Today's post concerns a relatively small triangle of South Worcester, between the Main South and Hadwen Park neighborhoods. I started at Breen's Cafe, an Irish bar located at 16 Cambridge Street that gets strong online reviews, is located in a cool building and has not one but two great signs.
From there, I made my way southwest along Webster Street, skirting a two-car accident attended by police and EMTs at the intersection with Mill Street (not too serious-looking). I passed a handsome old firehouse and a few non-descript industrial buildings before finding some photo-worthy stuff.
Buildings flanking Webster Street were originally part of the Spencer Wire Company, and were built in the late-18th century and early 19th.
"The Spencer Wire Company, which began in [nearby] Spencer...in the early 19th century, built a new wire manufacturing complex on Webster
Street...at the turn of the century," according to MACRIS. "This property's proximity to the Boston & Albany Railroad was a definite draw for a company seeking to expand the market for their product. The initial wire mill buildings were erected on the NE corner of Webster and Jacques Sts. in 1899; new buildings were added to (or, in a few cases, purchased for) this expanding complex over the next two decades.
"Mergers in 1918 and 1919 created the Wickwire-Spencer Steel Co., with headquarters in Buffalo, N.Y. The Webster Street plant, known as the Goddard Works, was closed in 1944 and sold to the Handy Pad Surgical Supply Company, which occupied much of the former wire-manufacturing complex in the 1940s-70s."
As you can tell from the photos, there are numerous small businesses and organizations here, including New Star Bodywork, offering Chinese bodywork; Gold Star, Inc.,a builder; Austin Furniture; and Rae Town Missionary Church of Jesus Christ Mount Zion.
Around the corner on Jacques Street, I really liked the mural on the garage door of New England Engine & Parts Warehouse.
Heading south on Webster Street, next to the train tracks, is Worcester Chemical Distribution Corp., which is located in another former Spencer Wire building.
I continued on for a few minutes until I hit Hope Cemetery, where my eyes jumped out of my head when I saw the circa-1889 barn at the northwest corner of the burial ground.
"The barn, which replaced the earlier structure of 1876, retains its architectural integrity," according to MACRIS. "It is a fine Stick Style structure, characterized by its verticality, angularity, steeply pitched roof and cupola, and overhanging eaves which are pierced with dormers. The Queen Anne Style is seen in the shaped shingles on the second floor which wrap around the corners of the structure."
I made only one other photo here, of the H.H. King-Harding mausoleum, which dates to 1898.
I doubled back and headed east on Fremont Street, which is lined with old industrial buildings.
"David Gessner Machine Company...was started by David Gessner in 1882 on Union Street in Worcester and moved to this site in 1907 to expand the business of manufacturing cloth fInishing machinery," according to MACRIS. As of that report in 2001, the company was still in business. It is no longer a going concern. In 2019, real estate developer Norfolk Realty acquired the site for $1.2 million, according to this Worcester Business Journal article.
The property appeared to be vacant when I happened by.
Across the street is the former Worcester Bleach and Dye Works, which was most recently occupied by Valkyrie Company, a manufacturer of leather goods.
From MACRIS: "The Worcester Bleach & Dye Works was established in the mid 19th c. for the bleaching and dyeing of thread and yard. In 1888, Worcester Bleach & Dye Works moved from Grove Street to a (no longer extant) 2-story, wood-frame building at 61 Fremont Street. The plant was enlarged in 1909 with the construction of this brick building at 60 Fremont Street. The company occupied these two buildings until the mid-1930s. This building was subsequently occupied by the Economic Machinery Co. (labeling machine manufacturers) from 1944 to 1962, and by the Capitol Footwear Co. from 1968 to 1985."
Continuing east-northeast on Fremont, I crossed the street to check out a gate offering a view to the railroad tracks beyond.
The gate is marked "CF," which may have been for Consolidated Freightways, trucking company that "[a]t its height...possessed over 350 terminals, employing more than 15,000 truck drivers, dock workers, dispatchers and management," per Wikipedia.
