SOMERVILLE -- Ten years ago, Thomas Hardy was playing cards when a friend said, “Deals to you Tommy Somerville.” Hardy told his friend never to call him that again. But the nickname stuck.
“It works because Tommy is the personification of Somerville,” says Hardy’s friend Richard Harmon. “Tommy is Somerville in human form.”
Hardy says he got the nickname because of his Somerville accent, like a Boston accent, lacking in r sounds, but with a hint of a 1950s, fedora-wearing, movie mobster.
“It bothered me at first, but I’ve started to like it,” Hardy says.
Hardy, 31, was born and raised in Somerville and attended Somerville High School, which he does not remember fondly.
“Somerville High was a big place. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and a lot of racial tension back then,” Hardy says. “I used to be afraid walking to the store to get a soda because I didn’t know if I’d get jumped for my sneakers.”
But the city has changed over the last decade.
“Somerville has taken this really cool cultural renaissance turn,” Hardy says.
Hardy says he got the nickname because of his Somerville accent, like a Boston accent, lacking in r sounds, but with a hint of a 1950s, fedora-wearing, movie mobster.
“It bothered me at first, but I’ve started to like it,” Hardy says.
Hardy, 31, was born and raised in Somerville and attended Somerville High School, which he does not remember fondly.
“Somerville High was a big place. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and a lot of racial tension back then,” Hardy says. “I used to be afraid walking to the store to get a soda because I didn’t know if I’d get jumped for my sneakers.”
But the city has changed over the last decade.
“Somerville has taken this really cool cultural renaissance turn,” Hardy says.
Hardy swipes dining hall cards at Harvard by day, and is a bouncer at Somerville’s Abbey Lounge, a locally famed music venue, by night.
Hardy’s nickname also comes from his local popularity, which earned him a fan club on MySpace, with over 400 members.
Hardy says while he mourns the loss of his favorite used record store, Disc Diggers, the changes to the city have been greatly positive.
“I used to feel like I’d do anything to get out of here, but over the last 10 years that’s changed and I don’t know if I’d ever leave,” Hardy says.
There have been improvements to Somerville’s squares and park spaces and there is a more open-minded mentality, Hardy says.
Somerville is restoring its parks with its Open Space and Recreation Plan, about which meetings have been held around the city, said Jackie Rossetti, the Mayor’s public information officer.
Hardy’s nickname also comes from his local popularity, which earned him a fan club on MySpace, with over 400 members.
Hardy says while he mourns the loss of his favorite used record store, Disc Diggers, the changes to the city have been greatly positive.
“I used to feel like I’d do anything to get out of here, but over the last 10 years that’s changed and I don’t know if I’d ever leave,” Hardy says.
There have been improvements to Somerville’s squares and park spaces and there is a more open-minded mentality, Hardy says.
Somerville is restoring its parks with its Open Space and Recreation Plan, about which meetings have been held around the city, said Jackie Rossetti, the Mayor’s public information officer.
But the changes have not come without problems.
Hardy said in the last five years, he had seen numerous people he knew fall into drug addiction, particularly to pain killer Oxycontin.
“We did have a spike in Oxycontin use a few years ago,” says Captain Paul Upton, a spokesman for the Somerville Police Department, “but otherwise it’s been fairly consistent.”
Somerville has made an effort to combat the problem, which left 13 people in Somerville dead of Oxycontin overdose in 2003, said Cory Mashburn, community coordinator of Somerville Cares About Prevention.
“We have over 500 members focusing on making more youth activities to prevent substance abuse,” Mashburn says.
Somerville has made an effort to combat the problem, which left 13 people in Somerville dead of Oxycontin overdose in 2003, said Cory Mashburn, community coordinator of Somerville Cares About Prevention.
“We have over 500 members focusing on making more youth activities to prevent substance abuse,” Mashburn says.
Hardy hopes Somerville will retain its neighborhood charm and preserve its history.
“Back in the day this was a center of Americana and that’s one of the reasons I’m so proud of my nickname,” Hardy says. “I can just walk up the steps of the high tower [on Prospect Hill] and think, ‘What was General George thinking here?’”
“Back in the day this was a center of Americana and that’s one of the reasons I’m so proud of my nickname,” Hardy says. “I can just walk up the steps of the high tower [on Prospect Hill] and think, ‘What was General George thinking here?’”
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