Man Walking in Manchester

From That Same Old Guy:

Recently I explored a bit of Manchester, Connecticut, a town about half an hour from where I grew up, but that I knew next to nothing about (see April 30, 2022, "Mr. Paranoid Visits an Old Mill"). Named after Manchester, England, this Connecticut burg is known as Silk City, due to its past as a textile town. That's a good nickname, although perhaps not as good as its like-named city in New Hampshire, which is known as Manchvegas, or even the originator in Jolly Old England, which some call Madchester.

Anyway, in this post, I will feature the main commercial drag, which features a lot of cool old buildings, murals and even a ghost sign, and a few other points of interest.

I'm gonna go from A (ADT) to Z (Zipser).

Located on Purnell Place, just off Main Street, this ADT burglar alarm threw me for a loop. I thought ADT was a newfangled security company, but it turns out the company was founded in 1874, in Baltimore, as American District Telegraph. According to the company's web site, it "pioneered the concept of the Central Monitoring Center, enabling thousands of customers to link to 24/7/365 monitoring and protection," in the period between 1920 and 1940. The company also claims to have been the first to launch an automated burglar system.

As you can see, this old alarm box is at the edge of a work of art. More of it is seen below.

This great mural was done by Ben Keller, who has painted murals all across the Nutmeg State.

Below is a doorway on a side street.

I'm not doing this in an entirely alphabetically honest fashion, for which I apologize. Below is the Dilworth-Cornell-Quey Post 102 of the American Legion.

I hope that good-looking sign lights up at night.

Below is a ghost sign on the side of a John Boyle Decorating Center.

The sign says, in part, "PAUL'S PAINT." Google Maps still shows this business as Paul's Paint & Decorating Center.

Whenever I'm walking along a street with old commercial buildings that go back 100 years or more, I look for entryway ghost signs. I saw just one along Main Street.

Grants was a department store chain founded by William T. Grant in 1906. "In 1906 the first 'W. T. Grant Co. 25 Cent Store' opened in Lynn, Massachusetts," according to Wikipedia. "Modest profit, coupled with a fast turnover of inventory, caused the stores to grow to almost $100 million annual sales by 1936, the same year that William Thomas Grant started the W. T. Grant Foundation. By the time Grant died in 1972 at age 96, his chain of W. T. Grant Stores had grown to almost 1,200."

Four years later, the company went out of business. "W. T. Grant's bankruptcy in 1976 which was the then-second biggest in US history, was in part due to a failure to adapt to changing times but was probably accelerated by management's refusal until it was too late to eliminate the shareholder dividend," Wikipedia continues.

On July 13, 2020, I ran a post about East Boston that features another old Grants store, this one with the name carved into the facade.

Below is the former State Theatre, which opened in 1925.

As I've mentioned before, I often do research on Google Street View before visiting a neighborhood, village, town or city. This is important work, as it allows me to keep to maximize the often limited time that I have to explore. This method, however, also sometimes robs me of the surprise of finding places like the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church on Main Street.

I knew this fantastic sign, using the theater's old marquee, was here, but I was still stunned to see it in person. This just isn't something I come across very often in my travels around New England. "The State Theatre on Main Street in South Manchester was opened in June 1925. It was operated by Warner Bros. in the 1940’s. It was given a make-over in 1941," according to Cinema Treasures. "It was sold to a church group in June 1974 and is now the Full Gospel Interdenominational church, which according to the marquee, is open 24 hours."

The Tinker Building, below, was built in 1911.

This space is currently occupied by Market on Main and Jeicoby Scott Salon.

Below is the side of Urban Lodge Brewing on Purnell Place.

The brewery has a cool outdoor space and an amazing mural on the rear outside wall.

Speaking of cool murals....

This one is down an alley off of Main Street, on the side of Work Space Manchester, a co-working and gallery space.

Lastly, we come to the letter "Z," for the Zipser Club, which is located on Brainard Place.

"The Zipser Germans or Zipsers are a German-speaking (specifically Zipser German-speaking) ethnic group which developed in the Szepes County of Upper Hungary — today mostly Slovakia — as that region was settled by people from central Germany beginning in the 13th century," according to Wikipedia. "Beginning in at least the 18th century, many members of the ethnic group migrated to southern Bukovina, Maramuresch, and Transylvania (today in Romania)."

A Google search for "Zipser Club" turned up only information about this one. Is this the only such social club in the United States that feels kinship with former Slovak President Rudolf Schuster, who is partly Zipser German?

