Misplaced Pages

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96-467: In 1961, Giuffrida, a 43 year old butcher from Lawrence, Massachusetts , purchased a small bar on busy Route 1 in Saugus for $ 7,000 and converted it into a 125-seat steakhouse. The restaurant soon drew large crowds, which required an expansion to 400 seats. A third expansion later brought the restaurant's capacity up to 1,500 seats. Giuffrida also added a butcher shop to the rear of the restaurant. The Hilltop

192-669: A "missionary church", Sacred Heart on South Broadway, to serve the burgeoning Québécois community in South Lawrence. Later it would also establish the "missionary" parishes in Methuen: Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Theresa's (Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel et St-Thérèse). The French-Canadians arrived from various farming areas of Quebec where the old parishes were overpopulated: some people moved up north ( Abitibi and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean ), while others moved to industrial towns to find work ( Montreal , Quebec; but also in

288-454: A 911 operator. Zagat The Zagat Survey , commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; / z ə ˈ ɡ æ t / , zə- GAT ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. At its height around 2005,

384-586: A Catholic church in Lawrence and once an Irish bastion, has celebrated Spanish masses on Sundays since 1999. A mass in Vietnamese is also offered every other week. St. Mary's of the Assumption Parish is the largest Catholic parish in Lawrence by Mass attendance and number of registered parishioners. It has the largest multi-lingual congregation in the city and has been offering Spanish masses since

480-435: A desirable community. Ultimately the discussion left out those members of the community who would be directly impacted by urban redevelopment. Under the guise of urban renewal , large tracts of downtown Lawrence were razed in the 1970s, and replaced with parking lots and a three-story parking garage connected to a new Intown Mall intended to compete with newly constructed suburban malls. The historic Theater Row along Broadway

576-574: A five-point scale for products not at the Zagat website, following acquisition by Google in September 2011. In March 2018, Zagat was sold by Google to The Infatuation , a restaurant rating app. Private equity firm General Atlantic bought one-third of parent company Zagat, LLC, for $ 31 million in February 2000 and installed non-Zagat family member Amy B. McIntosh as CEO. In 2008, the company

672-483: A little over one year in business. The Springfield location closed by 1995; the Nashua location did so in 1997. In 2006, Hilltop sold its Braintree location to Tufankjian Toyota. Hilltop moved its Braintree butcher shop to Weymouth, Massachusetts the following year, but did not reopen the restaurant. In 2013, two longtime Hilltop employees took over the butcher shop and continued to run it until 2015. Hilltop's early menu

768-483: A median income of $ 27,772 versus $ 23,137 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 11,360. About 21.2% of families (U.S. Average: 9.2%) and 34.3% (U.S. Average: 12.4%) of the population were below the poverty line , including 31.7% of those under age 18 and 20.1% of those age 65 or over. The former Mayor of Lawrence, Daniel Rivera, said the city was "approximately 75% Spanish" following an incident where non-English speaking callers were allegedly hung up on by

864-546: A part of Google's Geo and Commerce group, eventually to be tightly integrated into Google's services. Google relaunched Zagat 's website on July 29, 2013, with an improved interface, but cut down the site from 30 cities to nine. They released a searchable database of reviews from the other 21 cities in the following days while they worked on expanding to include more cities in the new site. In December 2012, Google announced that it would lay off most former full-time Zagat employees that were previously extended as contractors at

960-437: A perceived public benefit, via a top-down approach, to revitalize the city throughout the 1960s. Known first as urban redevelopment, and then urban renewal, Lawrence's local government's actions towards vulnerable immigrant and poor communities, contained an undercurrent of gentrification which lies beneath the goals to revitalize Lawrence. There was a clash of differing ideals and perceptions of blight, growth, and what constituted

1056-631: A registration statement with the Securities Exchange Commission for an initial public offering . By this time, Hilltop had opened a fourth location in Springfield, Massachusetts . The IPO was canceled two months later after the company was unable to draw the prices it wanted for its shares. In August 1992, Hilltop's fifth location was opened at the former Valle's in Hartford, Connecticut . The Hartford location closed after

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1152-512: A restaurant in the world”. In 1985 it grossed $ 24.2 million from 2.35 million diners, which placed it at the top of Restaurants & Institutions ‘s list of highest-volume restaurants. Hilltop again topped Restaurants & Institutions ’s list for 1986 with an estimated $ 26.9 million in sales. The New York Times described the Hilltop as "America's largest restaurant, both in number of customers served and sales volume" in 1987. At that time,

