01945 Spring 2022

Sax man • Abbot art • Lighting up Marblehead
Landing
on the
cutting
edge
SPRING 2022
VOL. 5 ISSUE 1

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FROM THE PUBLISHER
TED GRANT
A publication of Essex Media Group
PUBLISHER
Edward M. Grant
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Michael H. Shanahan
DIRECTORS
Edward L. Cahill
John M. Gilberg
Edward M. Grant
Gordon R. Hall
Monica Connell Healey
J. Patrick Norton
Michael H. Shanahan
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
William J. Kraft
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
James N. Wilson
CONTROLLER
Susan Conti
EDITOR
Thor Jourgensen
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Madison Bethune
Gayla Cawley
WRITERS
Mike Alongi
Adam Bass
Madison Bethune
Bill Brotherton
Alena Kuzub
Sam Minton
Anne Marie Tobin
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Spenser Hasak
Alena Kuzub
Jakob Menendez
ADVERTISING SALES
Ernie Carpenter
Ralph Mitchell
Patricia Whalen
DESIGN
Amanda Lunn
Edwin G. Peralta Jr.
ADVERTISING DESIGN
Emilia Sun
INSIDE
06 What's up
08 Time to blow
13 Abbot art
14 Bravehearts
16 Landing legend
24 Impressario
28 Power people
30 Music maker
32 Checkmate
36 House Money
38 Superman
ESSEX MEDIA GROUP
85 Exchange St.,
Lynn, MA 01901
781-593-7700 ext.3
Subscriptions:
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01945themagazine.com
We're all about
community news
The year was 1972 and all of a sudden chess was "in." The United States had a chess
master, Bobby Fischer, who was playing Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world
championship. Fischer beat him, which was something like the U.S. beating the Soviets eight
years later in Olympic ice hockey. He was an earlier-day Tiger Woods, in that both brought
their games to us, the unwashed masses.
Almost instantly, everybody, it seemed, had a chess board. The fascination came and went,
of course. It’s enjoying a rebirth of sorts at Marblehead High, which is offering a full-credit
chess class. The phenomenon started when two teachers had a game going in the back of a
classroom. Enough students expressed enough interest and an idea was born.
Queen's Gambit, anyone?
Elsewhere in 01945, The Landing Restaurant has long reflected the tastes of Marblehead.
From classic seafood dishes to steaks, chops and good old-fashioned comfort food, the
restaurant has catered to a culinary crowd craving predictable service and fare for 50 years.
But the menu has gotten a facelift, thanks in large part to the arrival of chef/partner Alex
Pineda, who came on board last April with co-executive chef Noe Ortega. Pineda said The
Landing's new menu is globally inspired and focuses on seasonal and local ingredients.
Speaking of scoring . . . Most athletes, when they're kids, dream of hitting the big time.
Either they're on the mound for the final out of the World Series or they're throwing the
winning pass in the Super Bowl.
Few ever get to realize this dream. One who has is Marblehead's Ben Martin, a St. John's
Prep/Trinity College graduate who is an offensive line coach for the Cincinnati Bengals. As
such, Martin coached in Cincinnati's loss to the Los Angeles Rams in last month’s Super
Bowl.
That’s just a few examples of what this edition of 01945 has to offer. There are a dozen other
stories and features that also offer a glimpse into what makes Marblehead Marblehead.
Unfortunately, word has it that the town will soon have less of this type of community news
coverage and commentary. I’m hearing that the Marblehead Reporter will soon share content
with other weekly newspapers in the region. Goodbye, hyper-local content.
That will be a shame. I remember the heyday of the Reporter, when it was the paper of
record in town. If it happened, it was in the Reporter. Not so much anymore. As local coverage
went away, so did local advertising. And readership.
It’s now at a tipping point. Local officials lamented the anticipated demise during the
Feb.16 Board of Selectmen meeting.
Selectwoman Erin Noonan said, “I just wanted to share with the board that Gannett, the
parent company of our local newspaper, has decided to move in a different direction from its
weeklies and focus its resources and energies more on its dailies, which means our local town
paper will not actually be covering news unique to Marblehead – which is like mind-blowing
to me. I think it's incredibly disappointing and it's such a real disservice to our community.
I don’t know what else to say . . . I find it a tremendous loss that we will no longer have real
unique Marblehead weekly news.”
Selectman Moses Grader concurred. “It’s really devastating,” he said. “I hope there are
substitutes, some way we can fill that gap with another local source of information.”
Concluded Ms. Noonan: “I worry who will fill that void. Where will people go?”
I have a thought. We at Essex Media Group, as publishers of The Daily Item, the Lynnfield
Weekly News, the Peabody Weekly News, the Spanish-language La Voz, Suburban Real Estate
News, and four magazines – this one, plus 01907 (Swampscott), 01940 (Lynnfield), and North
Shore Golf – know how to cover local news. And we’re always up for a challenge.
Stay tuned.
COVER Alex Pineda, executive chef at The Landing Restaurant, wants to build a culinary empire. PHOTO by Spenser Hasak
04 | 01945

Bill Willis and Christine Tierney
A Day in the Life
A peek behind
the curtain into
the lives of two of
Marblehead’s top
real estate agents.
Bill Willis & Christine Tierney
Senior Vice Presidents
christine.tierney@compass.com
612.860.6446
bill.willis@compass.com
617.549.8956
4:30am
Rise and shine. Catch up on
overnight emails and drink
my first cup of coffee.
6am
Walk Oscar, my Yellow Lab. I
find that getting outside early
in the morning helps me feel
most prepared to take on the
day ahead and always makes
me grateful to live in such a
beautiful place.
8am
Make sure my youngest child
makes it to school on time!
8:30am
Hit Plus Cafe for a second cup
of artisan coffee. Downtown
Marblehead has so many great
shops and restaurants, I love
supporting a local business
while also getting an extra
caffeine boost.
9am
Head to the Compass office.
10am - 12pm
Take Zoom Meetings, collaborate
with colleagues, analyze market
trends, and prep listings for
market. As real estate agents
we are so often on the move, so
carving out time in my day to
check things off my to-do list is
a must!
12pm
Grab a quick lunch at Shubies or
Eat Well Kitchen, two of the most
delicious spots on the Northshore.
1pm - 6pm
Showing Appointments,
paperwork, and client consults.
This is why we do what we do!
Getting to meet with our clients,
understand their needs and be
a part of their journey home is a
privilege we don’t take lightly.
6pm
Dinner and Family Time.
Winding down in the evening
is crucial to making sure I am
refreshed and present in every
aspect of my life.
Bill Willis and Christine Tierney are real estate brokers affiliated with Compass, a licensed real estate broker and abide by Equal Housing Opportunity laws.

