How an old-fashioned bread bakery inspired a career for Watertown native

Most high school jobs do not turn into a career, but Watertown native Andrew Holden’s high school gig at an old-fashioned bread bakery, called Iggy’s Bread of the World, was a game-changer.

Today, Holden is the owner of Branchline in Watertown and, in August, he opened the doors to his new all-day cafe, Shy Bird, in Cambridge's Kendall Square.

Working at Iggy’s

Holden’s career in the food industry began in 1994. Husband and wife duo Igor Ivanovic and Ludmilla Luft had just opened Iggy’s in the East End of Watertown on Arsenal Street.

A high school student looking for a part-time gig, Holden said he walked into Iggy’s not knowing much about the store or what they did. He asked for a job anyway and got hired.

“It turns out they were the first people to bring old-style artisanal bread to the Boston area,” Holden said.

Holden worked at Iggy’s for three years, where he said he did a little bit of everything. He ran the retail store, went to farmers markets, made deliveries and learned how to bake bread, croissants and flatbread.

During this time Ivanovic and Luft became Holden’s mentors.

“I got to work with some people who treated their employees really well, and who you wanted to do a good job working for,” he said.

Although Holden enjoyed the job, it would take him many more years working in restaurants until he decided to commit to a career in the food industry.

Jobs in restaurants

After high school, Holden moved south to New Orleans to attend Tulane University. He continued working in restaurants and served on the waiting staff at a Ralph Brennan restaurant in the city’s French Quarter as well as at the Upperline, a fine dining establishment in the Garden District.

Holden said he enjoyed his work in the food industry and found it to be fun, but he was hesitant to say this was what he wanted to do for his whole life.

“When I was growing up, no one I knew talked about a career in restaurants,” he said. “If anything it was just a job until you figure out what you were going to do in life.”

After a few years in New Orleans, Holden returned to the Greater Boston area. He transferred from Tulane University and enrolled at Boston University’s School of Hospitality and Administration.

Again, Holden found jobs at restaurants. He became the manager at Ambrosia on Huntington, then went on to manage Ken Oringer’s restaurant Clio in 2002.

Right before Holden accepted the job at Clio, he said something clicked for him.

“I had that moment where I knew I always loved this, and I was looking at a job opportunity at what I considered to be the best fine dining restaurant in the city,” he said. “Something finally clicked that said why are you fighting this? It’s what you love.”

From then on, Holden did not consider anything other than restaurants for work.

More than a transaction

Holden worked at Clio for four years, then became general manager at Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square in 2006. He went on to partner with Eastern Standard's owner Garrett Harker, who had also become a mentor, and together they opened Branchline in 2016.

Last month, on the corner of Third Avenue in Kendall Square, Holden opened Shy Bird, something he has been planning for over two years.

Holden said restaurant openings are hard and that, at first, you make a lot of mistakes but, so far, everyone in the neighborhood has been welcoming.

If there is any key to his success, Holden said it is letting the people around you have a part in everything you are doing.

“I have learned over the years not to influence when and where you can, but to spend more time worrying about what you can do a little bit less, and letting people on the team contribute,” he said.

Part of the community

With more than two decades in the food industry, Holden says the part that stands out the most to him are the incredible guests and regulars he has met, and who, in some cases, have become close friends.

"When our restaurants do what we want to do right, it is not about a transactional experience," Holden said. “It is about looking for a moment to have the restaurant be a little part of the community."

This article has been updated Sept. 18 to reflect that Andrew Holden partnered with Eastern Standard owner Garrett Harker to open Branchline in 2016.

No soldier left behind: A Watertown family's mission to bring a little piece of home to U.S. troops

Operation American Soldier awarded $5,000 grant

Throughout history, mail has bridged the distance between deployed troops and their loved ones. Living overseas, in often dangerous conditions, can cause soldiers to feel isolated from the world they left behind. Receiving a letter or package, can help keep troops connected to their families and friends back home. While the digital age has made instant communication from one corner of the world to another possible, physical mail can provide a more tangible connection to a loved one than an email.

