One of the iconic attributes of Newton is it’s 13 separate villages. Why stop there though? Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.
I was inspired by neighbors who live up the top of the very, very steep Cottage St in Upper Falls, at the highest place in the village. They took it upon themselves to christen their micro-village as Upper Upper Falls – “where the air is thin and our chickens like it that way”.
I also much admired Sally Lipshutz’s recent coining of “Lower Wabandale” as the location of the Newton Wellesley Hospital.
Here’s your chance to do the same. If you live in some little piece of Newton and share some unique attributes with your nearby neighbors – tell us where it is, give it a name, and even better yet give it a slogan for the T shirts, bumper stickers, and refrigerator magnets that are sure to follow. Or if you live in a micro-village that already has a name in use, tell us about it.
I live in a three street micro-village called (as of this moment) No Fall Falls – It’s a little corner of Upper Falls close by Echo Bridge. I live on Spring St, which runs between Summer St and Winter St, but after naming those three streets after three seasons our 19th century ancestors lost the train of their thought and moved on to other kinds of names. Motto: “Red, Green, Blue, Maple – No Fall Falls”.
Also if you think there are any micro-villages that should have a name tell us about those too. Two that come to mind:
* Charlesbank Rd and the few streets off it before you hit the Boston border should have it’s own name.
* The few short streets (Williams, Saco, …) between Oak St and the Charles River in Upper Falls should have their own name.
There’s no reason we can’t similarly sub-divide the content here on our 14th village into micro-villages.
We’ll call the micro-village consisting of all posts related to the upcoming referendum – Northlandia . Motto:”Northlandia: Seventh circle of hell”
We can refer to any/all posts related to the Newton Nomadic Theater as Hypetown “Hypetown – where there’s always one more show to flog”
So get going, start posting, and I’ll line up the T-shirt suppliers and we’ll talk to the city about setting up micro-Councils.
Ha! Great idea. I live on Wyoming Road in Newtonville. The road is bisected by Nevada Street, with the northern half sloping down toward the Charles. Residents have split ourselves into Lower Wyoming (LoWy) and Upper Wyoming (Upper Wy). I’m an Upper guy and am somewhat jealous that nobody on my portion of the street has stolen the LoWy folks’ idea of making magnetic bumper stickers. We also have a little free library called the Wybrary.
Perhaps the area around California, Wyoming and Nevada streets should be called the Wild West….
Newton Highlands is bisected by Route 9. I live on the north side, which we can be micro-labeled Newton Highlands North, the south side can be micro-labeled Newton Highlands South. (Or if people prefer, North Newton Highlands and South Newton Highlands.)
@Dave Brigham – I lived on the corner of Wyoming and Nevada for a time (MidWy?) or is that UpperWy?
I do like “Wild West”
… or maybe even better, “North Highlands” and “South Highlands”.
I learned about LoWy on the campaign trail, it’s definitely one of the closest knit Newtonville micro-neighborhoods. The area off Harvard Street, south of Cabot, is like that too. HarvLo? Both will be prime spots if we can get Newtonville porchfest off the ground.
I have to say though, it’s really hard to beat Oak Hill Park. What a cool neighborhood, with most of the houses having both parking entrances and walkable entrances on alternating streets.
@Bryan Barash – I do love that neighborhood and always got a kick out of the fact that something called “Oak Hill Park” is nearly entirely flat and on some of the lowest lying land in the city.
I like it.
I like it. –Wild Western
Newtonville PorchFest would be fantastic. I’ve got a porch with two outlets and an in-house drum kit.
Living on the end of California street, the crafts end, I have heard real estate people try to describe it as south West Newton, or North Newtonville , and depending on where you stand with your compass, we could be West of Da Lake. Around the corner, North street has its Business District and Fiorella’s. Definitely North Newtonville.
@Jack Leader – “south West Newton” makes my head hurt and my compass spin
I’m not far from Jefferson and Charlesbank, and I think I have heard some try to call it “Jefferson Square.”
