Roxbury-born, Brookline-raised, longtime West Roxbury resident Mel Simons doesn’t like to talk about his age. All the musician-standup comic-emcee-author-trivia historian-lecturer-radio personality-pro wrestling ring announcer will admit to is being a child of the ’50s. And he has no problem with living in the past, filling his home with all kinds of show biz-related tchotchkes, autographed photos of stars, and mountains of old radio and television tapes. He’s been doing comedy routines since he was 15, and started the Mel Simons Orchestra when he was 16. Q: How did you become interested in …

Gary’s Liquors has always been a Park family affair. Opened in 1942 under the name S&S Package Store in its original Scollay Square location by Lou Park, it was moved in 1947 to West Roxbury where, eventually his son Barry took it over. When it was Barry’s son Gary’s turn to start running the business, it was also time to change the name of the operation. Lou, Barry, and Gary all grew up in West Roxbury. Gary, who currently lives just over the line in Jamaica Plain, works in the store seven days a week, often till 11 p.m. - (and he will not let his photo be taken). Why was the name changed …

There was very little doubt, back in 2003, when Ian Browne was shopping around for a house in West Roxbury, that he would go for the one he ended up buying. As a beat writer, covering the Red Sox for the Major League Baseball Website MLB.com, he noticed there was a Little League field just behind his back yard. What were your thoughts when you saw that? When I was I kid growing up in Cohasset, I used to go to the Little League field even when I wasn’t playing. I just love being around baseball. So as soon as I saw the field here I knew we had to buy the house. Did you want to play ball when …

Although the word “pazzo” means “crazy” in Italian, there is a nice sense of order at Pazzo Books, where everything is carefully alphabetized by author within specific genres. Well, except for the front of the store, where unruly piles of books seem to be growing from the floor. There is a copy of “Fanny Hill,” right next to “Of Human Bondage,” sitting by “The Road,” nearby “Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy” and “Martian Time-Slip.” Store owner Tom Nealon said he does not let the piles get out of control. When he is not purchasing or selling books, he is pricing them and filing them. It has …

By the time Father William Dunn was appointed pastor last month at St. John Chrysostom in West Roxbury, he had already been through a couple of very different careers. The first, short-lived one, in his hometown of Lead, South Dakota, during high school and college days, was running an ore train in a gold mine. Father Dunn now refers to that experience as "a great incentive to get an education to get out of there." The second was his 25 1/2 years as a practicing physician and teacher of medicine in St. Louis and Washington, DC. Father Dunn entered Blessed John XXIII Seminary in Weston in 2002…

Judith Benmosche has been collecting antiques since she was 16, growing up in Monticello, New York. She won't say how long ago that was, but in between then and now she moved to Boston to attend Boston University, she had a five-year career teaching mentally challenged students, then spent 30 years as a probation officer. Retired from those professions, the longtime Brookline resident now makes a daily drive to West Roxbury's Reliable Trading Post, the antique shop she opened in 1999. It's a place filled to the gills with collectibles and tchotchkes, a place she refers to as her own world, …

Dr. Ilene Segal has been practicing veterinary medicine for 23 years, starting out working in a number of different established offices. When she opened the Parkway Veterinary Hospital in West Roxbury in 1996 – first located on the VFW Parkway, now at 18 Spring St., she had already long been thinking of running her own place. But Segal, 49, had been enamored of animals for a lot longer. Did you know as a kid that you wanted to be a veterinarian? No, but I volunteered for Dr. Mael, the local veterinarian in Newton, when I was 12 and 13. I used to go over there and hang out. I like science …

Sheila Scott, branch head at the West Roxbury Branch Library, juggles all kinds of responsibilities at work. She supervises the staff, chooses many of the new fiction titles for adults and young adults, does community outreach, helps plan programs, works in reference and reader's advisory on a daily basis. She's been in the Boston library system for 26 years. At home in Jamaica Plain, she and her husband, Wayne, are busy raising their 5 1/2 year-old twins, Clement and Charlotte. Scott, 51, also manages to find time to read. What are you reading? "Mindsight" by Daniel J. Siegel. It's a book on…