Month: June 2016

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Albemarle High, Western Albemarle boys varsity soccer teams claim state titles, and other sports news

Albemarle High School Patriots' field

Albemarle High School boys varsity soccer
With a strong senior class and a promising batch of underclassmen, Albemarle had its sights on the state title all season.
The Patriots’ near-perfect regular season was ruined by their inter-county rivals, Western Albemarle High School. After an 8-0 start to the season, Albemarle traveled to Crozet on April 23. The two teams played 72 minutes of gridlock soccer until Western’s Jake Paulson converted a penalty, handing Albemarle its first and only loss of the season.
Throughout Albemarle’s historic 20-1-0 season they outscored their opponents by 75 goals. At the end of the season they defeated Falls Church High School 1-0 to claim the 5A state title for the second time in four years.

St. Anne’s Belfield boys varsity lacrosse
After a tough start to the season, St. Anne’s rallied behind the leadership of the Robertson brothers: Phillip, a senior midfielder and Joe, a junior attacker.
Tough losses to Loyola Blakefield and the St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School at home threatened to dim the Saints’ spirits. But the team rallied to win the remaining nine games of the regular season, advancing to the VISAA Division I state title game. The team’s foe was familiar: St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School, which beat St. Anne’s 14-5 in the regular season.
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes blew past STAB in the VISAA Division I final, defeating the Saints 12-7. Despite the loss, the Saints’ unprecedented playoff run placed three players on the Division I All-State first team: the Robertson brothers and Kareem Johnson.

Western Albemarle boys varsity soccer
The Western Albemarle boys soccer team was 5-0-2 going into its game against Albemarle on April 23. After the momentous victory, the Warriors finished out the season with a 19-2-3 record as well as a berth in the 3A state title game against a challenging Blacksburg opponent. Blacksburg defeated Western in the Region 3A West tournament 1-0 just five days before their state title game rematch.
The Warriors opened the scoring 20 minutes into the match off of Carrington Murphy’s foot, putting Western on top 1-0. Nearly 40 minutes later the Warriors surrendered a penalty to Blacksburg, leveling the score 1-1. Western found the game-winning goal with 14 minutes remaining off of a corner kick. Jed Strickland careened the ball into the back of the net to secure Western Albemarle’s second state title in three years.

William Monroe varsity baseball
William Monroe’s baseball program has always been successful but had never reached the state tournament until this season. The Dragons took their 20-3 season into the playoffs where they met Poquoson in the Region 3A East tournament finals. The two teams battled it out through nine innings, but the Dragons came up short and lost 4-3. Despite the shortfall, William Monroe advanced to the 3A state tournament where they defeated Turner Ashby 3-0. With their victory they met Rustburg in the 3A state final. In a game similar to the Region 3A East final, the Dragons fell just short of Rustburg, losing 3-2, and capping off a historic season for William Monroe baseball.

St. Anne’s Belfield girls varsity lacrosse
After a successful regular season, the STAB girls lacrosse team positioned itself at the top of the League of Independent School (LIS) standings, earning a bye in the quarterfinals. After blowing past St. Catherine’s School 16-7 in the LIS semifinals, the Saints met up with rival Collegiate in the finals. The rivals battled it out, with the STAB girls claiming the LIS crown after a 9-8 victory on May 12.
After the LIS tournament, the Saints sought to keep the ball rolling into the VISAA Division I tournament as the third seed. STAB faced Collegiate once again in the quarterfinals. The result remained the same as STAB snuck past the Cougars 12-11 into the semifinals. There the Saints met the second-seeded Bishop Ireton. The Saints weren’t so lucky as they fell to Bishop Ireton 16-7, ending their season.

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DBAC urges city and parking center to knock off bully tactics

Former mayor Dave Norris urges the city to stop kicking the can forward and resolve the Water Street Parking Garage morass once and for all. Staff photo

The Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville sent a letter to city councilors and Charlottesville Parking Center owner Mark Brown today requesting the city and the CPC “reach a quick agreement on the parking stalemate” over the Water Street Garage and withdraw “extreme threats” such as eminent domain and closing the garage.

