Union Square - Somerville Community Blog

Winter can be boring. What's a city dweller to do? Our friends at the Somerville Journal wrote a blog post yesterday about urban skiing coming to Somerville. What is urban skiing? It's basically where skiing meets skateboarding. No, I'm not kidding. You strap-on some skis, find a hill, and the city landscape becomes your terrain park.

The crew from Stept Productions made the trek from Colorado to the 'Villle to hit the some rails over by the high school.

We Somerville car repair guys find Stept to be thoroughly entertaining - but a bit on the crazy side. In fact, one of the Stept mad men - Tom Warnick - broke his tibia while tearing it up somewhere around the Hub.

We'll let you know when Stept releases the footage that was taken around Somerville. Until then, check-out their video from last year's Boston-area excursion. And oh yeah - don't try this at home!

Did you see the Stept crew around town? Drop us a comment and give us the scoop!

What a victory for small business!

The Zoning Board of Appeals have ruled in what can only be called a tremendous upset! Dipti and Umesh Mistri have won approval to move their specialty market, Little India, to a new location.

This was a battle of biblical proportion - one to tell the grandkids! The Mistris have operated Little India here in Somerville since 1985. They have always dreamed of expanding. However, they were nearly stopped in their tracks.

In another instance of big business trying to crush the little man, the proposed move of Little India to a bigger space just diagonal from its current Bow Street home, was challenged by its much bigger neighbor - Market Basket.

The Mistris were shocked! (Weren't we all.) Market Basket - afraid of Little India?  The new location is right next door, but still....

Thankfully, the Mistris had local attorney Rick DiGirolamo on their side. Rich fought on behalf of the Mistris and delivered a major win!

We understand that Market Basket was concerned about parking - I mean, who isn't? But really, this is Somerville. Parking has always been and will always be an issue. We see it here in Union Square all the time (thankfully we have our own lot).

If you want to run your business in the city, then get used to city life.

Never mind, a small family-owned grocer named Little India? I don't think Market Basket is going to lose too much business. And as far as parking goes, Little India doesn't have any now - it's a specialty store. Note to Market Basket: that's not high volume! Talk about blowing something out of proportion.

Penny-pinching titans with a scorched earth policy - we don't need 'em!

Somerville is synonymous with small business and it is about time little guys like us stand up to the corporate behemoths! Whether it's Somerville car repair, or international groceries, the little man is alive and well in Somerville. And he's just getting ready to fight!

Congrats, Mistris! Can't wait to see the new place!

A recent tweet by @camberville told us something we already know here at Mike's: Neighborhood Restaurant rocks!

This fellow Union Square business has been a favorite of ours for years! Sheila and her team make you feel like family. There's no place like it around!

@camberville was having brunch under the grapevines. The Neighborhood has fabulous outdoor seating - all situated under lush grapevines - it's like a Mediterranean oasis in the middle of Somerville.

I can honestly say that one of my favorite things to do in the summer is go to the Neighborhood for breakfast.

There is absolutely nothing better than their cream of wheat (yes, I said cream of wheat). And no, stop thinking of the guy wearing the chef's hat on the box in the supermarket. I am talking homemade cream of wheat like you have never had your entire life! It comes with every breakfast entrée (or fruit - but that's a no-brainer).

So, next time your looking for a little Somerville car repair, you can get a little cream of wheat too!

Don't get me wrong - you don't have to just go for breakfast - that's just my favorite.  Lunch is great too! Some of the best linguica around!

And if you like seafood...well, welcome home!

Ether way, if your coming into Mike's for some service, take a stroll over to Neighborhood Restaurant - and tell Sheila we sent you - you won't want to leave!

Rest assured - after-hours pick-ups are available!