06 | 01945 06 | 01945
WHAT'S UP
Cecropia Strong
What: Marblehead-based nonprofit
Cecropia Strong helps people with
disabilities live their lives with as much
freedom and mobility as possible.
Where: Cecropia's gift donation program
helps more than 20 percent of Spaulding
Rehabilitation Hospital's patients every
month.
When: For more information on Cecropia,
visit cecropiastrong.org or email Julie
Hahnke, jhahnke@comcast.net.
Strings attached
What: The Marblehead Chamber of
Commerce presents "Stackables" —
mastering stretch bracelet string, knot, and
finishing techniques.
Where: Eos Designs Studio, 43 Pond
St. rear cottage. Email Dawn LiVigne,
eosdesignstudio@gmail.com for more
information.
When: Wednesday, April 6, 6-8 p.m.
Scout it out
What: Making scarecrows, fishing in Redd's
Pond, and the Winter Beach Kite Fly are
all part of the Marblehead Cub Scout, Boy
Scout, and Girl Scout adventure.
Where: See marbleheadscouting.org for
Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts information
for boys and girls. Visit Girl Scouts of
Marblehead Facebook page for Girl Scouts
opportunities.
Cozy up to a book
What: Abbot Library invites teenagers in
grades 9-12 to read Ruta Sepetys' "Salt to
the Sea," and discuss the book around a
virtual fireplace.
Where: Library teen room, 235 Pleasant St.
To register, email marteen@noblenet.org
When: Wednesday, March 30, 5-5:45 p.m.
Town Meeting time
What: Do you want a summer break
from leaf blowers? Town Meeting
will take up this proposal and other
warrant articles.
Where: Veterans Middle School
auditorium, 217 Pleasant St. Visit
marblehead.org to read the warrant.
When: Monday, May 2, 7 p.m.

SPRING 2022 | 07
Lynn Auditorium
Coming to the...
LynnAuditorium.com 781-599-SHOW

08 | 01945
Man, can
this guy play!
BY SAM MINTON
Local saxophonist Henley Douglas
Jr. sits with his 1939 Selmer
Balanced Action Tenor, which was
gifted to him by a family member.
PHOTOS: JAKOB MENENDEZ
Henley Douglas Jr. has been
playing the saxophone
for more than 30 years
and doesn't plan to stop
anytime soon.
While Douglas has never strayed from
his instrument, the type of music and
bands he has performed with have varied
over the years. The Marblehead resident
said he was drawn to the instrument
because it sounds like a human voice.
"Listening to these records my dad had,
I was always caught by how the saxophone
sometimes sounded like somebody crying
or a wailing baby," he said. "I really
thought that was cool."
Douglas first started playing when he
was stationed in Florida in the 1970s as a
member of the Coast Guard. Eventually,
the group of guys he was playing with
went to Boston for school so when
Douglas left the Coast Guard, he followed
his friends up north.
As a young man in Boston, he started
his first band, The Henley Douglas Group,
and began his jazz journey. Soon after,
in the 1980s, he broadened his horizons
to blues before eventually becoming a
member of the band Skin, where he gained
valuable experience.
"Those experiences showed me playing
music in front of a lot of people and just
the whole vibe and that's where I really
learned about bands creating music that
connected with the audience," he said. "It
was really something to experience."
While he loved playing jazz,
performing with a funk-rock band like
Skin was a completely different experience,
according to Douglas. He performed
in famous Boston venues such as the
Channel, and opened for such bands as
The Neville Brothers, Fishbone and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Douglas mentioned that he was
able to learn so much about the music
business by working with such popular
bands.
Following his time with Skin, Douglas
ended up playing with the Heavy Metal
MUSIC, continued on page 11

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10 | 01945
Henley Douglas Jr. centers a
performance by his band,
Heavy Metal Horns at The Cabot
in Beverly.

SPRING 2022 | 11
MUSIC, continued from page 8
Horns in the 1990s, which is where his career took off.
"We had a lot of amazing success," he said about the
band. "Probably one of the most amazing gigs I ever did
was traveling around the country with the Heavy Metal
Horns, and we played the famous Tipitina's in New
Orleans on a Wednesday night."
More than 250 people were in the crowd that night,
and with how popular the band was, the next year,
Douglas and the band were invited to the New Orleans
Jazz and Heritage Festival. The Horns had the honor of
opening for Dr. John in one of his first shows of 20 years.
MUSIC, continued on page 12
The worn inscription on
Douglas' saxophone speaks
to years of devotion
to playing.

12 | 01945
MUSIC, continued from page 11
"That performance and that show
opened up all the doors of New Orleans
for the next three years we were touring,"
he said. "It's like serendipity and being in
the right place at the right time."
With Douglas’ experience with
the band, he also got to work with the
Massachusetts band, Extreme, which
helped the saxophone player experience
what it was like touring across the globe.
Douglas said that he learned a lot from the
band after getting the opportunity to ride
on the tour bus with them and learn about
the music industry.
The Heavy Metal Horns also got the
opportunity to play in front of large crowds
while on tour with the rock band. This
showed Douglas the power and influence
music can have on people.
Douglas has also made an impact on
the North Shore music scene. He cofounded
the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival,
along with Larry Claflin, and helped run
the festival for 15 years. Douglas described
it as one of the best things he has ever
done.
"The reason why I wanted to do it was
because I read the book 'Music is My
Mistress,' by Duke Ellington," he said. "In
the book, there is a chapter called Salem,
Massachusetts. I couldn't believe it."
In the book, Ellington talks about
playing in the summer at Salem Willows
for 22 years.
"I just thought, 'this is hallowed ground
out there at the Salem Willows and we got
to do something,'" Douglas said.
The goal of the event was to have a twoday
festival where concertgoers could attend
at no cost. The festival was able to attract
acts from all over the country, including
New York and New Orleans.
One of his best memories of the festival
was in his 13th year leading the event,
when the Brian Thomas/Alex Lee-Clark
Big Band closed out the festival.
"I'm out there at the Salem Willow
and the guys are playing and I'm just
blown away," he said. "They are just so
great and I turn around and there's like
a couple-of-hundred people dancing and
it kind of hit me right there like 'oh my
God, it's Duke Ellington. It's a big band
playing and all these people are dancing,'
and they ended up closing the festival for
two or three years. It was kind of like a
full-circle thing that just happened."
Douglas added that the festival has
brought a lot of people together with
diverse backgrounds to enjoy music.
While he operates in more of a
consultatory role now, he stated that the
festival could return in 2022.
The saxophone player is still focused
on music full time, currently playing in
five different bands. He said he is still busy
and has a new record being released in the
spring. X
Listening to his father's records
sparked Henley Douglas Jr's
love for the saxophone.

An icon illustrated
SPRING 2022 | 13
Essex Media Group designer/illustrator Edwin Peralta Jr. captured Abbot Hall
pre-twilight, first in a sketch, then with digital enhancement.

