Page 6 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, May 23, 2025 ~ Malden Musings ~ Happy Birthday, Dom Fermano By Peter Levine H e’s Dom Fermano… and we are most definitely not! The original Edgeworth matinee idol, Malden’s very own OG, and much like his legendary paisan Frank Sinatra, Dom’s been doing it his way since day one — with swagger, smarts and a whole lot of Edgeworth soul. And would you believe it? This May, the man, the myth, the Malden legend Dom “The Unofficial Mayor of Wherever He Stands” Fermano (charisma sourced in Italy, applicable worldwide) turns 85 years young! Still sharper than you or me, smoother than a Sinatra ballad and rocking that “hardest working man in show biz” title like a champ (think Tony DeMarco meets Rocky Graziano). So next time you see Dom, 425r Broadway, Saugus Located adjacent to Kohls Plaza Route 1 South in Saugus at the intersection of Walnut Street We are on MBTA Bus Route 429 781-231-1111 We are a Skating Rink with Bowling Alleys, Arcade and two TV’s where the ball games are always on! PUBLIC SKATING SCHEDULE 12-7 p.m. Sunday Monday Tuesday $10.00 Price includes Roller Skates Rollerblades/inline skates $3.00 additional cost Private Parties 7:30-11 p.m. Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday $11.00 Price includes Roller Skates 18+ Adults Only After 7 PM - ID Required Private Parties Private Parties 4-8 p.m. $10.00 8:30-11 p.m. $11. 18+ Adults Only After 7 PM - ID Required 12-9 p.m. $10.00 Everyone must pay admission after 6 p.m. Sorry No Checks - ATM on site Roller skate rentals included in all prices Inline Skate Rentals $3.00 additional BIRTHDAY & PRIVATE PARTIES AVAILABLE www.roller-world.com tip your hat, shake his hand and wish him a happy birthday — trust me, he’s keeping score! (Just kidding… mostly.) Here’s to you, Dom — a great friend, the real deal and a class act. Wishing you many, many more years of laughs, love, tales from yesteryear, San Rock Festas and bocce ball! Hope you had a great surprise party! It is said in “Malden Musings”... • Delighted I was as I opened last week’s Malden Advocate to see my former next-door neighbors on Seaview Avenue, the Walkers, receiving a family award from the local scout district! Malden Troop 603 Committee Chair Steve Walker, Bear Scout Dillion Walker of Pack 615 and Dillion’s pop, Pack 615 Cubmaster Andrew. Look at Dillion, grown up and so handsome! Congratulations, Walker family, tell Cathy I said hello! • Luigi Di Marco, originally of Brittoli, Provincia de Pescara, Italy, on April 2, 2025, at 80 years of age. Life carries on but love continues. Rest in peace. “Le mie più sentite condoglianze” to the Di Marco family. • 90 Salem Street, we salute you! Now a show piece of a structure sprouting up out of the ashes of an estate that saw better days during the (Walter J.) Kelliher administration! The First Baptist, Converse Memorial Building, the Davenport Memorial Home/ Estate, the Central Fire House, now 90 Salem Street, Malden’s very own version of the Yank’s legendary Murderer’s Row! Fuhgeddaboudit (said in my best Donnie Brasco voice)! • Audrey P. (Shulman) Adleman, 84, of Melrose, formerly of Malden. May her memory be a blessing. • We get letters... Bobby O’Brien, step right up: “Let me contribute my GOATs, but not necessarily Maldencentric. My post-1960 best area athletes: Malden - John Salmon, Red Harris, Neil Hurley, San Rock Festa Grease Pole circa late 1950s — MBTA tracks in the background — late MPD Commissioner Sal “Butch” Gennetti front and center (with full head of hair!) pleading for help from above, and birthday boy Dom Fermano (top right). & Paul Murphy. Melrose - Richie Umile & Doug Prentice. Medford - Eddie Rideout & Bill Monbouquette.” Thank you, Bobby, very impressive. • I did a Google on Doug Prentice — simply amazing athletic career! He’s stone-cold Melrose from what I can make out, but I am sure he visited Malden back in the day. Melrose — never known for their pizza or taverns (also known for their lack of “packys”). Melrose friends — said with all due respect, of course. Insert smiley face. • More on DP: Doug got a full boat to play football at Boston College; later signed as a free agent by the Atlantic Braves; pitched a great game at Lowell in 1983 for Melrose (Rams) in the ICL State Finals against (Billerica’s) Tommy Glavine and was All Middlesex League in hoop. Amazing! Doug, reach out if this makes it into your living space. • I saw the future of comedy a couple of weeks back at the Disabled American Veterans Hall on Willow Street (thank you, Pat McFee) and his name is Tugboat Manny. Details to follow. • Best hockey slinger in Maldonia history that nobody remembers... Malden Catholic’s Eddy Sullivan? Boston College Beanpot Tournament record holder and stone-cold Malden (via Edgeworth) back in 1961 at the Beanpot, Eddy tied a record by scoring five goals in a single game. The Herculean effort had been achieved only by Harvard’s Bill Cleary in 1955, later by fellow Maldonian (and Edgeworth guy) Mikey Powers in 1973. More on Eddy in the very near future. • I keep telling my brother Joe, I don’t always get it correct but if I write it wrong, Maldonia usually lets me know (“the more I write, the more I’m wrong,” correct Greg?). Dagnabbit (said in my best Yosemite Sam voice)! Maldonia reached out to me once again in the form of a missive from young Al Glynn. Seems pops was miffed that I got the chronology of the long-gone Charlie Brown’s/Strandway reversed. In no uncertain terms, he let me know that when the Strandway closed it then morphed into Charlie Brown’s (not the other way around, as I had misinformed Maldonia, once again). Duly noted, young Al, and please let your handsome parents, Al and Barbara, know that I look forward to seeing them at the San Rock Festa this summer. I wouldn’t mind seeing you and your handsome mug again either! “Raise a Glass: Remembering Maldonia’s Greatest Bartenders”: There was a time — not so long ago, though it feels like another lifetime — when every neighborhood in Malden had its own corner bar, its own familiar faces, its own little piece of home. Places where the jukebox played too loud (or didn’t play at all), where the lights were dim (or nonexistent) and where the bartender wasn’t just someone serving drinks — they were part-time counselors, peacemakers/bouncers, relatives or old friends. In those smoky rooms (remember smoky rooms?!) where laughter (does anybody remember laughter?) and (at times) extreme shenanigans took place, bartenders stood as steady fixtures of the community. They remembered
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