The building next to this gate, currently home to Plastek Polybag, was originally a foundry operated by Fremont Casting Co., per MACRIS. This building was adjacent to the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway Power House, which has been demolished.
(Lovely scene at Plastek Polybag.)
To wrap up, I made my way to Cambridge Street, to the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center. There, a very faint, partial ghost sign caught my eye.
I can make out the word "PLACE" but not what comes before it. This building at 72 Cambridge Street rose in 1907 for the Reed & Prince Manufacturing Company, which was a tack manufacturing business. A subsequent business, Reed & Prince Screw Company, was located here more recently.
Below are links to the previous four installments in my ongoing Worcester series.
But I knew there was more to explore. Today I am sharing the fourth part in this series, featuring all sorts of great stuff I found on my return trip: a former Sunbeam bread factory, an old ladder manufacturing plant, some cool old signs, a 94-year-old hot dog stand, an ivy-covered mill building and much more. I hope to visit the city again in the not-too-distant future.
After parking at Riverside Skateboard Park, I walked past some massively long old mill buildings hard by the Acushnet River. I was happy to see that some of these have been redeveloped into housing and office space. I thought there was still a mill operating here when I saw the bright and shiny Cliftex Corp. sign at 170 Riverside Avenue.
But Cliftex is no longer producing its Clipper Craft suits for boys and men. More than a decade ago this massive building -- measuring 130 feet deep by 598 feet long -- and others in the area were converted to apartments, per this South Coast Today article from 2013.
The building, known historically as Manomet Mill No. 1, dates to 1903, per MACRIS, and was "built for the manufacture of Mule Spun combed
yarns....At the peak of it's (sic) activity, the entire Manomet complex was New Bedford's largest cotton yarn manufacturer, with 318,000 spindles and between 4,000 and 4,500 employees. Manomet No. 4 was the largest single spinning unit in the world."
The building "was sold in 1928 to the Delaware Rayon Company," MACRIS continues. "The structure, built of brick...stood three stories in height. The Delaware Rayon Company changed their name to New Bedford Rayon. The company remained in business until 1970, when a fire swept through Manomet Mill No. 1, and New Bedford Rayon was liquidated. In the same year, Cliftex Clothing purchased & refurbished this mill."
A nearby mill complex is home to menswear company Joseph Abboud. I was happy to see so many old buildings given new life.
Heading southwest on Belleville Avenue, I spied the Whaling City Club.
The building dates to 1896, according to the city's assessor's office; I'm not sure how long the club has been in existence.
I got back to my car and was heading west on Coffin Avenue when I slammed on the brakes, made a U-turn and got my bread-loving ass out of the car to make the shot below.
This former Sunbeam Bread baking plant dates to 1934, but has been empty for nearly two decades, I believe. This site is where My Bread Baking Company was founded in 1912, according to MACRIS. "In 1927 My Bread Baking Company joined the Quality Bakers of America Cooperative, Inc., of New York," MACRIS continues. "After the Second World War, Quality Bakers affiliates acquired an exclusive license to bake and sell Sunbeam Bread, doughnuts, rolls, muffins, and sweet goods. The bread was first produced in Philadelphia in 1942, but the 'batter-whipped' process for which Sunbeam Bread is principally known was pioneered by Joseph P. Duchaine" of My Bread Baking Company.
"In 1955 [the company] was bought by the New Bedford Baking Company," according to this New Bedford Guide article. "[I]n 1996 First Citizens’ Federal Credit Union purchased it and in 1998 it was resold to St. Louis based company Earthgrains. When it closed its doors in 2005, it employed approximately 180 people. Malden-based corporation Lucar Development LLC bought the property in 2006 for $725,000....In 2011, New Bedford Baking Company opened discussions with the city to reopen the Coffin Avenue facility and begin baking again. They figured it would take $8 million to being the building up to code, repair and purchase equipment, and get up and running. Getting the facility going again was projected to create 150 new jobs. Alas, nothing came to fruition and the property [was put] up for sale."
I'm not sure of the status of the building today.