Mary Beth Schellhammer wrote on behalf of the DBAC board of directors to ask the city and Brown to consider the “significant impact the lack of resolution is having on the image of downtown Charlottesville.”

An impasse over parking rates at the garage, jointly owned by the city and Brown, has escalated to lawsuits, with the city saying last week it had begun the condemnation process on the garage for eminent domain, while Brown filed to have an emergency receivership appointed to run the garage.

“I think this is a very welcome development,” says Dave Norris, CPC general manager and a former mayor of Charlottesville. “Anytime government threatens eminent domain, it really is pushing a nuclear button.”

Two weeks ago, members of the DBAC were circulating petitions urging the city not to sell its shares in the garage at the same time the parking center said it was on the verge of a settlement with the city. At the June 6 City Council meeting, councilors passed a surprise resolution to buy Brown’s shares of the garage.

“The consistent theme is DBAC communicating they want to see this matter resolved,” says Norris. “They want to be able to preserve affordable parking downtown. That’s their bottom line.”

Norris says he thinks some DBAC members were uncomfortable with the city’s threat to use eminent domain against fellow business owners. “If you read between the lines, they’re saying don’t use eminent domain in our name,” he says.

“The letter is not going back on anything we’ve said,” says Schellhammer. “Time is critical. We’re stressing to the city and Mark Brown not to let this drag on.” If a receiver is appointed to manage the garage, “this could go on for three, four, five years,” she says.

As for eminent domain, she says she doesn’t know that’s needed and there’s room for everyone downtown. “I believe Mark Brown deserves to own a business and be profitable. The city deserves to be able to provide affordable parking.”

The escalating dispute, she says, “is a bully fight.”

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce also wants the city and CPC to negotiate a settlement. “Eminent domain is a hammer that isn’t necessary,” says its president, Timothy Hulbert.

Read the DBAC letter to Mark Brown and city councilors

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Arts

ARTS Pick: We Were Pirates

We Were Pirates brainchild Mike Boggs leaves nothing to chance when he takes the stage. The multi-instrumentalist has been known to play guitar, keys and drums, in addition to singing lead vocals during the band’s performances. Boggs’ songs are pure pop that works nicely for film soundtracks like the documentary Dear Mr. Watterson, and they’re regularly featured on NPR’s “This American Life.” WWP’s most recent album, Matter, flows with melodic, electronic vibes and a hint of rock ‘n’ roll. Michael Coleman opens.

Saturday 6/25. Free, 8pm. The Garage, 100 W. Jefferson St. thegarage-cville.com.

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Wildfire aftermath: Shenandoah’s path to rehabilitation

Even among the scorched earth at Rocky Mountain, signs of life have emerged in the Shenandoah National Park. Photo by Rebecca Bowyer

By Rebecca Bowyer

When a visitor journeys up Skyline Drive and looks out over the portion of Shenandoah National Park recently ravaged by wildfire, black scars, charred trees and the smell of soot linger—but, almost unexpectedly, a majority of the area is green.

The Rocky Mountain wildfire was first reported to park officials on April 16. Windy and dry conditions contributed to its massive size; it burned 10,326 acres before being contained. With the flames officially out, the focus turns to rehabilitation and the threat of invasive species.

Stephen Paull is a biological science technician at the park who served as one of several resource advisers during the fire to make sure the suppression efforts didn’t do more harm than good. Rehabilitation began while firefighting crews were still at the park.

“When [the fire] cooled down, we were able to start rehabbing fire lines,” the man-made gaps in the vegetation dug during efforts to stop the flames, says Paull. “That involved pulling soil back into those areas and pulling vegetation back across the lines to try and conceal them so that they didn’t look like trails. We were able to take advantage of the labor on hand.”

While dozens of trails were closed to visitors during the fire, all have since reopened with no restrictions. This does not mean the work is finished. In fact, Paull anticipates the rebuilding process will take three or four years.

