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

Atwater Park

Today, the small dog and I journeyed into the land of big, beautiful houses and lush, green lawns -- we went into the Atwater Park sub-neighborhood of Liberty Heights.



We had taken Newbury down to Farnsworth and then started making our way down Springfield Street. We turned onto Atwater Road, checking out Weaver on our way down. We did a quick up and back on Bedford before doing Green Lane and Atwater Place. It was a little noisy down on that end -- Atwater Place is right next to I-91. We turned onto Atwater Terrace, scoping out Candice Circle, as we made our way back to Springfield Street. We took that down to where it meets Chestnut, then turned around to start making our way back up the hill.

On Springfield Street, across from Baystate Medical Center, is Naomi's Inn.



Both Yahoo reviewers gave the place five stars. It's touted as a place to get away and relax, even if you live in the same city. With a ranking like that, it could be a fun place to go next Valentine's Day.

We meandered around Derby Dingle (love it!) and then around half of Shefford before checking out Crestwood. We took Armory back up to Springfield Street, at the corners of which sits the Grace Church of Christ.



This is the stop sign next to the church:



I think it spreads a good message. Especially considering it's kitty-corner from St. Matthew's Cemetery.

On our way back, we swung through Van Horn and the small dog had his first encounter with a turtle. I thought it was hilarious.



203 down, 21 to go

One down, one to go

It is hot out today. Like 90 degrees hot. If the small dog didn't start dying of heat and laying down in every tree shadow there was, we could've walked forever today, but I didn't feel like killing the little boy.

My goal today was simply to finish all the streets on the easterly side of Carew, and we have met that goal. We headed down Carew to Armory, across I-291 and down Liberty to Genesee. We turned left from Genesee onto Franklin, because we needed to finish that from the other day. We turned right onto Leonard, and followed that around to Belle. Belle has some cool looking apartment buildings:



We followed Belle to the end and back again, turning right onto Cass. At the corner of Cass and Franklin is the Bilingual Veterans Outreach Center.



At the corner of Cass and Liberty is the Pentecostal Bethel Church.



We followed Liberty down to where it met Franklin, finding along the way Sitterly Moving and Storage, the Hampden Brass and Aluminum Company, the Tri-State CDL Training Center, A Better Storage and N. Winer & Son.











Sitterly Movers has been operating in Springfield for over 75 years. Impressive...but not as impressive as Hampden Brass and Aluminum, which was incorporated in 1903 and provides aluminum die-castings, extrusions and molds.

Across Liberty from these fine establishments is Tri-State CDL Training, for those who want to learn to drive the big trucks. Down the street from that is N. Winer & Son, who, as the photo suggests, wholesale in dairy products. Back on the side of Liberty we were on, a new storage business just opened, A Better Storage.

We turned right onto Franklin, which at this end hosts mainly city-supported housing. The main offices of the Springfield Housing Authority are located on Saab Court, which we checked out briefly before heading back to Liberty.

At the end of Liberty where it meets Chestnut, sit the Springfield YMCA and the place I like least in my city, the Registry of Motor Vehicles.





The Springfield YMCA is used by thousands of people every year. So is the evil RMV, I suppose, but I think the Y would be more fun.

We turned right onto Chestnut and followed that over I-291. We came across the Spanish Christian Church Educational Center and the Spanish Christian Church.





When we got down to Chapin Terrace, we followed that up to the park and hung out there for a while, watching a rugby game, before heading home to cool off.

128 down, 95 to go

The little boy and I didn't have a lot of time for our walk today (the hubby and I had tickets to see the Hampden Theater Guild's presentation of "The Producers"), so we headed down to cover just a couple of the streets on this side of Carew that we missed on our last outing. On the way down, we passed Brunton Square (which is actually more of a triangle, but whatever).



The park was named in honor of Springfield Mayor Daniel B. Brunton, who served from 1946 to 1957. A sign in the park notes that Tralee, Ireland, is a sister city of Springfield. I've been to Tralee. It's pretty. Another sister city is Takikawa, on the island of Hokkaido, Japan.

From there, we headed down to Armory Street. On the corner of Armory and Carew is Our Lady of Hope Church. This was my future husband's church, and next door to the church is Our Lady of Hope School, my hubby's first school. It teaches children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school will be closing soon, sadly.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
A night to remember for friends and alumni of Our Lady of Hope School will be on May 16 in the school auditorium. This event, to mark the school’s closing, will begin with 4 p.m. Mass in church. A ziti and meatball dinner will take place afterward in the school. Come and reminisce, tour the school and meet old friends. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids up to eighth grade and kids under three are free. There will be a cash bar. Tickets are available at the school, the rectory and the Hope Center. If you have any questions, call 734-4125.





When we passed the church and the school, we turned left up Grover Street, which had mostly two-story homes along it. At the end, we turned right onto Liberty and then made another right onto Cleveland Street. There, we soon came across the dentistry office of R. Manniello and George Hurley.



At the end of Cleveland, we turned left onto Armory and then left onto Sullivan Street. At the end of this street is a business complex called Sullivan Place.



The only business I saw advertised was the dentistry office of Dr. Gerard Thibault. He received a pretty good review from one patient on HealthGrades.com.

We headed back down Sullivan to Armory, up that street and back up Carew to head home.

So, heading forward -- I've finished all the streets on this side of Carew down to Chestnut on this side of I-291. My next move will be to cross over the highway and traverse the streets on that side (a little less than two dozen streets). After that, onto the north side of Carew!

76 down, 147 to go

The easterly side of Carew Street is done! And I found a street I didn't realize I was missing from my list, so I'm back up to 219 streets.

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