I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 2)

From Dave Brigham:

Welcome to the second installment in my three-part series about the Nonantum village of my adopted hometown of Newton, Masss. In the first post, I covered historic plaques, statues, parks, murals, former mills and more (see September 24, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 1)"). In this edition, I will take on funky buildings, bars, restaurants, stores, backside elements and other things.

For links to the previous 10 installments (covering eight villages), see the bottom of this post.

There's a lot to cover, so let's get to it....

Like most of Newton's villages, Nonantum has a commercial strip, and a pretty good one at that. Stretching along Watertown Street from Hawthorn Street to the west to Faxon Street at the eastern end, are dozens of shops, restaurants, small businesses, service stations and other outfits, many of them in buildings dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Per a Historic Newton brochure, Watertown Street at the beginning of its commercial period "was crowded with trolley lines, horses and delivery wagons." The merchants included a tinsmith, a grocery, a druggist, a barber, a tailor, a tavern and stables, among others, per the brochure.

I'll start from the eastern end, hitting most of the buildings. But first, a caveat: I'm not sure whether all of these places are still in business as we battle the pandemic.

The Boston Jewelry Co. at 291 Watertown Street is squeezed between a house next door and Faxon Street. The Newton assessor's office lists the two buildings under one heading; a Zillow listing for the the house indicates it was built in 1897. I assume the storefront was erected a little later than that. I'm a bit frustrated that the city doesn't separate these sites and provide information about the commercial property. Oh well....

Heading west, across Faxon Street, is a low-rise brick building housing a convenience store, a nail salon, a computer repair shop, a sub shop and Steamers, a highly regarded seafood market. The assessor's database indicates this building dates to 1920; MACRIS says 1910.

The next stop is across Dalby Street from the Steamers building. The anchor tenant at 317-319 Watertown Street is Antoine's Pastry Shop, which has been baking and selling Italian and French pastries -- and making the locals fat and happy -- for at least 57 years (their web site might be out of date, I'm not sure). This building also dates to 1920, per the assessor.

Next to Antoine's is an empty storefront (right in photo above) and the legendary DePasquale's Market (left), which is known locally for its amazing sausages. The company dates to the 1920s, when Nicola DePasquale opened a market elsewhere in the neighborhood, according to this Boston.com article. As for the building, it dates to 1885.

The building at the corner of Watertown and Chapel streets, above, home to a bridal alterations store and a salon, may not look like much, but it has a long history. Built in 1870, per MACRIS, the structure is an old wooden barn from which "James B. Murphy ran a general store," per the Historic Newton brochure. I don't know how long that store was in business, or how many businesses have used the building since, but I'm impressed at the makeover of this place, which, as far as brick renovations go, doesn't look that bad. Digging a little into the MACRIS listings for Watertown Street, I discovered that Mr. Murphy lived in the house next to the Boston Jewelry building.

Continuing west...across Chapel Street from James Murphy's old general store we are at 337-363 Watertown Street, below.

Businesses here include Busy Bee florist; high-end home goods store, Greentail Table; Tommy Doyle's, an Irish bar/restaurant; and Swartz Ace Hardware store. Built in 1905, the long, low building offered a new concept in retail: stores without the owners' apartments above, according to the Historic Newton brochure.

(Bricked-up door and old, empty sign from the side of 337-363 Watertown Street.)

Let's hop to the other side of Watertown Street, working our way west to east. On the corner of Adams and Watertown streets stands a building housing a few restaurants, offices and other businesses. I'll cover this place, known historically as Columbus Hall, in the next installment of this series.

(Columbus Hall is visible at the right of the above photo. The building in the center of the photo no longer stands.)

Currently, the lot adjacent to Columbus Hall is a hole in the ground. A very sad pit, where once stood one of my favorite takeout joints: Johnny's Pizza and the Brick Smokehouse. Next door was Salvi's Barber Shop. The scissor masters moved around the corner, but Johnny's has gone the way of the dodo bird. The building's owner announced a plan to knock the place down, erect a new structure with a level of apartments above retail/restaurant space. The guy who owned Johnny's told me he hoped to move back in once the space was available. Well, I don't know what's going on, but there's been nothing happening in this gaping wound along Watertown Street for quite some time. As you can tell, I ain't happy.

Continuing along, we come to 382 Watertown Street, below. The building dates to 1890, per MACRIS.

The building is currently home to a realtor, among other businesses.

Next door the businesses include Vape Daddy's and Baseball Etc., which sells baseball cards and other hobby-related products.

This place has an interesting past, per MACRIS, having served as an American Legion post, in addition to featuring storefronts and apartments. The building dates to the early 1890s.

Next door is the building that currently houses La Sposa Bridal.

It was built in the 1880s as a residence.