1248-517: A riot, centered at the intersection of Haverhill Street and Oxford Street, where several buildings were destroyed by Molotov cocktails and over 300 people were arrested. Lawrence saw further setbacks during the recession of the early 1990s as a wave of arson plagued the city. Over 200 buildings were set alight in eighteen months in 1991–1992, many of them abandoned residences and industrial sites. The Malden Mills factory burned down on December 11, 1995. CEO Aaron Feuerstein decided to continue paying

1344-467: A wooded conservation district on the southern edge of Lawrence that spans the Lawrence-Andover town line, provides recreation for nature lovers and rock climbers alike. There are also several small parks throughout town. Lawrence has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa), which is typical for the southern Merrimack valley region in eastern Massachusetts . As of

1440-589: Is also the birthplace of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in 1918, and singer Robert Goulet in 1933. Native Americans lived along the Merrimack River for thousands of years before European colonization of the Americas . Evidence of farming at Den Rock Park and arrowhead manufacturing on the site where the Wood Mill now sits have been discovered. At the time of contact in the early 1600s,

1536-409: Is arguably stronger than ever, thanks to its deep integration into the world's most popular... mapping service." On March 6, 2018, Google transferred ownership of the brand and assets to restaurant review website The Infatuation. They did not disclose the deal amount. The Infatuation CEO and Co-founder Chris Stang released a statement that the company was "thrilled by this opportunity to acquire such

1632-548: Is frequently seen on Boston TV traffic reports covering that area of Route 1. Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts , United States, on the Merrimack River . At the 2020 census , the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the east. Lawrence and Salem were

1728-463: Is reported to have decayed further when, in December 2012, Google informed the contractors, most former full-time Zagat employees, that their contracts would not be renewed in 2013, only to alter course within days and report renewal of the contracts through the end of June 2013. In this new period, communications between Googlers and Zagat contractors are said to have decayed, with a further end to

1824-475: The 2020 United States census , Lawrence had a population of 89,143. Of which, 81.7% were Hispanic/Latino, 12.3% were non-Hispanic White, 2.3% were non-Hispanic Black, 1.7% were Asian, 0.1% were Native American or Pacific Islander, 1.9% mixed or other. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 Census, the city's population is 76,377, the population density is 10,973.7 per square mile (4237/km ), and there are 27,137 households (25,181 occupied). The racial makeup of

1920-577: The Pennacook or Pentucket had a presence north of the Merrimack, while Massachusett , Naumkeag , and Agawam controlled territory south of the river. The territory which would later be aggregated into the city of Lawrence was purchased from Pennacooks Sagahew and Passaquo in 1642 for the English settlement of Haverhill, and from Massachusett sachem Cutshamekin in 1646 as a post-hoc payment for

2016-746: The Ruhr . The German community was characterized by numerous school clubs, shooting clubs, national and regional clubs, as well as men's choirs and mutual aid societies, many of which were clustered around the Turn Verein, a major social club on Park Street. Germans had a considerable number of churches in Lawrence, including Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (German Catholic) formed in 1887 on Lawrence Street, as well as several Protestant churches including The German Methodist Episcopal Church, Vine Street, organized in 1878; and

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2112-546: The United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 7.4 square miles (19 km ), of which 7.0 square miles (18 km ) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km ) (6.07%) is water. Lawrence is on both sides of the Merrimack River, approximately 26 miles (42 km) upstream from the Atlantic Ocean . On the north side of the river, it is surrounded by Methuen . On the south side of

2208-402: The Zagat group, where it is reported that Google reorientation of Zagat from their original business model to "'Zagatize' the world... [through] 100,000 ratings for small businesses" resulted in missed editorial production goals and Zagat contractor resentment toward the new Frommer's Googlers they perceived as having been given their positions. The situation and morale in the Zagat unit

2304-438: The Zagat online service became free to use, and once required a Google+ account to register though that is no longer the case. By July 2013, the Zagat online presence had (alongside its printed Guides, see below) narrowed from thirty cities, to nine – eight in the U.S., as well as London – though earlier content on other cities remains discoverable by outside search. At the same time, Google pushed ahead with plans to "Zagatize

2400-627: The Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals with the guides reporting on and rating restaurants, hotels , nightlife , shopping , zoos , museums , music , movies , theaters , golf courses , and airlines . The guides are sold in book form, and were formerly only available as a paid subscription on the Zagat website. As part of its more than $ 150 million acquisition by Google in September 2011, Zagat ' s offering of reviews and ratings became

