~ Malden Musings ~ Retired MPD Steve Bellavia Continued

By Peter Levine

It is said in “Malden Musings”…

My last column highlighting the retirement of Steve Bellavia had one glaring error for which I humbly apologize. MHS Class of 1974’s Dave Morelli passed away in March of 2022. Please accept my apologies for not remembering his passing. Dave was another good kid from the Yard toiling for the USPS in Malden and Melrose for 30 years all the while happily married to his wife Jean for 43 years. Rest in peace, Dave.

• Speaking of Steve and his recent retirement I heard from his brother Fanny (oops, I mean Franny) soon after the piece was published, that he and his wife were happy to see the recognition that Steve received. Fanny – I mean Franny – made a pledge to try to make it to this year’s San Rock Feast so we can hug it out in person as opposed to electronically. Fanny aka Franny (insert smiley face), it will be a pleasure to see you (drag your other brother Bobby along with you!).
• A little Steve Bellavia trivia…on the back of his trading card issued in 2005 (pictured) by Choice Sports Cards his motto is, “Don’t be a fool – stay in school.” I am assuming said with his best Mr. T voice.
• West Street’s most famous son – excluding Mr. Fermano, Mr. Carroll, Mr. Figelski and Mr. Angelo, of course – George MacKay is happy to report that Steve may be retiring from the MPD but he ain’t retiring from continuing to socialize and stay involved in the community and with his fellow constable on patrol compadres.
• According to reliable sources, “Eddie Bain” will still make the annual MPD pilgrimage to Vegas, spend more time with his adorable grandkids Lucas and Abbey, and in a very encouraging sign – the HIBO got even classier, tending bar at the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) on Sunday nights. Way to go, Steve! Have fun and much success!
• AOH, who loves ya! Just an FYI that some of my besties are AOH guys and believe me, they got some serious class! Especially AOH MVP Danny Siroco! We call him the ageless wonder; somewhere between “adolescence, senescence, and 86 proof.” I kid of course. Standup AOH good fellows like the Tillys, the Melchionnes, the O’Learys, Turk, Harvey Nadler, the Killions, the Connellys, Chris Moro, Mike Ahern, Tommy Denehy and many, many more (waaaay too many to mention here) make the AOH one of the very best social clubs on the North Shore! With many of the classiest guys around, such as Cliff Cioffi and Nick Melchionne. For real!

“Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to…” My recent column about Malden back in the day  struck a nerve with many Maldonians. It was a pleasure to write, and I sincerely appreciate folks reaching out to me. I’ll let Barry Crotty take it from here: “Great writeup! Brought back many memories. I was a summer park instructor in 1960 at Roosevelt Park. Grew up in Forestdale surrounded by immigrant families from Nova Scotia, Italy, and Ireland, interspersed with many Jewish families from all over the world, one of which took the time to teach me some Yiddish while I was learning German at MHS. The ‘Poor Farm’ (McFadden Manor) was still in operation, with cows and a bull, a two-story barn, a silo, and hundreds of chickens in a long, two-story coop. The farm had horses, and there was an underground stable in the rear of the extensive living quarters. Mr. McGuire was in charge and every spring he tilled the fields and planted vegetables. One of their fenced-in fields had several huge chestnut trees, now rarely found in the USA. Forestdale Park was originally located on Sylvan Street at the bottom of Kimball Street (replacing ‘WW2 Victory Garden’ plots planted by Forestdale neighbors). Next to it the city grew trees for replanting around the city. The Poor Farm and the Forestdale Park property acreage was incrementally developed into elderly housing, the current Forestdale Park, and a new school. The Forestdale Cemetery still had lots of open space at the Forest St/Sylvan Street end, where us kids would roam. It’s now filled up with gravesites. Pine Banks Park had a large dump next to it, largely hidden in the woods, and when they closed it for good, they bulldozed it flat and trucked excess dump material as fill to make the current ballfields. For years afterwards lots of glass shards would work their way to the grassy surface. Maplewood, Linden, and Forestdale comprised our stomping grounds. Our schools were very old, Ayers, Maplewood, and Browne; all replaced over the years. Malden had 5 movie theaters in “The Square” and candlepin bowling alleys. Automated pin setting machines existed but some alleys still used boys to reset the pins! Many of our streets were still paved with cobblestones and roads were still unpaved dirt. The city started to dig up many cobblestones and stored piles of them at the old City Yards near the Pearl St Stadium, but that was too man-intensive, so they just paved over many streets, leaving the cobblestones as a base. Malden’s main streets were crisscrossed with trolley wires about 15-20 feet high. The trackless trolley buses had two poles attached to the rear of the buses which connected to the overhead electrical wires. One pole would often detach from the wires when the bus made a tight turn around a corner. The bus would immediately stop, and the driver had to go out and swing the pole back into position. The Service Bus Line with blue buses replaced the red buses of the Warwick Line in the mid-1950’s. Ten cents a ride! I left Malden in 1961 for four years in the Air Force, returned for a year, working for Household Finance on Pleasant Street, and then off to a 40 plus year career as a civilian in the Department of Defense at NSA and the Pentagon. Lived in England, Italy, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Hawaii and now Oregon but always remembered how places like the Salemwood Grille, Jessel’s, and others were not just bars, they were neighborhood gathering places, where (as you had mentioned) ‘they knew your name, what you drank and what your parents drank.’ It took us YEARS to find the same feeling of ‘belonging.’ Still have family in Malden. My father and brothers worked for the city as the Inspectors of Wiring and Code Enforcement, and my nephew is a current police officer. We still return for visits and noticed that The Square is looking much better each year. All the best in the future.” Thank you for that valuable and entertaining history lesson, Barry!