As for Sunbeam Bread, the company's "long-time mascot is called Little Miss Sunbeam, according to Wikipedia. "In 1942, illustrator Ellen Barbara Segner was commissioned by the Quality Bakers of America to create a marketing symbol of a young child." In the summer of 2020, I stumbled across a Sunbeam Bread delivery trailer in Wareham, Mass., that features a faded image of Little Miss Sunbeam (see August 4, 202, "A Little Sunbeam").
My next destination was about a mile due south from the old bread factory, but I ended up finding something completely different than what I'd planned for. Ahead of time, I'd found via MACRIS the old Grinnell Cotton Textile Mill on Kilburn Street, just south of I-195. The complex is huge and held some promise, but it wasn't quite gnarly enough for me, which is a good thing for the many small businesses located there. Instead, I walked around the corner onto North Front Street and found....
...this amazing site.
Built in 1887 as a drug store, this place was constructed for Louis Normandin, according to MACRIS. "The building’s north and south halves remained a store and drug store, respectively, until at least 1924. By 1927, the building was owned by the Grinnell Manufacturing Company," MACRIS continues. By 1955, the building was in use by the Cape Cod Ladder Manufacturing Company, whose sign is still so prominent today. I assume Cape Cod Staging -- as seen in the roached-out metal vertical sign -- was part of the same business.
Located in what is known as the Hicks-Logan district, the old shop/factory is part of what New Bedford's mayor, Jon Mitchell, referrred to as the "most distressed neighborhood in the city," in this January 11, 2023, article from The New Bedford Light. That story is about a redevelopment plan for the area that's been in the works for many years.
The plan calls for, among other things, an "inland area west of Belleville Avenue and North Front Street extending south to Wamsutta Street" for residential, commercial and some limited industrial use, according to the article, and a "smaller waterfront area east of Belleville and North Front" for waterfront-related uses and possibly hotels and restaurants.
From there, I headed north to a section of Acushnet Avenue, where at #1637 I spied a building that I thought might be an old theater.
It's not. This building dates to around 1920 and is known as the Happy Home Furniture Company building, according to MACRIS, which provides no further details. One source online about Whaling City history indicates the store had a Sunday radio hour on local station WNBH.
The current tenant is Sugar Daddy's Tanning salon.
I headed south on Acushnet Avenue for a ways, and then doubled back. Along the way, I saw a handful of cool signs, a mix of old and newish.
(The One 2 Five bargain store is out of business.)
(Mi Antojo (My Craving) Market is located in the the Allen-Charrette Building, which I mentioned in Part III of this series.)
(I really like the sign for the Casanova Gift Shop, especially the clock.)
(Around the corner on Coffin Avenue, renovation work has brought to light an old sign for Mainline Paints. This building was (maybe is?) home to the Portuguese Times and the Portuguese Channel.
As I continued north on Acushnet Avenue, crossing over Earle Street, I did a double-take.
Wow. Just wow.
I've been to a few Italian festivals in Boston and other locations, but I've never seen a welcoming gate like the one in New Bedford for the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament. This past summer the community enjoyed the 108th such celebration, which featured four days and four stages of live entertainment, as well as a special procession on the opening day and food and drink and more food and drink.
According to the festival's web site, the feast is the largest Portuguese Feast in the world, and the largest ethnic festival in New England, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe.
Steps away is a legendary New Bedford takeout joint.
Charlie's Hot Dog Stand traces its roots to the 1930s, when Charlie Poulos began selling food in a temporary spot at 1648 Acushnet Avenue. In 2018, the stand closed "due to health issues," according to a Facebook posting. I'm not sure when it reopened, or whether it was closed at any other time in the last 90 years.
Across the street is Samuel's Place, a breakfast joint and "waffle heaven" that unfortunately has hung up its chef's hat and waffle iron. It was located in what's known as the Dr. Bertha F. Carl House, which was built in 1896.
On the side of 1700 Acushnet Avenue, heading down Nash Road, is a ghost sign that's so worn I couldn't make out anything.
