"I’ve been getting my haircut by the same barber for 50 years. No matter what I tell him to do, it always comes out the same." -Tony Talarico "There are two great rules of life: the one general and the other particular. The first is that everyone can, in the end, get what he … [Read more...]

"I’m looking so hard for a place to land/I almost forgot how to fly." -from "Lopin’ Along Thru The Cosmos," a song by the late singer/songwriter Judee Sill Most of us remember our first taste of ice cream, the first time we drove a new car home from the dealer, that first … [Read more...]

A few months ago, I was taking some photographs of the building facades along the downtown block of Eagle Street, when one of the storekeepers came out and asked me what I was doing. When I told him, he said: "There’s nothing here worth looking at. In fact, there’s nothing in … [Read more...]

The following article appeared in the North Adams Transcript on May 25, 2001. Used by permission. In a row of Victorian houses on River Street, a new standard of industrial comfort is coming to life. Early in the past century, mill workers rested in these structures after … [Read more...]

In early 1999, these Victorian mill houses, filled with the humble memories of working-class families, appeared destined for demolition. In less than a century, River Street people had witnessed the prosperous years of Arnold Print Works and its decline during the Great … [Read more...]

"They kept the wood around the mirrors. The wainscoting is still there. But they took all the memories out. I wanted it to stay like it was." Several months after the Porches Inn opened in the summer of 2001, 69-year-old Mary (Cardinal) Gaudreau went over with her son to take … [Read more...]

The Golden Cross, poem by Joe Manning Gramma used to tell me about the floods. She said that when she saw the store floatin' down the river, it was time to get out. So she moved to Rand Street, 'cause it was way up on the hill. My parents lived on Front … [Read more...]

"Why should it be loved as a city? It’s never the same city for a dozen years all together. A man born forty years ago finds nothing, absolutely nothing of the New York he knew. If he chances to stumble upon a few old houses not yet leveled, he is fortunate. But the landmarks, … [Read more...]

Steep Roads, poem by Joe Manning Life is all struggle and triumph, triumph and struggle. That is why I love to walk the steep roads of North Adams: Prospect up to Franklin, Meadow up to East Quincy, East Quincy up to Kemp, Hathaway up to North, Cliff up to … [Read more...]

On Thursday, October 4, I watched with sadness as the familiar J.J. Newberry’s sign was retired. It did not go easily, stubbornly hanging on for a full eight years after the closing of the last five and dime in North Adams. Almost a month later, as I drove over Route 9 from … [Read more...]

When city native James Martin opened his North Adams Co-op Shoe Store at 113 Main Street on March 2, 1902, he wouldn’t have even dreamed that it would last into the next century. When Eileen Clark, 41, routinely opened Martin’s Shoe Store on a Saturday morning exactly 100 years … [Read more...]

When you drive down the Mohawk Trail into North Adams and come around the turn past the entrance to Beaver Street, it pops up suddenly - that forever startling scene - the two long brick mills, the narrow passage between, and Notre Dame church in the distance. Just across the … [Read more...]

"I don't think I'm beautiful. When I look in the mirror, I just see me — and I'm pretty used to me." -actress Melanie Griffith There’s an old story in my family that my mother often tells. She’s always been dissatisfied with the way she looks in photographs, and this used to … [Read more...]

It was about two years ago. I was headed home to Florence. As I turned left off East Road in Adams, I noticed that elm tree, the one which stands alone on the hill above Bucklin Road. I always notice it, but this time, I could see a strange low cloud moving toward the top of the … [Read more...]

"We had 10 million pigeons in that urban renewal area. When Purina was there, they had tons of seeds around, and people fed them. The street sweepers would throw popcorn to them. We had pigeons all over. They perched on rooftops and chimneys. Our office in the old City Hall was … [Read more...]

"Why is it that the kids don’t seem to notice these buildings (at Mass MoCA) at all? I talk to kids who ride their bikes up here. I ask them, ‘What do you think of these old mill buildings?’ There’s no differentiation in their minds between them and the 1950s church across the … [Read more...]

By the time the yellow school buses are making their rounds again, two colorful trolleys from Illinois will be parked somewhere in North Adams, awaiting the chance to carry tourists up, down, and around our steep roads in search of museums, art galleries, historic houses and … [Read more...]

"I used to march in the Fall Foliage Parade when I was a kid. I was in the high school band. It was the longest parade I was in. I always liked that parade. There was something about North Adams. It was very attractive. I liked to look at those grand old buildings on Main Street. … [Read more...]

When Doug Bartow was interviewed for a job at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in late 1994, the museum was still waiting to be certified for state funding. He had no guarantee that the position would still exist the following spring, when he expected to complete his … [Read more...]