New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Meet Noah Griffith, 37-year-old New Bedford Firefighter.
Noah graduated from New Bedford High School in 2001 and went to Northeastern University for his freshman year of college before dropping out for a semester. He continued his education at Umass Dartmouth, only leaving for a semester at the University of Hawaii. He returned to Umass and received a bachelor’s degree in Operations Management intending to open up a bar someday.
Overall, Noah spent 18 years working at various bars in the New Bedford area such as the Century House where he was the youngest bartender ever hired at the time before being hired at the Catwalk. He did leave the city again, ending up back in Hawaii and then North Carolina only to return to New Bedford back behind the bar at the Catwalk. After the Catwalk, he worked for various bars around the area and spent a year with Colonial Beverage before landing at The Pourfarm where he worked for about 8 years.
At some point, Noah did succeed at opening his own bar in New Bedford on Union Street called Pier 37. It started successfully but complications with the partnership and he opted to have his portion of the business bought out. While all this was happening, he had been taking the firefighter tests every day 2 years, but no positions were open for him so he returned to the Pourfarm where he worked until a spot with the New Bedford Fire Department finally opened up for him.
With the support of his wife who he had known since Keith Middle School where he met her in the morning homeroom class and a baby on the way, he became a New Bedford Firefighter where he’s been working for almost 3 years now in what he calls “the world’s greatest job” because of the guys he works with and being apart of the community in New Bedford like his grandfather, father and other family members were.
Noah’s has enjoyed watching New Bedford grow into a fun place over time. He was also one of the original writers for New Bedford Guide, a member of the Whaling City Motorcycle club and has fronted some fun local bands.
“When I reference the city I often refer to it as a black hole, and it’s not a bad thing. It’s a black hole because it keeps bringing you back because my friends are awesome, the people here are awesome, the work, the opportunity that’s here, watching the city grow and kind of being part of that. It’s just fun.”
Faces of New Bedford is a New Bedford Guide project being undertaken by Josh Souza. If you’d like to nominate someone or ask a question you can inquire with him through email at josh@newbedfordguide.com.
Faces of New Bedford began as a project by Colton Simmons. You can find Colton on Instagram: https://instagram.com/simmonscolton