With this in mind, Watertown residents, and power couple, John and Wendy Rocca, began Operation American Soldier (OAS). OAS is a nonprofit organization that sends care packages to deployed U.S. troops. Their mission, said Wendy, is to serve all U.S. deployed troops and to ensure no one walks away from mail call empty handed.

The organization meets at the Marine Corps League on Mt. Auburn Street every four to six weeks. Each session they mail between 125 to 160 packages. The packages contain items such as instant food and clothing, like socks and T-shirts. Volunteers make up 100 percent of the operation. They donate money and supplies, and help put together the packages for shipment. Some volunteers also write personal letters to the troops.

Origins

The idea of OAS took shape after John’s daughter, Tracy, joined the Army. Tracy was deployed to Kuwait in 2003. When she arrived at the base, she found supplies at the Army store were limited.

“We got a communication from [Tracy] saying we just hit boots on the ground and they are not set up for us, and I need everything,” Wendy said.

Wendy and John assembled the essentials and mailed a care package to Kuwait. A couple weeks later, Tracy sent the pair a letter thanking them for her package. She also told them about a few troops in her unit who had not received any mail, and passed along their names.

What the Rocca’s did next, later became the framework for OAS. Wendy and John sent each troop their own care package. Inside the package, they included a letter asking the troops to send them the names of any others who were not receiving mail. As troops passed along more names, the duo continued to send more packages. Using their own money, the Rocca’s filled the boxes with provisions and shipped them to soldiers all over the world.

“The lowest part of your tour is when you come back in from a mission, and you go look at the board, and if your name is not up there you don’t have any mail,” Wendy said. “We don’t want that to ever happen.”

The stems of OAS had begun to take root. Soon the Rocca’s had to move their operation from the kitchen table to their basement. When that became too small, the local Marine Corps League offered Wendy and John a free space at their Mount Auburn Street headquarters. OAS has been located at 215 Mt. Auburn St. ever since.

Making an impact

Many of the soldiers, who receive packages from OAS, send letters back to thank the organization. One marine from Tewksbury even came to help pack boxes during one of his two weeks off.

“We get a lot of people who have come back, if they are local, and they want to speak to the group, and they want to show their appreciation for how much it meant to get a box,” Wendy said.

On their website, OAS features some of the letters they have received from grateful soldiers. In one of the letters a commanding officer, who identifies himself as Christopher K., described two soldiers’ reactions to receiving a package. Both soldiers had been deployed for two months, but had not received any mail until that point.

“One of them, a 19-old PFC on his very first deployment, was almost able to get the words “thank you” out before his eyes welled up. I nearly shed a tear myself when he was out of the office,” wrote Christopher K. “The other, a 23-year old SP4, was so selfless when he received it that he immediately told me he didn’t deserve it, and he had not done anything special.”

Wendy also told a story about a soldier in her son, Nick’s, unit. Nick had been deployed to Iraq. One day, a girl he did not even know came flying up to him and started crying. When Nick asked her what was wrong, the girl said she had just received a package from his parents. She was overjoyed, because the box was the first piece of mail she had gotten since being deployed. Later that night, Nick called his parents and told them how much of impact the package had on this girl.

The impact of OAS has not been isolated to deployed troops. According to Wendy, OAS never has a shortage of people volunteering. Often, volunteers include personal letters in the packages with a return address. Troops have started communications with volunteers and have even flown flags for them in appreciation. Local business have also gotten involved and have donated supplies or money for postage. What began as a small family effort has blossomed into a community affair.

“The community spirit has been fabulous,” Wendy said.

OAS receives a grant

In November, OAS received a $5,000 grant from the Tufts Health Plan foundation. With this money, Wendy said, OAS plans to pack and ship even more boxes.

The organization does not have much in overhead, maybe a couple hundred in shipping supplies each year, according to Wendy. It costs $10.61 to mail one package, and all of the money the organization raises goes to postage and product. Without receiving grants from great companies, said Wendy, OAS would not be possible.

Looking forward

Both the Rocca’s work full time. While Wendy hopes to continue growing the organization, she and John will need much more support to achieve this goal.

“I need some logistical help,” Wendy said. “I need people who can help with PR. I need people who know how to mess with our website and can send out newsletters.”