Being near the river, I was thinking something more on the lines of The Newton Riviera, or something fancy like that.
Of course, there’s always the Circle of Death, which has a certain “Stay off of my lawn that I don’t have” menace to it.
@Bryan Barash and @Dave Brigham — definitely endorse having Newtonville as part of Porchfest. I’ve played the first two, and they are definitely fun, enriching community events.
One micro-village suggestion I’ve heard from a resident or two in the Wildwood Ave/Watertown St./Edinboro St./Crafts area:
“Albemarleia.”
I live off of Waltham St., north of where it meets Crafts St. My wife and I sometimes refer to that general area as “Almost Waltham”.
Westburndale – where West Newton meets Auburndale. Think Webster St, Dolan Pond, Finagle a Bagel.
I’ve heard a few:
SoWaNew. South of Washington Newtonville.
BPN: bullough’s pond Neighborhood. I would have gone with The BULL myself.
Also recently heard NNN: Newton North Neighborhood.
My kids Used to identify areas by ice cream establishment. Cabot’s, JP licks, coney, etc.
I do like these mangled-acronymn names.
Maybe I live in Eachenuf – East of Chestnut, Newton Upper Falls .
.. or Wehi – West of High
… or better yet – SoSummer
I grew up in an area near Tremont street in N.C. we were kind of pointed toward Oak Sq. Brighton and many of our neighbors as well as my parents were from there so. .. Brewton
For those living on the Newton/Watertown line….NewTown.
Of if you chose to use Nonantum/Watertown….No Town!
Doug Haslam – You might have some heavy competition for “Newton Riviera”. There are a lot of different Newton neighborhoods within a stone throw of the riverfront. I’d stake your claim ASAP and order those bumper stickers today.
One that stuck with me: Recently someone referred to West Newton above Washington Street as “The Flats”, as in, the flat part, not the hill.
Here are three more micro’s: Fourcor, Cabot’sville (not Cabotville) and Negoshian Heights (business district).
BTW, “Newtown” IS the name of the Post Office on the Newton/Watertown line.
Jim, love Cabot’sville.
There used to be an area in Newtonville around the little park at the intersections of Walnut/Watertown/Lowell, that residents called ‘the Triangle’ – they even had a Triangle Association, I believe.
Jerry,
How bout drawing up a Newton map with all these micro-village labels.
@Jim Epstein – Great idea. Have at it 😉
Between the Circle of Death and Oak Square, we like to call our neighbourhood, Hunnewell Hill.
Four Corners, around the intersection of Beacon and Walnut, is a very well-established micro-village.
A friend who lives in West Newton north of the Pike has affectionately dubbed it West Newton Glen or The Glen (in contrast to West Newton Hill).
The Glen is definitely more pleasant sounding than The Flats (above).
I think Doug Haslam’s in Newton Corner Corner, and Michael Leavey is from one of the almost-legit micros Hunnewell or Farlow; though if far enough downhill to not be in either, it’s The Valley. I left there last summer and decamped for the microvillage that rings the southern half of Hawthorne Park, Nonantumville.
I agree West Newton Glen sounds better than West Newton Flats, but what is a “glen,” anyway? I only can think of Glengarry Glen Ross, which was the name of the real estate scam in the play (and movie) of the same name
Historically “Newtown” was the original name of the city (sic).
Another suggestion: ” Lakeville”: all side streets off of Lake Ave. in the Highlands that border Crystal
Actually, no, it was my current village name: “Nonantum”. Stand corrected.
No micro village to promote but I think I once heard Waban means Wind in the Algonquin language.
Not certain if it’s true.
Upper Upper Falls started a tradition of an annual block party organized by our very own Julie Irish. It’s fallen off the calendar due to various families’ busy schedules, but hope to revive it in 2020!!
@Matt Lai – Here’s a deal. We’ll bring back the Feast of the Falls this year if you thin air breathing hill dwellers bring back the Upper Upper Falls Block Party.