Featured

Malden Reads’ pop up serves up venue’s last dance

Have you ever heard of a pop-up restaurant? Well, Chef David Stein and the Malden Reads committee have. In fact, they recently pulled one off. The idea of a pop-up restaurant is to take an old, unused space and turn it into a spot to drink and dine, hang out and maybe even dance for one night only. David Stein, who has worked closely with Malden Reads for the past several years, conceived of the notion that Malden could experience this phenomenon for itself, and last Friday, April 17, the idea became a reality at the former location of My Honey Fitz on Pleasant Street. Over 90 guests turned up to enjoy a meal of chicken “Scarborough Fair,” vegetable lasagna, slow-roasted brisket and much more as they danced and dined to the music of Soulshine, Stein’s bluesy new band. To check out what it takes to set up a pop-up restaurant, watch this Neighborhood View exclusive video featuring reporter Kylie Garcia, David Stein and the Malden Reads committee.

Arts

Poetry and visual art collide for ‘Lines Connecting Lines’ exhibit

What happens when you hand an artist a poem and ask them to make a visual representation of it? “Lines Connecting Lines,” the new art exhibit at MATV, ventures to find out. Officially launched March 26, the exhibit will run through the end of April. It features the work of local poets paired with artistic interpretations made by local visual artists. “This is very inspiring because you ask 10 artists a question and you come up with 10 different answers, like anybody else. It’s the way you render it and the way that you want to visualize it,” poet and visual artist, Jason Parris Fitz-Gerald shared. Curated by Lisa L. Sears and partially funded by the Malden Cultural Council, the purpose of the exhibit is to encourage art in the Malden community. What they may not have expected is the many connections, old and new, that the exhibit has sparked. Check out the video below to find out who reconnected with an old childhood friend and hear other serendipitous stories resulting from this community art project.

Featured

‘Elder Lobby Day’ advocates for home care for seniors

“Home Care First” was the chant heard in the halls of the Massachusetts State House as a coalition of advocacy groups stood in solidarity urging state lawmakers to restore funding to services that keep elderly citizens at home. Massachusetts faces an estimated $1.5 billion deficit in the 2016 fiscal year’s budget. Since the budget cannot be officially approved with this deficit, some painful cuts necessitate the balancing of the budget. Advocacy groups for older Americans such as Mass Senior Action Group, AARP Massachusetts, Mystic Valley Elder Services and Mass Home Care made it clear that significant cost savings had already been made by providing home-based care services to elder citizens as opposed to putting them in extremely expensive nursing facilities. Community care programs like home care have reduced nursing facility costs by $853 million in 2015 compared to costs in 2000 – all due to 34 percent reduction in the number of patient days in institutions. There are an estimated 10,000 empty nursing facility beds today because of community alternatives. The per capita use of nursing […]

Featured

IN VIEW: ‘Live on Tape’ show with MATV’s Ron Cox

On the first Monday of each month, Ron Cox and crew can be found hard at work preparing to shoot yet another live episode of his show, “Live on Tape,” which airs on Malden Access television. They bustle around between MATV’s Studio A, the control room and Cox’s office. Guests and topics are often quickly scratched off the running order and replaced, according to Director Suzanne Ress who has worked on the show for the past three years. “Part of the intro is ‘Ready or not, here we come,’ sort of verbiage because ready or not, we go live at seven and whatever’s happening is live,” says Ress. Loosely based on Steve Allen, Johnny Carson and David Letterman, “Live on Tape” is one of the longest-running productions still being shot and aired at MATV. “I was one of the first producers doing a show at MATV when we first opened,” recalls Cox. “It was 1989. We came together to come up with the idea for the show, but it took us about six months to […]

Featured

Oppa’s Kitchen & Bar Korean Cuisine welcomes Malden Reads diners

Malden Reads is excited to announce the second offering in the Malden Eats Community Dining series. We invite you to share a convivial meal, at the same time exploring themes related this year’s Malden Reads selection, “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan. You do not need to have read the book to attend. On Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m., join fellow Maldonians for an authentic Korean meal at Oppa’s Kitchen & Bar at 157 Pleasant St. in Malden. Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day at this completely refurbished restaurant space on Pleasant Street. Oppa’s Kitchen & Bar, located at the site of the former Massimo’s Restaurant, was opened last September by co-owners Tony Wong and Steven Wu. According to Wong, the two are excited to be part of downtown Malden’s thriving dining community. “We actually flipped the entire place,” he says. “Mayor Gary (Christenson) wanted to bring an Asian flair to the city and noticed that I used to have a Korean restaurant in Chinatown. I’m new to Malden but we wanted to work with the community.” Wong says there will be a curated, […]

