Tales Of The Old Neighborhood/ Part 1
Long ago in the city of Somerville, in the western part of the city, in the shadow of Tufts University, settled a family of Italian immigrants. Moving in from Boston's North End, they were the second such family to buy a house in this blue collar neighborhood of hard knocks. Like so many who came to America, Joe and Nino wanted to fulfill that dream we all have. I knew them both when we were all in our teens. I lived on the same street back in the 70's and I had a running Poker game going on in the cellar of my parents home. One thing needs to be explained about the city of Somerville. It was a city of immigrants and was part Irish and part Italian - in equal parts. Where we lived, near Tufts University, was the Irish part. Like many places at that time, drug addiction had become the peculiar affliction of the boomer generation. In Somerville it was also gambling, as a matter of fact, it wasn't until I moved from Somerville that I discovered that gambling was actually illegal. I can recall Joe mentioning his desire to leave Somerville when we were only about 18 years old. I remember saying "why would you turn your back on Somerville?" Forgive me, I thought that was funny back then.
I saw many lives ruined at a young age. Joey, on the other hand, was somebody that could say no to both. Truly more mature than his years. He was also a natural entrepreneur, although it wasn't so obvious in the beginning. He started out with a small ice cream parlor in Teele Square, which catered to the Tufts students. I believe it was called "Joeys".This little venture never really caught on, but Joey persevered. He was there all the time it seemed. Later, as rumor has it, with inheritance money/refinancing his father's home, Joey was able to buy "Steve's Ice Cream" for $80,000 in 1977. Steve's was something very new - a gourmet style ice cream parlor that drew long lines of customers. Funny how I never grasped the concept of standing in line for food, but there they stood. What looked like students. Joey built on Steve's idea and was able to withstand a strike by the employees, who were mostly Harvard University students and they kind of resented working for an immigrant. They were more used to the team meetings that Steve Herrell held.
Later, Joey would add another business to his holdings, one that was of his own creation - "Bertucci's" restaurant chain. Eventually, after expanding Steve's Ice Cream to 26 stores, Joey would sell Steve's for $4.5 million in 1983. The Bertucci's chain was successful for a while, went public and eventually was bought out by NE Restaurant Co. Joey made other investments along the way (some good, some bad, but nothing like the move to buy Steve's Ice Cream. In the end he opened a Cuban food restaurant in Waltham MA called "Naked Fish".
I'm not sure Joey would even remember me now, but he is a legend in the old neighborhood.
He was the local guy that made good.
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