The Backside of America

It’s Really Big, Sometimes Beautiful and Always Worth a Second Look

Saturday, May 15, 2021

A Magic Trek in Brighton

From Dave Brigham:

I'm a magician. I can turn a quick trip to Staples for ink cartridges and Post-It notes into a tour of cool old buildings, sketchy bocce courts, wacky religious-themed signs for electrical companies and more. Abracadabra!

I recently roamed around the north-central section of Boston's Brighton neighborhood, between Soldiers Field Road, Electric Avenue, Market Street and Faneuil Street.

One of the quirkiest little corners of Brighton can be found at Guido Salvucci's Bocce Court. I shot photos of this place back in the early days of the blog (see November 18, 2010, "Guido's Court").

I hope that in warmer weather people still play bocce here. The courts look a little rough in the winter, and the area surrounding them appears to be a party spot or possibly even a living spot for some homeless folks.

According to an anonymous commenter on the 2010 blog post I referenced above, "Guido Salvucci...was the man who helped build the court, a grandfather of one of my childhood friends named the same, Guido Salvucci of Brighton. Grandpa Guido was a wine maker, Mason, and resident of Brighton. [F]ather of Guido (grandson) is Fred Salvucci, former Secretary of Transportation in the Comm. of Mass. [He] was instrumental in getting funding and planning of the Central Artery Depression, the Big Dig."

Just on the other side of the Mass. Pike from the bocce court is the Stockyard Restaurant, the name of which echoes the history of this section of Brighton as home to acres upon acres of cattle pens and slaughterhouses.

Opened more than 40 years ago, the Stockyard is a local landmark and institution that calls itself a classic American tavern. Shut down for a time in 2012-13, the steakhouse gets very good reviews online. I can't tell you why I've never eaten there.

As for the area's beef-y history, it dates to the foundation of the Brighton Cattle Market in 1776 by Jonathan Winship I (and his son, JWII). The men "put out a call to the farmers of Middlesex County urging them to slaughter their cattle and send the resulting meat supply to the village of Little Cambridge (later renamed Brighton) to help provision General Washington's soldiers," per this Brighton Allston Historical Society article.

"The selling and butchering of cattle became the economic mainstay of the town for more than a century, profoundly influencing virtually every aspect of Brighton's economic, political, and social development. The first stockyard in Brighton was laid out next to the Bull's Head Tavern, an inn that stood on the site of 201 Washington Street, about a quarter of a mile east of Brighton Center," per the article. "The cattle pens probably stood on the flat land opposite the tavern (Nantasket Avenue, Snow, and Shannon Streets cross that acreage today), where a stream provided a convenient water supply for the livestock. The Winship slaughterhouse stood at the foot of nearby Powderhouse Hill (now called Academy Hill), at the southeast corner of present-day Chestnut Hill Avenue and Academy Hill Road."

Brighton remained a vital cattle and slaughterhouse market well into the 20th century.

In 1898, real estate developer Thomas Roddy built the hall below, which carries his name.

Currently home to real estate management firm The Samia Companies, Roddy Hall is located on Market Street, not far from the Stockyard and the bocce courts. MACRIS lists the building's historic uses as "clubhouse, specialty store." I'm guessing there were concerts, plays, balls, parties and other fantastic events on the upper floors.

Directly behind Roddy Hall is where my sports career ended.

Murray Field/Portsmouth Playground is a nice urban oasis in a desert of tightly packed homes and small businesses (and soon dozens of condos in a new building rising on the ashes of the old Lincoln Bar & Grill).

It was here, a few years back, that I last played softball. Here's the quick story: in 2005, when I turned 40 I began playing in a hardball league, after many years of playing recreational softball. I played for five years, managing to hurt myself each year (groin, quads, hamstrings). I "retired" after the 2009 season due to increasing domestic demands (read: two young kids). I'd been playing baseball and softball since I could remember, and was sad to give it up. In 2013 I had surgery to clean out torn cartilage in my left hip. As a result, my quads, hip and lower back on that side of my body became weaker.

