Events

Muslim festival dispels myths and celebrates community

Malden was host to the first ever New England Muslim festival on Sunday, September 25. Official estimates report that close to 3,000 people attended the vibrant family event from noon – 6 p.m. A dazzling array of hijabs wove strands of color throughout the crowd on Malden City Hall Plaza. The stage featured hip hop artists, comedians, traditional music, folk dances, Chinese martial arts, speeches and the Muslim call to prayer. A traditional souk (marketplace) boasted a wide array of arts, henna, Arabic calligraphy, local information and international foods. There was even a booth where non-Muslims could try on a hijab (Muslim headcovering). According to the organizers, the vision of the Muslim Festival was to celebrate the diversity within the American Muslim community and to create a greater awareness of their rich cultural heritage. “In the midst of the election season, terrorist attacks in Europe and instability in the Middle East,” says festival director Mohammad Shadid, “the Muslims in the United States and in particular in New England believe that their culture and image have […]

Featured

WHAT’S NEW? Seven deadly picks for Halloween

With Halloween creeping around the corner, the team from What’s New? assembled a motley crew of spooktacular events scattered throughout the Bay State. With our seven deadly picks for Halloween, we promise plenty of tricks and treats throughout October. MATV’s HAUNTED STUDIO: Coming in at No. 7 is Malden Media Center’s annual event the Haunted Studio. Kids and parents from the Malden Community trick or treat their way through MATV’s creepy maze of spooks held on Halloween weekend. OLD SCHOOL GAME SHOW: At No. 6 is Old School Game Show’s Halloween edition in Cambridge. Michael D’Angelo, host of the devilishly camp Old School Game Show, serves up 1970s-era slasher-flick sensibility in this killer live theater/game show cacophony which includes Boston’s burlesque queen Ginny Nightshade. Based on D’Angelo and Nightshade’s previous Halloween creations, Old School Game Show deserves two Freddy Krueger-style thumbs up. 7 p.m. Saturday, October 15. Oberon, 2 Arrow St. Harvard Square in Cambridge, oldschoolgameshow.com. HAMMOND CASTLE: For 29 years, this Gloucester haunt transforms into one of the most spooktacular haunted houses in New […]

Profiles

Malden High School welcomes Principal Ted Lombardi

During the early spring of 2015, Lawrence High School Principal Ted Lombardi was strolling down his school’s empty hallway when his phone received a SchoolSpring alert of a high school principal opening. Lombardi appreciated these alerts not as a job search, but as an administrator’s news feed of job transitions in the state. This alert plucked a familiar chord since Lombardi vaguely knew Malden High School’s Principal Dana Brown.   Lombardi flagged a fellow educator who knew the Malden School District very well.  “Did you know that Dana Brown is leaving Malden High School?” The quick reply, “yes, he decided last year”, resonated with Lombardi. Lombardi continued on for another thirty feet down the hallway, when he heard the fellow educator banter,  “You are going to apply for that position, right?” Lombardi stopped in his tracks and spun around,“I don’t know. I haven’t updated my resume in a decade.” Lombardi thought to himself, “ I love Lawrence and plan to continue working here for years.” Lombardi has been teaching or leading at the Lawrence Humanities […]

News

Weaving culture, beauty and business: Fallou’s African Braiding Salon

Growing up in Senegal, Farma Fallou would not have guessed that an everyday activity — braiding hair in the local style — would become the foundation of an American life for herself and the family she would one day have. But since her arrival in the U.S. in 2001, she has built a braiding company that has sent two daughters to college and earned her a respected place in Malden’s business community. Today, the owner of Fallou’s African Braiding Salon in Malden, Massachusetts sees a dozen or more clients each week and employs her daughters, a niece, and other skilled hair braiders part-time. “I am very grateful, and bless God every day,” says Fallou. The salon at 14 Irving Street, just off Main Street in Malden Square, is a long room with four chairs for customers and more for family members and friends to keep customers company. It is common for customers to bring a husband, mother, or friend along, as most braided hair styles take several hours to complete. Every chair has a sight line to the television where, […]

Arts

Malden Public Library’s historic gates restored

The Malden Public Library’s historic wrought-iron gates have been restored  to their original condition and returned to the Salem Street entrance where they have enclosed the walled garden, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, at the front entrance, since 1911. They were designed by Ludvig Sandoe Ipsen, purchased in 1910 from a $1,000 donation from Mrs. Lillie A.B. Hill of Malden and produced by W.A. Snow Iron Work, Inc.  L.S. Ipsen, decorative artist, was born in Denmark and a graduate of the Academy of Architecture in Copenhagen.  He arrived in Boston around 1867 and eventually moved to Malden. Expressing himself most famously in the decorative arts and illustration, Ipsen was most noted for his book covers, book titles and book plates according to The American Bookmaker, July, 1886.  His illustrated work of “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” by E.B Browning (Tribner & Co.), was described as having been decorated “with exquisite draughtmanship and engraving and designed with taste and grace such as we rarely find surpassed” by The Athenaeum Journal of Literature, Science, The Fine Arts, Music […]