“We had about 23 miles of trails that were in that burned area, so we have crews that are currently evaluating them to determine what kind of work is required,” he says. “We know there are some areas where so much of the soil was burned off that we are worried about erosion. Those crews will be going in and making repairs now.”

Paull expects repairs to be completed by the end of 2016. “Going forward, we have applied for funding to do some additional work in future years,” he says, and the park is seeking $58,000 in federal funds.

Shenandoah National Park spokesperson Claire Comer estimates suppression efforts cost just over $4 million to bring firefighters and air support to the park.

“It was an intimidating sight for our neighbors,” she says. “And it was unusual because there were a lot of flames—normally fires burn low. The view from Route 340, which was west of the fire, was incredible. It almost looked liked a superhighway with the number of jam-packed cars trying to get a look at the flames.”

The concern turns now to the invasive plants and insects that could take advantage of the destruction left behind. Existing populations of tree of heaven, aka ailanthus, princess tree and oriental bittersweet love disturbances such as wildfires, says Paull. Part of the potential funding would go toward monitoring their growth.

“Crews for the next three years will perform seek-and-destroy missions,” he explains. “Basically going after specific plants and either hand pulling them or using a herbicide to remove them.”

Money would also go toward tracking the condition of native Eastern hemlock populations. The evergreens were already under attack in the forest by a sap-sucking insect that originated in Asia, and Paull worries hemlocks were further weakened by flames. Infested trees may be treated with an insecticide to help them survive.

Both Comer and Paull echo the same point —despite being daunting to control, fire can have advantageous effects on forest health.

“From an ecological standpoint, a lot of that area is going to benefit from the fire,” Paull says of the land surrounding Rocky Mountain. “There is the concern of hemlocks and the exotic plants, but most of the vegetation will be fine. It’s still alive.”

Some plants need fire to survive. The table mountain pine has cones that open to release seeds when heated. Fire also produces more nutrient rich soil, which benefits all species. 

Visitors who walk the trails in the burned area under the trees see a patchwork of colors. Ferns and wildflowers are sprouting from the blackened earth. Charred limbs remain in some spots, but the signs of rebuilding are there.

“Even though you may burn a tree to the ground—really all you’ve done is top-killed it,” Paull says. “The roots are still alive, and it will resprout.”

FAST FACTS:

  • The Rocky Mountain wildfire burned 10,326 acres
  • Its location was northeast of Grottoes in Rockingham County
  • The fire was declared 100 percent contained on April 29
  • Suppression efforts cost $4.2 million
  • It was the second-largest fire in park history
  • 350 firefighters and support personnel arrived to assist from 33 states
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News

In brief: Weddings cash cow, DUI checkpoint and more

photo Albemarle County Police

It could have been worse

While Richmond saw widespread damage from the June 16 storm and had more than 150,000 without power, Charlottesville was relatively unscathed, except for the Gordon Avenue house that had a tree come down on top of it, according to an NBC29 report.

File photo.It could have been worse, part 2

A spate of gunfire continued with three separate incidents early June 17. Two took place in the 900 block of First Street South at 1:54 and 4:33am, when two apartments were hit. At 1am shots were fired in the 100 block of Elliewood Avenue and a vehicle was struck. These followed shots fired June 12 on the Corner and June 7 on Gordon Avenue.

The Blue Ridge Tunnel opened in 1858, and now a nonprofit organization and a class of UVA students are working to bring national attention to the historic tunnel. Photo: 1916 postcard
The Blue Ridge Tunnel opened in 1858. Photo: 1916 postcard

Trails rake in the bucks

The Commonwealth Transportation Board bestowed funds for area hiking and biking: $255K to finish the Water Street Trail between the Coal Tower Trail and Belmont Bridge; $400K for 5th Street Station bike trails, including a bridge over Biscuit Run; and $1.3 million to complete the western end of the Blue Ridge Tunnel.

