Our trip around the world to the homes of PTSOTL readers continues this week with suburban Westwood, MA. (Check out previous entries on Canada, Qatar, New Jersey, and Illinois). Jon Reagan grew up in Westwood, a suburb of Boston. His childhood, he says, "was the typical suburban life that goes unappreciated until adulthood when one realizes the safe blanket of suburbia has decayed after years of neglect and subtle wear and tear giving one's parents no other choice but to discard the remains and breath a sigh of relief." That sounds draining. Jon is the frontman of the industrial glam grunge band Mic Raygun.
Growing up in Westwood had its ups and downs like any suburb. The town is considered ‘sleepy', which I think refers to how the homeowners, many of whom are quite wealthy, essentially just sleep in their big, extravagant homes and go to work. The downtown area isn’t anything special so most people leave Westwood to eat, shop, or find entertainment.
This is a typical mansion found in Westwood. As you can see it’s immaculate, but does a family of four really need this much space to sleep? Social status is really important to many Westwoodians.
I don't know who would want to leave when you've got hot spots like this. Here’s the local ice cream joint called Bubbling Brook. Its name was taken from the brook that runs behind it, because that's how things are named. I have many childhood memories of playing by the brook and following it for as long as I could until I was either yelled at for going too far, or I dropped my ice cream and wanted more. I had several muddy experiences. That's not a euphemism.
Anne’s Lunch, shown above, was Westwood’s very own greasy spoon. Man, this place was so delicious, but totally awful for you. What a great way to start your day: filling your heart with sodium-infested grease and high-fructose faux maple syrup. I miss it..... R.I.P.
Down the street from my parents house is Buckmaster Pond. Never found out who the actual Buckmaster was, but that sounds like a cool job. It’s a tranquil place where I would get high and stare at the water contemplating how the fuck I was going to escape the suburbs. It’s also a good place to go skating in the winter.
Here’s another place to escape the mediocrity of suburban life and get fucked up. We call this place ‘The Peaks’. It’s a beautiful place to watch the landscape, but is a pain to climb down after smoking a blunt, especially after sunset. Unfortunately people suck and have defaced this sanctuary over the years with horrendous graffiti and broken glass. Still, I occasionally return to zone out.
This is a picture of my old high school from 1962. I couldn’t find a recent photo and it was demolished my senior year after completion of the new high school. There were so many alcoves and hidden passageways and it was easier to leave during school without being caught. We snuck into the old high school a few times before it was demolished and had some creepy and surreal smoke sessions in the principals office.
The new school may look shiny and well groomed, but it’s a prison. It’s impossible to escape from during a free period and there are no hidden areas to hang out in. They want to see your every move! It also looks like barracks.
Westwood, MA may have been a boring, sleepy town to grow up in, but the schools were good and the woods were a great place to avoid the grasp of reality that ever so slowly crept up on us. I hope the future potheads of Westwood have the opportunity to experience the woods like I did, but the amount of land being developed and turned into McMansions is alarming, even in this shitty economy.
-JON REAGAN
Westwood, MA may have been a boring, sleepy town to grow up in, but the schools were good and the woods were a great place to avoid the grasp of reality that ever so slowly crept up on us. I hope the future potheads of Westwood have the opportunity to experience the woods like I did, but the amount of land being developed and turned into McMansions is alarming, even in this shitty economy.
-JON REAGAN
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11 comments:
is westwood even that nice? it's nicer than norwood, sure. but medfield and sherborn are where it's at for white people with big houses.
I honestly don't know, never go to any of those towns. Someone more Metro West want to chime in?
It's a nice place. There are a lot of mansions, but it is a mixed community of rich and middle class families. A lot of people live there for the school system and have a modest sized home.
I can imagine most Westwoodians have a massive inferiority complex given the town's proximity to the greatest of all Boston suburbs, Norwood. It's probably a little like living in a shack next to the Empire State Building.
norwood does have a nice little town center, but it also has 'the flats'. keep this going!
No inferiorty complex, but I do apprecaite all the pot I bought from Norwoodians! Also, Norwoods town center is much more entertaining.I hated the coffee, but would hang at 'Perks' a lot in high school cause it cooler than any place Westwood has.
Which is the one with Great Woods again?
Jon, perhaps you met my friend Dave O'Malley at some point, who is sort of an eccentric genius that looks like the male version of Debra Winger (which is his own assessment (the Debra Winger part, not the genius part)) and spent quite a bit of time at Perks.
Hmmm I don't remember. We may have crossed paths.
Finally a guest writer I can relate to. That's how you endorse your spot. Get high and post pics of where you got high. Nice work, JR.
Thanks Anonymous 1:34 am
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