Right now, the pair are working together to form an official board. Wendy would also like to hire a grant writer.

“The more grants we get, the more people we can serve,” she said.

In the meantime, the Rocca’s will continue to pursue their mission, ensuring every U.S. troop walks away from mail call with something special in-hand.

To help Operation American Soldier in Watertown or make a donation, visit their website operationamericansoldier.org/

Arax Market brings the world to Watertown

Arax Market celebrates 45 years in Watertown

On the corner of Mount Auburn Street and Melendy Avenue a large, olive green sign with bright, white lettering marks the entrance to Watertown landmark Arax Market. The mom-and-pop shop sells specialty Armenian and Middle Eastern food products. In the front of the market, an array of  fresh produce overflows from cardboard cartons. Various selections of cheese line the refrigerator shelves in the back, and glass displays hold  pastries like nutella chocolate baklava.

Elizabeth Bassmajian opened Arax Market with her brothers and husband Hagop in 1974. Ownership has stayed in the family, and Elizabeth and Hagop’s three children have since taken over the every day business operations. This year the family celebrates the market’s 45 anniversary.

Bringing a piece of Armenia to Watertown

The Bassmajian family roots derive from Armenia where the cuisine differs from traditional American hamburgers and New England clam chowder. When they first came to Watertown, the Bassmajians had trouble finding the ingredients and food  they ate growing up. The family decided if they could not find the food they needed, they would have to sell it themselves.

“They needed their cuisine, and the only way to do it was to do it themselves.” Betty, Elizabeth and Hagop’s daughter, said.

With a large and growing Armenian population in Watertown, the demand for specialty food existed. The challenging part was growing the market by selling to their non-Armenian neighbors.

“They were foreigners in a foreign land,” Betty said. “They had to introduce all this food and culture to the Americans and get them used to the cuisine, the culture, and everything like that.”

The Bassmajians spent most of the 70s and 80s establishing their market. Hagop used to travel all over the United States looking for vendors selling specialty foods he could bring back to Watertown. He did this until Arax Market became secure enough that vendors sought them out instead of the reverse. Now, 45 years later Arax Market has become a staple in the Greater Boston Area.

A family affair

Elizabeth and Hagop have three children: Harout, Betty, and Shant. All three were born in Watertown and have worked in their parents shop since childhood. In the past few years, Elizabeth and Hagop have passed on their business’s proverbial reins to their children.

Every morning at 5 a.m. Harout heads to Boston’s produce market. He hand-picks all the produce and fruit for the store. When he finishes, he loads everything onto a truck and heads back to Watertown. Shant and Betty run the business side of the shop. They find vendors and order supplies. All three supervise daily operations.

“There is always something to do,” Harout said. “You can work 24 hours a day non-stop and there would be something to do.”

The three are at the market seven days a week, often working more than 12 hour days. They hardly ever close the store or take time off. According to Betty, the longest they have ever closed the store was for her wedding.

“It’s a love-hate relationship with the store. We don’t have a life.” she said. “My parents gave their whole lives to the store, and now we have given our whole lives to the store. It is our baby. We do everything for this business.”

Modernizing mom and pop

Elizabeth, Hagop, and their children have kept tradition at the center of the market. They sell traditional food they cook with natural ingredients and try to keep the store as old fashioned as possible.

“We upgrade stuff, but people don’t want us to make it look like a big box market,” Betty said. “They like us to keep it the way they remember it and how it is back home. They want that kind of feeling.”

The new generation has brought some changes. Betty experiments with the food. She uses Armenian and American influences to create concoctions like Nutella chocolate baklava, pesto hummus, and quinoa salad mixed with Armenian spices.

At first, Elizabeth and Hagop uncertain of their daughter’s experiments. However, they warmed to the changes as customers reacted positively. Some experiments aret better than others.

“We were brought up with this food, but you need to play with it and have fun with it,” she said.

As society continues to change, Harout said, the shop also has to adjust. In the future, he thinks the market will offer more meals to go and maybe start delivering.

“I find more people have less time to cook,” Harout said. “That is why you see more of the meals in the boxes, on the go, and stuff like that. That is the scary thing. I don’t know what is going to happen in ten years. Everyone is so busy with work. People just don’t have time to sit there and cook.”

