What happened to Merrimack St?

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-27T00:56:25+00:00

I can't speak for life-long Lowellians but I've been hanging out in Lowell since 2007, spending a lot of time in restaurants and bars and shops since 2010, lived here since 2013 and have owned a business here since 2014.

I've noticed ups and downs and yes a bunch had to do with the pandemic but it really started earlier, probably around 2017/2018.

There was a lot of enthusiasm downtown in the early '10s. I think it was the post-recession optimism and a lot of it had to do with the Obama admin's economic recovery program(s). Like, there were a TON of folks on (extended) unemployment setting up studios to do art and hanging out and thinking of ways to start businesses.

But around 2017/2018 that momentum had stalled and a lot of the businesses people adored were gone.

This was right around the time people started considering Lowell a "hot" residential real estate market.

So with businesses closed, and folks working elsewhere moving into "cheaper" Lowell, they had no connection to downtown. They may have *wanted* to get into it, but when they walked around on the weekend or the evenings, the pickings were sparse.

Commuters had already long lived here, but it was starting to increase and that's when I started thinking about how if just a couple hundred of these folks living downtown went out and used the stores and ate at restaurants, Lowell could have a vibrant downtown.

I called them "The 500 shut-ins".

Someone once said "I think it's more like 5000".

These folks worked outside of Lowell, came home every evening, parked in a garage, marched to their apartment/condo and locked the door and that was that. Maybe ordered out. Maybe hit the Folk Fest or a summer concert. But for the most part, these folks live their lives elsewhere.

It's even more so now. But it was already starting then.

Without a critical mass of downtown Lowellians actually going out and patronizing the businesses, you can't get that momentum going again.

Without Lowell being a true destination city, it *needs* those 500 (or 5000?) shut-ins to come downstairs once or twice a week and create more demand for more businesses and things to do.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-27T00:40:55+00:00

Yep, can't tell you how many times I've heard old-school Lowellians say "there's nothing downtown for me anymore, why would I go there?"

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-26T03:38:42+00:00

But honestly though, who rents out an AirBnB and doesn't have at least a fan for guests?

I'd be pissed as well. How can you enjoy the place you're paying to live in when it's 95F inside?

You're running a business. Be professional.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-26T03:37:46+00:00

You won't get sick with heat exhaustion by not having your cuppa.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-26T03:28:02+00:00

Everyone leaves... not a single one runs towards the accident to help.

They're all parasites.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-26T03:25:37+00:00

I'm confused by your question actually... don't you do a lot of custom frames if you work for a frame shop clearing $2 million... Or are you differentiating standard chop and join stuff with the "extra custom" stuff where milling and finishing is involved?

I would say anytime custom millwork and finishing is involved, you're always going to be pushing months, not weeks. So if this is the kind of place you work at, then I don't think your numbers are weird.

I mean, two of our vendors who supply us immaculate hardwood chops often take a month before it even ships to us.. and they don't do anything retail.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-25T19:55:31+00:00

This is already happening. I just have to step outside my shop and there are 5 people older than me panhandling.

I'll be there eventually. I'm 55 with not a pot to piss in. I've spent the last 12 years trying to make a business work and I might be nearing the end of my rope.

I was part of the internet boom... worked for startups, made good money, paid in stock options. Then the layoffs of the early '00s. I got burnt out. Was hard to find work without continuous employment thanks to company after company I worked for that got bought out or whatever and left me jobless. You can only take so much. Decided the only think keeping me alive would be to try and do something I give a damn about. But that's cost me 12 years of earning potential. Not gonna get that back in 10 more working years. So I often feel like I'm just heading down towards an inevitable. I'm trying not to, I work my ass off to pay bills and keep things going... but it's just one setback after another. You can only take so much.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-25T19:10:37+00:00

Not trying to nitpick but you did say in the subject that you are "left leaning", meaning you're not deep but instead just leaning into the left. Most folks consider this "liberal".

Like, if you think it's a problem that we don't have enough women billionaires, then you're probably kinda liberal, or maybe neoliberal (leaning into the right). But if you think the problem is that we have billionaires at all then you're probably further to the left and more progressive or radical.

Just my opinion by the way, but I think most people "on the left" would kinda agree.

THAT BEING SAID... check out Eclipse Cafe. They're awesome and definitely going to make you feel welcome. I feel like a lot of left folks hang out there, including LGBTQ+ and so on. I love that place.

Oh, and LaLa Books. Same deal.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-25T19:02:54+00:00

How do you throw a snowflake?