2496-669: The census of 2000, there were 72,043 people, 24,463 households, and 16,903 families residing in the city. The population density was 10,351.4 inhabitants per square mile (3,996.7/km ). There were 25,601 housing units at an average density of 3,678.4 per square mile (1,420.2/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 48.64% White (U.S. Average: 72.4%), 4.88% African American (U.S. Average: 12.3%), 2.65% Asian (U.S. Average: 3.6%), 0.81% Native American (U.S. Average: 0.1%), 0.10% Pacific Islander (U.S. Average: 0.1%), 36.67% from other races (U.S. Average: 5.5%), 6.25% from two or more races (U.S. Average: 2.4%). There were 24,463 households where

2592-575: The county seats of Essex County, until the state abolished county government in 1999. Lawrence is part of the Merrimack Valley . Manufacturing products of the city include electronic equipment, textiles, footwear, paper products, computers, and foodstuffs. Lawrence was the residence of the poet Robert Frost for his early school years; his essays and poems were first published in the Lawrence High School newspaper. Lawrence

2688-412: The 1880s, the first Jewish arrivals established a community around Common, Valley, Concord, and Lowell streets. As of 1922, there were at least two noteworthy congregations, both on Concord Street: Congregation of Sons of Israel (Jewish), organized October 3, 1894. Synagogue on Concord Street built in 1913; and Congregation of Anshea Sfard (Jewish), organized on April 6, 1900. The synagogue on Concord Street

2784-469: The 1920s with the Immigration Act of 1924 when foreign-born immigration to Lawrence virtually ceased for over 40 years. In 1890, the foreign-born population of 28,577 was divided as follows, with the significant remainder of the population being children of foreign-born residents: 7,058 Irish; 6,999 French Canadians; 5,131 English; 2,465 German; 1,683 English Canadian. In 1920, toward the end of

2880-563: The 1950s. The decline left Lawrence a struggling city. The population of Lawrence declined from over 80,000 residents in 1950 (and a high of 94,270 in 1920) to approximately 64,000 residents in 1980, the low point of Lawrence's population. Much of the population relocated to nearby Methuen . Like other northeastern cities suffering from the effects of post- World War II industrial decline , Lawrence has often made efforts at revitalization, some of them controversial. The Lawrence Redevelopment Authority and city officials utilized eminent domain for

2976-561: The 1990s the restaurant did not take reservations or accept credit cards. In the 1970s, the Campbell Soup Company attempted to create a chain of Hilltop-like restaurants and hired Giuffrida as a consultant. The business, known as the Hanover Trail Steak House, was unsuccessful. In 1977, the Hilltop grossed $ 11 million in sales, which was described by Spinazzola as "probably the largest gross sales in

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3072-569: The CEO of Yahoo! in July 2012. Other management changes were harbingers of a challenging year for this group (e.g., executive firings and departures, including "the entire team that launched Google Wallet "), and Huber eventually moved from managing Geo and Commerce to join the Google X research team. Mayer's departure as champion of Zagat ' s acquisition and expansion, Huber's challenges in leading

3168-599: The Feast of Three Saints festival continues in Lawrence today. Many of the Italians who lived in the Newbury Street area had immigrated from Trecastagni , Viagrande , Acireale , and Nicolosi , Italy. French Canadians were the second major immigrant group to settle in Lawrence. In 1872, they erected their first church, St. Anne's, at the corner of Haverhill and Franklin streets. Within decades, St. Anne's established

3264-580: The German Presbyterian, East Haverhill Street, organized 1872 from which the Methodist church split in 1878. Some Italian immigrants celebrated Mass in the basement chapel of the largely Irish St. Laurence O'Toole Parish Church, at the intersection of Essex Street and Union Street. When St. Laurence O'Toole Parish had collected sufficient funds to build a new church in 1905 at the nearby intersection of East Haverhill Street and Newbery Street,

3360-514: The Hilltop again topped Restaurants & Institutions ’ list of top-grossing restaurants with an estimated $ 27.3 million in sales. In 1991, Tavern on the Green replaced the Hilltop as the highest grossing independent restaurant in the United States. In 1988, Giuffrida sold the corporation that owned and operated Hilltop Steak House to John Swansburg. Giuffrida, however, retained ownership of

3456-510: The Hilltop served nearly 2.4 million customers annually, three times the volume of the nation's second-largest restaurant, Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. That year they exceeded $ 27 million gross. In 1988, it produced an estimated $ 31.5 million in sales and was again cited by Restaurants & Institutions as the largest-grossing restaurant in the United States. In June 1989 the Hilltop projected $ 25 million in sales for that year. In 1990,