A few years after my surgery, two neighbors asked if I wanted to play on their softball team. I said yes. Again I managed to hurt myself every few games, requiring taking a game or two off. On a cold evening near the end of the season, I decided that I was feeling good enough to play. I told myself if I only played infield, I wouldn't have to run as much, thereby reducing my chances of getting hurt. But of course things didn't work out that way. The team needed somebody in the outfield, so I jogged to right, figuring nobody would hit it out there. Well, you know where this is going: a line shot over my head, I turn quickly to chase it down and feel a sharp pain in my left groin and crumple to the ground. "Get up and chase it!" people are yelling at me. I can't. After the play was over, I limped to the bench, pissed off because I knew this was the last time I will play softball. After the game, I nursed my injury and shattered ego at the above-mentioned Lincoln Bar & Grill.

For more on my love of baseball, see March 31, 2019, "A Slow Jog Around the Bases of My Memory".

After reliving my worst sports moment, I walked over to Lincoln Street, which runs parallel to the Mass. Pike. There are a few buildings along this street that have caught my eye over the years as I've driven on the highway, so I was excited to check them out. The first one was the former United Soda Fountain Co. building.

I haven't found out much about United Soda Fountain, other than that in 1920, the company filed for a patent for ice-chest construction. United Soda supplied equipment to ice cream shops and restaurants. I believe the company did business outside Massachusetts, as well.

Another place that's more recently out of business is Just The Fax.

I don't know when this place hung it up, nor when it went online. That's all I got.

OK, I also have this:

The former United Soda Fountain building mentioned above is home to CubeSmart Self Storage. There is a nice mural on the front of one of the company's buildings.

A little further west on Lincoln Street is Boston Lock & Safe Co., which touts itself as America's oldest locksmith. The company, or some version of it, was founded in 1790.

Next along Lincoln Street is my favorite building.

I posted these photos on Facebook and Instagram, and got a little bit of feedback. I speculated that this place, which I believe has a few apartments in it, was formerly a store of some sort. One person said it is "tavern-shaped." Another replied that it was a recording studio for a while. I just love the different angles of the doorways, and the glass-block window facing the street. Looks like it could've been a speakeasy, too. I'm sure there are lots of interesting stories about this place.

As much as I love those old buildings, it was a more modern thing that gave me a good chuckle.

Boustris & Sons, Inc. has been around for about a quarter century, specializing in fire alarm and sprinkler testing, inspection and monitoring. I just love the God-like figure on the sign, wielding lightning bolts, with a golf bag on wheels behind him providing more ammunition for him to -- what, exactly? Smite those who mess with fire alarms and sprinklers? Give a jump start to broken equipment? I'm not sure, but that hardly matters.

Having reached the western end of Lincoln Street, I headed across the Market Street bridge and headed west on North Beacon Street until I reached Boston Light & Sound.

This red door was the thing that captured my attention most on the BL&S building, where the company offers "an endless array of the latest digital cinema, audio, and film projection products for sale or rent around the globe," per its web site. "From our early success presenting 'Napoleon,' complete with a live orchestra at the Colosseum in Rome, to engineering and installing digital cinema and film projection systems at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Doha, Qatar, BL&S has a reputation for technical expertise and craftsmanship."

Well, hot damn! The company has been in business since 1977.

Steps away from the BL&S building is this trestle that runs above North Beacon Street, parallel to the Mass. Pike.

Amtrak, commuter rail and freight trains run along these tracks, which run from Boston's South Station all the way to, well, I'm not sure how far across the state.

Around the corner from BL&S I found a rare sight in these parts:

You don't see a lot of mobile meth labs on the streets of Boston...no, I'm kidding. I recently binge-watched "Breaking Bad," so sue me. Still, though, you don't see a lot of RV's parked on side streets in Boston. Friends on the West Coast -- L.A. and Seattle -- report seeing these vehicles by the dozens along streets in their cities. People live out of them, moving them every so often to avoid running afoul of local laws that allow them to park in one place for a certain number of days. With the pandemic keeping so many people out of work and threatening them with loss of homes or apartments, this type of thing might become a more regular sighting. I hope not.

I rocked on down to Electric Avenue to shoot this photo, and a few others.

In the background of that photo you can see the Frank's Towing lot, along Goodenough Street (love that name!).

Formerly home to Robert's Towing, this lot looks like it's been here for decades. The masonry and fencing work is more than you might expect from a towing business.