Across West Street from La Sposa, along Watertown Street, is the visually striking building above. Built in the 1890s and designed in what MACRIS calls the Victorian Eclectic style, this place was home in the early 20th century to a dry goods business, a baker, a clothier and a sailmaker, per MACRIS. Currently, tenants include The Antique Shop, Avani Salon and a RE/MAX realtor.

Continuing east, we come to Colonial Drug.

Established in Harvard Square in the late 1940s, Colonial Drug moved to this location in 2013, in a partnership with Stoddard's, a cutlery specialty shop that was founded in 1800. Stoddard's closed in late 2017 or early 2018, but Colonial, which specializes in fine fragrances in addition to offering pharmacy services, continues on. The store has great little statues out front.

Next to Colonial Drug, on the corner of Chapel Street, is a building known historically as the Morgan Mahoney Commercial Block, below. Mahoney was a dry goods merchant in Nonantum; I believe he lived on the second floor of this building.

Built in either 1910 (Newton Assessor) or the 1890s (MACRIS, which I tend to believe), the Mahoney block was home to Silver Lake Liquors and Maria di Napoli restaurant when I moved to this area 17 years ago. In recent years those businesses have shuttered, and Moldova Restaurant has taken over the spaces.

Below is a picture of the former liquor store sign, taken before the restaurant expanded into the space.

There are other commercial establishments along Watertown Street, as well as a post office and a service station. None of them particularly caught my eye. What did stop me in my tracks as I walked around many months ago was the small building below at the back of a residential lot.

The sign above and to the left of the door says "Upholstery Today." I don't know if this little shop is still in business, but even if it isn't, there's still a great story here. Built in 1895, the house is named after John Beale, who was the original occupant...and also a tailor. So perhaps this little workshop behind the house has been used to mend and make clothes and textiles for more than a century and a quarter.

Off the main drag, I found plenty of bars, restaurants and other businesses, as well as oddball spaces that once were home to small ventures.

West Street Tavern opened in 2008, and is a place I've been to many times. It's small, but in the olden times it was always jam-packed with revelers. I've seen a few bands here -- squeezed into the space by the front window. Once I was there to celebrate a neighbor's birthday and a police bagpipe and drum band walked in at full blare.

Anyway, the building dates to 1930. When I moved to Newtonville this bar was something else, the name of which escapes me now. I'm not sure if it's been a saloon since birth, but it certainly has been for quite some time. Unfortunately, this place seems to have closed down.

Along Adams Street, which is the heart of "The Lake" (see part one for more on this nickname), there are some interesting old buildings. One of the newer businesses in Nonantum, pizza-and-pasta joint The Landing/L'Approdo, below, is located in an early 20th century structure at #223 that was added to a circa-1880 home.

At 203 Adams Street is Shaking Crab, below, a restaurant specializing in hands-on boiled seafood, fried food and sandwiches. Opened in 2016, this eatery succeeded Francesca's, an Italian restaurant that had been here for a few decades.

The building dates to 1930, per the assessor's database.

The last place I want to showcase on Adams Street is DePasquale's Deli.

Squeezed onto a lot featuring a circa-1895 apartment house, the market has been around since 1972, I believe. I'm not sure when the building was erected; I'm guessing the 1930s.

Now for something a little bit different.

As soon as I saw this building on West Street I knew it must have an interesting history, as it didn't't look as though it was built as a residence, it looks like nothing else around it. I put the question out on Facebook. One person said it may have been a meat processing plant at one point. Another said it was a meat market and grocery. A third person said in the '80s it was used as a karate studio. According to the Redfin realty web site, this little place is now a home, with one bedroom and two bathrooms in 880 square feet.

Nonantum is the type of village where little shops like this are still in use, but there aren't as many of them as they're used to be. There's another intriguing little building on West Street, directly across from the former butcher shop.

Located on the corner of West and Green streets, this structure is listed in the MACRIS database as the Richard Dunbar House. "This large end-gabled double house has undergone several changes," per MACRIS. "Apparently a house owned by Richard Dunbar, a mason, stood on this lot as early as 1873. This double house, probably constructed in the late 1880's, evidently replaced the earlier building. A single-story, cement block store was then added in the 20th century." Two stores across the street from each other, both of them now residences. I'm not sure if the Green Street property is a separate apartment or part of the main house.

This neighborhood still maintains a fair amount of its Italian flavor, which includes well-tended garden plots.

Located on Adams Street, this plot is larger than most in the village. In these gardens, folks grow fruits and vegetables, sunflowers and other beautiful plants. And some, as with this one, are decorated for various holidays.

Before moving on to more commercial establishments elsewhere in Nonantum, I want to highlight two apartment houses out of the many in the village, as well as two random properties that stand out for me.

As I noted in the first installment in this series, Nonantum was home to several factories. Much of the housing stock in this village reflects the population, many of them immigrants from Italy, that worked in the industrial sites. On the corner of Hawthorn Street and Murphy Court is the building below.

The place dates to 1915, per the assessors database, and currently contains three apartments. Not too far away, on West Street, sits a more traditional type of factory worker housing.