3552-528: The Hilltop was known for large portions of high-quality food at low prices. In 2006 Zagat rated Hilltop's food as poor to fair. It was the only restaurant north of Boston to receive Zagat's lowest rating for quality of food. In 1966, Giuffrida hired Mack Advertising Inc., an electric sign company that specialized in the use of neon and plastic signs, to make a new sign for the restaurant. Giuffrida and Mack principal Charles S. Magliozzi considered many Western designs, including cowboys and cattle, before settling on

3648-476: The Hilltop's function department illegally steered tip money to managers and wrongfully terminated four waitresses after they complained. According to the defendant's attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan , the final judgement was expected to be over $ 2.5 million. On December 31, 2003, Giuffrida died after suffering a stroke. In 2004, High Country purchased the Hilltop from the Giuffrida family outright. Soon thereafter,

3744-521: The Italian population formed Holy Rosary Parish. Immigrants from Lentini (a comune in the Sicilian the province of Syracuse ) and from the Sicilian province of Catania maintained a particular devotion to three Catholic martyrs, Saint Alfio, Saint Filadelfo and Saint Cirino , and in 1923 began celebrating a procession on their feast day. Although most of the participants live in neighboring towns,

3840-537: The Merrimack from Methuen, and the Shawsheen River , which forms the southeastern border of the city. Lawrence has two power canals that were formerly used to provide hydropower to the mills—one on the north bank of the river, the other on the south. Channeling water into these canals is the Great Stone Dam , which lies across the entire Merrimack and was, at the time of its construction in the 1840s,

3936-597: The United States). Others who integrated themselves into these French-Canadian communities were actually Acadians who had left the Canadian Maritimes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia also in search of work. Lawrence residents frequently referred to their Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern community as " Syrian ". Most so-called Syrians in Lawrence were from present-day Lebanon and were largely Maronite Christian . Lebanese and Syrians mostly settled in

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4032-434: The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.46. In the city, the population had a median age was 30.0 years (U.S. Average: 35.3): For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 25,983 (U.S. Average: $ 41,994), and the median income for a family was $ 29,809 (U.S. Average: $ 50,046). Males had

4128-576: The basis of a survey of their friends. By 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals. The Guides, over the years, have reported on and rated restaurants, hotels , nightlife , shopping , zoos , music , movies , theaters , golf courses , and airlines . Zagat guide ratings are on a five-point scale, 5 being the highest and 1 is the lowest, with component ratings for defined areas, e.g., for restaurants, including food, decor, and service (with cost also being estimated). In addition to numeric scores,

4224-431: The cactus. A hole eight feet deep, 28 feet long, and 15 feet wide was blasted for the base of the sign. It took six flatbed trailers to haul all of the parts. The 67-foot sign, which contains 210 fluorescent light bulbs and nearly a half-mile of neon tubing, took five days to assemble. In 1994, Hilltop Steak House Inc. was purchased by its original supplier - High Country Investors . In 2006, an Essex County jury found that

4320-420: The character of the center of Lawrence. Lawrence also attempted to increase its employment base by attracting industries unwanted in other communities, such as waste treatment facilities and incinerators. From 1980 until 1998, private corporations operated two trash incinerators in Lawrence. Activist residents successfully blocked the approval of a waste treatment center on the banks of the Merrimack River near

4416-705: The cheaper farmlands of the Midwest that had been linked to the East Coast by rail, settled in corners of Lawrence. Congregationalists were the second Protestant denomination to begin worship in Lawrence after the Episcopalians , with the formation of the Lawrence Street Congregational Church in 1847, and the first in South Lawrence, with the erection in 1852 of the first South Congregational Church on South Broadway, near

4512-453: The city (formerly parts of Andover and Methuen ), was purchased by a consortium of local industrialists. The Water Power Association members: Abbott Lawrence , Edmund Bartlett, Thomas Hopkinson of Lowell , John Nesmith and Daniel Saunders , had purchased control of Peter's Falls on the Merrimack River and hence controlled Bodwell's Falls the site of the present Great Stone Dam . The group allotted fifty thousand dollars to buy land along

4608-585: The city and the world flocked to the city in droves; many were Irish laborers who had experience with similar building work. The work was dangerous: injuries and even death were common. Working conditions in the mills were unsafe and in 1860 the Pemberton Mill collapsed, killing 145 workers. As immigrants flooded into the United States in the mid to late 19th century, the population of Lawrence abounded with skilled and unskilled workers from several countries. Protesting conditions, in 1912 they walked out of