14 | 01945
Understanding
the Indispensables
BY ADAM BASS
The painting of George
Washington crossing the
Delaware River is synonymous
with American
iconography — an image of individuals
defying the odds to get their mission done.
Most observers tend to focus on
Washington in the painting, but what
about those rowing and prodding away the
ice? Those are men from Marblehead, who
played an integral part in the Revolutionary
War.
These men and their history are
explored and documented in detail in
historian Patrick K. O’Donnell’s book, “The
Indispensables — The Diverse Soldier-
Mariners Who Shaped the Country,
Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington
Across Delaware.”
Published in May 2021, the book
portrays events that happened in
Marblehead during the 18th century
through a series of snapshots, meaning
each chapter takes place during a certain
moment during the American Revolution.
The third chapter, for example, discusses
the 1770 Boston Massacre and how it had
affected Marblehead’s social and economic
status as a town, with famous Marblehead
families such as the Glovers, the Gerrys
and the Ornes acting as de-facto leaders.
O’Donnell uses these families to
provide a view of the landscape during that
period.
One of these family members was John
Glover, who led the 14th Continental
Regiment, also known as the Marblehead
Regiment or Glover’s Regiment, during
the war. The regiment served at the Battle
of Lexington and Concord, Bunker
Hill and formed an elite guard for Gen.
Washington.
This guard was known as Washington’s
Life Guard, and would be at the general’s
side to protect him. This guard, composed
of men from Marblehead and beyond, is
the first rendition of the United States
Secret Service.
Glover’s regiment was also responsible
for the evacuation to Manhattan Island in
August 1776.
After Washington lost the Battle of
Long Island, aka the Battle of Brooklyn,
Glover’s regiment began to evacuate troops
under heavy rain, fog, and the army’s back
to the East River.
Glover’s regiment was made up of
Marblehead sailors and fishermen and they
had to transport a majority of the soldiers
across the East River in just nine hours.
British soldiers did not find out about the
operation until the fog had lifted early the
next morning.
O’Donnell and other historians
categorize this moment in the war as, “the
American Dunkirk,” an homage to the
famous evacuation of 338,000 allied soldiers
on Dunkirk, France in World War II.
Another person of interest O’Donnell
writes about is Elbridge Gerry.
Gerry was one of the earliest critics of the
English Crown, being more outspoken about
their tax acts than his father, Thomas Gerry.
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Patrick K. O'Donnell's history enshrines
Marblehead heroes.
PHOTOS: JAKOB MENENDEZ

SPRING 2022 | 15
Gerry served as one of the main
suppliers for munitions for the Continental
Army, creating agreements with
France and Spain to help provide more
gunpowder and supplies for soldiers. He
was also involved in helping break a coded
letter written by Dr. Benjamin Church of
Newport, R.I.
Church was suspected of treason by
selling information to British Gen. Thomas
Gage in early 1775. Gerry broke the letter’s
cipher and sent his findings to Continental
Congress delegate Robert Treat Paine. This
resulted in Church’s exile to the Caribbean.
Gerry would become a powerful
politician and eventually, the fifth vice
president of the United States under
President James Madison. He was also
responsible for manipulating his electoraldistrict
boundaries with the intent of
creating undue advantage. This process is
known today as gerrymandering, named
after Gerry himself.
The climax of the book is the crossing
of the Delaware River and the battle of
Princeton, a mission to surprise Hessian
forces at Trenton, N.J. by attacking
during the early hours of Christmas Day.
Joining Washington was the Marblehead
Regiment, the indispensable soldiers who
proved their worth every step of the way
during crucial moments of the war.
Today, the Marblehead Regiment is
buried in the town’s cemetery, where their
names are inscribed on tombstones.
O’Donnell’s book documents
that the men crossing the river with
Washington are not nobodies — they are
indispensable heroes of Marblehead. X
The climax of the "The Indispensables" is the Delaware
River crossing and the Battle of Princeton.
Serving the North Shore since 1972
497 Humphrey Street, Swampscott, MA
781-599-3411
Mon - Th 9-5, Fri 9-3 781-581-7200
Author Patrick K. O'Donnell participated in a
2021 reenactment of Washington's Crossing of
the Delaware with Marblehead mariners at
the oars.
PHOTO: FACEBOOK

16 | 01945
Lobster risotto and
other dishes are pleasing
palettes under Chef Alex
Pineda's culinary guidance.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
Stage it.
Sell it.
Mindy McMahon
Realtor ® | Certified Home Stager
617.834.4439(c) | 781.631.9511(o)
marbleheadandbeyond.com
Culinary royalty
lands in town
BY ANNE MARIE TOBIN
The Landing Restaurant has
long had a proven recipe for
success. From local classic
seafood dishes to steaks,
chops and good old-fashioned comfort
food, the restaurant, which opened 50 years
ago, has catered to a culinary crowd craving
predictable service and fare.
While the service is still five star, the
fare is anything but predictable, thanks
in large part to the arrival of chef/partner
Alex Pineda, who came on board last April
with co-executive chef Noe Ortega, who
Pineda describes as "one of a kind" and a
"longtime friend who I consider a brother."
Pineda said The Landing's new menu
is globally inspired and focuses on seasonal
and local ingredients.
"It has international flair while still
paying homage to New England and
seaside culture," Pineda said.
Pineda comes from restaurant royalty.
Look your best
online and in person
“You never get a second
chance to make a
first impression.”
He is the son of award-winning chef/
owner Lydia Shire, queen of the Boston
culinary scene and the creative genius
behind the Biba, Scampo, Locke-Ober, and
Seasons at the Bostonian restaurants. She
shattered culinary glass ceilings on her way
to becoming one of the most recognized,
admired and acclaimed people in the
restaurant industry.
Pineda's father, Uriel Pineda, is a
Colombian native who moved to the U.S.
looking for a good life. He found it at
Biba, Shire's award-winning restaurant in
Boston, working alongside Shire.
From his early days as a child, Pineda
was immersed in Boston culinary circles.
He took his first steps at Biba. By age
7, he was making pizza — standing on
a milk crate to reach the counter. Mind
you, this was not your ordinary pizza with
pepperoni, onions, or sausage, but with
lobster. Nothing but the best.
From local legends Jasper White,
Barbara Lynch, Jamie Bissonnette to the
iconic Julia Child, along with Wolfgang
Puck, Pineda rubbed elbows with an
incredible cast of culinary icons.
Pineda said Child, a true celebrity chef
long before there were celebrity chefs, was
one of his mother's closest friends. They
often traveled abroad together. As a young
boy, Pineda visited Child at her home with
his mother many times, sometimes cooking
with her.
He has vivid memories of those visits
and still has many momentos, one a photo
of him as a young boy being taught by
Child to use a French duck press. (The
press has been traditionally used since the
early 19th century to make canard à la
rouennaise, or duck in blood sauce).
Pineda credits Child with shaping his
mother's "model of life."
"I'm lucky to be so blessed and
fortunate to have had such a childhood,"
Pineda said. "My wife asks me all the
time if I know that I didn't have a normal
upbringing, but that was what my normal
was. I mean my mother didn't look at it
as a business; she just loved to cook and
entertain. I think I inherited that love from
her."
Pineda was not encouraged to go into
the restaurant business — far from it.