Robert Tracci Photo by Jen Fariello
Robert Tracci Photo by Jen Fariello

Tracci amicus, Reeves FOIA

Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci joined 43 state prosecutors June 17 in an amicus brief in support of a GOP lawsuit seeking to overturn Governor Terry McAuliffe’s restoration of 200,000 felons’ voting rights. State Senator Bryce Reeves filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all communications between the governor’s office and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, alleging McAuliffe’s order is a “desperate attempt” to help Clinton in November.

Travails of an Internet celeb

Bryan Silva, who live streamed his January SWAT standoff in his house on JPA, was back in jail June 14 after violating terms of his bond. He had pleaded guilty to brandishing a firearm, and was under house arrest awaiting his July 5 sentencing.

Weddings

DUI

Quote of the week

“Once you witness [discrimination] first hand, it’s a totally different experience. I was in a state of shock.”—Trump garb-wearing teen Lauren Wolfrey, who was denied service at Cook Out after attending the June 10 Trump rally in Richmond, according to CBS 6.

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Arts

ARTS Pick: Quin Bookz

Local hip-hop artist Quin Bookz features his latest release, The Corner in his show at M&M Lounge and Restaurant on Friday. Photo: Publicity photo

Local hip-hop artist Quin Bookz first gained traction after making the mixtape Study Hall in a dorm room closet while attending Virginia State University. His raw, lackadaisical rhymes are described as “the rebel off-spring of trap music.” With his latest release, The Corner, his YouTube views are passing the 200,000 mark and the rap music press is seeking him out for interviews. Bookz takes the headlining spot this week at Show Me What You Got, a showcase of rising talent, and it’s a good chance to see him before he hits larger stages.

Friday 6/24. No cover, 8pm. M&M Lounge and Restaurant, 917 Preston Ave. 962-6575.

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Arts

Pauls Toutonghi spins a dog tale with local ties

Pauls Toutonghi, author of Dog Gone, will be at New Dominion Bookshop on June 24. Photo: Michael Lionstar

Every good story needs an indomitable force that drives the narrative forward. In Pauls Toutonghi’s book Dog Gone, that force is a golden retriever mix named Gonker, who happens to be from this area.

“I first heard the story of Gonker when I went to my in-laws’ house for the first time,” says Toutonghi, the author of two novels, who lives and teaches in Portland. “I noticed dozens of pictures of the dog, more than of my wife, so I asked her about it. She said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t get mom started on that.’ Well, of course I did. And I could feel the emotion in it. I recognized it as a great story. It had very high personal stakes, a timeline and a great deal of drama to it.”

While it may have begun as a story about a single lost dog, as Toutonghi became part of his wife’s family he found an even greater depth to the story. As a result, the book spans across time and geography, from an Akita puppy in Japan in 1949 who becomes the constant companion of the neglected daughter of an alcoholic, to the yappy bichon frise in Washington, D.C., dyed punk-rock purple in the 1980s, and finally to Gonker, lost on the Virginia portion of the Appalachian Trail in 1998.

Gonker’s owner, Fielding Marshall, was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia when he adopted Gonker from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA in 1992. By October 1998, Fielding and Gonker were living in Northern Virginia, when they took a road trip to the Jefferson National Forest and began hiking the Appalachian Trail. Gonker suffered from Addison’s disease, described by Toutonghi as “a disorder of the adrenal glands that, if untreated, is fatal,” and required a shot every month.

The tension in the story builds when Gonker bounds away in the mountains during hunting season and Marshall realizes, after hours of searching and not finding him, that Gonker has about 20 days left before the life-sustaining effects of his last treatment shot will wear off. As Marshall and his father, John, begin a search on the trail, Marshall’s mother, Ginny, sounds the alarm and the story is picked up in local and national papers.

Throughout the narrative, Toutonghi finds parallels of loss and salvation in the lives of a mother and her son, and explores human heartache and the healing effect of animal connection.

He says, “I feel like almost every family has a dog story. Often pets are the way we learn so many things about life, loving someone, caring for someone or even grief and loss.”

