Freedom from Liberty

We have finally finished Liberty Street! Huzzah!

I had the morning off today, so I decided a small dog I know and I should take a walk to finally finish a certain long street. We headed down Carew to where it meets Liberty and turned right. We quickly came upon Sullivan Keating Moran Insurance.



Next to that was the Peking House. An anonymous reviewer on Insider Pages gave the place three stars, writing, "This place has the hugest live lobsters for sale. Food was alright. Prices were reasonable. The place itself needs a little cleaning. The crab ragoons are delicious."



Near the Liberty Street entrance to Van Horn Park is La Iglesia Hermanos Unidos en Cristo (the Church of Brothers United in Christ) and the National Federation of the Blind of Greater Springfield.



We wandered on down past quite a few houses before crossing over Newbury, coming upon Downey Side.



Downey Side's philosophy is rooted in the conviction that every child deserves the right to a permanent and loving family. It is our purpose to work in partnership with the government as a licensed adoption agency to place America's waiting children, who otherwise would remain homeless. We are dedicated to family life for all children and strongly believe that a healthy permanent relationship is the best prevention against homelessness, according to the Web site. Downey Side began in Springfield, Mass., in 1967 when Fr. Paul Engel placed a 17-year-old boy in the home of Margaret Downey. The Springfield Office is proud to be the first Downey Side office and where it all began.

I'm intrigued by the idea of adopting older children, and I've always wanted to adopt. I'm not sure of the hubby's feelings on older child adoption, but we have plenty of time to talk about that. I doubt they'd let a pair of 24-year-olds adopt anyone.

We loped on down Liberty for a while before we came across Academy Hill School. (In the photo, it shows that the school is on Carolyn Price Way, but I'm not counting that as a street, as the Web site states the school's address is on Liberty.) Academy Hill serves bright, gifted and curious students in kindergarten through eighth grade.



Next up was ABC40's news studios.



Further up, across from the Liberty Street entrance to the Springfield Plaza, sits an AutoZone, Pizza Wings & Things Ristorante and a Rent-a-Center.



There's also a Westfield Bank next to the Rent-a-Center.

We cut through the plaza to get to St. James to head back home.

204 down, 20 to go

It was a very busy day for the small dog and I -- full of busyness and business. We finished up the big chunk of streets between St. James and Liberty today and we came across a whole bunch of shops (and other things).

From our house, we went down Merrimac to Carew, and down Carew to its intersection with Nottingham. One of corner of this intersection, as previously noted, there is a real estate firm; on the other corner is Plus One Convenience and Fortune Cookie Chinese Restaurant.



I haven't been a patron at either of these establishments, but when I'm walking the doggie in this area around dinnertime, that Chinese smells really good.

Next to the Fortune Cookie is Three Sisters Beauty Salon.



It looks like a pretty average salon to me. What makes it really stand out is the wall that faces the Fortune Cookie, which is large and a bright aqua blue/green.

Next to Three Sisters is Trendsetters, an urban clothing shop.



And, next to that on the corner of Carew and Newbury, is Liranzo, a "Latin American cafe." This place also smells fantastic around dinnertime and that $5 lunch deal they've got advertised in the window is pretty tempting.



We turned left onto Newbury, and then right onto Phoenix Terrace, following that down onto Phoenix Street to its end back on Liberty. Phoenix Terrace is home of one of Springfield's many Adopt A Terrace sites.



Various organizations (or in this case, a group of neighbors) can adopt the small islands of land surrounded by roads in the city and beautify them in memory of someone. The Phoenix Terrace group is doing a great job.

Off Phoenix Street juts Cherrelyn and Clantoy, and off Clantoy are two tiny side streets, Arion and Dupont. Dupont has a lovely view of I-291.

At the end of Phoenix Street, there sits International Auto Sales & Repair.



And, next to that on Liberty, is A-1 Auto Repair, in case you couldn't get your car fixed at International.



Just down Liberty from A-1 is a store that sells all kinds of cell phone accessories but doesn't have a name, as far as I can tell.



Next to that, Cut Rite Flooring.



And, next to that, Jacqueline's Beauty Salon.



Up the street from those shops are Salerno Pizza and Finnegan's Tavern.





I have eaten food from Salerno before. My former housemates and my future husband all love their grinders (and mine was pretty good too), but I have not had their pizza. The chicken de rose grinder is what my hubby loves.

Finnegan's is always packed on game nights, and as you can tell by their decorating motif, they serve as both an Irish pub and a sports bar.

Down the street from these establishments is the Liberty Branch Library of the Springfield City Library. This branch is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. According to the library's Web site, "The Liberty Branch Library was built in 1930 to serve the new Liberty Heights suburb of Irish and French Canadian immigrants who were settling this part of the city as the Street Car lines were extended out Carew Street. Skilled workers and their families immediately made this library a popular and much appreciated part of the community. 1800 books were checked out the first day the Library was opened. Designed by architect Max Westoff in the Colonial Revival style with a Southern Flair in the use of the double chimneys on either end, this truly is an Architectural gem. W. W. Davis Construction built the Library for $35,000. They also constructed the Glenwood and Liberty schools." The Web site also states, "The Liberty Branch Advisory Committee meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 10:00-11:30. Bring your voice and your ideas on how to make Liberty work best for our neighborhood. All are welcome!"



From Liberty, I turned right onto Kendall and then left onto Phoenix Terrace and headed up its opposite side to get to Freeman Terrace. I turned left onto Hastings and then right onto Banbury, and followed that back to Liberty. On one corner of Banbury and Liberty is El Bohio Restaurant; on the other, Solid Rock Community Baptist Church.



A Yahoo! reviewer had this to say of El Bohio: "This is my favorite Latin restaurant in Springfield for sure! Their food is ALWAYS fresh and the taste of it's just right. If you're craving for Latin food take it from a Latin girl The Bohio is the place to go."

On the corner of Liberty and Carew streets is Solid Rock Community Baptist Church.



The church offers both Sunday and Tuesday services.

After checking those two out, the dog and I headed back up Banbury and turned onto Stockman and took that back to Newbury, which led us back to Carew and back home.

59 down, 164 to go