SPRING 2022 | 17
"My parents advised (me) against
becoming a chef," Pineda said. "My father
said it was too demanding. My mother
didn't push, she was more laid back, but I
knew as a child that I wanted to be a chef.
It was my destiny."
Pineda was born in Boston and grew up
in Weston. He attended Johnson & Wales
Culinary School in Rhode Island. He
traveled the world, training and working in
exotic places like Barcelona, London and
Asia, eventually landing in Los Angeles
working for Wolfgang Puck.
A little more than 10 years ago, he
returned home to work as executive chef
at Shire's Scampo at the Liberty Hotel,
where he met Ortega. In April 2021, the
dynamic duo jumped at the opportunity to
bring their talents to The Landing, now in
its 50th year.
"We knew it was an incredible
location, knew that the restaurant was
going through some changes and the
food needed some love," said Pineda. "I
met with Robert (Simonelli) and had
an incredible conversation. We clicked
immediately. He accepted my craziness and
now we are all family."
Robert Simonelli has been
the owner of The Landing
for 20 years.
CULINARY, continued on page 18
Nick knows
North Shore!
Get in touch with me to simplify
your home buying or selling journey.
Nick Cowden
REALTOR ®
781.307.2726
nick.cowden@compass.com
compass.com
Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material
presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable
but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. Photos may be
virtually staged or digitally enhanced and may not reflect actual property conditions.

18 | 01945
CULINARY, continued from page 17
"Coming out of the pandemic I heard
this guy was looking to do something
really novel," said Simonelli, the
restaurant's managing partner.
"We didn't want to be the same-old,
same-old. It was time to get away from
the traditional dishes, like scallops and
baked stuffed haddock. I've always come
from fine dining but it was time for
The Landing to step up and make that
transformation to a restaurant that would
be tops and unique. Alex came on board
and brought Noe along and that's just
what they have done."
Pineda said that while the pandemic
hit the restaurant industry particularly
hard, the industry had become
saturated. He said a huge boom in new
restaurants from 2015-2020 was simply
"unsustainable" and had watered down the
talent.
"There simply were too many so it
became impossible to fill your restaurants,"
he said. "It's unfortunate that people had
to shut down and there was no easy way to
swallow that pill. It's important to figure
out what works, but in this business less
is more. Talented people will always have
mouths to feed."
The most popular item on the menu
is the healthy salmon or swordfish
dish served with spinach and roasted
mushrooms. Yucca fritters are a staple,
served with a cilantro aioli. All pasta is
homemade in house. Pineda said "people
go crazy over the mussels (served in a
curry coconut broth).
"It's a staple in a unique way," he said.
What does Pineda like to sink his teeth
into? Like Child, it's all about the butter.
"I don't really have a sweet tooth,
but just love butter and salt. I love Five
Guys and Tasty Burgers, but my favorite
craving still is the fresh brioche at Tom
CULINARY, continued on page 20
Attention to detail defines Alex
Pineda's kitchen mastery.
The Landing Restaurant's Executive
Chef, Alex Pineda, shows off duck
two ways.
An olive puff pastry stick served
with burrata at The Landing.
Noe Ortega prepares olive puff
pastry sticks.

“Design your vision...Build with precision”
SPRING 2022 | 19

20 | 01945
The bar at The Landing.
CULINARY, continued from page 18
Aikens in London," said Pineda. "That
was a great place. You get served a glass
of Dom Perignon when you enter and the
brioche with Maldon sea salt is incredible.
It's the best salt in the world. It has this
beautiful and bright-yellow butter so you
know the cows are well-cared for."
Growing up in a world populated with
culinary royalty sometimes wasn't what it
was cracked up to be. He loved going to
friends' homes where he was introduced
to many foods he still craves today. Suffice
it to say these foods wouldn't survive the
culinary chopping block at Biba's, Locke-
Ober or The Landing. He said the day he
discovered microwave popcorn, he was
bowled over.
"I was blown away. We wanted to
make popcorn and I was looking for the
kernels and a pot, so the first time I saw
that it came in a bag was just incredible. I
remember I even licked the inside of the
bag," Pineda said. "I also loved canned
pasta and meatballs."
Another item not likely to show up on
The Landing's menu? Asparagus purée
with grilled head-on prawns, haggis
fritter and blueberry crostini, a dish that
propelled Pineda into the finals of Food
Network's "Chopped: Alton's Maniacal
Basket Challenge" in the summer of
2021. While he didn't win, Pineda said he
learned a thing or two.
"Chopped was a great experience and
I have found that it's not so much about
how well you cook but the applications
that you have learned over the years that
will bring a win to the table," he said.
Pineda hopes to have five restaurants
up and running in the next 10 years, but
The Landing will always hold a special
place in his heart.
"It represents the beginning of the
foundation of what I think will be my
empire," he said. "This will always be my
home base, my baby."
Pineda married the love of his life,
Nikki Stalling (a model and Pilates
master), in 2017. The star-studded event
featured a five-course menu cooked by the
groom and his mother, with the help of
Gourmet Caterers, and a five-tier wedding
cake, created by Shire.
The couple moved to Marblehead three
years ago. Parents to eight-month old Max,
Pineda says Stalling is his polar opposite in
that she is calm, cool and collected while
he is not. The couple often joke about their
respective professions.
"We cornered the market," said Pineda.
"I make people fat and she makes them
skinny." X

SPRING 2022 | 21
Alex Pineda filets a fresh salmon as he prepares
for dinner service at The Landing.
Noe Ortega shows off lobster risotto.
71

22 | 01945
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24 | 01945
Main
Event
Man
BY ALENA KUZUB
Wilson Lautner used to be a typical
Marblehead kid. He grew up between
the Eastern Yacht Club and the Pleon
Yacht Club sailing, played all kinds of
sports and was hoping to get into a good
college thanks to his lacrosse skills. But
two days before his junior year of high
school, the Lautner family moved to
Petaluma, Calif., a largely agricultural
city in Sonoma County.
Lautner, now 26, was thrown into a
melting pot of different cultures.
“There were kids that would have to
wake up at 4 in the morning to work
on their family’s dairy farms before they
came to school,” he said.
Lautner was forced to adapt.
“I wasn’t happy when I first moved
out there,” he said. “What it took
was a lot of self-reliance and selfdiscipline
and basically coming to the
understanding that this is how it is now
and making the most of it.”
The level of sports was not as high
in his new school as he had hoped and
Lautner turned to music.
“I was always really into music, but
that’s when I really started to create
my own music and get into all sorts of
different audio-producing programs,”
Lautner said.
He ended up pursuing his musical
interest at California State University
in Chico, Calif., where there was a great
audio-engineering and electronic-musicproduction
program.
“It was great to be able to work with
artists and musicians and help them
create some really cool music and work on
audio-recording techniques and all sorts of
different production techniques as well,”
Lautner said.
Wilson Lautner stands with his favorite Beyond Walls mural in downtown Lynn, a sculpture created by artist Bordalo
II. Lautner and his firm, Eternal Events, partnered with Beyond Walls to raise money for the nonprofit.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
However, he got involved in production
of live events and found it to be most
rewarding and most exciting for him.
As soon as he graduated college,
Lautner moved back to the East Coast, to
Marblehead.
“I grew up on the North Shore; I spent
a lot of time in Boston; my grandparents
live in Boston,” Lautner said about the
move. “I always wanted to come back.”
He got a job in real estate,
supplementing it with DJ gigs at events
and weddings, but his ultimate passion
and goal is to grow his event company –-
Eternal Events.
“My most memorable experiences
have been at different events and music
festivals,” said Lautner. “That experience
of bringing people together to experience
something, whether it is music or art, is