Make sure to check back soon for a post about my second stroll through Silk City.

Circling Boston's Geographical Center

From Dave Brigham:

The title of this post is fairly accurate. It was the best way for me to describe the parts of Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill and Roxbury that I explored recently while checking out a bunch of former brewery sites (look for that post in the near future). According to the Internet, the true geographical center of Boston is located at the corner of Walnut and Westminster avenues in Roxbury, within a half-mile of many of the sites I checked out.

My forays into this area of the Hub are part of my recent commitment to checking out as much of Boston as I can. In years past, I focused on those parts of the city that I could reach on the subway while out with my son. Unfortunately, that left out huges swaths of the city. Of late I have ventured into Jamaica Plain, not once but twice (the second trip was the one that inspired my trek through the parts of the city I am profiling in this post). I also explored Allston (Parts Uno, Dos, Tres and Quatro) and Newmarket Square.

OK, let's get to it.

At the end of my second Jamaica Plain jaunt, I did a little reconnaissance for the brewery post and then found myself looking at the building in the photo above. "That's it," I said, "I need to get back here and check out more of this neighborhood." So what is that building?

The Coleman-Webb Building at 1542-44 Columbus Avenue rose in 1906 as a stable and warehouse for John C. Coleman & Sons, a contracting business, according to MACRIS. After Coleman's death in 1923, the property changed hands a few times until Boston Brass Co. purchased the building in 1925. The company leased the property to F.W. Webb "as a branch store and warehouse for the conduct of its business as wholesale and manufacturing plumber," per MACRIS.

F.W. Webb, a name familiar to those who see and hear their ads during Red Sox games, traces its roots to the 1866 founding of a company by John Van Ness Stults, according to the company's web site. Stults partnered with Henry Mansur in 1873 to form the Stults & Mansur Company. "Henry McShane, founder of Henry McShane Manufacturing in Baltimore, Maryland, whose metal casting company was then - and still is today - famous for its church bells, purchased Stults & Mansur in 1888," according to the web site. "Henry hired his brother-in-law, Frank W. Webb, to run the new Boston branch. Frank had previously worked for his father's plumbing business, H.W. Webb & Sons, in Baltimore....In 1899, Frank Webb purchased the Boston branch from the McShane brothers and the following year renamed it, F.W. Webb Manufacturing Company. It was the largest plumbing supply house north of New York, which over time evolved from a manufacturer to a pure distributor."

F.W. Webb occupied the building until at least 1972, per MACRIS. In 2002, community development firm Urban Edge assumed ownership, and continues to occupy the property, which it renovated. In addition, Urban Edge developed a new, mixed-use building adjacent to the historic structure. "The project...demonstrat[es] the value of historic preservation in new community development and neighborhood revitalization," according to this Historic Boston article.

Heading south on Columbus Avenue, I cut down Amory Street on the western side of the thoroughfare. I'd done some online scouting of this street, and while the former Rockland Brewery complex was my main interest on this side street (to be featured in a future post), I found a few other places and things of note.

This is a first for me: in all my travels in and around Boston, I've never seen a classic, British double-decker bus that's like something out of a Harry Potter movie or a goofy British TV show starring seven adorable, fun-loving scamps.

This 1960 Bristol Lodekka Model FLF bus was once quite prominent in Worcester, Mass. It was parked outside the oddly named Maxwell Silverman's Toolhouse Restaurant for many years, according to this Mass Live article. "In its heyday, Maxwell Silverman's Toolhouse Restaurant's red London-style double-decker bus was a beloved fixture in the city, transporting diners in quirky style to the theater and other nightspots around town," according to this Worcester Telegram & Gazette article.

In early 2019, the bus went up for sale on Craiglist. It now sits in a parking lot owned by Mordechai Levin, a notorious and prominent local developer. The property is a former junkyard that Levin turned into a parking lot more than a decade ago. Nobody is using it right now, but with relatively new development immediately to the south, and a new project rising just to the north, it probably won't be long before either a) the lot gets more use or b) gets redeveloped into apartments or office/lab space.

Down Amory Avenue, which connects Amory Street to the commuter train/Orange Line tracks, I spied the lovely painting below.

I don't know who painted it, but I'm glad they did.

At the Boston Housing Authority's Amory Street Apartments, I spied another fantastic mural.

I haven't figured out who painted this one, either.