4704-573: The city in 2016 was 16.6% non-Hispanic white, 7.8% Black or African American, 2.8% Asian (1.2% Cambodian, 0.7% Vietnamese, 0.3% Pakistani, 0.2% Indian, 0.2% Chinese, 0.1% Korean), 0.4% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 39.3% some other race, 2.7% two or more races, and 77.1% of the population is Hispanic or Latino (of any race) (47.0% Dominican, 21.7% Puerto Rican, 3.0% Guatemalan, 0.7% Salvadoran, 0.7% Spanish, 0.6% Cuban, 0.5% Ecuadorian, 0.5% Mexican, 0.2% Honduran, 0.2% Colombian, 0.1% Venezuelan, 0.1% Nicaraguan, 0.1% Peruvian). As of

4800-506: The company to restaurant discovery platform The Infatuation for an undisclosed amount. On September 9, 2021, The Infatuation was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Google is reported to have planned to use the Zagat acquisition to provide more content and reviews for its locally oriented services. On May 30, 2012, Zagat was officially integrated into Google's services, with its reviews now appearing on Google Maps and Google+ Local pages for relevant restaurants. Additionally,

4896-402: The company to restaurant discovery platform The Infatuation for an undisclosed amount. In September 2021, The Infatuation was acquired by JPMorgan Chase for an undisclosed amount. The Zagat Survey was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. Their first guide covered New York City dining, and was accomplished on

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4992-470: The contraction in number of cities covered and in depth of print coverage, and on Google de-emphasis of the distinctive, traditional 30-point rankings (replacing it with a 5-point scale for products not at the Zagat website), Jason Clampet at Skift writes, "Whether or not Zagat's... brand voice will continue to rise to the top remains to be seen," and while "the Zagat brand may not seem as strong [post-Google]... [the] content's influence on diners and drinkers

5088-433: The corner of Andover Street. Baptist churches included The First Baptist Church, one of the first churches in Lawrence, which was organized in the spring of 1947 and was known as Amesbury Street Baptist Church. Second Baptist was organized on September 6, 1860; its building was dedicated in 1874. Immigration of foreign-born workers to Lawrence largely ceased in 1921 with the passage of strict quotas against immigrants from

5184-727: The countries that had supplied the cheap, unskilled workers. Although many quotas were lifted after the Second World War, foreign immigration to Lawrence only increased again in the early 1960s, with Hispanic immigrants from Cuba , Puerto Rico , the Dominican Republic , and other Latin American countries. Immigrants from Southeast Asia , particularly Vietnam , have also settled in Lawrence. Indicative of immigration trends, several Catholic churches now conduct masses in two or more languages. St. Patrick 's Church,

5280-537: The cow statues were moved to the Market Street retail center in Lynnfield, Massachusetts . In 2018, AvalonBay Communities redeveloped the 14 acre property into “Avalon at Hilltop" - a residential and commercial development that includes 280 luxury apartments, two restaurants, a dry cleaner, and a hair salon. Avalon incorporated Hilltop's famous cactus sign into the new project. The sign still stands today and

5376-483: The current site of Salvatore's Pizza on Merrimack Street. Recently the focus of Lawrence's urban renewal has shifted to preservation rather than sprawl. Immigrants from the Dominican Republic and migrants from Puerto Rico began arriving in Lawrence in significant numbers in the late 1960s, attracted by cheap housing and a history of tolerance toward immigrants. In 1984, tensions between remaining working-class whites and increasing numbers of Hispanic youth flared into

5472-554: The development of a medical sciences center, the construction of which commenced in 2012 when the InTown Mall was finally removed. A large multi-structure fire in January 2008 destroyed many wooden structures just south of downtown. A poor financial situation that has worsened with the recent global recession and has led to multiple municipal layoffs had Lawrence contemplating receivership . On February 9, 2019, in recognition of

5568-615: The early 1990s, was founded by Elias Kapelson, born in Lithuania . Jacob Sandler arrived in Lawrence in June 1891 (1906, his two brothers (Isaac and Sundel arrived), and 3 other brothers also arrived in the early 1900s. Jacob opened a shoe business at 434 Broadway and earned enough income to purchase the property at 256–258 Essex St starting Sandler's Department Store, it later became Sandler's Luggage which continued under his son, Simon Sandler, and later his grandson, Robert Sandler until 1978. In

5664-747: The early 1990s. Since the 1990s, increasing numbers of former Catholic churches, closed since the 1980s when their Irish or Italian congregations died out, have been bought by Hispanic evangelical churches. The 2000 Census revealed the following population breakdown, illustrating the shift toward newer immigrant groups: Dominican Republic, 22%; other Hispanic or Latino, 12%; Irish, 7%; Italian, 7%, French (except Basque), 5%; Black or African American, 5%; French Canadian, 5%; English, 3%; Arab, 2%; German, 2%; Lebanese, 2%; Central American, 1%; Polish, 1%; Portuguese, 1%; Guatemalan, 1%; Vietnamese, 1%; South American, 1%; Spanish, 1%; Cambodian, 1%; Scottish, 1%; Cuban, 1%; Scotch-Irish, 1%; Ecuadoran, 1%. According to