SPRING 2022 | 25
really my focus with the charitable events.”
He sees the mission of his company
in creating original unique art and music
parties that would provide engaging,
immersive experiences to participants
and also highlighting different nonprofit
organizations
From his experiences at events and
music festivals, Lautner noticed that when
people experience music and art together
it creates a unique type of energy. He
wants to emulate that feeling with Eternal
Events.
“The big picture is theoretical at this
point in my head, but what I was able to do
in November, was kind of a launch point
for ultimately the business model moving
forward,” Lautner said.
Last November, he organized an event
in Marblehead with the Lynn nonprofit,
Beyond Walls, titled "Confluence: Unifying
Communities through Public Art."
“Street art is something that I’ve always
really been fascinated with. Drawing is
really not one of my talents. But I really
connect with it,” Lautner said.
Through his real-estate connections,
Lautner was able to source a venue — an
empty space — and turn it into an art
gallery with framed photographs of the
outdoor mural work that Beyond Walls
has done. Lautner went out and found a
sponsor to put on the event, sold tickets,
organized live music, a light show and an
open bar.
“Basically, it was a fundraising
opportunity for Beyond Walls, but it also
provided an opportunity for people to
come in and experience an art-gallery
opening type-thing with live music,”
Lautner said.
Unlike $1,000 donor dinners, which are
only really accessible to higher net worth
individuals who brag about how much
they can donate, Lautner is interested in
creating events that he and his friends in
their 20s can participate in and feel as a
part of something bigger.
“We don't have the means to go spend
$500 for a ticket for an event,” Lautner
said. “So it is (about) making fundraising
experiences more equitable and more
accessible to a younger demographic by
providing them experiences that they
would otherwise not attend and helping
them feel better.”
Lautner hopes that people who
attended his November event traveled
to Lynn to see the murals in person and
maybe even went out, tried the food and
other things that the city has to offer.
The event in Marblehead was a success,
Lautner said. About 150 people came out
to support and connect with Beyond Walls,
raise money and honor Chris Knittle, a
late street artist from Marblehead whom
Lautner knew growing up.
“It made me feel awesome,” Lautner
said.
He wants to continue connecting
nonprofits with a wider demographic base
and create a community of self-actualized,
self-realized individuals by creating these
unique experiences that are otherwise not
accessible to someone who wants to do
something bigger than themselves that
might be on a lower budget.
“If you want to donate at a very high
level, you can still do that,” Lautner said.
“But then again, if you are someone
making $40 grand a year and you want
to go out and you want to experience
something that’s really exciting and unique,
all you need is just the price of the ticket
and that gets you in and you still have that
knowledge,” Lautner said.
His business is about amplifying and
highlighting organizations while inspiring
people to get out and spend some money
on something that is going to provide them
a great experience and help out those who
are less fortunate, Lautner said.
“It's not really about getting rich, it's
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26 | 01945
Marblehead is Wilson Lautner's home and the base for his business, Eternal Events.
about creating something that can really
help people connect with something larger
than themselves,” he said.
Currently, Lautner is looking both at
different nonprofits and venues to do his
events. He is eying Boston, but his ultimate
goal is to do big events like music festivals
or Live Aid concerts.
Lautner says that people on the East
Coast might be hardened on the outside,
but in reality people just want to be able to
connect with something that is bigger than
themselves, no matter if it is music or art or
philanthropy.
“I guess you could call it my calling,”
Lautner said. “This is something that will
be a lifetime of work that I will be able to
pursue. It is a ton of work but I know that
it is something that I really enjoy doing.
And I know that if I am able to accomplish
it in the way that I have envisioned it's
going to be really very powerful for people.”
Wilson on Lautner
Alfred Wilson, founder and CEO of
Beyond Walls — a nonprofit that activates
places with public art to strengthen
communities — said that Lautner reached
out to him about doing an event together
and they decided to grab a cup of coffee
together.
“He's got a ton of energy and a ton of
enthusiasm,” said Wilson about Lautner.
“He is professional and a go-getter and is
working on a number of different things
and is just very passionate. That passion
and sort of optimism is something that is
contagious.”
Wilson said that the event was
extremely well attended and was probably
the biggest event Beyond Walls had
in a few years during the COVID-19
pandemic.
“It was sort of a really fun event, where
it started was a bit of an older crowd. And
then as the evening progressed, it became
younger and younger, until it was just
sort of full of 20-somethings, but all very
enthusiastic about the art,“ Wilson said.
The event allowed him not only to
introduce the attendees to the artwork and
highlight the artists in the organization,
but also talk about small- to medium-sized
businesses that people might discover if
they travel to see the murals in real life.
“A big part of what we do is we try
and highlight the various mom-andpop
shops and eateries that are around
artwork,” Wilson said. “If you can help
small- to medium-sized businesses within
a community, there is a systemic benefit to
that community.”
There's a ripple effect from that, Wilson
said, from helping small businesses to
creating a larger tax base, which can help
the school system and public services. He
has heard from some business owners that
the people he had talked to about these
businesses came to check them out.
“That’s what this event allowed me
to do. So it's the power of sort of what
Wilson(Lautner) was able to put together
there,” Wilson said.
He shared that there was certainly a
desire to work together again as Beyond
Walls does a variety of work in six other
cities besides Lynn.
“The larger the diversity, the larger the
amount of people you can bring together,
the better there's a sort of sharing of ideas,
thoughts and culture,” Wilson said.
For more information, visit https://
beyondwalls.org/.