The commercial building rose in 1919, according to MACRIS. At least I know that the advertisement was painted by a company called Gaudette Signs.
My time running low, I left Acushnet Avenue and drove south to the area of Rodney French Boulevard, to check out some old industrial properties. Rodney French, by the way, was an abolitionist, politician and merchant who served as mayor of New Bedford in the mid-19th century, according to Wikipedia.
At 63 David Street, I liked the rough look of the building and the sign for Allen Gasket Cutting Machine Company.
I'm not sure when Allen Gasket was founded, but it was no later than the 1930s. In 2012, The Allpax Company of Mamaroneck, New York, acquired "certain assets" of the company. The building is shown on a map for the MACRIS file about the adjacent Butler Textile Mill property, with information indicating this building was erected in 1921, and was used to manufacture insulating plastics.
Fronting on Rodney French Boulevard and running between David and Mott streets, the former Holmes Manufacturing Cotton Yarn Mill is quite an imposing presence. And even though the complex is in decent shape, I could've made a ton of my usual gritty old factory shots. But I went with two softer images.
(Industrial vent and lovely hydrangeas.)
(I believe this ivy-covered building was where administrators worked.)
Ccurrently a distribution center operated by Cornell-Dubilier, which makes capacitors for the power electronics industry, this giant complex dates to 1909. "Holmes Mfg. specialized in high quality (sic) mercerized combed yarn for crocheting, it was the first mill in the city to 'mercerize' cotton yarns," per MACRIS. Merriam-Webster defines mercerize as "to give (a material, such as cotton yarn) luster, strength, and receptiveness to dyes by treatment under tension with caustic soda."
Hmm. This seems to foreshadow an environmental problem.
MACRIS continues: "Because of the high quality of the fine yarns made here, two very special kinds of cotton were used. Egyptian and Pima cotton were used....During its peak production, the mill produced 200,000 pounds of yarn per week. The mill was equipped with approximately 65,000 spinning spindles.
"Holmes Manufacturing ceased operation in 1931. Holmes sold out to Kendall Company in 1934. Land, buildings and equipment were sold for $100,000. Kendall added 800 looms and manufactured gauze and diaper material until 1940. Kendall closed the plant in 1940 as a non-profit-producing unit. In 1940, Cornell Dubilier purchased [the] plant."
Now, I don't mean to single out Cornell-Dubilier or the prior tenants of this mill complex for environmental issues. Any factory or manufacturing plant is going to, unfortunately, produce toxic waste of one sort or another. It just so happens that in searching for information about this site and the present occupant, I came across a June 1, 2022, article from The New Bedford Light headlined, "New Bedford looks to end its 40-Year environmental nightmare," which focuses on two companies: Aerovox and, you guessed it, Cornell-Dubilier.
"By the late 1970s, it was clear that Aerovox, along with Cornell-Dubilier (a second electronic capacitor manufacturer on the South End peninsula), had done quite a job on the New Bedford-Fairhaven Harbor," according to the article. "Not to mention the city’s landfills. In fact, the two companies had spilled and dumped so many dangerous PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) into the Acushnet River that the site was to become the largest Superfund (EPA cleanup) site in any harbor in the country."
Wow.
In 2010, the federal government reached an agreement with Aerovox's parent company to demolish its building, which sat directly across from the Cliftex site mentioned at the top of this post. The site remains vacant. The company also commmitted to paying $366 million to clean up New Bedford Harbor.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced last year that it had secured an additional $73 million (I'm not sure from what source) to finish cleaning up the harbor. "The EPA announcement...included the fact that the state of Massachusetts has reached a deal with Cornell-Dubilier to fund $3.6 million of shoreline remediation along the remediated harbor and $400,000 for the state’s cost of operating and maintaining the Superfund remedy," per the article.
Here's hoping the harbor finishes getting scrubbed ASAP.
I have more New Bedford sites in mind, so keep your eyes peeled in the coming months (years?).