Just steps away, on the corner of Amory and Bragdon streets is Word of Life Tabernacle.

The building dates to 1930, according to the Boston assessor's department. I love the way the congregation transformed a relatively unappealing building into a wonderful house of worship.

A little further southwest on Amory Street, I found a couple of great, handmade signs.

Located in front of a small complex where the tenants include Vinndio Salon, Agricultural Hall and the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, the signs featuring a ship and an airplane may have been crafted by folks at The Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, which is also located here.

This is one of my favorite parts of wandering and taking photos: learning about places like this by total happenstance, because I admire their handiwork. "The Eliot School is one of a small group of early colonial-era schools that survive today," according to its web site. "In 1676, a group of local residents donated corn and land to support a school in Jamaica Plain. That year marked the end of King Philip’s War. In 1689, Rev. John Eliot, known as Minister to the Indians, endowed the school with an additional 75 acres, with the provision that it educate Native Americans and Africans as well as colonial children. For the next two centuries, it was a grammar school, adapting to the times."

I've written about Rev. Eliot, who formed more than a dozen groups of so-called Praying Indians in eastern Massachusetts. You can read more about him, and a monument to his work, in this December 2021 post.

Back to the school's web site: "Beginning in the late 19th century, the Eliot School turned increasingly to the arts. In 1874, it left the public school system and by the late 1880s had added sewing and carpentry classes. Wood carving flourished. Plumbing, basketry and millinery also had their day. The school offered manual training for schoolteachers, instruction for adults, and classes for children both after school and during school time."

Today, the school continues to offer classes for children and adults.

Back on Columbus Avenue, I found myself wishing that the sign in the photo below was in better shape.

I'm guessing that this sign used to feature the White Rock Beverages "White Rock Girl" at the top. I'm not sure whether this facility, which I assume was a bottling plant, is still active.

Adjacent to the White Rock building, Kaplan Construction is building a 40,000-square foot early childhood center and headquarters for Horizons for Homeless Children, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of homeless children. I don't know whether the White Rock building is part of the project.

Next to the White Rock plant on the northern side is the low-slung green building below, which is probably connected.

Something about this building appeals to me. Is it the fancy details above the door? The narrow, barred windows next to the door? The puke-green color? No - it's all of that!

Anyway....

I checked out Terrace Street, which runs south from Tremont Street at the Roxbury Crossing T stop, to New Heath Street. I will write about former brewery properties on this street in a future post, but here I want to mention a great sign that I almost didn't see.

Tucked behind D&M Auto Body and one of the buildings used by Diablo Glass School, this vivid work does a nice job of brightening the neighborhood.

Southwest of Robin Auto Body, at the small rotary where Heath, Parker and Wensley streets meet, I spied another nice work.

Unfortunately, Ugi's Pizza is permanently closed.

The final spot on this tour has a nice bit of history to it, although it looks a little rough.

This is the headquarters of Lenox-Martell, a "one-stop shop for your craft soda, custom beer system, beer line cleaning, gas, bar and restaurant equipment needs," per its web site. "Lenox-Martell was founded in 1950 as Royal Syrup Company. At that time, we were manufacturers of syrup in gallons for institutional use and in smaller packages for home uses; i.e., Coffeetime Syrup (of which we were the original producers). Since that time we have grown in many directions through diversification and several acquisitions."

(Ghost sign for Lenox Syrup Co.)

I like that while out searching for remnants of Boston's once-thriving beer brewing world, I stumbled across two places -- White Rock and Lenox-Martell -- that make (or perhaps made, in White Rock's case) carbonated beverages of a sweeter sort.

Busting Ghosts in Boston's Newmarket Square

From That Same Old Guy:

For many years, the only parts of Boston I explored were the ones I could reach on the subway when my son and I explored the city. The pandemic shutdown put a stop to those trips for the most part. Now he's old enough to venture through Boston on his own, so I've taken to driving to various Boston neighborhoods -- Allston, Brighton, Jamaica Plain -- to explore.

When trying to find someplace new recently, I recalled a Facebook post by a friend about a gig his band was playing. I didn't go to the show, but I'd looked the location up on Google Street View and saw that there were ghost signs in the area. That's what led me to the parking lot of Flying Embers Social Club & Brewery on Hampden Street in the Newmarket Square neighborhood.

