~ Malden Musings ~ “Aaron and Mayer Mintz”

By Peter Levine

Dr. Mayer Mintz is a “Son of Suffolk Square” currently residing in Florida enjoying his “golden years.” Mayer graduated from MHS in 1960 and counted Norman “Spirit in the Sky” Greenbaum as a friend as well as a “landsman.” Although we’ve only communicated via email, I feel I’ve known Mayer my whole life. Mayer started out in pharmacy before attending medical school and practicing general surgery in Melrose for 30 years. He’s been married for 58 years and has two children and one grandson.

His little brother Aaron graduated from MHS in 1964. Aaron graduated from Boston State, married and moved to western Massachusetts, where he had a successful career in social services and at UMass Amherst. He also had a successful part-time gig in radio in western Mass., retiring in the area.

Their first two years of life were in their grandparents’ home on Seaview Ave. Their parents then bought a two-family house on Harvard Street between Sammett and Lyme Streets. Both Mayer and Aaron were brought up in that house. As with most families back in the day, the upstairs tenants were their aunt, uncle and two cousins. Their other aunts and uncles lived within a mile, most within the same neighborhood. Their father died at age 47, when Mayer was 10 years old, and Aaron was seven. Mayer told me that their mother did a “great job” bringing them up as a single parent, with both going on to successful careers.

I asked the Mintz brothers to help me connect readers with a small taste of what Malden was once like. They came through with flying colors. The late Bill Mini was famous for keeping the past alive, much like Chris “Keeper of the Linden Flame” Moro is attempting to do today with his Linden USA recollections. I had a long talk at the IACC with Chris recently about this very subject. His passion is palpable. We both agreed it’s imperative that we hand these stories down to future generations. But I digress (again)…

Mayer (and Aaron) Mintz… “This is your life.”

“I have warm memories of growing up in Malden in the late forties through the mid-sixties. My Malden neighborhood was Suffolk Square, Ward 7, a part of Malden beyond Edgeworth [my comment: touché my friend]. The neighborhood had a large Jewish population, but was also home to African Americans, Italians, Polish, and Irish. My neighbors were first and second generation poor working-class families. Most households did not have an automobile so commuting to work was on foot and/or public transportation. The men walked to work carrying a briefcase or a lunch pail. One of my neighbors walked to work carrying a shovel, the tool of his trade. Women did not work outside the home.

“Most children in Ward 7 went to either Daniels or Lincoln Elementary School for the first six grades. In those simpler times, children walked to school unaccompanied, even in the first grade. There were no school buses, no helicopter parents and none of the fears that confront us today. Streets were crossed under the supervision of a crossing guard, usually a sixth-grade student.

“After finishing sixth grade we were funneled into Lincoln Junior High, and at the end of ninth grade we were off to Malden High School with our counterparts from Beebe and Browne Junior High Schools. The importance of education was instilled in us by our parents. We were expected to do well in school and attend college so that we could achieve greater success than the previous generation.

“I think of Suffolk Square as a precursor to today’s so-called lifestyle center. Although run-down and dilapidated, it afforded low-income housing, food stores, and retail stores. There were kosher meat markets and poultry markets (Bendell’s, Glick’s, Tokson’s, Swerdlick’s, Sugarman’s), grocery stores (Sunny Rose, Leshner’s, Setner’s, the National D), barber shops (Joe’s, Arnold’s, Henry’s), drugstores (Shan-Lor, Finn’s), Shear’s Deli, Cooper’s Beauty Salon. Droker’s Service Station had its gas pumps on the sidewalk.

“The local movie house was the Capitol Theater, with a bowling alley downstairs. Malden Square was larger and served a wider clientele extending beyond Malden, but Suffolk Square was our neighborhood shopping center. But with further deterioration Suffolk Square was leveled as part of Mayor Walter Kelleher’s urban renewal project.

“Malden offered many recreational programs for young people through the YMCA, parks department, scouting, and church and synagogue youth groups. The Malden Police Department ran a program for young boys called the Junior Police which sponsored movie nights and other evening activities. Members received a shiny Junior Police badge. We also entertained ourselves on the sidewalks, streets, and playgrounds. A ball game could be improvised off the side wall or front steps of a house. The street served as our stickball stadium and the sidewalks for games of hand tennis or hit the bottle cap. Baseball or tag football games were enjoyed on the playgrounds.”

