Ray (Scott) Santinello was five years old when he got his first haircut. It took place on the third floor of his family’s home in Springfield, and the barber was a young friend of the family. It was the 1950s and the barber, Benito Mancinone, had recently immigrated to the city from Molise, a small town located on a mountain in Italy.
Mr. Santinello is 61 now and Benny the Barber, long a mainstay of Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs, is still cutting his hair.
“He’s my barber. I just don’t change,” Mr. Santinello said on a recent Tuesday morning.
In light of several renovation projects around the downtown area, the Oak Bluffs selectmen Monday reconsidered a longstanding town policy to prohibit downtown construction work from June 1 to Sept. 15.
At a special meeting, the selectmen adopted clarifying regulations to allow construction work inside buildings during the summer with several conditions, including no work on weekends and nights.
Oak Bluffs entered the summer season Tuesday with heated debate over issues from one end of Circuit avenue to the other. At the upper end of the avenue, unfinished construction on the Edgartown National Bank’s new building was a central point of contention. Later, selectmen grappled with whether to allow a stationary food truck on the lower end of the avenue.
Winter on Circuit avenue can be quiet. Down at the Good Ship Lollipop only a few customers find their way to the door seeking chocolate treats. And yet the candy store does have at least one daily customer who keeps knocking, literally, at the window.
Army Barracks Building Is Demolished with No Permits and No Review;
Building Inspector Under Fire
By JAMES KINSELLA
The contractor who tore down the old Army Barracks building on
Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs did the work with no building or demolition
permits, and town building inspector Richard Mavro failed to issue a
stop-work order on the project, even though demolition work had been
under way for several weeks.
The demolition of the building was completed last week.
A century ago Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs was a heady combination of sights, sounds and smells in the summertime. Exotic souvenirs, local produce and colorful parades were a visual delight. The sound of clattering hoofbeats contrasted with the sputtering of early automobiles. The aroma of spices from all over the world blended with the smell of fresh fruits and recently caught fish.
Editor’s Note: The following column by Louise Aldrich Bugbee was first published in the Vineyard Gazette, and later appeared in a collection of Mrs. Bugbee’s essays and poems titled There Is an Island That Owns Me.
February — 1967
Oak Bluffs again and it certainly is fine to be back on the avenue — Circuit avenue.
At the center of Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs is a square with ample room to sit this time of year.
The weather is not quite warm enough for ice cream, and the benches that face the main drag are empty. The summer tourists have yet to arrive, so no weary bottoms rest on the edges of the raised flower beds. Front stoops of storefronts are clear.
Despite the empty benches, a recent sunny afternoon found one elderly lady sitting in her own bright pink lawn chair, watching the world go by.
A trio of enterprising young men appeared before Oak Bluffs selectmen Tuesday with a proposal to reduce summer traffic, raise money for charity and help the environment: bicycle rickshaws to transport people up and down Circuit avenue and other parts of town.
The three men are from Newburyport Pedicab — John Pasquina, 26, Blake Harris, 19, and William Pasquina, 29. Their pedicabs are basically bikes that haul a small sitting area behind them.
Tivoli Day is tomorrow. Sept. 17 from 9 to 6 p.m. in downtown Oak Bluffs. Circuit avenue becomes a walkway throughout the festival and plays host to music, outdoor dining, arts, a climbing wall, mini horse rides, raffles, and summer specials. Essentially, it showcases Oak Bluffs at its very best, with just the right amount of shoulder season elbow room.