Bounded approximately by commuter train tracks to the east, Melnea Cass Boulevard to the north, Langdon Street to the south and Forest Street to the west, Newmarket Square is home to many of the city's food processing and meatpacking companies, as well as storage warehouses, small industrial sites, a recycling plant and, as everywhere else in the city, new residential and commercial developments. You may also have heard of the square's most newsworthy intersection, Mass and Cass, where the city's homeless and drug addiction crises coalesced in recent years. I saw a few folks I gave a wide berth to while traversing this area, one who was nodding off while leaning against a brick wall, and another who appeared to be living out of her car. So incredibly sad.

For the purpose of this post, I wanted to find as many ghost signs as I could. While these faded advertisements on the sides of buildings have long been among the many things I keep my eyes peeled for, of late I have become a little obsessed. Newmarket Square was just the place to feed that passion.

I want to start with one that got away.

Ahead of my visit, I'd poked around on Google Maps and saw this building. As you can see, the building was in rough shape, obviously abandoned for quite a few years. But I spied that sign at the top corner and got excited. There was an old sign on the front that looked like it was painted on sheet metal. Perfect for my mission!

But as I pulled onto Hampden Street from Melnea Cass Boulevard, my heart sank. This building and a few low-slung ones just south of it had been torn down. This has happened to me before, which is why I place such a high value on shooting ghost signs and old buildings. Especially in Boston, you never know when something's gonna be torn down.

I believe at least one of the buildings on this site was home to Bay State Auto Spring Manufacturing, from 1918 until 2008. Here's a cool old neon sign from that company that was saved by the good folks at Neon Williams.

As for the building I'd hoped to shoot, it may have been part of a larger complex that at one point was home to the Columbia Ice Cream Horn Company. I found some documents online listing that company's address as 65-67 Hampden Street, which puts it right here. An ice cream horn is the same thing as a cone. I haven't found anything about when the Columbia company was founded or when it moved, merged or went out of business.

As for what will rise on this former industrial site: Junction58, a project that is still on the drawing board, but which will likely comprise lab, office, academic and other medical-related uses. The site is within walking distance of Boston Medical Center.

Steps away from the One That Got Away, on Farnham Street, I spied an ice cream-related ghost sign.

I can make out "MANUFACTURER ICE CREAM CONES." I don't know if this building was part of the Columbia business. Currently home to a residential drug treatment facility operated by Hope House, this building appears to have been used to manufacture ice cream cones from 1914 to 1921, according to MACRIS. "By 1921, the building was occupied by the Blue Bird Bottling Company, founded by brothers Max, David, and Louis Garber for the production of soft drinks," MACRIS indicates. Other businesses were located here over the ensuing decades.

Farnham Street used to continue southeast across Kemble Street to Gerard Street and on to Magazine Street. The acreage between Kemble and Gerard is now taken up by a trash-to-energy facility operated by ReEnergy Roxbury. At the corner of Gerard and the former Farnham streets is a building with an interesting past.

Built in 1903, 82 Gerard Street is currently home to a facility for The Portland Group, a plumbing/heating/HVAC company founded in 1930. According to MACRIS, the building's common name is the Minot Folding Box Company, while it is known historically as the Charles Duncan and Son Building, as well as the National Pickling Works.

Charles Duncan and Son was the original tenant, and was in business perhaps through the 1920s, so that means that the ghost sign on the building is likely more than 100 years old. So cool!

"By 1934, the property was owned by Abraham Wishnick, President of National Pickling Works, and the company operated out of the building until at least the early 1950s...." according to MACRIS. "The National Pickling Works occupied the first story of the building and yard, with a paper box factory on the two upper stories of the building....The National Pickling Works was established in 1926 by Wishnick and remained in business until at least the 1950s....In the 1950s the Minot Folding Box Company occupied the second and third stories of the building. By the mid-1960s, the building was owned by BarJam Realty Trust and used by The Portland Pipe & Supply (now known to as Portland Group) as a storage and warehouse facility for plumbing supplies."

On Langdon Street, between Clifford Playground (where in 2005 I tried out for an over-40 baseball league) and Bully Boy Distillers (whiskey, rum, gin, vodka), I spied a great named-building ghost sign.

OK, so I knew from Google Street View research that this place was here. Sue me. Anyway, the South Side Dye House was erected in 1927 as a dry-cleaning operation. "The building consisted of a brick tailor shop, a naptha house, and a garage and laundry room," per MACRIS. "Naptha is a petroleum-based dry-cleaning solvent. The building along Norfolk Avenue was the office building, and sorting, marking, and ironing building. The naptha house was to the southwest, and a one-story dyeing house was attached to the southwest elevation of the naptha house....The South Side Dye House remained in business until 1982....In the 1960s, Libero Gaviani...started the Lani-Sheen Uniform Service, which was at 173B Norfolk Avenue....In 1985, the South Side Dye House building was converted for use as contractor’s offices, a mill workshop, and storage."