Over the last two decades or so, local and national media outlets have published articles about Davis Square in Somerville, Mass., that use the word "hip." In a January 2012 Boston magazine article about the evolution of Davis Square from a working-class neighborhood to a "hip 'hood," the writer lists some of the old guard establishments (many of which still are in business today) alongside more recent bars, restaurants and stores (not all of which are still there).
A BU Today guide for Boston University students cites a 1997 Utne Reader article that "anoint[ed] Davis Square as one of the 10 hippest places in America," and says "[s]ome residents trace (or lament) the transformation" of the square from somewhat of a backwater to the destination zone it has become.
And Coastal Neighborhoods, which seemingly shouldn't give two clams about a non-seaside city such as Somerville, says that Davis Square is "certainly one of the hippest neighborhoods in Boston, but some might argue it’s actually one of the hippest places in America. That’s illustrated by some of the unique offerings of this northwest Somerville neighborhood. Vibrant Davis Square is made up of plenty of trendy bars and hip restaurants. Instead of chain stores, the neighborhood attracts a mix of mom-and-pop stores, public arts and one of the oldest movie theaters in the area."
Considering the fact that I lived outside Davis Square, and hung out there quite a bit, back in the mid- to late-'90s, a reader might wonder what took me so long to explore the area and write about it here. I have written about other parts of Somerville (see links at the bottom of this post), so I'm not sure why I waited more than 14 years into the blog's life before getting to the hippest of squares. Maybe I thought it was too obvious...or I was turned off by the hype. Doesn't matter.
Located in northwest-ish Somerville, bordering North Cambridge, Davis Square became a booming commercial center in the late 19th century. By the late 1920s, trains that had served the area were rerouted, and the square fell into decline, according to Wikipedia. When the MBTA extended its Red Line subway past Harvard and into Davis Square in 1984, the neighborhood's fortunes began to change.
Alright, enough of all that - let's get to the photos...and the memories!
I had to start my tour at the most iconic site in Davis Square, the Rosebud Bar + Kitchen (aka the Rosebud Diner). I ate breakfast and lunch here several times over the nearly three years I lived about 15 minutes away by foot along Highland Avenue. The diner was built in 1941 by the Worcester Lunch Car company, and was originally about 400 square feet, according to Wikipedia. The owners expanded the eatery by more than 3,000 square feet at some point, with a back room and a full kitchen. I recall looking back there once, and being surprised by how large and un-dinerly the addition looked. But from the outside, the place looked the same.
"In 2013, after 40 years of the family's ownership, Evangelos Nichols sold the Rosebud to Martin Bloom," Wikipedia continues. "Bloom, the founder of a chain of Italian restaurants called Vinny Testa's and owner of the Mission Oak Grill, promised to leave the exterior untouched. [H]owever the original interior was completely removed and the business name changed to 'Rosebud American Kitchen and Bar,' reflecting the shift from a diner-style business model to a mid-tier table service restaurant."
The restaurant now serves modern Indian fare. I haven't been inside in a few decades, but evidently the changes are drastic and no longer hold any of the old diner charm. That's too bad.
The outside, though, still looks good enough to eat.
Heading southeast on Elm Street, I recalled the delectable muffins I used to eat at the late, great Carberry's bakery. I walked past the space, which has been occupied by wood-fired pizza joint Posto for a while now, and was pleasantly surprised to see a physical remnant of Carberry's on a back exterior wall.
These lovely bricks were cast by artist Joshua Winer.
Somewhere nearby -- I don't recall where, but that's not important -- I spied what I dubbed Christian Prince Under Glass.
Somerville is known for its Bathtub Marys, small statues of the Virgin Mother in rounded shrines, but a visitor will also spot other religious icons. I wrote about some Marys in my post about East Somerville, which is linked below.
Back on Highland Avenue, I made a photo of the Tenoch Mexican restaurant.
I've never eaten at this place and probably never will. Why did I feel the need to document this rather plain building? Because I went to the bathroom here in a prior eatery, and it was unlike any such experience I've had.
