Sonar the Wolf: Battling Unemployment

There was a lot of positive buzz this past weekend regarding the Whale's return to Hartford. And while while we are happy about the direction our minor league hockey franchise has taken, we cannot forget the little people who have been impacted by the change.

The Sad City Hartford cameras tracked down Sonar the Wolf, former mascot of the Hartford Wolf Pack. Sonar told us what he has been up to since he lost his job to Pucky the Whale.

Does anyone want some ironic Hartford Wolf Pack merch?

Hypnotic Al Terzi Video

Earlier this afternoon, while researching an upcoming story on our favorite news cyborg, we stumbled on this mesmerizing gem. It's a weird photo montage of Al Terzi and Michael Terzi, who we assume is Al's late son. It's set to a weird royalty-free music track and features the most interesting use of video transitions this side of the star wipe.

We tried to do some digging to determine the origins, but all we found were dead ends. The URL at the end of the video is a dead link. Google was unable to translate the text posted with the video. All of the other clips are just as nonsensical. Our only theory is that "bajykulew" is a robot trying to leverage search traffic for Al Terzi, because we all know that EVERYONE runs searches on Al Terzi.

If anyone can figure this one out, please clue us in.

Was This Sign Pre-Made or a Custom Print?

On the corner of Albany and Woodland, there is an awesome Jamacan Bakery. For those looking to get the full "Sad City" experience, we highly recommend ordering up a couple of beef patties, coco bread and cola champagn and hanging out on the corner while you eat and take in the neighborhood.
But whatever you do, DO NOT walk behind the restaraunt and try to reliveve yourself. The sign (see left) excplicity asks people not to do that. You have been warned.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The best part is, they had such a problem with this issue that they either A.) Had a custom sign printed or B.) Scoured sign shops across Connecticut, looking for the sign that, "Tells people they will get thrown in the slammer if they pee here." Totally awesome.

Insert Uplifting Holiday Story Here

On holidays it is important for media outlets to run uplifting stories. Usually these stories involve a community getting together to help a lower income family after some sort of disaster has hit the family. Why these stories are always much more prominent on a holiday we aren't exactly sure, but Josh Kovner of the Hartford Courant brings us our uplifting story today.

Connecticut Whale Week Contest

With the Hartford Wolfpack officially morphing into the Connecticut Whale on Saturday, Jodi Rell has declared this week "Connecticut Whale Week." One can only wonder from the picture in Paul Doyle's Hartford Courant article whether CT Whale mascot Pucky Ackbar walked into the Governors office in full costume or if there was a changing room in the office for the photo?

The Six Most Dangerous Things in Hartford

Last week, Hartford cracked the top 20 on the America's Most Dangerous Cities list. Quite frankly, the fact that we were #19 on the list was good news. In fact, we even beat Connecticut's Perineum City, New Haven, who checked in at #18.

So how did we even end up in the top 20? Sad City Hartford decided to take a look at the six most dangerous things in Hartford to explain.

While You Opt-Out, Sad City Opts-In

The Hartford Advocate and Brianna Snyder enlighten us about our rights in regards to airport body scanners and the option to instead opted for an enhanced pat-down instead of the body scan. All that is well and good, but Sad City chooses to look at the airport body scanner in another light.

A Minor Victory

Hartford has been named the 19th Most Dangerous U.S. city according to FBI violent crime statistics. How does this qualify as a minor victory? Hartford beat neighbor city New Haven (ranked 18th) and only a week after repelling an invasion from the north, Hartford scored yet another victory over Buffalo who ranked 17th on the list.

It's all in the power of positive thinking folks!

Hartford Business: Hartford Denim Company

Local. Sustainable. Local. Sustainable. It's practically a mantra these days. Most often used in regards to food, those on the local and sustainable wagon can now stay local and sustainable with their jeans thanks to the Hartford Denim Company. Located in downtown on 75 Pratt Street, Sad City visited with the guys from the Hartford Denim Company last week.

Intersections We Can't Navigate

As far as North America goes Hartford is a very old city. Much of Hartford was designed and built long before anyone had conceived of the motor vehicle much less the congestion that would follow the rise of the suburbs and white flight from the cities. We at Sad City love living in cities. We accept the congestion, traffic, and a certain level of crime as part of the trade off for the convenience and diversity of the city. Still some Hartford roads and ramps completely confound us.

Hartford Business: MC's Barbershop

For men getting a haircut can be a difficult hazard to navigate. For the vast majority of us it is totally unnecessary and wasteful to go to a salon and pay in excess of $30 to get a trim. On the other hand going to Supercuts and putting your appearance into the hands of a hungover 20-year old who is still fuming about the latest argument with her boyfriend isn't the best idea either.
The solution; MC's Barbershop on Franklin Ave.

A Look At Sad City's Desktop

 Sometimes we have photos that don't quite merit a story on their own yet still are worth saving and sharing. With our desktop becoming cluttered and getting tired of answering why we have so many random pictures of Hartford, we think it's time to clear it out and take a look at the Sad City desktop. Let's see what sort of gems we can find.