With all the new shops and restaurants opening up, Betty said the family has to stay one step ahead of the game to keep up with all the transitions in Watertown. The town’s upcoming construction plan at Mount Auburn Street concerns the family. Watertown plans to narrow Mount Auburn Street down to one lane traffic and to remove some parking spots in the area. While it is hard to predict the impact, Betty believes it will hurt the business.

“I get ten to 12 deliveries a day. If my delivery truck don’t have anywhere to put their car, how am I going to get deliveries? If there is nowhere to park in front of the store, how am I going to get my customers? It is running the convenience.” she said.

Preserving a tradition

The family does not want to go anywhere and is determined to keep up with the improvements of the town. After 45 years in Watertown, the Bassmajians and Arax Market is ingrained in the community.

“Our customers are our family. We cry with them we live with them. I see a lot of them almost every day. It is a different bond. It’s not like your typical grocery store,” Betty said. “You can buy apples everywhere but you cannot buy that relationship. It is amazing.”

As the Bassmajians say, for over four decades Arax Market has been bringing the world to Watertown, and they hope to continue that tradition.

Watertown Works: Building innovation and openness with HATCH's Liz Helfer

Machines whir and chatter inside the HATCH makerspace at 50 Summer St. It is a hot summer day and Elizabeth “Liz” Helfer is demonstrating how to use some of the tools at the studio to a group of kids.

The studio is a large industrial looking room. Light wooden figurines are placed on display in the front window. Inside, on the far left wall, 3-D printers perch on top of wooden tables. The room is filled with  various electronics, and arts and crafts.

Hatching a makerspace

HATCH makerspace is a public workshop, run by the Watertown Public Library, where anyone can stop by and learn creative skills, from how to sew, to using a 3D printer, to soldering. The roster of programs has something for everyone and, one of the best parts, it’s free.

Helfer is the HATCH coordinator. She organizes the programing and runs the everyday operations of the studio. HATCH has changed a lot since the studio first opened its doors in 2015, Helfer said. Before she started, volunteers ran the studio.

Watertown Public Library’s Assistant Director Caitlin Browne spearheaded the project back in 2013. At the time library staff already organized most of maker programs at the library. Browne and the library staff started discussing whether a public workshop would interest the community.

“It was a very organic process. It wasn’t something super planned out,” Browne said.

In 2015, the library procured a free space at the Arsenal Mall for their new project. Once that happened, things began taking off.

As the space continued to grow, Browne realized they needed to hire a full-time employee to sustain the space. This is where Helfer came in.

HATCH needed more oversight, a person to run the show and give the studio more consistency. Browne spoke with Helfer and thought her artistic background as a sculptor and maker would make Helfer a great fit for the space.

“[Helfer] has brought an artistic lens to the project,” Browne said. “Up until she came along we were focused on tech and more on skills and trade and less on the art. She is folding the art back into it.”

The “artsy” twin

Helfer knew at an early age she would be a creator. She has an identical twin sister Rebecca and, together, they decided that Liz would be the “artsy” twin and Rebecca would be the “bookish” twin.

Helfer won the “most artistic” superlative every year at school. After graduating high school, she studied sculpture at Alfred University. Helfer has her own studio now where she creates cast metal and mixed sculptures.

When Helfer first applied to work at the HATCH, she said she did not know a lot about the space. As she learned more, Helfer said she realized what a cool place it was.

Run entirely by volunteers at the start, Helfer said HATCH’s success was incredible.

“Very few places can operate just from volunteers,” she said.

"The epicenter of something cool"

In the two years since Helfer started as coordinator she has helped HATCH to create and standardized a core program. The studio now has a number of regular participants and HATCH continues to grow and further establish its presence in town.

“Every day I come in here and learn something which is really incredible,” she said.

At the moment, Browne said the makerspace has reached its capacity in terms of what they can do and the programs they can offer. She said HATCH can not accommodate too many more people at the Summer Street location.

The Residence, an independent and assisted living facility, donated the Summer Street space to the Hatch. Browne said they are grateful to use the space, but there is no guarantee they can stay there for the long-term.