The area where I walked is dominated by gigantic brick warehouses. The final photos are from two of these buildings, which feature multiple ghost signs, because I guess when you have a huge building, you feel obligated to paint huge advertisements for your business on the sides.

As I mentioned, the reason I ended up exploring this area is because a friend's band played at Flying Embers on the corner of George and Hampden streets. I parked right across from the social club and was instantly thrilled.

I make out the word "ALLIED" and perhaps the numeral "1," but nothing more. Given this building's history as a warehouse and storage facility, it's possible this is a former home of Allied Van Lines. Located adjacent to the Flying Embers parking lot, on the south side, this building has a cool history, as well. You're not surprised at all, are you?

I figured this brick behemoth started life as the home of New England Storage Warehouse Company, but I was wrong. Offering fire-proof storage, that company moved in here in 1906, per MACRIS. Prior to that, however, this building and others in the area were home to the New England Piano Company. Founded in 1871 as the New England Organ Company, this manufacturer was one of many such businesses in Boston's South End and nearby neighborhoods during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the middle of the 19th century, Chickering & Company, whose massive factory was located at 791 Tremont Street, was the largest piano manufacturer in the world.

New England Storage Warehouse was in business here until 1990. The complex is now occupied by data and records storage giant Iron Mountain.

I like that the old iron sign frame is still hanging off the building. I assume it used to hold a "New England Storage Warehouse" sign.

As for Flying Embers, it occupies part of a building that is known historically as the Stimler Machine Shop and Hall Treadle Works, and commonly as the Boston Piano Company and Howard Storage Warehouse Company. Built in 1860, this Romanesque Revival/Greek Revival building is one of the oldest remaining factories in the Lower Roxbury area, according to MACRIS. Otis Stimler used the building to manufacture machinery and power looms until 1871. At that time, William Smith Hall began making sewing machine treadle works in the building, per MACRIS.

In 1885, the Boston Piano Company acquired the building, but only lasted there for three years. In 1897, Henry A. Turner & Co. occupied the building and used it to manufacture cabinets and other woodworks. In 1908, it was converted to a furniture warehouse for Howard Storage Warehouse Company and Berry & Tibbetts Company, according to MACRIS. The building had other uses in the ensuing decades. The other tenant these days is Feldman Geospatial, which conducts what it calls smart surveying. I like that Feldman has painted a future ghost sign on the building.

(Looking from the Feldman/Flying Embers parking lot at a nice mural, as well as our next building.)

Lastly, let's discuss the Howard Furniture Storage Warehouse Company Building, which sits between Hampden and Howard streets, and Norfolk Avenue, and which boasts numerous ghost signs.

Built in 1924, the storage warehouse rose on the site of the former Salvation Army Industrial Home, per MACRIS. The aforementioned Berry & Tibbetts (affiliated with Howard Storage) owned the building until the middle of the 20th century. The property changed hands many times subsequent to Iron Mountain taking it over in 1990.

At some point during the last 100 years, E.A. Spry & Company occupied this site. That company, now known as Spry Moving & Storage, is still in business in Woburn, a town north of Boston.

The final shot is perhaps my favorite from this outing.

I was walking on the other side of Howard Street, but saw a small car ahead of me and a few people getting out of it. As my teenage daughter would say, "They looked sus," so I crossed to the other side, turned around and snapped this sign.

If you like these photos, and ghost signs in general, check out my SmugMug gallery featuring a few dozen of my favorite shots of these outdoor advertising fossils. All of the photos, as well as those in other galleries, are available to purchase in a variety of sizes and in various media (wall art, greeting cards, magnets, etc.).

Getting Moody in Waltham

From Dave Brigham:

As much as I've written about Waltham, Mass., I somehow skipped the Watch City's "restaurant row," Moody Street. Wall-to-wall with small, independent eateries, ethnic grocery stores and more, this north-south thoroughfare is vital to the city's economic health. So let's check it out. For links to other Waltham posts, see the bottom of this one.

I wasn't sure what I was looking for on this visit, but I quickly realized that my pursuit was two-fold: named buildings and entryway mosaics for long-gone businesses. Let's start with the former.

