From Dave Brigham:
Before wrapping up my three-part review of Cambridgeport with yet another MASSIVE post, I want to give my loyal readers a feel for what this neighborhood used to be like, before MIT and biotechs and millenials took over:
Located at 300 Massachusetts Avenue, next to a Thai restaurant and a few doors down from a Salvation Army store, the Cambridgeport Saloon was a true old-school dive bar. "The place wasn’t one of those ironic dive bars (Think Model Cafe in Brighton circa 1994). No, this was the real deal. Stabbings, shootings, and brawls were pretty common," according to this Empty Mass Ave blog post, citing an old MySpace (!!) page that's no longer active.
I never went there, but a friend who used to frequent the place tells a hairy tale of a fight that left him with a black eye.
Check out the Google Maps wayback machine below:
While most of the rough edges of Cambridge have been filed down, there are still plenty of cool old features amid the new buildings. Let's check out what I found in the northern section of Cambridgeport. To read about the southern section, and about MIT-related stuff, see June 24, 2023, "Cambridgeport, Part II: Cool Art/Famous Auto Shop/Former Teeth Maker/Much More" and June 17, 2023, "Cambridgeport, Part I: MIT/Biotechs/Nuclear Reactor/and Maybe Death Rays".
Perhaps in the days of the Cambridgeport Saloon, the bare-knuckle brawlers would make the one-mile walk to Magazine Beach to cool their jets, nurse their wounds and plot their revenge. A crescent at the south-central point of the city, fronting on the Charles River between the BU Bridge and the Riverside Boat Club, Magazine Beach is one of countless places in Greater Boston that I've driven past many, many times without exploring it or really even thinking about it.
The 15-acre expanse of land is called Magazine Beach, but there's no sand nor news stand, and neither swimming nor surfing going on here. There's a boat launch and a small pier sandwiched between a baseball field and an MWRA combined sewer outflow station. There is an outdoor pool, which I'll get to in a moment, but the most interesting site here, for Backside fans anyway, is the Mass Audubon Magazine Beach Park Nature Center.
Trust me.
"Oh, maybe I'll check out this quaint stone building," I thought as I strolled around the park. Often I take a photo of a building just in case it turns out to be "something." And boy did I make the right call on shooting this place. "The Magazine Beach powder magazine is one of Cambridge’s hidden treasures," according to "History on the Charles: The Story of Captain's Island and its Powder Magazine," an article by Nina S. Cohen and Marilyn Wellons written for the Cambridge Historical Society and other local organizations. Built in 1818, the stone structure is "[b]y far the oldest building in the Charles River Reservation."
When the powder magazine -- a place to store gunpowder and munitions -- was erected more than 200 years ago, the land was known as Captain's Island, because at high tide it was separated from the rest of Cambridge. The island was named for Captain Daniel Patrick, one of two military officers who, among other things, oversaw fortifications along the Charles River. After the magazine was constructed, Peter Tufts, Jr. and his son, Charles, were appointed keepers of the storage building, according to the article linked above (I'm guessing that this Tufts family is the same, or relatives of, the one that owned a powderhouse in Somerville, which I mention in my March 25, 2023, post, "Square Dancing Around Somerville").
To read about a historic powder house in Dedham, Mass., check out my post from June 17, 2013, "Powda House."
Here are some details, from the above article, about what the magazine looked like during its heyday: "Paul Revere & Son supplied the copper for the powder magazine, as they did for many other state structures. The building apparently had glass windows, as two entries [by contractors] appeared for setting glass, and later, for mending a sash. A painted carpet, characteristic of the period, covered the floor. A small house was built near the magazine, probably for the keeper. Arsonists burned it down in 1855."
As the need to store powder waned, the area around the island was filled in and the magazine was converted to a bath house. In 1954, the Metropolitan District Commission (now known as the Department of Conservation & Recreation) renovated the structure as a garage and office. I'm not sure how long Mass Audubon has been using the old building.