Local readers may feel a swell of pride for this area’s response to the family’s urgent cries for help, as well as for the beautiful and apt descriptions of rural Virginia in the fall. They might also get a kick out of some details about Charlottesville in the 1990s, like the fact that while the city now abounds with yoga studios, it was a near yogic desert in 1991 with only a single studio (housed in a barn).

Toutonghi says he took a similar approach to writing this work of nonfiction as he has with his novels. “I try to imagine myself into the scene, wherever it’s taking place, acting as a witness in that space,” he says. “The great thing about working with four people who lived this story was that I could contact them and ask them questions.”

While most narratives about beloved pets run the risk of being sentimental, the author, who grew up with a poodle mix and recently published an essay about two other canines in The New York Times’ Modern Love column, credits good editors and his ability to keep some perspective for helping him avoid this common pitfall.

“I’m a very sentimental person,” says Toutonghi. “So I had to be careful to rein that in, reminding myself continually, this is a single dog. Just look at our country right now and you will see any number of heartbreaking things. But, at the same time, the way that we care for one dog ends up being the story of how we care for each other. The way we care for the most vulnerable is the way that we care for each other. Look at who is victimized, anyone who is marginal. They feel the full effect of our society’s dysfunction. I had to be mindful that I was just writing a story about a lost dog, but in that story there were broader truths I could unlock.”

“Screw irony,” he says. “Earnestness is a value just as powerful as irony.”

Dog Gone highlights the impact the lives of canines have on humans charged with caring for them, as individuals throughout this region of Virginia become deeply invested in finding Gonker. Toutonghi explains why in his book: “…dogs are almost always decent—unchanging, unaltered, predictable. And their attitude toward us is unquestioningly kind. Dogs can make us more human—or more like what we imagine a good human to be. If we listen.”

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Mosquito madness? The buzz on construction site infestations

A photo taken from a neighbor’s back deck June 11 shows standing water in the construction site’s retention pond. Courtesy of Mary Huey

As the Zika virus spreads, a homeowner in a city neighborhood says her last utility bill included a list of tips to reduce mosquito-attracting water on her property. Across the street from her, however, workers at a residential construction site have dug a retention pond that might be filled with just that.

“It seems ironic that I am furnished [with] tips like emptying flower pot plates to cut down on mosquito breeding water and a huge pit of stagnant water is allowed to be installed,” says Mary Huey, who lives on Village Road across from the construction site. At the beginning of mosquito breeding season, too, she adds.

Epidemiologist Kerry Morrison from the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department says the neighbors won’t have to worry about the Zika virus spreading on the site. Only two types of mosquitoes found in Virginia—the Asian tiger mosquito and the yellow fever mosquito—are capable of transmitting the virus, she says, and both species lay their eggs exclusively in containers of water, such as dog bowls or bird baths. They don’t lay eggs in ground bodies of water such as puddles, ponds or streams.

But the Virginia Department of Health’s “mosquito guy” and entomologist David Gains says non-Zika carrying skeeters are still attracted to stagnant groundwater. However, floodwater mosquitoes are generally only drawn to ponds with floating vegetation (unlike the new retention pond) and a one-acre pond generally draws fewer mosquitoes than a container of stagnant water that’s three inches in diameter, he says.

Back in the city, another concerned Village Road neighbor, Todd Wielar, who says his home is “quite literally right behind” the construction site with the pond that he describes as “half a football field long” and sometimes a foot deep, reached out to the site’s developer, Adam Swartout.

After cursory research, Wielar says he proposed to the developer a product called Mosquito Dunks to get rid of the pests, though he hadn’t yet noticed their presence. Huey agrees that she hasn’t noticed an increase in mosquitoes in the neighborhood, and she would “like very much not to,” she says.

Shortly after Wielar’s recommendation, Swartout instructed the construction crews to purchase the products. They were dunked into the pond earlier this month.

Mosquito Dunks are EPA-registered, palm-sized disks made of chemicals that kill the pesky insects before they’re old enough to lay eggs; the chemicals are non-toxic to all other wildlife, pets, fish and humans. They can also be used in containers of water.