The Art Deco Kresge Building rose in 1929. This building was part of the Kresge department-store chain. "Sebastian Spering Kresge opened his first five and dime store in Detroit in 1899," according to this Roadside Architecture profile of the chain. "At that point, he was partnering with J.G. McCrory. He also opened other stores with his brother. In 1912, the S.S. Kresge Company was established with 85 stores. By 1938, there were 742 stores. In 1977, the company changed its name to the Kmart Corporation."

Well, that's quite a bit of history, and way more than I thought I'd be getting about this rather plain-looking building! It's now home to a Bonchon Korean fried chicken restaurant; a Metro-PCS store; Royaltea Waltham; and offices.

The Locke Block, below, dates to 1908.

Before I get to the facts, I want to share the video below, which is what I think of when I say the name of this building:

Per MACRIS: "The earliest street directory of 1923 lists a variety of stores, including George Baxter Shoes at the Walnut Street corner, Berkeley Textile Company and Heath & Co. dry goods with the upper floor offices rented by dentists and the Waltham School of Music, with a similar list of retail stores in 1931. The 1941 Directory shows the corner store to Kay Jewelery Co., followed by Heath & Co. and Mohican Meats, with Minnie's Beauty Shop and the Waltham Dress Company on the second floor, including Locke Hall."

Current tenants include Suman's Salon and United Convenience.

The Waltham National Bank building no longer has its name emblazoned across the facade, but we can see where it used to be.

Built in 1928 in what MACRIS calls the Egyptian Revival style, this building was most recently home to Marcou Jewelers.

Next up is the Harrington Block, home for many years to popular tapas restaurant Solea.

Built in 1884, this Panel brick beauty is "an extremely well documented building associated with Moody Street's development as Waltham's most fashionable shopping district" at the turn of the 20th century, according to MACRIS. "[T]his building has important historical associations with Charles Harrington, Boston Manufacturing Company Bleachery employee, contractor and real estate speculator."

Home to Moody Street Smoke Shop, J. Lex Salon & Brow Bar and La Chapincita Market, the John Stark building dates to 1891.

The building was once part of the watch- and clock-making business that thrived in Waltham in the 19th and early 20th centuries (see May 22, 2021, "Time to Talk About the Waltham Watch Factory"). "The Stark Building was constructed by John Stark, Jr. after he took over his father's flourishing business producing watchmakers' lathes and tools," according to MACRIS.

The elder Stark emigrated from Scotland to Waltham in 1849. "He learned the machinist's trade at the Boston Manufacturing Company before beginning the manufacture of watchmakers' lathes with the firm of Adams, Stark and Lloyd in 1862. By 1865, he was the sole proprietor of John Stark and Son," MACRIS continues. "John Stark, Jr. took over the flourishing business, which now included machininsts' lathes and other equipment, upon his father's death in 1887. The profits of the Stark Tool Co. enabled John Stark Jr. to erect the large three-story building between the machine shop (now remodeled) and the street."

The Gavolio Building, below, dates to 1907.

I haven't found out anything about this building, other than an old Waltham directory that includes a John Gavolio and lists next to him, "fruit." So maybe this place was a market? Today its tenants include Albert's Photo Studio, Frugal Framers and MD Fashion.

The Patrick Broderick Building, below, was erected in 1915.

Broderick was a local lawyer and politician, and presumably he had the place built. I assume there was retail on the ground floor back in the day. You can see what's there today.

The next two buildings aren't named, but I find them interesting.

This place is the poster child for Seeing Things On Foot That You Miss in a Car. While I've noticed most of the buildings in this post to some degree over the years, I can assure you I had no clue this one existed. Built in 1912, this Colonial Revival abuts the aforementioned Stark Building. I've never seen a building with a metal cornice with a date ("1912") on it. Pretty cool.

Lastly, for the buildings, is the Happy Feet building.

Built in 1925, this building has some nice scrollwork along the concrete facade.

Before we move along to entryway ghosts, I wanna feature a quaint little building and a nice old ghost sign.

Built in 1928, this place is known historically as the Colvin Filling Station. "The design is Picturesque Cottage Style as seen in the cross gable roof with steep pitch and exposed rafters," per MACRIS. The building was converted to a barber shop in 1968. It is now home to Shear This, which calls itself a "boutique like salon" on its Facebook page.