Let's move on to the outdoor pool and the newer bath house.
Built in 1925, the Magazine Beach Bath House was under renovation when I strolled by. Fronting on busy Memorial Drive, the brick building hides a nice pool behind it that is steps from the Charles River.
The third building on the beach park acreage is the Riverside Boat Club.
Located in a stately late-19th century building that I'm guessing was once a home, the boat club was founded in 1869. Founding members were Irish immigrants who worked for the nearby Riverside Press, according to the article linked above about the powder magazine. The company's owner, Henry Houghton, provided a building on the company's site for the boat club. Eventually, the boat club moved to a different building on property next to the Press, before, in 1912, moving to its present site.
(Shells lined up outside the boat club.)
So, let's talk about Riverside Press. The company was founded by Henry O. Houghton, whose last name should be familiar to those with a bit of familiarity with book publishing. In 1852, Houghton, who had been working for a company that typeset and printed books for Boston-based Little, Brown & Co., took over that company and, after renaming it Riverside Press, moved it to a site along what is now Memorial Drive, across from the Charles River. Long story, short: over the next several decades, the company grew, purchased the site it was on, added buildings and eventually became known as -- you guessed it -- Houghton Mifflin and Company (now known as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
There are no traces of the old Riverside Press complex left. The company closed up shop in Cambridge in the early 1970s, and a decade later, after the City of Cambridge acquired three acres from the publishing company, Riverside Press Park was opened.
Riverside Press Park (above) is bounded by Memorial Drive, River Street, Blackstone Street and an office building. The park has basketball and tennis courts, as well as a grassy knoll and a small playground.
Riverside Press/Houghton Mifflin weren't the only publishing firms in this area. The aforementioned Little, Brown had a bindery located across Blackstone Street from Riverside. That company vacated this area in the mid-1960s, according to this Riverside Neighborhood Study, which also provided information about Riverside Press. The 1930 Atlas map of Cambridge also shows an outfit called Standard Diary Company. Perhaps that business was related to either Riverside Press or Little, Brown.
While the Riverside Press buildings were torn down 40 years ago, some of the former Little, Brown buildings are still there.
The buildings above, located between Putnam Avenue and Blackstone Street, date to 1880, 1901 and 1919, according to the assessor's database. There appear to be at least a handful of businesses in this location, including Nihon Kohden, which conducts collaborative medical device research.
Across Blackstone Street is what I believe is the former Standard Diary building.
I think this cool old building is owned by Harvard University, which also owns the steam plant shown in photos below.
Count the power plant as yet another place I've driven past countless times without putting my Backside cap on. It's hard to miss, looming over the corner of Memorial Drive and Western Avenue, casting shadows over the crew races along the Charles River. I was always aware of the beautiful brick buildings, but perhaps because they were so prominent, I somehow managed to mostly look past them.
Originally home to Cambridge Electric Light Company, the sturdy brick buildings and smokestacks of the Blackstone Steam Plant have provided steam power and electricity to parts of Harvard University for nearly 100 years. Built in 1902, the plant was renovated in 1930. Harvard acquired the facility from NStar (now part of energy company Eversource) in 2002.
To get a better understanding of how the plant operates, and what changes the World's Greatest University must make to its grid in the face of advancing climate change, read this article from The Harvard Crimson.
When I posted a photo of the Blackstone facility on Instagram, one commenter expressed concern that Harvard wanted to redevelop the site, not understanding how vital the plant is to the university. That concern, however, isn't completely misplaced. Other such behemoths in the Boston area have been powered down and are under development, or will be in the future (see January 12, 2019, "Power Move In South Boston" for an example of the former, and stay tuned for post about how the Encore Casino in Everett has acquired the Mystic Generating Station).
Cater-cornered from the power plant, along Western Avenue, is a somewhat odd-looking apartment building that was once an important element of the Cambridge music scene.