As Peter Falk’s iconic TV character Columbo would say, “Just one more thing, sir” – there was a day in September of 1964 – pure magic – a day etched into my memory, filled with the warmth of family traditions and a moment that only the 1960s could serve up. Back then, the Levine family outings were a semi-regular Sunday occurrence. Piling into the ’57 Chevy – and setting off with the promise of merrymaking – was a weekend ritual. Those excursions to the Charles River, Franklin Park Zoo, Charlestown or the G&G Deli on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester, with the hum of the engine and the cityscape passing by, held a certain thrill for us, a sense of freedom and togetherness.

And this particular Saturday (61 years ago) was extra special. Regina’s in the North End was the destination, the same pizzeria that would someday be packed with tourists but was then a quiet gem, serving up the best pizza in Boston to locals in the know. But just before we could reach those North End slices, we found ourselves part of a mob scene out of a dream: a memorable traffic jam in North Station. It wasn’t just any traffic jam, though. As my dad pointed to the Hotel Madison, we looked up, and there they were – the Fab 4 aka the Beatles, in the flesh, waving down to the crowd below, just four guys from Liverpool with that mischievous charm, leaning out the hotel window, seemingly larger than life.

The excitement of that crowd, the young faces upturned, the scream of fans seeing John, Paul, George and Ringo for the first time – all of it swirled together into an unforgettable moment. For a band on the verge of worldwide fame, they seemed almost otherworldly. And as we sat there in that enjoyable traffic jam in North Station, the city felt alive in a way that only the mop tops, youth and a beautiful day can bring.

Even with all that excitement, Regina’s was still on our mind. It’s funny to think that, just blocks away from that historic Gahden scene that would echo in Boston’s memory forever, there was another kind of magic waiting: a booth at Regina’s. That warm, thin-crust pizza straight from that ancient oven, shared with family. A Beatles sighting and the best pizza in Boston, all in one afternoon! Could there be a better way to capture the joy of that era? Fuhgeddaboudit! It was the kind of day that stays with you for a lifetime: a blend of family, fun, food and back to our roots, old-school North End. Back when everything seemed possible – even travelling with five children under the age of 12 with no seat belts, no air conditioning, and smoking Kent Kings and Larks with the windows barely cracked. It was a 1960s thang (LOL).

—Peter is a longtime Malden resident and a regular contributor to The Malden Advocate. He can be reached at Pe*****@*ol.com for comments, compliments or criticisms.