It's like six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with hotdogs

One book I’m getting a kick out of right now is John Dufresne’s Requiem, Mass, which is set in the late sixties in what has to be my hometown, Worcester, Mass. I chuckle as I read the story, not only because it’s a little absurd, but also because I recognize so many of the settings and people. It’s fun trying to match up Dufresne’s fiction with central Massachusetts reality. 

The narrator grew up in Requiem and is now a writer living in Florida. He tells the story of an important year or so in his life, back when he was in junior high. There are flash forwards and flashbacks. I don’t know how much of the story is really Dufresne’s life, but I’m having a lot of fun recognizing bits that relate to my own history. 

Here’s what I know about Dufresne: he’s a little older than I am, he was raised on Grafton Hill, he hasn’t yet lost his Woostah accent though it’s a little weaker than it probably once was. My book is loosely based on my life, very loosely.  So as I read his work, I try to figure out his thought process in renaming certain places and events . Of course, some stay the same and that’s cool too. 

Here are some of my notes on his book. 

They live off of three-decker –lined O’Connell Street. I’m guessing that’s Grafton Street. Reasoning?  He grew up off Grafton Street, plus that whole area is pretty Irish and O’Connell Street is the main drag in Dublin. 

Iandoli’s is where they shopped for birthday cakes. No name change there.  I still remember the excitement in the city when Iandoli’s expanded from being just a regular supermarket to a “Food Village” in the mid-seventies.  That was huge.  My family didn’t get our cakes from Iandoli’s back in the sixties. We preferred Ryan’s Bakery or Jordan Marsh. 

Johnny, the main character in the story, attends St. Simeon’s Stylites School, obviously St. Stephen’s, because of the alliteration. Plus, I know for a fact that Dufresne attended St. Stephen’s. So did my dad. 

Mechanic Hall is still Mechanics Hall. In the book it’s a site for wrestling matches. When my dad was little it was a roller skating rink, then a basketball gym. Now the building has been restored to its post-Civil Way concert and fancy dance glory. But it was a decaying pit for many years and has survived many incarnations. I recall reading that there were fights there at one time.  

I’m not sure where Four Crowned Martyrs Hospital is supposed to be. Saint Vincent’s maybe? I can’t tell. Bob Cousy High School throws me for a loop too. Maybe Doherty? 

Dick Larson ”serene and creamy voice on the WREQ Breakfast Club” I’m guessing is the same Larson we all listened to on WORC. 

Then there’s this plan for one random Saturday: “breakfast at the Broadway, shopping at Bradlees. . . pizza at the Wonder Bar.”  Sounds good. I’m in. We’ll just have to substitute Target for Bradlees. No biggie. 

The main character ends up at Requiem State. Of course that’s Worcester State College, Dufresne’s alma mater.  Adult Johnny is saddened to hear of the untimely death of his old prof, Dr. Walker. True story. Dr. Walker, a nice guy, died unexpectedly shortly before Requiem, Mass went to print. That was a sweet touch, putting in that little tribute to his old teacher.  

But before college, Johnny goes to Holy Martyrs Prep School, an all-male school with Xaverian brothers “rumored to be severe disciplinarians and discipline, I was told, builds character.”  Can’t be anything but St. John’s. 

Dufresne’s character talks about “sanctimonious buttinskis from the Bishop’s Fund” and I had to laugh because one year way back I canvassed my entire neighborhood and beyond for that charity. 

There are some places I’m not sure of. I couldn’t put my finger on Three Mile Pond in Old Furnace. Could it be Webster Lake? Nor did I know where the St. Charles Hotel and bar was, though I wondered if it was the Hotel Vernon at Kelley Square, because the Charles Restaurant was right down the street. Maybe there really was a St. Charles Hotel? Geez. It sounds familiar.

I’m guessing the town of Wheelock, right next door to Requiem, is Millbury, because Wheelock Ave in Millbury is pretty well known. 

Denholm’s gets mentioned. It’s downtown and fancy and nicknamed “the Boston store,”  all true. I was just reading about Denholm’s the other day: site of the first escalators in Wormtown. 

It seems like Dufresne has some fun throwing in bits about other parts of Worcester too.  His character all grown up, works for a painting contractor sometimes, and one of the places they paint is the Worcester Antiquarian Society. He and his dad like to visit Coney Island for hotdogs, though who doesn’t? 

Johnny, has some tough times and works out those tough times at various bars in the city. One of his favorites is Moynihan’s.  It was always one of my favorites too. You get a little sentimental about a place when it’s been in your family eighty or so years.

  

And that connection that Dufresne and I have makes what he says about Requiem/ Worcester all the more solid. It takes just seconds for us to turn strangers into old friends: maybe our dads went to school together, or our kids were on the same team, or maybe we lived on the same street, or even in the same house. Dufresne’s take on Requiem/ Worcester: It’s “the Kevin Bacon of cities.”

 Yup.

 So true.