Swartout, with Castle Development Partners, says his group has “very much tried to be good neighbors there,” and that he is required to manage and control all of the rainwater on his site, which is a residential construction zone for 241 upscale apartments called Beacon on Fifth. The retention pond will be turned into a stormwater management facility.

City spokesperson Miriam Dickler says the site is monitored every 14 days and 48 hours after a runoff-producing rain. While there is nothing explicitly about mosquitoes in the city code, one section declares it unlawful for any person on private property to allow a “public nuisance,” such as stagnant water.

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War on weddings: Looming legislation troubles local businesses

Keswick Vineyards owner Al Schornberg says a one-acre vineyard is only a $20,000 expenditure and compares it to the millions invested in growing grapes at Keswick. He hopes to see stricter restrictions. Photo by Martyn Kyle

Some professionals in the wedding business see Albemarle County’s attempts to further regulate events at farm wineries, cideries, breweries and distilleries as a blatant attack on a burgeoning industry—and they’re not sure why.

Amid crowd murmurs that the county is working toward finding “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” senior planner Mandy Burbage presented a staff report to supervisors and planning commissioners at a joint work session June 14 that recommended limiting events at those venues to 24 per year.

Jen Fariello, a wedding photographer who spoke along with other industry professionals including event planners, limousine drivers, caterers and musicians, says capping weddings at these types of farm venues could imminently harm her business.

“We have an incredibly positive and thriving and profitable wedding industry,” she says. “We cannot talk about the huge success of the wedding industry without it being tied in to the farm winery, farm cidery and now brewery and distillery industry. They’re incredibly linked.”

While Charlottesville and surrounding counties are known as a hub for destination weddings, Fariello says brides and grooms-to-be aren’t attracted to the area for its mass of hotels or restaurants—it’s the “bucolic countryside” they’re attracted to.

Borrowed & Blue’s co-founder and CEO Adam Healey calculates the wedding industry as having an economic impact of $158 million in Albemarle County, and the local wedding market has been ranked as one of the top five for destination weddings on the East Coast, he says.

“Why are weddings being attacked?” Fariello asked. “Why would the county squash the golden goose?”

And she was happy to learn that most supervisors and planning commissioners felt the same way.

Diantha McKeel, vice chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, said it best: “I’m not excited about caps.”

A current issue, staff reported, is the number of places acting as farm wineries, cideries, breweries and distilleries. The comprehensive plan dictates that those businesses should not be solely event venues and, according to the county’s senior planner, “that potential does exist.”

Al Schornberg, owner of Keswick Vineyards and one of 27 members of the public to speak at the meeting, says those types of venues, or “faux wineries,” as he calls them, are already here among 29 local wineries currently classified as farm wineries.

“There’s companies that want to take advantage of the farm winery ordinance to do events without really making the investment in vineyards and cellars,” Schornberg says. According to state regulations, 51 percent of a farm winery’s grapes used to make wine must be grown on the farm. Staff recommended going a step further in the county and requiring each winery to also have at least one acre of vines on-site. But, for Schornberg, who says he has invested millions of dollars in grape growing, a one-acre vineyard—or roughly a $20,000 investment—isn’t enough to inaugurate a legitimate winery.

“Any winery or any establishment that claims to be a winery and doesn’t have a cellar isn’t really a winery,” he says. Though he won’t point fingers, he says some new wineries seem to follow that trend. And “it’s not really fair to legitimate farm wineries who have made the investment in vineyards and cellars and things like that,” he says. “It’s not a level playing field.”

Officials agreed that the zoning amendment to ensure that farm wineries, cideries, breweries and distilleries are not just taking on that name in the guise of an event venue should move forward.

“Where does it end?” rural landowner Elizabeth Neff asked, encouraging the officials to look 50 or 100 years into the future if events at farm venues in question aren’t capped. “How do you want rural people to live?”

Complaints from neighbors mostly came from noise from events and the number of people visiting the county.

A 50-vehicle trip event cap (or 25 each way) exists in the current ordinance, triggering the need for a zoning clearance, which is a $50 permit.