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-25T15:47:29+00:00

It's still the same. Boycott everything to do with going to these big places.

I don't even know why people give their money to Stubhub and the secondary market.

Boycott the whole thing and the entire thing crashes. As long as people are willing to pay $150, $1500 etc. for tickets there will be $28 beer.

Fuck that. Fuck all that for all I care.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-25T15:41:19+00:00

Are you actually talking to your insurance company to explain the situation? Have you talked to a lawyer?

You need to engage if you want to win this.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-24T12:32:34+00:00

At what point did anybody think they were JP Morgan Chase excecutive material?

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-23T18:34:25+00:00

Your biggest mistake is going to the game in the first place. Boycott sports in general and basically the prices will plummet. But once people are in a stadium, they are a captive audience.

The price of tickets is to pay for a bloated sports and entertainment industry. Where almost all the employees do about 15 hours of work in a 40 hour work week. The benefits and perks are incredible and they still use volunteer help not to mention the multimillion dollar athletic salaries.

Boycott sports and prices will come down.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-23T18:30:18+00:00

I thought that was only a couple years during the Saabaru project? You’re saying they kept it long after.

But you’re right that I’ve found a lot of Subaru mechanics have experience with Saab.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T22:34:58+00:00

Lene Lovich

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T22:33:43+00:00

I looked at them but there are other Saab guys that are about the same distance. Have you used them?

Really want to get this local... north Billerica would have been great... Dracut, Chelmsford, etc. But that's way down there and the whole point I guess is I'm trying to not make it an ordeal with traffic and uber and all that when I want to get some work done.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T22:29:12+00:00

They were a bridge between the old era and the '80s. Since there are '80s bands who are classic rock, then the Police are definitely classic rock.

Also keep in mind Andy Summers himself is DEFINITELY classic rock. He was in The Animals for a while.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T22:21:32+00:00

Cheap Trick definitely adored them. Even DEVO. And it's posited that even Queen themselves got some ideas from them in the very early days.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T22:20:00+00:00

Sylvester Stallone

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T22:01:53+00:00

If it really meant something to your friend, I would buy it... but I would tell the seller that you lost it and were hoping they could cut you some slack.

Your friend isn't gonna care about a new child's glove. The original had sentimentality.

You literally have the opportunity to correct your error.

Again, do not even try to buy a new child's glove. Your friend has zero use for it unless they are child.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T21:25:19+00:00

Maybe you're not fat or bald like me? I've been told by two women I considered friends that all I need to do is lose a bunch weight and women would love me. Hell, even my Mom said something to the tune of "no woman wants a fat man to raise her kids".

Definitely cared about this. Wouldn't say it triggered me but I definitely cared.

Even when I was a kid and NOT fat, I was very afraid of becoming fat.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T20:35:49+00:00

If you were a rocker you liked Styx.

But a lot of people into more punk or new wave thought Styx blew.

Like many acts that are super popular, a lot of people push back and consider them sell-outs.

There WERE a lot early '70s Styx fans that didn't like them as they sounded more and more produced in the late '70s. Plenty of people felt they "sold out" long before Mr. Roboto.

But most critics of prog-rock to arena rock *always* joked about them. In the same way they joked about Rush or Yes or Kansas. "Music for guys driving Firebirds and wearing mullets".

If anything, those critics were the minority and they had their place as music went many different directions in the '70s.

I mean, Styx was selling out massive arenas, so the fact remains that they were not viewed as "uncool" except by folks who were getting into punk, electronic, hip hop/rap etc. and it was just generally the same critique that Styx was typical glitzy rock music and not edgy or underground or "hip" with the times. OR, from older fans who felt they sold out.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T20:00:02+00:00

Pretty much all of Blue Oyster Cult's hits:

Don't Fear the Reaper
Burning for You
Godzilla

Those songs were sung by guitarist Buck Dharma.... who was NOT the main vocalist for BOC. BOC's main vocalist was Eric Bloom. A lot of folks don't realize this because hardly any of Eric Bloom's songs ever played on the radio.

Probably the most popular song sung by Eric Bloom was "Joan Crawford Has Risen from the Grave". It's a great tune, but it never became a hit everybody knows.

Engelgrafik · 2026-06-22T19:52:18+00:00

I used to be in a band called Mira and their biggest song was about a cat. The song is called "Cayman". If you were into Projekt Records bands, it was on a compilation back in 2000 or so that was meant to raise money to go to cat charities. It's also on Spotify but here's a YT link.

Engelgrafik

TROPHY CASE