Long Purples by Paul Marion My wife Rosemary and I live in a townhouse condo atop a former ski slope in Amesbury, Mass., just uphill from the compact but busy downtown. Called Powow Hill for the original residents in this area, the 330-foot hill is crowned with a small public…
Carpets and Fish By Paul Marion For years I’ve admired a photograph made by a friend, a picture of three young guys with fishing poles on the Aiken Street Bridge or Joseph R. Ouellette Bridge, named for a fallen soldier, over the Merrimack River in Lowell. The guys are taking…
Looking Back to 1968 by Paul Marion In late November 1968, my friend Susan April walked three miles in the rain from her home in Dracut, Mass., to buy the new Beatles double album at a Lowell record shop and hitchhiked home when the paper bag from the store began…
Sky Bar by Paul Marion The barbershop on upper Merrimack Street had a candy vending machine against the long side wall where customers waited in padded steel chairs. When I had a dime, I’d slot the coin and pull the handle for a Sky Bar in a yellow wrapper with…
Tom Sexton (photo by Kevin Harkins) On the Street, Tom & Me Around 2010, I wrote a series of posts for the Howe blog about my weekly hikes in Lowell. Usually I walked alone on Sunday mornings when the streets are quiet, often taking notes about what I saw and…
With St Patrick’s Day and Lowell’s Irish Cultural Week coming up soon, here’s a rerun of a 2019 post on my blog about the ethnic practices in the area along with a couple of images including champion boxer Jackie Brady of Lowell. Click the link here.
Artist Richard Marion at his Gallery 21, Hurd St, Lowell, c. 1979 (photo by Kevin Harkins) I’m posting this 2008 essay (later reprinted in 2018) for the benefit of visual artists and other folks in Lowell who have come to the city since the 1980s or later and may not…
Writer Joe Blair of Iowa by way of Westford and UMass Lowell and other locales, has a Substack newsletter account like Dick Howe Jr., executive editor and publisher of this blog. Joe’s Substack is called “Parts & Labor” (He a professional HVAC guy–heating, refrigeration, etc.) His new post is as…
Contact: Meg Smith, festival organizer, 978-996-6592 megsmithwriter675@gmail.com Poe in Lowell festival to honor Edgar Allan Poe’s visits to Lowell Lowell, Massachusetts – A new festival will celebrate Edgar Allan Poe’s three visits to Lowell, with art exhibits, spoken word readings of poetry and short stories by Poe, dance performances inspired…
Much of Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting was devoted to the need for sidewalks on Campbell Drive, a 1960s-era residential street in the Highlands that’s home to the Bailey Elementary School. The school, which was constructed in the 1990s, is set back from the road and connected to Campbell Drive…
Menu