Community Corner

Then And Now: The Former Village Room

Each week, Lynnfield Patch runs a photo from the town's past and looks at what's there today.

This week's image from the files of the Lynnfield Historical Society first made its appearance some 32 years ago in one of the weekly papers in town - either the Weekly News or the Villager.

This image shows a worker removing items from the former Village Room Restaurant, in what was then called the Colonial Shopping Center. Next door to the closed restaurant at the time was a dentist's office whose name just manages to elude me.

Today, the Centre Court Grille occupies roughly the same spot - and less than two weeks ago, this website wrote about the - which occupies the spot where Karen's Bakery was once located. Another recent entry to the Lynnfield business scene located just steps away from here is .

So in closing - regular readers of this website will know that we've discussed numerous former Lynnfield restaurants in the eBay report columns and other local history features on this website. But that said - does anybody out there remember how the Village Room was? A check on Google finds not a single reference to a Lynnfield restaurant called the Village Room. As a result, it's impossible for somebody who wasn't actually there to tell how long the place was around and how popular it was. I'm thinking if it was 1981 and a Boston area restaurant, then stuff like prime rib and that delicious but increasingly rare Yankee bean dip were among the things you'd find on the menu. Back then if you really wanted to spice it up, maybe a place would have potato skins or one of those jars of tabasco sauce that had long since turned brown.

In one final tangent (at least for this column), about a year and a half ago I mentioned my love for that Yankee bean dip in a previous column and a regular reader named Nikki was kind enough to provide a recipe for it in the comments box.


Each week, these photos are provided by the Lynnfield Historical Society. Are you interested in joining them? Just send a $15 check to Bob Gillon, Lynnfield Historical Society Treasurer, 300 Main Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940. Include your mailing address, email address and phone number.


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