Real Hartford vs. Sad City Hartford

Several readers have asked us if a rivalry exists between Real Hartford and Sad City Hartford? The question kind of makes sense. We are both independent blogs focused on the city of Hartford. Additionally, Hakaan does spend about a 1/3 of his monthly text messages griping about their site. But a rivalry? We are not so sure. Were Goofus and Gallant rivals? (We’ll leave it to you, dear readers, to decide who is who, but know that Jumper rarely combs his hair.)

To understand the Sad City Hartford / Real Hartford situation, we decided to conduct an extremely biased tail of the tape.

Sad City Find More Gas Stations Supporting and Profiting Off Local Drug Trade

A while back we brought you the story of the Sunoco on Wethersfield and Brown selling lactose powder, a product drug dealers use to cut cocaine. As it turns out, this is fairly normal for South End gas stations. Sad City has gotten footage of two more gas stations selling lactose and other drug lacing products. Nothing like the local drug dealer being able to get all of their narcotic distribution supplies at the local gas station!

Buffalo/Toronto Invasion Repelled!

The Hartford Courant is reporting that Tim Horton's will close it Connecticut stores, ending the Canadian (let's face it, Buffalo is practically part of Canada) coffee shops attempt to gain a foothold in the market. While Tim Horton's may try to slink quietly back to Canada, Connecticut is planning to launch a counter-insurgency of Dunkin' Donuts; for defensive purposes of course!

The Butt Ugly Building Gets the Wrecking Ball

The Butt Ugly Building is soon to be now more. A few days back we saw the demolition start on the blighted building and Wednesday saw the building meet the wrecking ball. In short time the eyesore which has long loomed over I-84 will be reduced to rubble. See pics of the demolition after the jump.

A South End Garden

When you think of Hartford it's unlikely that "gardening" is the first thing that comes to mind. Yet some Hartford neighborhoods are conducive to gardening and Hartford does in fact have some resident green thumbs (also many Hartford residents enjoy gardening in their closets and basements under heat lamps, but that's a story for another day). Sad City visited Pete Soperessata's garden recently. Though the gardening season is clearly over, we still got some great shots and look forward to revisiting in the Spring.

Hakaan and Craig The Porn Star Discuss The Real Winner in the Senatorial Election

Sad City Hartford concluded a whirlwind Election Day by checking in with good friend Craig The Porn Star on WCCC. Hakaan tried to convince Craig that he should vote when Craig admitted to not voting in this years election. That was followed with a scientific analysis of the real winner of the hotly contested Blumenthal-McMahon race for the Senate. Think you can guess who was tapped as the victor? Find out after the jump.

The Park Street Garage Mystery, Solved

We have always wondered what was inside that mysterious little carport on Park Street. The carport became a minor Hartford celebrity in 2008 after being prominently featured in the horrendous Gangland: Hartford. Boarded up for the past few years, rumors have run wild about what was actually inside the carport.

Theories have included: entrance to an underground cock-fighting arena, Al Terzi's secret regeneration chamber or some sketchy place where junkies go to do drugs.

So what's inside this mystical urban cave? The answer after the jump.

Sad City Readers Know Hartford History

Last week we took a look at some photos of the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse of 1978. While examining the photos we wondered what was the colorful mural we could see in the photo. Sad City reader Doug sent us a link to the artist Michael Borders website along with a brief history of the mural.

An Abandoned House and a Campus Worlds Apart

Now this is what we call an abandoned house. This gem of a find is located on the corner of Park Terrace and and Summit Street. It appears that this house is undergoing rehabilitation but it is the location of this abandoned that is truly amazing. Perched atop a small hill, this house must have a great view into Pope Park. Directly across the street is a sign directing motorists to turn onto Summit to get to Trinity College.

A Whirlwind 24 Hours in the Sad City

It was quite an exciting twenty four hours for Sad City Hartford. It started Monday night when we got to watch the World Series conclude in a victory for the San Francisco Giants. Tuesday we started Election Day by casting our ballots for Connecticut Senatorial and Gubernatorial candidates amongst others.

Another Look at Hartford's Park River

We've been fascinated by Hartford's "Hog" River for a long time. Many don't even know about Hartford's underground river that used to run through downtown before it was buried. This summer we spent an afternoon attempting to kayak Hartford's forgotten river. Though we failed to make it the entire length of the river, the adventure provided plenty of highlights and lowlights for the afternoon. Later attempts to kayak the underground portion of the river were thwarted by lack of rainfall.

Election Day News: Sad City to visit Colin McEnroe on WNPR

Fresh off the heels of Halloween, tomorrow November 2nd, is Election Day. It's your day to have a say in who will be representing the State so make sure to get out and vote. Can the wrestling CEO deliver the "Stone Cold Stunner"  to the long-tenured AG? Will third-party Congressional candidates make a meaningful impact? The race for Governor looks like a dead heat.

Sad City Parties with the Hartford Party Starters Union

Sad City visited the Hartford Party Starters Union at the Arch Street Tavern for their Halloween costume party on Friday night. The music provided by Lemonade was foreign to us (all post 1999 music is) but, it sounded good and there was an awesome light machine.

Pictured is Sad City's winner for best costume. This costume makes points for originality and a good cultural reference. What separates this costume from the rest is the sheer effort that went into creating it. More costumes (taken with a bad camera) after the jump.