You voted for Somerville’s best service providers—from car repair to real estate—in the 2016 Scout’s Honored Awards. Here are your winners! Looking for the best places to shop? Those are rounded up here. Check back later this month for the winning dining destinations and the city’s coolest arts and entertainment options.
Imagine a Somerville where every small business owner—from the crafty cocktail concoctors at the Boston Shaker to the dynamic duo behind Chicken and Shakes Automotive—were connected on a platform that let them share insights with one another without even needing to leave their storefront. That’s the idea behind Alignable, a local startup that wants to make it […]
Imagine your commute cut in half, your negative impact on the environment lessened and your favorite restaurant opening a location right by your home. Imagine more businesses vying for space in the already vibrant Somerville. Imagine not having to transfer trains or take the bus so often. This is the Somerville of the Green Line Extension (GLX), a […]
Somerville has always been known as a working class city, one made up of resourceful people who have the ability to make something great with limited resources. Strong and capable, the city gets its industrial vibe from its industrious culture. But as our lives increasingly move online, the way we work is changing—a shift made evident by the recent […]
If you’re a desk jockey (like us), the phrase “working from home” probably means something akin to “wearing flannel pants and eating cereal out of the box while you shoot off emails.” But for Somerville’s creative class, working from home can encompass everything from tying on an apron and baking for hours to firing up the […]
Winter Hill Brewing Company is almost ready to open. The taps have been installed, the signage is up and the espresso machine—yes, they’ll also be serving coffee— has arrived. But the brewery was only midway through its buildout when, in late September, the team welcomed the Winter Hill community into its skeleton space at 328 […]
What do a vegan nail polish, a minimalist bike rack and a bluetooth-connected guitar have in common? How about an automatic ball launcher called iFetch, Mrs. Meyer’s earth-friendly cleaning products and the popular crossword-style game Bananagrams? Each of these products—from bike rack to ball launcher—first came to life thanks to a spunky little website known […]
Sake, saffron, Salvadoran flor de izote—flavors from around the globe converge in Union Square, and the Somerville Arts Council wants to share the spice with its 2016 walking tours of the area’s six international markets. The tours are part of the Nibble program, the council’s food and community initiative which advocates for culinary creators in Somerville—especially those from the city’s immigrant population. […]
Earlier this year, Ari Kalos launched iLoveSomerville, an app that gives socially-minded ‘Villens a place to post news, share photos and crowdsource answers to questions like, “Where can I get free wifi in Somerville?” There’s an Instagram feed that collects photos that are tagged #Somerville, a local job board and a messaging platform. But while Kalos has worked […]
“It’s this constant struggle—but that’s my favorite part of it too, the hunt.” It is a cold Monday afternoon in Somerville, but Andrew Wiley is sending enough positive vibes through the phone to warm up the whole office. We’ve caught the proprietor of High Energy Vintage in the final stages of preparing his new storefront. Formerly based in Teele […]
It’s a sleepy Sunday morning in Somerville, but while much of the city is just crawling out of bed, the Center for Arts at the Armory is bustling with activity. Dancers run through their steps in the main performance hall, young families order breakfast at the cafe counter and musicians in the building’s practice spaces […]
In “Behind the Brown Paper” (January/February ’16), we spoke with Somerville chefs about the challenges of opening your own restaurant. There’s an awful lot that can go wrong, from flooding (Journeyman) to landlord disputes (Bergamot) to zoning code misunderstandings (Spindler Confections). But while the restaurateurs we sat down with ran into trouble with contractors, pastry chefs and NSTAR, we were […]