Featured

TV SHOW: “What’s New? Malden” for August

In the August edition of Neighborhood View’s What’s New? Malden: See what’s on tap at Idle Hands Craft Ales,the new brewery and taproom that just opened up on Commercial Street. Travel back in time with “Classic Diners of Massachusetts” author and local expert Larry Cultrera. Learn about about a hair art event by Raw: Boston artist Shannon Leigh slotted for August and go on the hunt for Picachu in Malden thanks to the latest Pokemon Go craze. Co-hosts Sharon Fillyaw  and Sam Baltrusis from MATV’s Neighborhood View talk about hair, diners and Pokemon Go in this monthly TV show. The monthly program airs 6:30 p.m. Fridays, Noon Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays on MATV’s Channel 3 on Comcast, 28 (Verizon).  

Events

Interfaith community unites at Ramadan Iftar meal

“We need more of this,” says Imene, from Algeria. “The world needs more of this.” And I agreed. We were sitting at the same table during the Ramadan Iftar celebration at First Parish of Malden, enjoying a meal prepared by the sisters from the Outreach Community & Reform Center (O.C.R.C.), a spiritual home for the local Muslim community in Malden. The Iftar is the evening meal eaten at sundown during Ramadan. It is the first meal eaten since before sunrise that day by practicing Muslims. This special Iftar, held on June 18, about two weeks into this year’s month-long celebration of Ramadan, was a shared meal with non-Muslims in the community, organized jointly between the O.C.R.C. and First Parish. “These are delicious,” I said, biting into what looked like a Chinese spring roll, but was filled with chopped beef and some type of cheese. “Oh, I made them,” said Imene. “I find they are always a crowd pleaser.” We agreed that all the food was delicious, much of it cooked by women from the O.C.R.C., […]

Events

TV SHOW: “What’s New? Malden” for July

In the July 2016 edition of Neighborhood View’s What’s New? Malden: Satiate your sweet tooth with Malden’s newest shop on the block Hoff’s Bakery, stay safe this summer with tips from Malden’s former fire chief Jack Colangeli who will also chat about his Italian eatery Jack’s Ristorante. Did you know that Malden was a major player in the American Revolution? Get the lowdown. Also, Neighborhood View’s Liz Taegel talks about juggling her show “Release The Sounds” with the responsibilities of being a new mom. Co-hosts Sam Baltrusis and Sharon Fillyaw unleash the fireworks with the July 2016 edition of “What’s New? Malden.” The monthly program airs 6:30 p.m. Fridays, Noon Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays on MATV’s Channel 3 on Comcast, 28 (Verizon).

Featured

Celebrate Fourth of July weekend in Malden

The Malden Public Library will display the original and the newly digitized version of Malden’s town records from the Revolutionary war period. Featured will be the May 27, 1776 document entitled “Instructions of the Inhabitants of Malden, Massachusetts to their Representatives in Congress” unanimously voted on by the townspeople of Malden to be delivered to the Second Continental Congress via their representative Ezra Sargeant. In the 1776 communication, the voting citizens of Malden renounce the Colony’s ties to the Kingdom of Great Britain and set forth their wish to become an independent “American” republic. The document is credited as a precursor to the Declaration of Independence written in July of 1776 when the Continental Congress formally declared their independence from England. The original historical document will remain on display for viewing. On Friday, July 1 at 6 p.m. in the Malden Public Library’s front lawn, local historian and period actor Tom Coots will perform the second annual Reading of the town “Instructions.” Here’s Neighborhood View’s coverage from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OzR2iMORG8

Events

Bike to the Sea is still blazing a trail

It’s taken me 24 years to finally get up early on a Sunday morning to join the trailblazing Bike to the Sea folks for their annual 20-mile ride from Everett to Nahant Beach. Twenty-four years—that sounds lame, but it’s true. Finally, on Sunday, June 12, 2016, my husband and I biked down to the Doo Wop Diner in Malden to meet friends, Karen and Scott, for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast, and then on to the starting point for the annual ride. (This article was published in June 2016. We are re-posting in interest of the next Bike to the Sea bike ride to be held Sunday, June 11, 2017.) Every year, I thought about doing the ride. When my kids were young, I envisioned us all doing it together, but I could never seem to garner the forces such as they were. I’m essentially a casual bike rider, often too daunted by the long steep hill I live at the top of, which makes finishing my ride an exhausting feat. I love fresh air and […]