Located on the corner of Western and Putnam avenues, this building was for years home to Western Front, a popular and well-known jazz and reggae club. Check out this Flickr photo to see the club in its heyday. The club operated from 1967 to 2013, and was one of the few spots in the area offering reggae on a regular basis. Club founder Marvin Gilmore, the grandson of slaves, was a man of action for his community. The year after he opened the club, Gilmore was among the founders of Unity Bank and Trust Co., a Roxbury, Mass.-based bank that was the first Black-owned bank in New England. Further, the World War II vet served on the state's Low Income Housing Commission and was president of the Community Development Corp. of Boston, according to this Patch article.
That article was written in November 2020 about Gilmore's latest venture, a cannabis business that he sees as "an economic opportunity for the historically low-income" folks in Chelsea, where the company -- also named Western Front -- opened its first shop. The business also has an outlet in Cambridge's Central Square.
Oh, did I forget to mention that Gilmore is 98 years old?
A little ways east from the hold nightclub is Western Avenue Baptist Church.
The church was built in 1916. Other than that, I haven't found anything about the building's history.
Further east on Western Ave. is Beantown Taqueria Cafe.
Located in the front half of a circa-1890 real-estate mullet (business in the front, residence in the back), the restaurant looks like a pretty fun place. I love the building's split personality.
Even more than that, however, I love the RC Cola ghost sign that was painted over (boo!), making me think this building was a market at some point.
As I strolled along Western Ave., I spied a few plaques. At first I thought they were standard historic markers, but they turned out to be something a little more special.
It's possible that this one wasn't along Western Ave., but that doesn't matter. The one below definitely was.
HOYT FIELD, 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATIONS 1970'S it says below scenes of what appear to be carnival rides and people having picnics. Tucked into the neighborhood between Western Ave. and Montague and Gilmore streets, Hoyt Field features a baseball diamond and a youth center with a basketball court. I played softball there at least once. I probably hurt myself.
The last plaque I spied was the coolest one.
OLYMPIA THEATRE it reads at top right. The address is listed below, as are some dates and times. Near the bottom, it says, PEARL WHITE the BLACK SECRET. The relief graphics include what appears to be a couple reaching for each other, and someone walking a dog in front of what it turns out is the old theater.
The theater, which was located just outside Central Square, is long gone. According to the Cinema Treasures web site, "The Olympia Theater...was located in a unique narrow triangular building, richly decorated and about four stories high. The unusual shape of the structure was dictated by the triangular lot bounded by River Street, Western Avenue and Franklin Street. The theater’s marquee was at the narrow end of the building, facing toward Central Square." The Olympia opened in 1916 and was in business under that name until 1941. By 1950 it was known as the Rex Theater."
As for Pearl White, she was a stage and film actress known as the Queen of the Serials. "White was noted for doing the majority of her own stunts, most notably in 'The Perils of Pauline'," according to Wikipedia. "Often cast as a plucky onscreen heroine, White's roles directly contrasted those of the popularized archetypal ingénue."
As for "The Black Secret," it is "a 1919 American adventure film serial directed by George B. Seitz," according to Wikipedia. "The film was recorded in both Fort Lee, New Jersey, as well as in the nearby Hudson Palisades. Recording took place during a time when many of the early 20th century film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based there. The film is currently considered to be lost. However, a portion survives, and, in 2021, was digitized and released by a YouTube channel based in the United Kingdom."
Here ya go:
Just before Western Ave. intersects with Massachusetts Avenue, there is a very distinctive little building.
Currently home to Aleppo Palace, which specializes in falafels and Middle Eastern cuisine, this compact, castle-like building in a previous life was a White Tower restaurant.
You may be saying to yourself, "Do you mean White Castle?" No, I do not. The White Tower chain of hamburger joints was founded in 1926 in Milwaukee, five years after White Castle restaurants began slinging burgers. The similarity in menu options and restaurant design was intentional, according to Wikipedia. "John E. Saxe and Thomas E. Saxe started White Tower Hamburgers after investigating various White Castle locations, observing operations and hiring a White Castle operator. The first location opened near Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By the end of 1927, there were six locations in Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin. In 1929, White Tower put 30 locations in Detroit alone."