SPRING 2022 | 27
Stepping up for a friend
BY ALENA KUZUB
Wilson Lautner dedicated the event
“Confluence: Unifying Communities
through Public Art” to Chris Knittle, a
Marblehead resident, older brother of
Lautner’s best friend, and a street artist.
He died four years ago at the age of 24.
Lautner called Knittle’s mother,
Mimi, and suggested honoring Chris
and showing his work during the event.
Chris was a street artist, often
painting on the walls of abandoned
buildings. He came to painting and
spray painting through skateboarding
and snowboarding, said Mimi, who is a
painter herself and the president of the
Marblehead Arts Association.
“He could never really find his
place until he started hanging with the
skateboarders and the snowboarders
and that became his world,” she said.
“He found, I think, a very supportive,
accepting community in his fellow
artists.”
Chris developed his style through
spray painting and through dozens
of black-bound sketchbooks that he
would endlessly draw and paint in with
markers and colored pencil to work out
his forms.
“He struggled a lot through his
later teens and early 20s, “ Mimi said.
“Painting brought a calm, positive
healing energy to him.”
For the exhibition, Mimi printed
and framed about 20-30 12 by 12
photos of Chris’ work from his
Instagram account that covered an
entire wall like a collage.
“That just was stunning the way
that it came together,” said Mimi. “So
many of Chris' friends, people I hadn't
seen, came out to support this and buy
his art and bring it home and have it in
their space.”
She said that the experience of
seeing Chris’ work be part of the event
that connected a lot of people who
didn’t have much in common and that
brought together some of Chris’ friends
was very healing for their family.
“It was just a very beautiful tribute,”
said Mimi. “We are all human and we
have a commonality, a shared life, joys
and struggles that are often reflected in
art, in music and that I think is what
Wilson is trying to bring together.”
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28 | 01945
POWERING
UP
A
TOWN
BY MADISON BETHUNE
A circuit breaker cabinet that provides electricity to the Marblehead Neck is housed in the Marblehead Municipal Light Department building.
Did you know that even with
the 22,000-plus cars in
Marblehead, there isn’t a single
gas station?
There may not be gas stations to fuel
up your cars, but thanks to Marblehead
Municipal Light Department(MMLD),
you may just start to see more and more
electric charging stations — gas stations of
the future — sprouting up around town.
Way back when on March 15, 1894,
Marblehead Town Meeting voters decided
to develop the town’s own light department
— Marblehead Municipal Light
Department — with a $62,687.50 budget
to build the plant.
With the original intention of the plant
to light the town's streets, more than 100
years later, standing in its original location,
MMLD is providing much more to the
about 10,500 community members it
serves, with many of these services due to
the daunting issue facing nearly everyone
on the planet — climate change.
One of these services is the Smart
Charging Program, where MMLD crews
install a residential car-charging station
right at your home. MMLD General
Manager Joe Kowalic said about 40 people
are participating in this program currently,
but it’s not enough.
“From a consumer point-of-view, in
two to three years, there's going to be no
good reason why you aren’t in an electric
vehicle,” said Kowalic, who mentioned
that people are still buying electric cars as
their second vehicle, not their main form of
transportation.
MMLD itself has been looking into
buying electric vehicles for its staff and
is planning to purchase them in the near
future. A potential option would be Ford’s
PHOTOS: JAKOB MENENDEZ
electric version of the F150, the 2022 Ford
F150 Lighting, which will be the most
powerful F150 ever.
Currently, MMLD is surpassing
investor-owned utilities (IOUs) such as
National Grid and Eversource when it
comes to the amount of carbon-free energy
sources in its portfolio.
“As we finish 2021, probably 46 percent
of our portfolio is carbon-free, which is
kind of way ahead of where the investorowned
utilities (are at),” said Kowalic.
MMLD will be 50 percent carbon
free by 2030, 75 percent carbon free by
2040, and net-zero in 2050, following the
mandate signed into law by Gov. Charlie
Baker in 2021.
Along with moving away from fossilfuel
energy sources to combat climate
change, MMLD is being faced with many
new challenges due to the variation in

SPRING 2022 | 29
“We’re small. We’re local. We understand the system well," said Marblehead Municipal Light Department General Manager Joe Kowalic.
weather we are seeing due to the Earth’s
warming.
One instance in particular Marblehead
residents may recall is Oct. 26, 2021, when
a northeast storm hit the area, and caused
MMLD to turn off the town’s power for
nearly eight hours.
Kowalic explained that in the last three
out of four years, there has been a major
storm in late October. All of the beautiful
foliage we see at that time of year also
causes the trees to sway, and trees swaying
leads to trees falling… see why this might
be problematic?
The MMLD team had been tracking
weather patterns for days prior to the
storm, and had staff ready to be sent
out throughout the night in case of an
emergency. And an emergency there was.
“At about 2:30 in the morning, some
crews reported that there were trees that
had fallen down on the supply lines that
bring in the power from Salem,” Kowalic
explained.
This supply line is the only supply line
that brings electricity into town.
The tree was weighing down the
extremely high-voltage lines along the
old railroad tracks. If the lines touched,
they could melt, creating an even bigger
problem.
With a small but mighty team, and
with the help of nearby Groveland and
Merrimac municipal light department
staff, MMLD made the decision to turn
the town’s power completely off so the line
Originally built in 1894, the Marblehead Municipal Light Department building has undergone renovations.
crew could get to work restoring the lines
up on the poles.
“That took another couple of hours to
clear. We were ready to turn (power) back
on around 8:30 (a.m.) but we wanted to
make sure — because the power had been
off throughout the town — we wanted
to make sure all the town department
personnel were cleared of electric lines.”
And just like magic (and little sleep and
eight hours of work from the line crew)
power was restored.
Kowalic said the “secret sauce” of
the 21-member department is the high
knowledge of the town that the crew has,
along with its size and its being right in
town.
“We’re small. We’re local. We
understand the system well. Our customers
pick up the phone and expect to speak with
someone live as soon as they call, which
they do,” he said.

30 | 01945
Brian Wheeler is the chairman of performing arts for the Marblehead Festival of Arts. He volunteered for the festival crew in 1975.
PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK
Rolling with the music
BY BILL BROTHERTON
As chairman of performing arts for the
beloved Marblehead Festival of Arts, Brian
Wheeler produces the popular Concerts
at Crocker Park music event held annually
during the July 4 holidays. Since 1998,
Wheeler has booked the talent, produced and
emceed the show, and made sure the park’s
neighbors know what to expect.
But the longtime Marblehead resident is
the first to admit he’s not a one-man band.
“A wonderful crew of fellow volunteers
donate their time and work hard. Our crew
basically lives at Crocker Park for six or seven
days (during the festival),” Wheeler said.
The Festival of Arts celebration has been a
big crowd-pleaser ever since 10 town residents
came together in the winter of 1962 to present
a premier summer arts festival. For more than
50 years, the festival has fulfilled its mission
to promote and foster the arts in Marblehead
and surrounding communities. It remains an
all-volunteer organization.
And the music portion of the festival is
one of the most anticipated events each year.
Really, what could be more fun than sitting
outside on a blanket, having a picnic, and
looking out at the harbor while enjoying
musicians giving their all on a 30 foot-by-20-
foot stage?
“Our opportunity is to put forth
entertainment for every generation at this
world-class venue. There is a wealth of talent
here in the area, and part of our responsibility
is to bring these talented artists to our stage,”
said Wheeler, a successful musician in his own
right.
Boston blues legend James Montgomery
is among those who have graced the Crocker
Park stage. Chad Hollister, a Marblehead
native who is now based in Vermont, has
opened for such superstars as Bob Dylan,
Paul Simon, Tom Petty and every member
of Phish. Hollister returned home with a
10-piece big band one year and another with
a band that included longtime Marblehead
resident Dave Mattacks, the English drummer
who has worked with Paul McCartney,
Elton John and a who’s-who of folk-rock
legends including Fairport Convention,
Richard Thompson and Nick Drake. Noted
saxophonist Henley Douglas Jr.(see page 8),
another Marbleheader, fronted a 20-piece
band and earned a rousing ovation.
Wheeler has already contacted bands and
musicians he believes will be a hit with festival
attendees. Performers will be announced in the
coming weeks.
On July 4, 2014, Hurricane Arthur was
an uninvited guest to the festival. Wheeler,
after consulting with the chief of police and
town officials, made the decision that the show
should go on.
“My sound tech looked at me, like, ‘You’re
an idiot.’ But there was no wind or lightning,
just water, lots and lots of water,” said Wheeler
with a chuckle.
But it worked out fine. The band Entrain
was set up in the park gazebo and about 100
music lovers enjoyed a spectacular show.
“A year later, in a restaurant, a woman came