This six-unit row house dates to 1890, per MACRIS, and is one of very few examples of this building type in Nonantum. These types of buildings aren't what most local folks think of when they think of Newton, which is a very well-to-do town overall. A neighbor who grew up in the wealthier southern part of the city in the 1980s told me that when he came to Nonantum as an adult, he thought he was in neighboring Waltham or Watertown. He was unaware that Newton had an industrial past with blue-collar housing stock.

Shifting gears....

Along Crafts Street, sandwiched between a municipal heavy equipment facility, a junkyard and several body shops, is the former service station below.

For many years, the right side tenant was an antique store called Trinkets & Treasures. Currently a limo service occupies at least part of this building. I make note of this property because, like many older industrial sites in Newton, it is a potential development site. Mark Development, which over the last few years has purchased, cleared and redeveloped a site at the corner of Walnut and Washington streets in nearby Newtonville, has designs on this area of Nonantum, as well as many other sites in West Newton and Newtonville. While not currently on Mark's wish list for redevelopment, this site sits just outside a proposed site that would include many new apartments and retail/office spaces.

Back over on Watertown Street, tucked at the back of #421, is an old barn that I've wondered about for quite a few years.

The house on the property dates to at least the 1880s, per MACRIS. But with its pinkish stucco and modern facade, it looks nothing like it did more than 100 years ago. There have been offices in the main house, and perhaps apartments. As for the outbuilding in my photo, it was a carriage house that was converted to commercial use. For a long time, it has appeared to be too dangerous for occupation of any kind.

Directly across Watertown Street from the old carriage house property is Central Drapery and Dry Cleaners.

Per MACRIS, the building dates to 1947; per the Newton assessor's database, 1940. I don't know what was here, if anything, before the dry cleaning business. There is a large vault directly behind the front counter, where you conduct business. Maybe there was a bank here at some point.

I'm going to finish this post by looking at several commercial establishments along California Street, at the northern edge of Nonantum. I will work west to east.

The building at the corner of California and Bridge streets, and its trash-strewn empty lot aren't much to look at. Home to catering company La Bonne Maison (and prior to that, other similar businesses) and the Grocery Garrison convenience/liquor store, the building at 367 California Street was erected in 1971, per MACRIS (I was quite surprised to see a listing for this rather new, ugly building). I haven't found anything on old maps indicating anything was here prior to the '70s. Perhaps, given its location across Bridge Street from the Bemis Mill complex, and next to the Charles River, it was a spot for local workers to eat lunch and take in the views, or do some fishing.

Next on the tour is the former headquarters of event planner Hopple Popple, which is no longer in business.

Owned by the landscaping company whose buildings surround the property, this site dates to 1940, per the Newton assessor. I'm sure there have been a variety of stores and businesses here over the last 80 years.

Two doors down, on the corner of Faxon Street, is another building that looks a bit like an Old West storefront.

This place is quite a mystery. It is #274, but sits on the property of #268, which is listed in MACRIS as the John Shorton House. Shorton was an employee of the Silver Lake Company, per MACRIS. Neither MACRIS nor the Newton assessor's database mentions a second building on the property. I assume it was once a store or perhaps an office (a quick search found a modern-day John Shorton, an attorney with an office approximately at this location); it could also be a residence.

Continuing east, on the south side of the street:

Home to Koko Bakery and the Sakanaya fish market, this building dates to 1950. That's all I got on this place.

Directly across the street is a circa-1930 building whose businesses include Signs by Tomorrow, Tail Waggerz and Arsenal Cabinets.

I'm not sure what businesses have been here over the years. Next door is the home of Kickspace, Inc.

This place also dates to 1930, according to the Newton assessor.

Last, but certainly not least, on this tour of retail space, is the home of the Chung-Shin Yuan restaurant, at the corner of Los Angeles and California streets (I don't know how this area of Newton ended up with streets named after California, Los Angeles, Nevada and Wyoming).

The assessor's office says this building dates to 1900, which, as I've said before, is an oft-used default date. So it could be older, although I doubt it. Could be newer. The restaurant has been there for many years. I'm guessing another eatery was here before that. I'd love to find out what was here when the place was built.

This restaurant is across the street from the LA@CA condominiums mentioned in the first post in this series, and perhaps 100 yards from another apartment complex set to rise on Riverdale Avenue.

OK, thanks for making it this far! Come back soon for part three, in which I will cover churches, social clubs, funeral homes, municipal buildings, former schools and more.

Here are links to the previous posts about Newton's villages:

I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 3)

I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 2)

I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 1)

I Seek Newton, Part VII: Thompsonville

I Seek Newton, Part VI: Chestnut Hill

I Seek Newton, Part V: Oak Hill

I Seek Newton, Part IV: Waban

I Seek Newton, Part III: Highlands

I Seek Newton, Part II: Auburndale

I Seek Newton, Part I: Lower Falls