

:: A regionally-produced version of the popular board game Monopoly incorrectly spelled “Moondriver Blvd” as “Monodirevr Lvbd.”

:: The city’s original mounted police force was disbanded in 1970. It was reformed in its current incarnation in 1992.

:: The Dog Run at Mabel Tripp Gardens features a colored concrete map of Northern Europe as it existed during the Napoleonic era, as well as a timeline of the Little Emperor’s assorted battles and conquests. There is also an interactive water feature (visitors are politely requested to not squirt the dogs).
- D. Andrews, K. Church, S. Jones, J. Morris

:: 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