SPRING 2022 | 31
over and said ‘Brian, that hurricane concert
was the best day of my life!’ She had kids, a
husband … but this was the best day of her
life,” recalled Wheeler.
Wheeler first volunteered as a festival crew
member in 1975. He and a buddy had been
playing guitar at Crocker Park the day the
stage was going up.
Wheeler said Robb Macomber, the
festival’s past president “steers the ship. He’s
the head of sound and lights, too, and he’s
always had a vision of continuing to improve
our look and sight lines.
“Robb was the man we all looked up to
when I was a kid on the crew. He’s the leader
of the Concerts at Crocker Park.”
Wheeler, seeing that the volunteer crew
was getting older, started a successful youthinternship
program that has helped some 300
students learn the nuts and bolts of live sound
and lighting.
“If there are teens, juniors or seniors in
high school, or musicians interested, I say
‘Come join our crew this summer,’” he said.
Wheeler grew up in a house filled with
music, especially the showtunes of the day. He
took drum lessons in fourth grade, but at age
12 switched to guitar. He attended Berklee
College of Music and has played rhythm
guitar in the acoustic folk-rock Guy Ford
Band for hundreds of shows in the past 25
years. Ford also grew up in Marblehead.
For 25 years, Wheeler has worked for
CBS radio, now iHeart Radio, and for WBZ
sold ads for the Boston Bruins and created ad
jingles. Before that, he spent 20 years in the
restaurant hospitality business. He and his
wife, Gale Argentine, live downtown and have
two daughters,
The Festival of Arts operates throughout
the year with seasonal events, fundraising, and
planning for its signature events. It awards
scholarships to high-school seniors who attend
Marblehead High School or live in town.
The pandemic halted live music and other
events the past two years, but organizers are
hopeful that it will be full-speed ahead for
most events during five days around July 4
this year.
Current plans are for three Marblehead
venues to display art for in-person public
viewing. Because of current COVID
regulations, the art will have to be submitted
and judged virtually. The Festival Board plans
to have the Boat Building and Regatta, the
Kite and Sand Festivals at Devereux, the
popular Artisans’ Marketplace at Abbot Hall
and the Lee Mansion, the Cod Auction and a
virtual Film Festival.
Marblehead is a cultural hub year-round,
with Marblehead Little Theatre, Me&Thee
coffeehouse, numerous museums, art galleries,
and painters and sculptors. Local restaurants
and businesses support the artistic community
as well.
For up-to-date information about the 2022
event, go to marbleheadfestival.org and for a look
at “50 years of Volunteers” click on https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=mk11osyY-Y8.
MASONRY
Swampscott, MA
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32 | 01945
Make your move
BY ALENA KUZUB
Marblehead High School is calling on all
chess lovers: Chess class students are looking
for people to play with. Yes, you’ve heard it
right. It is a class. A full-credit class to be exact,
just like English or Math, where students play
chess three days a week.
But don’t let this intimidate you — the class
has players from various high-school grades, of
all levels, from newbies to rising stars. They love
to learn from their opponents as well as to get a
little bit competitive.
“The goal of the class is to improve your
game and learn the strategy,” said Jennifer
Billings, an English teacher who teaches the
chess class this semester.
Chess is different from many other classes
in the curriculum, Billings said, because it has
a good, positive vibe despite its early 8 a.m. start.
“It is relaxing and challenging all at the
same time, because they are not taking a test,
but they are using their mind, for sure,” said
Billings.
CHESS, page 34
Justin Gonzalez, freshman, plays chess against Andrew Scoglio, a music teacher, during an elective chess class at
Marblehead High School.
PHOTOS: ALENA KUZUB
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Saturday: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. ~ Sunday and evenings: On call for urgent care

SPRING 2022 | 33

34 | 01945
CHESS, continued from page 32
This is the second time Marblehead High
School has offered this class. The first-ever
chess class was taught by Connor Ryan, also an
English teacher, in spring 2020.
Ryan said that the idea came to him and
another teacher, Neil Moloney, after they saw
students showing interest in their chess games
during breaks.
“He and I started playing chess games in the
back of the room,” Ryan said. “And more and
more students were interested, and they wanted
to know the progress of the game.”
Enough students asked the teachers “Who
is winning?” that Ryan and Moloney decided
to try doing a class. In 2019, they applied for
grants and went to New York City to become
certified chess teachers through “Chess in the
Schools Program."
Ryan was amazed to see how popular
chess was among New York City’s elementary
students.
“We were in school in the Bronx. It was
700 kindergarteners, first-graders and secondgraders,”
said Ryan. “A cafeteria full of 5- and
6-year-olds, totally silent. All just playing.”
The Chess in the Schools Program brings
chess classes to schools with a high number
of children from low-income households to
“foster the intellectual and social development”
of youth through chess education. To date, they
have taught more than 500,000 of New York
City’s children, bolstering their self-esteem and
inspiring them to greater achievement.
There is a lot of evidence, Ryan said, to
support that the skills necessary to play chess
help students in all of their studies. Students
learn to make a plan, to put that plan into action
and to look one, two or even three moves ahead.
“In the world and life in general, (it) pays
to plan yet be flexible with it, watching, seeing
how it grows and changes and then react
accordingly,” Ryan said.
He has noticed that playing chess fosters
an open collegial atmosphere when students
try helping one another, especially, when one of
them has more experience with the game. At
the same time, two students of equal ranking
might get very competitive, Ryan said.
“Chess is a metaphor for life,” said Billings.
“It’s like: sit down, be polite, take your time, say
hello, learn something new, you probably don't
know everything. There is probably someone
who can show you something you don't know.”
Some students who have joined the class
were friends with other students before, but
some didn’t know anyone in the class. Billings
pairs students up randomly to help them talk a
bit to each other and build connections.
“I do think that in the pandemic, kids have
lost their ability to be social,” said Billings.
“Those kids who were timid before, it’s
New York City's Chess in the Schools program inspired the game's introduction to Marblehead High School.
exacerbated, and it’s awful.”
Another benefit of the chess class: It does
not involve a screen at all.
Although, the first time the class ran, it
had to be shifted online when the COVID-19
pandemic forced everyone into quarantine.
Ryan said it might have been one of the better
classes that semester, because the students could
use chess.com. They created a class league and
were able to schedule games with one another.
Most students described the class as fun,
even though they still get graded and tested.
Students have to demonstrate that they
understand how the board works and how the
pieces move. They learn check-mate situations
and have to be able to solve a specific checkmate
scenario in two moves, Ryan said. Another
chess skill they practice is keeping track of their
games by using standard chess notation.
“It is remarkable what a difficult time
they have (with) the spatial relations and then
translating that to a sheet of paper,” Ryan noted.
That is why students practice playing out
the board based on a notation or finding illegal
moves by reading notations and looking at the
board.
This spring semester, the chess class turned
out to be popular with students again. There are
16 students taking the class. Some of them were
unpleasantly surprised that the class starts at 8
a.m. but learned to appreciate that.
“It wakes your brain up,” said Emma
Cianchi, a senior.
Several students said they felt more focused
and aware thanks to chess.
Anabel Anderson, a senior, said she didn’t
know anything else about chess besides the
moves each piece did when the semester started.
After several weeks, her game has noticeably
improved.
“I am noticing the moves faster,” Anderson
said. “I am noticing where to put my pieces for
a better game.”
She also enjoys playing with different
classmates as it lets her see and better
understand the different strategies people use.
Emmalyn Maher, a senior who was new
to the game of chess and has learned the very
basics in the class, said that she learns from
other students and they often give her advice on
her strategy.
Freshman Justin Gonzalez, on the other
hand, has been playing chess for a while. He
learned at the YMCA when he was 8 or 9 years
old.
“I was impressed by Justin; he was very
good. He was always thinking further ahead
than I was,” said Andrew Scoglio, a music
teacher, who came to play with the students for
the first time since he last played in a chess club
in fourth grade.
Most students hope to continue playing
chess outside of the class.
“Hopefully, I improve enough that I can
beat someone who is more advanced,” said
Katherine Cronin, who has played chess before
the class but has noticed a lot of improvement
since she started playing the game almost every
day.
But for the remainder of the semester their
teacher, Jennifer Billings, is hoping to bring
more people from the community to play with
the students. The Marblehead Council on
Aging, which is located walking distance from
the high school and has parking, offered to host
the matches on Tuesday mornings.
“I’m a big believer in connecting kids to the
world beyond the windows here at the high
school,” said Billings. “So anytime they can
meet someone in the community, particularly
among where they live, that’s just a bonus;
everybody wins.”
Billings said that teenagers often get a bad
rap and she is always looking for opportunities
to prove otherwise.
“For anyone who is considering coming to
see us, please do, please come and join us and
we will make sure you have a good time. And I
bet, you’ll learn something from us (and) we will
learn something from you,” said Billings.
If you would like to play some chess, please,
contact Jennifer Billings at billings.jennifer@
marbleheadschools.org.