5760-523: The elimination of the Zagat enterprise as it had historically functioned, provided it "a strong brand in local restaurant recommendations... [and] lots of content for location-based searches." Even so, questions are being raised about the apparent change of course, e.g., regarding Google's steering Zagat and its mobile app toward general content, and away from its traditional reviewer stable into an already very competitive, well-populated everyman restaurant review approach and business niche. In commenting on

5856-504: The experience of contractors during this period is reported to have been that of a normal Google employee (invitations to all-hands Google employee meetings and social events, and receipt of at-work benefits). However, as the reorganization by Page continued, and further decisions were made by Google management, the commitment to the Mayer vision for Zagat waned. Page's assignment of Susan Wojcicki to head Google's advertising area led to

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5952-485: The final remaining mills in the city is Malden Mills . Lawrence's downtown has seen a resurgence of business activity as Hispanic-owned businesses have opened along Essex Street, the historic shopping street of Lawrence that remained largely shuttered since the 1970s. In June 2007, the city approved the sale of the Intown Mall, largely abandoned since the early 1990s recession, to Northern Essex Community College for

6048-865: The first wave of immigration, most ethnic groups had numerous social clubs in the city. The Portuguese had 2; the English had 2; the Jews had 3; the Armenians, 5; the Lebanese and Syrians, 6; the Irish, 8; the Polish, 9; the French Canadians and Belgian-French, 14; the Lithuanians, 18; the Italians, 32; and the Germans, 47. However, the center of social life, even more than clubs or fraternal organizations,

6144-422: The formation of both Lithuanian Catholic and Lithuanian National Catholic churches. St. Francis (Lithuanian Catholic Church) on Bradford Street was formed in 1903 by Rev. James T. O'Reilly of St. Mary's, in a building previously occupied by St. John's Episcopal Church. The church closed in 2002, merging with Holy Trinity (Polish) and SS. Peter and Paul (Portuguese). Sacred Heart Lithuanian National Catholic Church

6240-538: The helm to again manage the company – the request to increase the number of "Googlers" (full-time Google employees) was denied, and Google's Zagat editorial division was instead grown via staffing with temporary contractors (January–March 2012). During this period, at least some of the hired contractors were led to believe by Google HR that it was their hope that after the year, contractors would join Googlers as permanent employees, with benefits; moreover,

6336-543: The land and the building and leased it to the corporation. Soon thereafter, Hilltop announced plans to expand the restaurant into a national chain. In 1989, Hilltop opened a second location in Nashua, New Hampshire . In 1990, Hilltop Steak House Inc. took over the lease of Le Biftheque, a steakhouse that was located in the former Valle's Steak House property in Braintree, Massachusetts . In 1992, Hilltop Steak House Inc. filed

6432-590: The lands surrounding the English settlement of Andover (modern-day North Andover center). Europeans first settled the Haverhill area in 1640, colonists from Newbury following the Merrimack River in from the coast. The area that would become Lawrence was then part of Methuen and Andover. The first settlement within present-day city limits came in 1655 with the establishment of a blockhouse in Shawsheen Fields, now South Lawrence. The future site of

6528-602: The large disparate Geo and Commerce group, and Google management's decision on a further acquisition – Frommer's , the venerable travel guide publisher, in August 2012  – appear, in concert, as evidence of changing plans of management for the original Zagat team. After the standard Google all-hands meeting where the Frommer's acquisition was announced and discussed, contractors ceased to be invited to these Google meetings. In this period, Hernandez continued to lead

6624-412: The largest dam in the world. The highest point in Lawrence is the top of Tower Hill in the northwest corner of the city, rising approximately 240 feet (73 m) above sea level. Other prominent hills include Prospect Hill, in the northeastern corner of the city, and Mount Vernon, along the southern edge of the city. Most industrial activity was concentrated in the flatlands along the rivers. Den Rock Park,

6720-413: The mill owners decided to settle, giving workers in Lawrence and throughout New England raises of up to 20 percent. However, as a young Massachusetts Senator, John F. Kennedy was later to record, in the decades that followed the mill owners moved their capital and employment out of Lawrence and the region to the non-union South. Lawrence was a great wool-processing center until that industry declined in

6816-553: The mills. The action, sometimes celebrated as the Bread and Roses Strike, was one of the more important, widely reported, labor struggles in American history. The Industrial Workers of the World (the "One Big Union", the "Wobblies") defied the common wisdom that a largely female and ethnically divided workforce could not be organized, and the strike held through two bitterly cold winter months. The young 15-year mill hand Fred Beal , who