To be continued…

It is said in “Malden Musings”…

• Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since 1983, when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Edgeworth) and had 60 cosponsors. Just one more reason why Eddie will go down in history as one of the very best legislators in Mass. history, ever. Thank you, Ed, for fighting the good fight all these years.
• Rest in peace, Lee Johnson. Shop teacher at MHS for many years who I will be forever grateful to for restoring my antique roll-top desk while in its death throes. Ten Pisa Pizza pies for the classroom and I have a show piece to envy. Thank you, sir.
• The MHS Hall of Fame hoopster and retired Converse Rubber big shot Buddy Arthur remembers the late Karen Anderson: “She was a blessing to the city of Malden. She worked with a tireless energy that inspired everyone to do their best. I worked for her during 30 plus years of city elections and she will always be missed. RIP Karen.”

One more time, “said no one”:

• Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford remind Celtic Nation of the Big 3: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish…said no one.
• “Mr. Big Stuff” – Jean Knight’s summer of ’71 soul/pop anthem is overplayed and dated…said no one.
• Dwight Evans, Freddy Lynn and Jim Rice are not missed at Fenway Park, and the outfield the Sox are fielding today will make us forget these guys real soon…said no one!
• Larry Bird was overrated and could not play in today’s NBA…said no one (except one meshugana associated with the Bad Boys of Detroit).

As Peter Falk’s iconic TV character Columbo would say, “Just one more thing, sir” – Happy 190th birthday (August 24), James Redpath; author, publisher, entrepreneur, 19^th-century citizen of the world and possibly Malden’s first progressively minded resident. Born in 1833 in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, he resided on Maple Street off Summer during some of America’s most trying times. Redpath was a radical abolitionist with close working ties to John Brown, a fervent anti-segregationist and a very early supporter of Women’s rights supporting the Women’s Suffrage movement. He also advocated for Labor Unions, Irish Nationalism, and Civil Rights. His house on Maple Street reportedly was a stop on the “Underground Railroad” with tunnels allegedly running from his basement to the nearby Train Depot (now Pearl Street Station Restaurant). His viewpoints most likely not always going over well with his fellow citizens. He was a strong opponent of the death penalty. One could only imagine what fellow Maldonians thought when he asked for the life of the killer of young Frank Converse to be spared; Edward Green was condemned to die for the brutal slaying of the son of Malden’s most benevolent and loved citizens, Elisha Converse, and was eventually hung. James Redpath – “The Forgotten Firebrand” – Malden’s first ultra-liberal!! Happy birthday, Jimmy!

Postscript 1: Thank the deity of your choice – it’s Summertime and the living is easy! Life seems a lot lighter when the temps are in the 80s, and Malden in 2023 is a good time and place to be (although I would not mind spending an afternoon in Old Suffolk Square). With that said I’d like to leave this week with one of my favorite Frank (Sinatra) quotes; the Chairman of the Board was many things to many people and on occasion came up with a memorable quip or two: “You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the [expletive deleted].”

Postscript 2: San Rock Festa 2023; some are calling this year’s musical lineup the best lineup EVAH! Judge for yourself: The best Beatles tribute act on the North Shore, Beatlejuice, will play Friday night (August 11). The best dance band on the North Shore, WildFire, will have you enthusiastically shaking your tail feather – if you’re a tail feather shaker – on Saturday night (August 12). And on Sunday (August 13), we got Steve Savio with Sea Breeze playing all your favorite traditional Italian music in the afternoon followed by Heart Attack Ack Ack Ack Ack Ack giving you your (classic) Billy Joel fix closing out the Festa.

Postscript 3: Breaking news! Last week’s Malden Advocate may have been the most popular issue in the history of the paper. Reportedly all copies at Honey Dew on Eastern Avenue and two spots in Malden Square who regularly have copies left over were sold out – on Saturday! I guess my article congratulating Jack Garrity on his 104th birthday was a big hit. Insert smiley face.

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