The oddly named Dolly's at Kay and Chip's was a late-night joint that was open from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. The original place was just called Kay and Chip's, and it was evidently a legendary place frequented by night owls looking to sober up after a night of drinking, dancing and whatnot in bars in Somerville, Cambridge, Medford and beyond, according to this column from The Somerville Times. By the time I moved to the area in 1995, Chip had passed away and the family sold the restaurant to a new owner.
My girlfriend (now wife) and I probably only ate at Dolly's once or twice, likely after hanging out at The Burren, an Irish pub that moved in while we were living there. After ordering food to sop up the beer, I asked the waitress where the bathroom was. She pointed me toward the kitchen, and said to ask somebody once I got in there.
I felt like I was being set up for something, but I really needed to pee, so I walked into the kitchen and asked for the bathroom. Somebody motioned toward a hatch in the floor with a handle on it and told me, "It's down there." This to me was further evidence that I was about to be murdered or laughed at by everyone at Dolly's, but again, I really needed to go, so I opened the hatch and walked down the short set of steps into the basement. And sure enough, not far away were the bathrooms. So I tapped my kidney, walked back upstairs, ate my food and that was that.
I will tell a story later about another Davis Square bathroom, believe it or not. I don't think Dolly's lasted very long.
Walking back toward the main part of the square, I detoured down Grove Street, through the CVS parking lot, across a heavily used bike path and stopped in front of a lovely old industrial building that's been nicely restored.
Built around 1924, 48-50 Grove Street was home to a number of manufacturing companies over the years. Its location was good, situated along the Lexington and Arlington Branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad (now the bike path). "It was first occupied by three companies - the Arthur Harding Company, manufacturers of oil cans, the Hamilton and Parker Company, machinists and inventors, and The American Optical Company," according to MACRIS. Other businesses that called this building home included the AmRad Corporation, which manufactured radios, and a clothing manufacturer and a frozen-food operation.
In 1986, the building was renovated. Current tenants include NGP Van, which calls itself "the leading technology provider to Democratic and progressive political campaigns and organizations, nonprofits, municipalities, and other groups; DDS Lab, which fabricates dental implants, orthodontic appliances, retainers and other products; and ChemoMetec, a company providing automated cell counters and cell analysers to the biotech, pharma and academic segments, per its web site.
I walked north through the square, past a Red Line subway entrance and through Statue Park, a lovely green oasis with some odd sculptures in front of J.P. Licks, Boston Burger Company and other stores. Along Holland Street, I paid my respects to a long-gone, much-loved nightclub that still has a sign hanging.
Johnny D's Uptown Restaurant & Music Club -- known as Johnny D's to locals -- was a 300-capacity room where you could sit at the bar or in a booth enjoying dinner and drinks while seeing local, national and international acts. Opened in 1969, the joint's roster of acts over the years included the likes of Alison Krauss & Union Station, the Avett Brothers, Bobby "Blue" Bland, EmmyLou Harris, the English Beat, Hugh Masakela, Marshall Crenshaw, NRBQ, Townes van Zandt, Wanda Jackson and hundreds more, according to the club's legacy site.
The club shuttered after 46 years in 2015, due to personal choice, not financial reasons, according to this NECN article.
During the '90s, I visited the club many times, and saw acts including Sleepy LaBeef, Susan Tedeschi (before she was famous) and Junior Brown.
Just a few doors down is a shuttered music shop where I once got some work done on my electric-blue Telecaster.
Rockin' Bob's Guitars closed up shop in 2020 after 38 years in business.
My next stop was Dover Street, where I made a photo of the building where Candlewick Press and Bright Horizons preschool are located.
The one-story commercial building dates to 1928, according to the Somerville assessor's database. The building is nothing special, but I like the publisher's logo and name. Founded in 1992, Candlewick started as a children's book publisher, but has expanded in the ensuing decades into the young adult and non-fiction markets.
I believe I applied for a job at Candlewick about a thousand years ago, and I think I sent the manuscript for my children's book, A Wicked Good Trip!, to the company many years back. The book is out of print.
I cut across a parking lot, heading south, to make photos of Somerville stalwart Sacco's Bowl Haven.