6912-434: The move of another Google veteran, Jeff Huber, to lead the very large "Geo and Commerce" area, a new combined group that would eventually include the Zagat team (alongside Google Maps & Earth, Travel, Shopping , Wallet , and other endeavors). This reorganization left Marissa Mayer without a comparable leadership position, instead placing her as a report to her "peer" Huber; Mayer departed Google thereafter, to become

7008-508: The neighborhoods of North Lawrence such as Tower Hill along with Prospect Hill. Lebanese immigrants organized St. Anthony 's Maronite Church in 1903 on the corner of Lebanon Street and Lawrence Street, and St. Joseph's Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, as well as St. George 's Antiochian Orthodox Church . Jewish merchants became increasingly numerous in Lawrence and specialized in dry goods and retail shops. The fanciest men's clothing store in Lawrence, Kap's, established in 1902 and closed in

7104-649: The river to develop. In 1844, the group petitioned the legislature to act as a corporation, known as the Essex Company , which incorporated on April 16, 1845. The first excavations for the Great Stone Dam to harness the Merrimack River's water power were done on August 1, 1845. The Essex Company would sell the water power to corporations such as the Arlington Mills , as well as organize the construction of mills and build to suit. Until 1847, when

7200-464: The river, the town is bordered by North Andover to the east, and Andover to the south and southwest. Lawrence is approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Newburyport , 30 miles (48 km) north-northwest of Boston and 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Manchester, New Hampshire . Aside from the Merrimack River , other water features include the Spicket River , which flows into

7296-456: The role the town has played in the labor movement, Senator Elizabeth Warren officially announced her candidacy for President of the United States in Lawrence. On September 13, 2018, a series of gas explosions and fires broke out in as many as 40 homes in Lawrence, Andover , and North Andover . The disaster killed one resident and caused over 30,000 customers to evacuate their homes. A year after this first incident on September 27, 2019, there

7392-413: The rollout of the new Zagat website in July 2013 indicated both that the Zagat guides are "now smaller than ever," covering the same reduced list of nine cities as the website, and that Zagat had "quietly w[ound] down its licensing business... managing custom print guides for corporations" and third party content licensing. Regardless, Google's acquisition and integration of Zagat , while leading to

7488-413: The salaries of all the now unemployed workers while the factory was being rebuilt. A sharp reduction in violent crime starting in 2004 and massive private investment in former mill buildings along the Merrimack River, including the remaining section of the historic Wood Worsted Mill —to be converted into commercial, residential and education uses – have lent encouragement to boosters of the city. One of

7584-399: The social perks they had earlier enjoyed. As well, Bernardo Hernandez departed from his leadership role of the unit. While Google has declined comment, one source reported in June 2013 that "The future of Zagat book production looks extremely bleak... The whole division as currently structured seems to be on death watch. Lots of chatter about outsourcing." Further reporting coincident with

7680-460: The social upheaval in Germany in 1848, Swedes fleeing an overcrowded Sweden, and French Canadians seeking to escape hard northern farm life from the 1850s onward. A second wave began arriving after 1900, as part of the great mass of Italian and Eastern European immigrants, including Jews from Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and neighboring regions. Immigration to the United States was severely curtailed in

7776-431: The state legislature recognized the community as a town, it was called interchangeably the "New City", "Essex" or "Merrimac". The post office, built in 1846, used the designation "Merrimac". The city was incorporated in 1853, and named for Abbott Lawrence. Canals were dug on both the north and the south banks to provide power to the factories that would soon be built on its banks as both mill owners and workers from across

7872-451: The subject of an aggressive plan to expand the impact of Zagat through new hard-copy city guides, which required that Google VP Marissa Mayer and a senior product manager Bernardo Hernandez add further editors to the group it acquired with the Zagat acquisition; unfortunately, because of leadership changes above Mayer – earlier in 2011, Google cofounder and first CEO, Larry Page , had replaced Eric Schmidt , returning to

7968-404: The survey also includes a short descriptive paragraph that incorporates selected quotations (typically a few words) from several reviewers' comments about each restaurant or service, as well as the pricing and rating information. In 1999, Tim and Nina Zagat 's son, Ted Zagat, joined Zagat and served as president and COO until 2007. Zagat's distinctive thirty-point rankings were replaced with

8064-419: The time of the acquisition, leading to prophetic business reports describing the future of Zagat book production as bleak, and subsequent business news reports recording the contraction of their print businesses. Regardless, Google's acquisition and integration of Zagat provided it with a strong brand in local restaurant recommendations and ample content for location-based searches. On March 6, 2018, Google sold