“That’s an awful lot of people in a car if you’re going to have 200,” commissioner Mac Lafferty noted. Currently, a special use permit is required for events at farm venues with more than 200 people. A zoning ordinance allows venues to play amplified music at a cost of $50, but the new amendment proposes the need for a special use permit, which could cost about $2,000.

Ultimately, as new legislation that would limit their labor loomed, the faces of farm wineries, cideries, breweries and distilleries made it clear to county leaders that partnering with the event industry makes their work possible.

“We have not seen the issues that apparently are out there,” Charlotte Shelton, the owner of Albemarle Ciderworks, said. Generating revenue through holding events, she said, “can be the difference between breaking even or stumbling along.”

By the end of summer, county staff will have a draft of the text amendment.

Corrected June 24 with information to reflect that the 50-vehicle trip event cap already exists and a $2,000 special use permit to allow amplified sound at events would be a one-time cost.

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Arts

Matthew Gatto’s Parlor of Horrors seeks new home

Local mask maker Matthew Gatto is closing his in-home museum of horror until he can find a new location. Photo: Ryan Jones

When was the last time you fell asleep thinking about monsters in the other room? For most of us, that thought fades after childhood. But Matthew Gatto knows there are monsters just 10 feet away from where he sleeps. They reside in his living room or, as it’s more commonly known, the Parlor of Horrors. A hobbyist mask maker and collector, Gatto has spent the past few years outfitting his apartment as a small museum of horror movie memorabilia alongside his own handcrafted monster masks.

Looming high above the checkerboard tile floor of Gatto’s lofted living room, a 10′ model of the Alien Supreme Commander from Independence Day hangs from the ceiling. Only about 50 of these were made and this one’s tentacles twine together to give the appearance of a chandelier. Below, Gatto’s collection of props, practical effects ephemera and one-of-a-kind masks fills antique display cases. Original movie posters line the walls, including a theatrical release one-sheet for An American Werewolf in London signed by director John Landis and one of its stars, David Naughton, who wrote, “Beast wishes, David.”

“When I saw An American Werewolf in London, I was blown away. What I loved most about the film was how amazingly groundbreaking the practical effects were,” says Gatto. The movie’s makeup and effects artist, Rick Baker, won a 1981 Academy Award for his work on the movie and Gatto counts Baker among his biggest inspirations. “My fascination and obsession with this film led me to want to create things myself,” recalls Gatto.

He spent three years teaching himself the techniques to craft a full-fledged werewolf mask with carved fangs and contoured latex covered in fur. Though Gatto wore it when it was finished, the mask is now mounted on a taxidermy plaque watching over the rest of his collection. Gatto’s most recent mask is of the titular character from the 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon, complete with blood-red lips and glowing green latex that folds and creases to form the creature’s skin. Created for a friend’s Halloween wedding, the mask demonstrates the evolution of Gatto’s skills in carving molds and breathing life into his monsters.

Other highlights from Gatto’s collection include the Metaluna Mutant head and claws from the 1955 movie This Island Earth. The mask is a bulbous blue latex monstrosity, a replica made from the original plaster molds used to create the costumes in the movie; the claws are original licensed merchandise from the 1960s, made by the legendary Don Post Studios. “To find one of those original Don Post items is very rare,” says Gatto.

Gatto has been compared by friends to Forrest J. Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Like Gatto, Ackerman created a horror and science fiction memorabilia museum in his home—the Ackermansion—and led tours for fellow genre fans. Guiding his own tours of the Parlor of Horrors, Gatto shares his knowledge as a storyteller and historian for the items in his collection; the museum’s guestbook is filled with enthusiasm and encouragement from past visitors.

Unfortunately, the Parlor of Horrors is about to go underground because Gatto is moving at the end of June. His new home will have expanded workshop space for mask-making, but there won’t be space to reinstall the museum. Gatto is hopeful to find a new home for the museum so that he can once again lead tours and continue growing his collection. To view selected items from the Parlor of Horrors, visit the museum’s digital gallery on Instagram at @parlor_of_horrors.