Lynn, Lynn City of Sin: A Rebirth

Lynn, Massachusetts is a city that had been down on its luck for decades. When I was a kid, we used to say “Lynn, Lynn, city of sin. You’ll never come out the way you went in.” It used to be a prosperous seaside city with an elegant, Art Deco hotel, fancy restaurants, large houses along the ocean, and a thriving downtown that was, I think, a manufacturing city (not sure what they manufactured). But whatever had been happening there in the 19th and first part of the 20th century stopped happening in the 1970s. In the decades that followed, Lynn became known as a slum and a dangerous city. 

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Nevertheless, because there was affordable housing, immigrants from southeast Asia and South America moved in. They opened small businesses, small food stores and mom & pop restaurants serving their native cuisines.

As time passed, some artists moved in. Stunningly beautiful murals were painted on the sides of old brick buildings that celebrated the lives and heritage of the residents and made the downtown look more inviting.

And young people looking for affordable rents started coming to Lynn to live, with an easy commute to Boston, and to open businesses. Lynn is now a city in flux with some cool young people of all backgrounds, hard-working immigrants as well as folks who need affordable housing.

Nightshade Noodle Bar

Last week, a group of my friends and I went to dinner at a cool, relatively new restaurant with a highly imaginative chef. Nightshade Noodle Bar, a southeast Asian fusion restaurant, opened just before the pandemic hit. Somehow, Rachel Levy, the talented young chef, managed to keep her restaurant going through the pandemic with unique food, ads for the dishes of the day on Facebook, cool vibes, and takeout.

They opened/reopened their dining room about two months ago to customers who showed proof of vaccination. Three of my friends and I had a fantastic meal with drinks like the Saigon Cigar Bar made with bourbon, Thai banana, black cardamom, and a tobacco leaf garnish and the Moon Rabbit cocktail with a lime star as garnish.

There were dishes like coconut rice pops with tamarind brown butter and pork floss,

bone marrow salad,

and lobster with vanilla foam. We had a delicious feast and a fab time.

Ravenstone

You know me: I’m a sucker for ads that pop up on my Facebook feed. Recently, I started noticing ads in my feed for a boutique called Ravenstone. From the FB ads, the store looked like it had cool stuff, and from the pix, the owners were a highly attractive young couple. I wondered where the store was, and I was surprised when I went to their FB page to discover that they were in Lynn. I was even more surprised last week when we found a parking spot right in front of it when we went to Nightshade Noodle Bar across the street. All four of us looked in the illuminated windows in the closed shop before and after our dinner. The sparkly crystals, beautiful green plants in interesting planters, and cool jewelry were enticing. My friend Sybille had also seen the ads on FB, and when she saw the store, she wanted to return when it was open.

Today, Sybille and I returned to Lynn specifically to visit Ravenstone, and we ended up spending more than two hours in the store. Ravenstone is not huge by any means, but they had such intriguing merchandise, so creatively displayed, that we looked at every item on offer.

Their logo is a raven, they sell crystals and glittery semiprecious stones, and their tagline is “Everyday Magic”. The store has a magical vibe, and they have a special room upstairs dedicated to witchy things. 

In addition to crystals and sparkly rocks, they sell plants, both real and faux, as well as “jewelry” to adorn the plants. They sell jewelry for people as well. They had a wall of affordable silver, gold and rose gold plated earrings and necklaces in stars, suns, moons, bats, angels, animals, insects, acorns, and shells.

Plus, they sell real shells and fossils. Sybille went home with a gorgeous necklace made from Baltic amber beads, and I bought a bracelet with turquoise stones.

I was intrigued by their vintage glass items for the home. I was surprised to see a set of pink glass goblets that were a smaller version of the pink glass goblets that I own and still use that I bought in an inexpensive Chinese store in my neighborhood in New York back in 1975. It’s interesting to be at an age where things I bought in the past are now “vintage”.

I managed to go home with a set of four orange glass ice cream dishes in the shape of waffle cones. They are perfect for my salmon and green color scheme.

Ravenstone also sells some items of clothing and accessories. They had a bin of cotton square scarves or bandanas in retro colors and patterns. Sybille bought two: one in shades of sherbet and another in deep pink with bicycles on it. I bought a mustard or curry colored scarf with mid-century looking sprigs of flowers in cream, pink and aubergine. They were hard to resist. 

Upstairs on their balcony, there were books of all kinds as well as special pens, markers, watercolors, paints, high quality art paper, and journals for writing, drawing or painting. Next door was the witch room with decks of Tarot cards, sage/rosemary/lavender bundles for burning, bells, candles, and oils for spells. And beautiful peacock feathers.

What was amazing and kept us there for hours was how beautifully everything was merchandised. 

Even if you don’t live near Lynn, Massachusetts, you can follow Ravenstone on Facebook, and check out their website where they sell most of the items in the shop. We can all use a little Everyday Magic. Plus it’s a terrific place to shop for holiday gifts especially for those who like things a little out of the ordinary.

One Mighty Mill

After a couple of hours on our feet shopping, Sybille and I needed a little refreshment. We went next door to One Mighty Mill, one of my favorite shops that opened about three years ago. One Mighty Mill sells freshly stone ground/milled whole wheat flour that is grown organically for the business on farms in Maine.

The folks at One Mighty Mill teamed up with a man who crafts stone mill wheels for grinding grains, and from there, they haven’t looked back. They grind the wheat right on the premises in Lynn. They started out making whole wheat bagels in a variety of flavors, whole wheat flour, and whole wheat tortillas.

They have since added whole wheat pretzels and bread to their lineup. At the shop, they also sell sandwiches, bagel sandwiches, quesadillas, as well as avocado toast. It was yummy, and we both went home with a selection of plain, everything, lemon spinach, and cinnamon raisin bagels. They sell their products in their shop, on their website, at Whole Foods in eastern Massachusetts as well as some specialty food stores in the Boston area.

We really enjoyed our late morning and afternoon on Exchange Street in Lynn. I think with those three shops, it’s currently the coolest street in Lynn. But hopefully, Lynn will continue to evolve and open additional interesting shops, restaurants and maybe even art galleries in the future to attract visitors.

Today's Author

Allison Cohen

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