The small dog and I made our way down Carew toward Liberty this morning with a big goal in (my) mind: We were going to go all the way down to Chestnut and back up. We passed by Newbury Street; I mentioned Liranzo on the corner of Newbury and Carew in a previous entry, but on the corner opposite that is the Quick Stop and the Blarney Stone Tavern.
This Quick Stop does not have Jay and Silent Bob hanging out in front, and, at 11:15 in the morning, there was already somebody waiting to get into the Blarney Stone. My friends that live in the area tell me the tavern is for more...mature audiences only.
We turned left on Liberty, passing by the shops I mentioned before and some new ones on the other side of the street.
This is the Domino's we refuse to order from now, because they refused to take our free pizza and two-liter soda coupon.
Hungry Hill is one of the sub-sections of Liberty Heights, and this is the Hungry Hill Community Development Corporation. According to the Web site, "The primary objective of the Hungry Hill Community Development Corporation has been the revitalization of our neighborhood in the areas of housing and business development. The CDC also represents area residents in planning and making improvements to the neighborhood."
One of our future groomsmen lives upstairs from the CDC.
Honeyland Farms is like a smaller version of a grocery store.
ABC Glass Works should be pretty self-explanatory... and my future husband and I have noticed there are a lot of barber shops in the Liberty Heights/East Springfield area. Apparently, there are a lot of men that need their hair cut quite often. This is Lugo's.
Next to those two businesses is Sampson's Funeral Home. They also have another locations in the 16 Acres section of Springfield.
Down the street from there is the Valero gas station/Dunkin Donuts/Stephen's Discount Wine and Beer. Gas up, grab a doughnut and get ready to party! (There's a McDonald's next to the gas station, too.)
Across Liberty from that is a plaza chock full of wonderful things. Behold!
A 24-hour Save-a-Lot, a Family Dollar, CAP Discount Auto Parts, a laundromat, a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut, the New Generation Christian Church (the sign is cut off by the lamp post, sorry) and, in the upper right corner, you see one of the city of Springfield's greatest municipal postings: a blue light that flashes to let you know when the parking ban is in effect so your car won't get towed. I usually don't drive past this one, but there is another near my house on Tapley Street near the Department of Public Works.
Turning right, near the odd, semi-rotary intersection of Stafford, Liberty and Armory streets is another small plaza.
This one is home to Blockbuster Video, Bank of America, Pocket Wireless and (apparently a brand new) Subway. Pocket Wireless locations have been popping up all over the place. Their big draw is that you can get unlimited texts and calls for $30 a month. An intriguing offer, but I like my Verizon.
Across from this plaza is 1 Stafford St., home to Peak Performance Chiropractic and Ehrenburg & Escobar, Certified Public Accountants.
At the corner of Armory and Stafford is Edward P. Boland Elementary School. Boland Elementary is one of the more than four dozen public schools in the Springfield school system. Behind the school and stretching back over to Carew Street is the George M. Hendee Playground.
Across the street from the school is the Body Shop, another automotive repair place.
The little boy and I made our way down Stafford Street, making side trips up Leslie, Wolcott, Goodrich and Stetson streets. I did not notice Stetson before when I was putting my street list together. I also just noticed there are two separate Wolcott Streets, so rather than list the name twice, I'll dub this one Wolcott A and the other, off of Ledyard Street, Wolcott B. I'm sticking with my number of 219, though. This will just be one-half of Wolcott. (This is also true of Nursery and Cass streets.)
Moving on down the road, we came across Nursery Street. On one side of Stafford there sits an auto repair shop without a name (interesting...); on the other side, low income housing. Further down along Stafford, there were some larger industrial buildings.
McCormick-Allum Heating & Air Conditioning seems pretty self-explanatory, as does Office Renovations Incorporated. The Crocker Building Company provides "pre-engineered and conventional steel building, stick construction and commercial renovation" services.
The small dog and I passed a whole bunch of empty space and abandoned buildings before coming up on the back side of Mercy Medical Center. This is one of two hospitals in Liberty Heights, and this one caused quite a stir a couple months ago when the image of the Virgin Mary apparently showed up in one of its windows. In more realistic news, one of my doctors works inside Mercy Medical and I have to say, I like the institution.
This is also the view of Mercy from I-291.
Right next to Mercy is Linden Towers, providing senior living.
We followed Stafford Street all the way down to Chestnut, which is the border of the Liberty Heights neighborhood. At the corner of Liberty and Chestnut is Sacred Heart Church, which looks rather grand lit up at night.
The small dog and I turned right onto Everett Street, which is home to the Sacred Heart Convent and some homes. At the corner of Chestnut and Everett is the New England Surgical Group.
I think it makes sense to have the surgical group next the hospital.
We turned right onto Carew Street and started heading up the hill. At the corner of Carew and Cass is the AZ Mart, which offers a lower price on gas if you pay cash. I think it has a large clientele of people visiting the hospital who don't want hospital food.
On the way up Carew, we checked out Desrosiers and Algonquin. Algonquin led us into the parking lot of the Springfield Boys & Girls Club.
As we headed back home, we checked out Mayo and Nye, and passed a Walgreens at the corner of Armory and Carew and Liberty Liquors on the corner of Carew and Libcar.
If you notice on the sign, it says that this is a "package store," despite the fact that the word "liquors" is clearly in the business name. In New York, places that sell booze are liquor stores. I don't understand why they are called package stores in Massachusetts. They don't sell boxes.
73 down, 150 to go
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