Jen and Brian, eat your heart out!

[dancerjodi]

In a discussion of Waltham, I thought of Mr. Big Toyland. Here's a neat article about it:
http://www.cooljapanesetoys.com/clubcjt/03_00/toyland.cfm

My favorite quote is:
"Waltham is a tough town. It's got attitude. You don't want to mess with kids from Waltham, they'll knock your lights out. Moody street embodied this attitude."

You'd never know it to look at Moody Street now of course, but mess with any Southsider and you'll find out ;)

Brian and Jen never got to go because "it was too far to Waltham". I used to walk down the 7 blocks down on my own (after stopping at Johnnies for some candy that I'd buy with my allowance).

Neener neener neener! :)

Comments

[pauljtaylor.livejournal.com]

"Mom!  You gotta take me to this place they advertise on STAR BLAZERS!!!"

"No."

Also too far away...

suburban towns' bad boy images

[julishka.livejournal.com]

hehe and your comment reminds me of the movie "dogtown and z boys" about skateboarding in the 70s in santa monica california.

see, my brother lives next door to santa monica now. so when we visit we often go to santa monica which, to me, is like the cambridge of the LA area. hip, funky, well off, etc. yet, in the movie, the skateboarders portrayed their hometown of santa monica as this brutal brutal coastal town where if you surfed in _their_ surf spots, or skated in _their_ drained pools they'd kick your ass or even kill you! desolation everywhere, etc.

just like waltham, no?

Re: suburban towns' bad boy images

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"the skateboarders portrayed their hometown of santa monica as this brutal brutal coastal town where if you surfed in _their_ surf spots, or skated in _their_ drained pools they'd kick your ass or even kill you! desolation everywhere, etc.

just like waltham, no?"

hee hee, yep!

Honestly, Waltham was in the middle of what outsiders thought and what the insiders thought. Developer will tell you he feared being at the train station waiting to head home to Acton (he went to a private HS in Waltham). People in Newton made fun of us and thought it was a really scummy place. We thought it was heaven on earth. There were definitely turf things - mostly between high schools and related to sports. There was also a high crime rate - hookers on the Moody street bridge, lots of drug activity and a lot of muggings along the Charles.

It just boggles my mind how different it is now. I wish I had photographic evidence or something :)

[tiamatlady]

I hate you.
NO pedicure for YOU!
Seriously, I nearly cried when I found out I wouldn't be able to get my Gaiking figures.

(*pssst* there's a place in Cambridge B has mentioned before that I've seen and I REALLY want to go into now! You didn't really nead that down payment on a house? Since I think B needs a scale model of the Argo. *evil grin**runs*)

[tiamatlady]

I HATED that!
Now that I do the drive it would have been, I'm doubly pissed.
20 freaking minutes. To make me the happiest 7 year old in the world (til I broke the damn thing)
*grumble* And then you'd see the ad every day for two weeks, reminding you of what you couldn't have.