Opened in Davis Square in 1939, the bowling alley was part of a chain that the Sacco family had been operating since 1895. I'm not sure where the other locations were, but this is the last one. In 2009, the family agreed to let the American Flatbread Company take over the lanes, and add their food to the mix. It's a great place for family fun or a date night or a hangout with friends.
I doubled back to check out the Somerville Theatre, the oldest of the "old guard" mentioned in the Boston magazine article referenced above (others include McKinnon's Meat Market and Mike’s Food & Spirits, which are both still in business). Of the other businesses cited in the article, most of the "pioneers," which came to the square between 1985 and 1999, are still in business, with the exception of a bar called Joshua Tree. As for the "settlers," places that opened between 2000 and 2009, more of them are gone (Diva Indian Bistro, Kickass Cupcakes, Snappy Sushi and Artifaktori). Of the "newbies" that debuted in the area since 2010, two of the five listed are also out of business: consignment shop Found and The Boston Shaker, a home goods store.
The Hobbs Building, which includes the theater, as well as ground-floor retail space, was built in 1914. Upon its opening, the building included a bowling alley, a billiard and pool room, a cafe and a 750-seat meeting hall. "This sole survivor of the vaudeville era in Somerville is also the oldest theater built for the purpose of showing silent movies and vaudeville acts in the Boston area and was a possible
prototype for the Strand Theatre in Dorchester designed by the same architects," Funk and Wilcox, according to MACRIS.
In the ensuing decades, plays were also performed here, and eventually "talkies" took over and vaudeville fell away. There have been numerous owners over the years, and renovations aplenty. "In 1996, construction began: the bowling alleys in the basement and a portion of the first floor retail space were gutted to create modern bathrooms and two new cinemas," per the theater's web site. "Two more screens were built in the former ballroom space on the second floor. An elevator was installed, new windows and a bright stylish marquee were added, and the third and second floors were re-modeled as attractive office space. The theatre lobby was expanded by incorporating an adjacent storefront, and new seats were installed in the orchestra portion of the original auditorium."
"In 2006, further renovations restored the original auditorium interior to its original color scheme; and the stage was restored to its original size and upgraded with new curtains, rigging, and movie screen. In 2007, the Somerville Theatre became one of the first venues in New England to offer beer and wine to film and event patrons. In the summer of 2009, more renovations took place. The ageing balcony was repaired and all new seating replaced the originals still there from 1914. Dolby Digital Sound and 24 surround speakers were installed throughout the original auditorium. And a revamped projection booth containing two Norelco DP-70 projectors was installed, enabling the Somerville to be one of the few movie theatres in New England that can run 70mm film."
During the time I lived outside Davis Square, I saw several movies here, and one band: Morphine. Among the acts to play the theater are a few you may have heard of: U2, Bruce Springsteen, Cheap Trick, Phish, Tracey Chapman and Joan Baez.
(Ghost sign on the rear of the theater.)
(Back door of the theater.)
Next I checked out Davis Plaza, a strip of concrete running between Elm and Herbert streets, between two old brick buildings. Many years ago, I hung out here with hundreds of folks enjoying Somerville's annual HONK! Festival.
I was drawn in by the array of artwork I spotted on the lower part of one of the buildings.
I was pleasantly surprised by the ghost sign haunting the art display.
The Sprague & Hathaway Company was located in the building that fronts Day Street and backs up to the plaza. Founded in 1874 in what is now Boston's Chinatown, the company originally produced and enlarged portraits "in oil, ink, crayon, water color, and pastel, as well as 'solar and bromide prints, by the sun or electric light,'" according to MACRIS.
Over time, Sprague & Hathaway moved into manufacturing picture frames, easels and mouldings (and later albums, adhesives and a variety of other photo mounting equipment), according to this post on the Bouse Blog. In 1887, the company, which had moved from Boston to West Somerville, constructed a new home at the corner of Day and Elm streets in Davis Square. The company claimed that building was the largest portrait studio in the world at the time.
The building with the art and ghost sign dates to 1890, and was built behind the company's initial Davis Square site. The company faded to black in 1958.