Arts

Malden Reads kicks off season with ‘bits & bites’ opener

The Malden Reads season kicked off 2015 with its “bits and bites” opener at the historic Converse building of the Malden Public Library. The community gathering was a success despite attendees having to trek out into one of the snowiest winters in New England’s history. Malden Reads is a community reading program that invites the entire city to read the same book and participate in events based on its themes. The grand opening on Thursday, Feb. 19 featured light refreshments, community conversation and a chance to learn more about the Malden Reads 2015 featured selection and companion books for younger readers. The 2015 featured selection is “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.” Written by Robin Sloan, the book combines elements of fantasy, mystery, friendship and adventure while musing on the transition between new information technology and traditional print books. In the video below, guests including Mayor Gary Christenson chat with Neighborhood View reporter Kylie Garcia about the festive opening celebration. –Photos by Elizabeth Scorsello

Events

Neighborhood View catches up with Congresswoman Katherine Clark

On Friday, Jan. 23,  a crowd gathered together at the Malden Access TV headquarters on Pleasant Street for the Mass Access 2015 Annual Membership Meeting in which Congresswoman Katherine Clark was honored as Legislator of the Year. Congresswoman Clark, known for her continued support of local access television, took a moment after receiving her award to speak with Neighborhood View about her first year as a United States Representative and share her thoughts on the value of community access television.

Featured

VIDEO: Annual Parade of Holiday Traditions 2014

On Saturday, November 29 starting at 2 p.m., hundreds of children and families from Malden gathered for the annual Parade of Holiday Traditions. The parade lined up along Waite Street Extension and traveled up Maplewood Street. It then turned left onto Salem Street. The parade ended at the viewing stand at Malden High School. Maldonians followed their yearly tradition of the Salem Street pre-parade stroll securing the perfect spot. The parade kicked off at 2 p.m. in 2014, four hours later than the traditional 10 a.m. start time of years past. Many nations, local organization and celebrations were represented at this year’s parade. Malden High School band, Triangle, Malden Girl Scouts, Malden Boy Scouts, Bread of Life, Outreach Community and Reform Center, Junior Aid Association of Malden, Bike to the Sea, Malden Public Library and many more.If you missed the parade … grab a cup of cocoa, sit back and enjoy the show. Happy holidays! –Elena Martinez

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Featured

80 is the new 60 at the Malden Senior Center

Many senior citizens know it’s advantageous to keep their mind and body active for their overall well being. Numerous older people make use of the John and Christina Markey Malden Senior Community Center located at 7 Washington Street, better known simply as the Malden Senior Center. The new facility opened in 2009 after a dedication ceremony to Senator Edward Markey’s parents and life-long Maldonians, John E. and Christina M. Markey. A public/private partnership leveraging funding resources brought this project to life in downtown Malden. To be specific the sources were as follows: $2M- HUD Section 108 Loan, $7.2M- City, $ 450K- Cambridge Health Alliance Donation, $250K- Private Foundation Grant. Rehabilitation cost $7.6M and $2.3M was used for acquisition of the old church site. Neighborhood View opted to profile a few of the seniors to obtain their insight as the intended end users of the facility. Join us as we meet 85 year old Ed Clarke, 86 year old Mary Peabody and 64 year old Peter Huang. We also hear from Silvia Banos, the current director of […]

Arts

Captivating artwork of Ming Huang Zhang .. now showing in the MATV Gallery

The MATV Gallery is exhibiting the work of Ming Huang Zhang, a participating artist in this year’s Window Arts Malden through January 2015. Zhang hails from China and immigrated to the United States in 2011. The work in this exhibit features his oil portraits which are painted in a western style but display subjects and details that are distinctly Eastern. Also on exhibit will be a number of his portrait sketches using a charcoal medium, a favorite of the artist. Zhang frequents Harvard Square where he finds plenty of people to pose for his sketches, which typically take about 15 minutes to complete yet are captivating in their level of fine detail and likeness to the original face. Says Zhang, “I live in Boston and I love this beautiful city. I have liked drawing since I was a preschool child. Every day, I drew on the road with small stones because my parents did not have enough money to buy drawing equipment for me.” In 2010, Zhang drew a giant mural (300 square meters) for the […]