Below, you can see the ghosts of the words "HARRY'S SHOE STORE" above the green door.

Established in the early 1920s, according to MACRIS, the shoe store was in business, under various owners, until 2007, according to this article published online by something called The State Journal-Register. At that point, it was the oldest shoe store in Massachusetts.

OK, let's get spooked!

I'll continue talking about the old shoe store building, which is known historically as the Bartlett Block. Built in 1900, this Classical Revival building was most recently home to the New England School of Photography. That outfit, founded in Boston in 1968, shut its doors in March 2020. It is also home to Queen Cleansers and Raj Collections.

What interested me most on this trip, however, was the ghost entryway sign.

At some point, this building was home to what I'm guessing was a department store called Kane's. I've been unable to find out anything about such a store. MACRIS lists stores including Flannery Bros. Tobacco, Harry's Sample Shoe Parlor, Holmees-Luce Co. Furniture and George Hoar Co., which sold electrical fixtures, as tenants going back 100 years. Other stores and a post office are also listed. Nothing about Kane's or Kanes.

Continuing south on the east side of Moody Street, we find a sign that hints at only part of the history of the building that now houses Global Thrift.

The Gilchrist department store opened in this location in 1940. In 1970 the space was converted to a Sears outlet. In the '80s, it became a Jordan's Furniture store. The building dates to 1929. I never would have guessed its original use: "The Gilchrist store at 326 Moody Street is originally dated 1929 by building permit for the Moody Theatre," according to MACRIS. I've been unable to find out much information about the former theater, which isn't surprising, since it was apparently only in operation for a decade or so. The Embassy Theater was located just down Moody Street, and was open until 1972, so perhaps that's why the Waltham Theatre went out of business.

Continuing on the same side of the street, there is an entryway ghost for "Community."

Located in front of Neeta's Heritage Threading Salon, at the corner of Moody and Taylor streets, this is the former site of Community Opticians. I haven't found out when the company was founded, nor when it moved from here.

Now I'm going to switch to the western side of Moody Street. First up is the "WALSH" sign in front of the current Mr. Sweeper, which sells and services sewing and vacuuming supplies.

I haven't found anything about a store with the name Walsh in it. MACRIS indicates the historic name of the building is Morgan's Art Store.

Next is the sign for Sam's Army and Navy Stores, located in front of the Frugal Frames store.

Frugal Frames is located in the aforementioned Gavolio Building.

A few steps away is the former Royals Furniture space, where a sign for GRAY'S is still looking good.

Per MACRIS, in a1952 Waltham directory, Gray's Furniture is listed at this site.

The penultimate sidewalk sign is the most well-known of the bunch.

The F.W. Woolworth Company building was built in 1930, according to MACRIS. Now home to a Family Dollar store and an outlet of Mattress Firm, this building was home to a Woolworth's department store from 1905 until 1997, according to a post at BillDamon.com. As Damon mentions in his post, the old red sign that used to say Woolworth's is still on the building. A pioneering company in the five-and-dime world, Woolworth's was founded in 1879 in Utica, New York. Over the next century, the company grew to be one of the largest discount chains in America. By July 1997, Woolworth's had closed all of its stores.

Here's something I had no clue about, courtesy of Wikipedia: "On October 20, 2001, the company changed names again; taking the name of its top retail performer and became Foot Locker, Inc., which Woolworth started in 1974. The corporate history of Woolworth is legally included in the history of Foot Locker, Inc., which is the legal continuation of Woolworth."

I only went to a Woolworth's store once in my life, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1988.

OK, let's wrap this up with one more ghost entryway sign.

Now known as the Lincoln Building, 283-289 Moody Street is known historically as the Parke Snow Department Store. Built in 1890, this place was home to that retailer from the early 1920s until 1962. It was subsequently home to a Jordans Furniture store. Current tenants include Paris Eyecare, Monique Rancourt Jewelry and Artisan Gallery and the Lincoln Arts Project.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of Moody Street's named buildings and spooky old entryways.

Here are some more Waltham posts:

January 15, 2022, "There's Always More Waltham"

May 8, 2021, "Former Mill Complex Now Apartments, Artist Space and Museum"

March 20, 2017, "Brigham in Waltham, Part III"

January 5, 2017, "Brigham in Waltham, Part II"

November 9, 2016, "Brigham in Waltham, Part I"

August 25, 2011, "Goodbye Reef, So Long Bill"

February 27, 2011, "UPDATE: What a Dump"