SPRING 2022 | 35
Design. Build. Maintain.
Landscape | Hardscape| Irrigation
Maintenance | Lighting
56 Sanderson Avenue | Lynn, MA |
781.581.3489 | www.LeahyLandscaping.com

36 | 01945
HOUSE MONEY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LIGHTSHED PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO

SPRING 2022 | 37
A peak inside
135 Front St.
SALE PRICE:$2,280,000
SALE DATE: September 1, 2021
LIST PRICE: $2,600,000
TIME ON MARKET:
102 days to closing
LISTING BROKER:
Mary Stewart & Heather Kaznoski,
Coldwell Banker
SELLING BROKER:
Mindy McMahon, Coldwell Banker
LATEST ASSESSED
VALUE: $1, 970,300
PROPERTY TAXES: $19,444
YEAR BUILT: Rebuilt in 1997
LAST SALE PRICE: $140,000 (1978)
LOT SIZE:
.10 acres (4,225 square feet)
LIVING AREA: 2,334 square feet
ROOMS: 8
BEDROOMS: 3+
BATHROOMS: 3
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Craftsman-style home on the harbor
front within walking distance of Fort
Sewall, a small beach, and downtown.
Custom woodworking throughout
with views of the harbor from most
rooms. Spectacular outdoor patio
and landscaped grounds. First-floor
primary suite and two bedrooms and
a bonus room with a deck on the
second floor. Two deeded parking
spots in private driveway.
Source: MLS Property Information Network.

38 | 01945
Big Ben,
Bengals,
and the
Super Bowl
BY MIKE ALONGI
Marblehead native Ben Martin helped coach the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive line.
Every football player and coach,
whether in Pop Warner or in the
NFL, dreams of participating
in a Super Bowl. And for one Marblehead
native, that dream came true a few short
weeks ago.
Ben Martin has been an NFL coach for
the past five years, and his short tenure at
the professional level has already resulted
in a trip to The Big Game as an assistant
offensive line coach with the Cincinnati
Bengals.
Martin, a St. John's Prep and Trinity
College graduate, just completed his third
season with the Bengals, and his fifth year
overall as an NFL coach. This past year was
his first assisting new Bengals offensive line
coach/run game coordinator Frank Pollack.
Over his two previous Bengals seasons,
Martin has helped steer the line through
everything from youth to injuries to
COVID-19 issues. Last season, Cincinnati
was forced to use 10 different offensiveline
combinations in 16 games, but still
managed to show improvement throughout
the season. The line allowed eight fewer
sacks over the second half of the season
compared to the first, despite playing much
of that second half without starting left
tackle Jonah Williams.
But it's been a long road already for
Martin, who first met Bengals head coach
Zac Taylor back in 2010 when the two
worked as offensive quality control coaches
together at Texas A&M University. After
graduating from Trinity College in 2005,
where he was a standout offensive lineman,
Martin went to Curry College as an
PHOTO: COURTESY THE CINCINNATI BENGALS
assistant coach in 2007. He then moved
on to Merrimack College the next two
years. He later left New England for Texas;
Staten Island, N.Y. (Wagner College);
New Jersey (Princeton); and Florida, where
he rejoined Taylor on the Miami Dolphins
staff — where Martin was an offensive

SPRING 2022 | 39
assistant and Taylor was the quarterbacks
coach. Martin worked primarily with
the offensive line, helping center Mike
Pouncey to Pro Bowl nominations in both
2014 and 2015.
Martin later made stops in Union, N.Y.
(Union College) and Rhode Island (Bryant
University) before rejoining Taylor again
with the Bengals in 2019.
Prior to his college-football career,
Martin was a three-year varsity player at St.
John's Prep. He was a full-time offensive
guard the last two years, who also played
defense at tackle and middle linebacker. He
was a team captain as a senior in 2000.
And yet, even with all that movement
over the past 15 years, Martin never forgot
where he came from. The NFL coach has
returned to his hometown every summer
for the past seven years to help with
Marblehead High School football coach
Jim Rudloff 's summer football camp, and
he's been quoted as saying, "nobody will
keep me away from Marblehead on the
Fourth of July."
"It was a great town for me to grow
up in, and I was fortunate to live in a
close, tight-knit neighborhood with great
neighbors like Skip and Mary Likens,
Steve and Linda Wood, and Ralph and
Ben Martin has an understanding honed from his days at St. John's Prep and Trinity College.
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
Frannie Alberto," said Martin. "But being
the oldest of the neighborhood kids, I’d
have to sometimes organize some of our
activities, when the parents weren’t around.
We even played games like kick the can."
While the Bengals may have lost the
Super Bowl to the Los Angeles Rams
on that Sunday night in mid-February,
nothing will erase the memories that
Martin made along the way.
And who knows? With a smart young
coach like Taylor and a talented group of
young players headlined by quarterback
Joe Burrow, receivers Ja'Marr Chase and
Tee Higgins and running back Joe Mixon,
maybe Martin can find his way back to
another Super Bowl in the next couple of
years.
Outdoor Deck & Patio - Waterfront Bar - Function Room
Enjoy our Innovative Seasonal Cuisine overlooking the Harbor of Marblehead
* multiple gluten and dairy free menu items

40 | 01945

Historic mansion.
Seaside cottage.
Penthouse condo.
Your dream is my job.
Kathleen Murphy | Global Real Estate Advisor | 781.631.1898
Uniting buyers and sellers along Boston’s North Shore
21 Central Street | Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA 01944