8160-547: The two sides went to court over privileges established in the original lease, which entitled the Giuffridas and their guests to free food and drink and access to the first available table for life, which were lost following the sale. The court found in favor of High Country Investors. In 2013, the Hilltop Steak House closed. The property was sold and items, including the plastic cows, were auctioned off. Three of

8256-499: The world" through broader simplified business rankings, and by providing broad content unlike the traditional Zagat , both city-specific (e.g., "Great Hot Dog Joints in NYC"), and cross-destination (e.g., "Best Sushi Restaurants in 8 U.S. Cities."), as well as completely location-independent content (e.g., "Rosé for Every Mood: What to Bring to Any Summer Occasion"). Initially, however, the eventually proscribed digital and print aims were

8352-543: Was also razed, destroying ornate movie palaces of the 1920s and 1930s that entertained mill workers through the Great Depression and the Second World War. The city's main post office, an ornate Federalist-style building at the corner of Broadway and Essex Street, was razed. Most of the structures were replaced with one-story, steel-frame structures with large parking lots, housing such establishments as fast food restaurants and chain drug stores, fundamentally changing

8448-404: Was another gas leak causing people to evacuate their homes again. Lawrence has been aptly nicknamed the "Immigrant City". It has been home to numerous different immigrant communities, most of whom arrived during the great wave of European immigration to America that ended in the 1920s. Lawrence became home to large groups of immigrants from Europe, beginning with the Irish in 1845, Germans after

8544-414: Was built in the autumn of 1907. In the 1920s, the Jews of Lawrence began congregating further up Tower Hill, where they erected two synagogues on Lowell Street above Milton Street, as well as a Jewish Community Center on nearby Haverhill Street. All three institutions had closed their doors by 1990 as the remaining elderly members of the community died out or moved away. The Polish community of Lawrence

8640-492: Was churches. Lawrence is dotted with churches, many now closed, torn down, or converted into other uses. These churches signify, more than any other artifacts, the immigrant communities that once lived within walking distance of each church. The first sizable German community arrived following the revolutions of 1848. However, a larger German community was formed after 1871, when industrial workers from Saxony were displaced by economic competition from new industrial areas like

8736-464: Was drawn by the experience into a lifetime of labor organizing, recalls that contrary to expectations, it was the most recent immigrant groups, "the Italians, Poles, Syrians [Lebanese] and Franco-Belgians ", who "kept it alive. After hundreds of the strikers' hungry children had been sent to sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont, and the U.S. Congress was induced to hold hearings,

8832-510: Was established in 1917 and located on Garden Street until its closure and sale in 2001. A sizable English community, composed mainly of unskilled laborers who arrived after 1880, sought work in the textile mills where they were given choice jobs by the Yankee overseers on account of their shared linguistic heritage and close cultural links. Not all immigrants to Lawrence were foreign-born or their children. Yankee farmers, unable to compete against

8928-569: Was estimated to be only 600–800 persons in 1900. However, by 1905, the community had expanded sufficiently to fund the construction of the Holy Trinity Church at the corner of Avon and Trinity streets. Their numbers grew to 2,100 Poles in 1910. Like many of their immigrant brethren from other nations, most of the Poles were employed in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing. Lawrence had a sizable enough Lithuanian community to warrant

9024-546: Was known for its decorations outside including a 68-foot-high neon cactus and full-sized plastic cows. The Boston Globe ’s Anthony Spinazzola described the Hilltop's interior decor as "old ranch modern with wooden Indians, stone fireplaces, buffalo heads, Victorian lighting fixtures, plastic flowers and color that runs to expected browns and reds". The restaurant featured five dining rooms and a cocktail lounge named after Wild West cities ( Dodge City , Kansas City , Sioux City , Carson City , Santa Fe , and Virginia City ). Until

9120-453: Was on the block for $ 200 million. After there were no takers, the company announced in June that it was no longer for sale and that it would seek an organic growth strategy. On September 8, 2011, the company was acquired by Google for more than $ 150 million, the 10th largest acquisition by Google as of that date, at the championing of Marissa Mayer , its Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services. On March 6, 2018, Google sold

9216-407: Was small and focused on beef and a few other meat options as well as lobster pie and a few appetizers, desserts, and kids meals. Most meals came with a potato or vegetable, rolls and butter, and a salad. The salad had only one dressing option - the house oil and vinegar. By the 1980s the menu had expanded to include more chicken and fish options as well as a bevy of side dishes. During successful years,

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