“We would really love to find a space someday that is permanent. That we know is ours, and is probably bigger so we could establish a few more skills and trade in there,” Browne said.

Right now, Liz is the only full-time employee at the studio but, they are on the crisp of hiring a Hatch Makerspace Assistant.

As HATCH continues to grow, Helfer said the makerspace is becoming a more integral part of the community and is part of an identity Watertown would like to build.

“It is about accessibility, openness and innovation. I think that is a message the Town Council, Town Manager, and different businesses in Watertown would all like to convey to an outside community. We would like to be an epicenter of something cool, and I think HATCH embodies that,” Helfer said.

For a more about HATCH and a list of classes and programs visit: watertownlib.org/148/Hatch

Watertown filmmaker shares an untold civil rights story

In 1974, 11 women defied the leadership of the Episcopal Church to become ordained as priests. While no canon law forbade their ordination, the norm was to deny women priesthood. These women, who are now known as “The Philadelphia Eleven,” became a catalyst for change in the Episcopal Church. Their defiance paved the way for the Church to authorize the ordination of women to priesthood two years later.

Struck by these women and their collective story, Watertown resident and documentary filmmaker Margo Guernsey decided to bring their history to the big screen. She has partnered with Boston-based photographer Nikki Bramley to co-produce a documentary about The Philadelphia Eleven.

Guernsey said the film’s message is likely to change as she continues the production and editing process. She described filmmaking like peeling an onion.

“There are always more layers, and it is important to me not to oversimplify,” she said.

Her goal is for people to walk away from the picture knowing the history of the 11 women who claimed their call to priesthood and changed the Church.

A story not taught in American History

Guernsey first came across The Philadelphia Eleven in 2012, while researching for a different film project. Her research led her to Rev. Isabel Carter Heyward, one of The Philadelphia Eleven. Guernsey called Heyward, who agreed to answer her questions for the project.

“I literally had no idea I was reaching out to one of the most famous lesbian, theologian seminist priests in the country,” Guernsey said.

In order to answer Guernsey’s questions,  Heyward had to tell Guernsey about her background as one of the 11.

“I couldn’t believe I didn’t know, and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t a part of our American History classes,” Guernsey said. “I felt like that was a film I should be making.”

At the time Guernsey did not have the bandwidth to pursue another film project, but over the next three years she said she kept coming back to the story. In 2015 Guernsey decided the time was right to begin work on a new film. She decided to make a documentary about The Philadelphia Eleven.

One reason Guernsey said she wanted to tell The Philadelphia Eleven’s story is because often times the Women’s Rights Movement separates itself from religion, and she believes that is a huge mistake.

“There are so many women of faith, and we should all be working together,” Guernsey said. “This story struck me as a time when as women we did come together.”

That the country's historical narrative had largely left out 11’s story also inspired Guernsey to pursue the film.

“Storytelling is old as human beings. We tell stories to understand who we are. If we only tell stories about certain leaders and certain parts of our people, than that is who we start to understand we are. It is really important to tell everyone’s story,” she said.

Guernsey has conducted interviews with all the women of the 11 who are still alive. She said the stories they told her were both inspiring but also hard to hear. During the interviews, Guernsey learned about the hate mail and death threats the 11 received, and Rev. Carter Heyward told Guernsey she was physically attacked while practicing the Eucharist. Hearing how the 11 were both physically and emotionally attacked was challenging, Guernsey said, because these were real stories and experiences.

“I think anytime any human being is denied something based on who they are, in this case it’s gender, but it could be anything, then really none of us are free,” Guernsey said.

What’s next for Guernsey?

The next step for Guernsey will be to conduct a deep archival dive. She said when the events occurred they were in the limelight, so there is a lot of news footage to sift through. Her plan is to do another year of production and another year of editing to bring the film to life.

At the end of May, Guernsey started a kickstarter campaign to fund the rest of the project. She reached her $70,000 goal a few weeks later. Guernsey said many female clergy donated and send enthusiastic messages that the 11’s story was being told.

To donate to the project visit: kickstarter.com/projects/724829692/the-philadelphia-eleven To read Guernsey's director statement visit: timetravelproductions.com/directors-statement.html