On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

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As in all of my recollections, this timeline is as close to reality as my memory allows me to be. I actually spent two days at two different libraries with my kids last week – we went to pick out some required books from their summer reading list.

Until that visit, my boys had only been in the children’s sections of the Central Library and the West Branch on College Avenue. When we went upstairs in the Central for the first time, it was like Dorothy and her friends seeing the Emerald City for the first time. They didn’t know there was an upstairs – they were in awe. They spent about an hour browsing and reading in those little private nooks with the desks and chairs. I felt like a good parent.

The next day we all sat in the livingroom and read for an hour (because the computer was down). Later that day, my oldest boy and I went to the West Branch Library on College Avenue. Up the winding, creaky stairway on the top floor of the library is the attic – or rotunda, if you will. There is a small stage along the back wall – a stage that local bands used to perform on during a very short period in the early 70’s. You see, there use to be a Teen Center on top of the West Branch Library, until the craziness of those times destroyed it.

On a hot summer day in (I think) 1969, a bunch of us kids were hanging around on the corner of Bay State and Kidder Ave. – Teddy Bates lived in the house on the corner, which was owned by former Somerville Mayor William Donovan (his uncle). The corner is where we met, laughed, grew shoulder-length hair and smoked Winstons/Newports.

This corner is also where my parents stopped by on their way home from church, which forced me to put a lit cigarette in my coat pocket until they were done asking me to show them the church bulletin – you see, having the church bulletin was proof to our parents that we went to church. It was one kid’s job to go into the church and grab a bunch of bulletins.

The corner is where we played hooky from church and showed off our blue denim ponderosa pullovers and new cassette tapes. One day, this 6 foot 4 inch tall, rotund, bearded guy (who looked like the big dude from Harry Potter), approached us with the idea of starting a teen center. He introduced himself as “Art” Рhe was tying to get some sort of grant, which would make him the teen center coordinator. We would be the so-called “wayward sheep” who he would save from congregating on the neighborhood corner to get our jollies. After about 3 weeks of talking up this teen center idea, he excitedly announced to us “we got the money!”

He/we received funding for a teen center and they gave us the top floor of the West Branch Library – when we first climbed those stairs up to that top floor, we reacted like my kids did – with awe and full of speculation.

We cleaned it up, painted it and held live dances up there featuring local bands.

Now mind you, these were the days of 99-cent bottles of Ripple and Boones Farm Apple Wine. Needless to say getting buzzed was very cheap and easy. Loud music, cheap wine and teenagers were a lethal mix for trouble – let’s not forget to add in pot and the various pills of the era into the mix‚Ķafter all it was the early 70’s.

I don’t even remember a police detail during the concert, but I do remember the 25 officers and EMTs that were needed when a night at the teen center went horribly wrong. A group of roving local thugs who terrorized the area for years decided to crash the concert and beat the hell out of a couple of kids – one kid almost died. The four who were responsible were apprehended and prosecuted. I still get a cold chill when I go by that Library – it was such a good idea, but it just couldn’t fly for one reason or another – they closed the teen center and we back to hanging around on the corner of Bay State and Kidder Ave.

When I went up to the top floor of the West Branch last week for the first time in over 30 years, the place looked smaller than I had remembered. I got a bittersweet feeling inside – I remember hearing Smoke on the Water one minute and broken glass and sirens the next. The guy who got the beating recovered nicely with the help of some expensive dental work. The early 70’s were a tough time to be a teenager and a few of our friends didn’t make it – I think of them a lot. They will be young forever to me. Thankfully there were seldom any problems at the Somerfest block party concerts that came along shortly thereafter.

When I go into the West Branch Library I recall the music and the mayhem – when I go by the corner of Bay State and Kidder Avenue, I think of the short, longhaired Italian kid with the smoldering cigarette in the pocket of his leather jacket. I am glad I grew up in such a hectic era and survived – I have great memories.

I may have a few less marbles, but I have plenty of memories. And libraries still rock – just ask my kids.

Please e-mail your comments to Jimmy at: jimmydel@rcn.com