Across the plaza, at 256-260 Elm Street, is a building that dates to 1920, according to the assessor's database. Tenants include Boston Tattoo. That's all I've been able to find out.
A block away, on Chester Street, is the well-known Redbones, a barbecue joint that opened in 1987.
I've eaten here several times, and always filled myself with beer, beef and beans until I'm ready to barf. The place was always packed when I was there, with people squeezing into the bar and getting excited anytime someone would ask the bartender to "spin the wheel" to see what random beer they should drink. There is crazy artwork all over the place and great music pumping through the sound system.
And the bathroom -- my God!
Located in the basement, where there's another bar and more seating, the men's room is unlike any latrine I've ever seen. You walk through a well-decorated door and you look up - up three steps to a toilet on a...what? Stage? Pedestal? Throne? At first it feels wrong to be walking upstairs to stand (or sit) so exposed while doing one's business. But this is a one-holer, so you can relax and just let it flow.
I've heard from a friend that in recent years, things somehow just aren't the same at Redbones, but the last time I was there a while back, I had a great time.
I never made it to the legendary Sligo Pub, which was located on Elm Street until it closed in June 2023 after 75 years, but I'm guessing its bathroom didn't compete with the Redbones one. Below you can see there's still some flair left in the window of the old joint.
A few doors down, heading north, I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful HIGHLAND SHOES tile entryway for a long-gone store.
Over on Highland Avenue, I found myself thinking of the time I spent flipping through CDs and albums at Disc Diggers. It was a great shop, very casual, great selection, nice people. I don't know how long it was in business, or when it went under. Along the strip of stores where the music store was located, I made a photo of the sign and storefront for Davis Squared. The shop features tons of clothes and other gifts touting Davis Square and Somerville.
The sign predates the store. I'd love to know what store it was created for.
From there I made my back to Grove Street and walked east along the bike path. I knew from a friend's Instagram posting that there were some works of art along this stretch. I wasn't disappointed.
A nod to Woody Guthrie's guitar, which proclaimed "This machine kills fascists."
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE CORPORATE LOOTERS of the UNITED STATES this one reads in part.
A train table for the kids.
There was more of that sort of stuff, but through a fence and some overgrown trees to my right, I spied something that demanded my attention.
I don't remember being aware of this property on Willow Avenue and Whipple Street when I was living here. But I became interested very quickly. This, my friends, is the former Somerville Electric Light Generating Station, which was built in 1887. "In 1904, the company was acquired by the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Boston and the plant became the new utility's principal substation for the Somerville area," per MACRIS.
I'm not sure how long the plant was in operation or when it shut down. This is prime real estate, but I imagine the clean-up would be pretty onerous.
Located in a circa-1900 stucco building that may have been a warehouse or light industrial building at its origin, the architecture firm designs residential, institutional, arts and office spaces around the world.
I circled back toward the Rosebud, and remembered a nearby and very cool building, currently housing a Domino's Pizza franchise, that I figured must have been a service station at one point, so I made a photo.
Sure enough: "No. 360-366 Summer Street is one of the numerous automobile related businesses which thrived in Somerville between 1915 and 1940," according to MACRIS. "The original complex consisted initially of the Texas Company Oils, an oil company located at 366 Summer Street. By 1927 a Willy's car dealership had opened at 201-203 Elm Street and the company maintained a 100 car garage at 360-362 Summer Street." 201-203 Elm Street is the address of the Domino's.
"By 1933 the car dealership had closed as well as the oil company," MACRIS continues. "After 1933 the building was used as a garage and filling station. The building [was] rehabilitated, ca. 1985, by the Dole Publishing Company for offices for the Somerville Journal."
Pretty cool history!
My last shot in Davis Square features the side wall of Dragon Pizza, at the corner of Elm and Grove streets.
I love the simplicity and whimsy of that installation. I believe it lights up at night.
Well, this turned into more of a trip down Memory Lane than I'd anticipated. Brought back some great memories!
Below are links to a bunch of other Somerville posts from over the years.