Naturally, lawsuits ensued. "In 1929, White Castle sued White Tower in Minnesota for unfair competition and White Tower counter-sued in Michigan as White Tower had arrived in Michigan first. The Minnesota case ended in 1930 in favor of White Castle, forcing White Tower to end its use of similar building designs, slogans and name along with a $82,000 judgment. The Michigan case dragged on until 1934, revealing the hiring away of a White Castle location operator and photographing of the latest White Castle to keep up on design. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit later affirmed the lower court's rulings that they had copied White Castle deliberately. White Castle refrained from forcing a name change for White Tower but did require new locations to pay a royalty fee, and to send photos of the locations. Having to change its look, White Tower first used an art deco, then modernistic designs. Territorially, White Tower and White Castle stayed away from each other from then on."
White Tower at its peak in the 1950s had 230 stores in several states. By the late '70s, the chain had shrunk to approximately 80 locations. The company eventually exited the restaurant business under a different name, Tombrock Corporation, according to Wikipedia. According to the Roadside Architecture blog, the Central Square White Tower opened in 1932 and closed in 1973. It housed Moody's Falafel Palace for a number of years before becoming Aleppo Palace.
Southwest of Aleppo Palace, along Green Street, is a building that gives a glimpse of the past and the future.
This is 285 Green Street, which is the rear of 596-610 Massachusetts Avenue. The Mass. Ave. property, known historically as the Manhattan Market Building, dates to 1896 and is being redeveloped. According to a plan from Peter Quinn Architects, both the Mass. Ave. and the Green Street sides will rise by as many as five stories, with apartments and retail space at each side. In the photo above, you can see the elevator shaft rising.
Across the street from that site is the Green Street Parking Garage, which connects to the Central Square branch of the Cambridge Library.
(Nice book-themed artwork on the garage.)
(Entrance to the library, which was built in 1969.)
On the facade of the library is a mosaic called Celebrating the Marshland.
Created by artist Lilli Ann Killen Rosenberg, the work was installed in 1984, via a sponsorship by the Cambridge Arts Council, according to a Save Outdoor Sculpture! form available via MACRIS. Celebrating the Marshland is made of ceramic tiles, seashells and perhaps other materials. Rosenberg's husband, artist Marvin Rosenberg, may have also worked on this sculpture.
Across Franklin Street from the library is the Cambridge First Church of the Nazarene.
The building dates to 1910. That's all I know.
To the north of the church, just before Franklin Street meets River Street, is the headquarters of Cambridge Neighborhood Apartment Housing Services (CNAHS). The organization works to "acquire existing housing and vacant land, preserving and creating new affordable housing using a range of strategies and policy tools," per its web site.
As for the building, it dates to 1920, per the assessor. I'm guessing this was once a police or fire station, but I haven't been able to confirm that.
A short distance west on River Street is a mixed-use building that dates to 1920. It's currently home to Great Eastern Trading Company, a vintage clothing/costumes/record store.
I dig the store's sign. Named for a legendary steamship, the store was founded in 1969 as an Army/Navy surplus outlet, per the Great Eastern web site. The store has been at this location since 1971. There are Great Eastern stores in Malden and Somerville, as well. I shot photos of the exterior of the Somerville store, which you can see in my post from March 11th of this year, "The Pros and Cons of Winter Hill and Gilman Square."
At the arrow point where River and Pleasant streets meet, you will find Eddie Priest's Barber Shop.
The men's hairstylist is located on the ground floor of 91 River Street, which is a beautiful building that dates to 1902.
I haven't found out anything about Eddie Priest, other than that he gets great reviews on Yelp and has been in business for decades.
Continuing southwest on River Street, we come to Asian restaurant The Nu Do' Society.
The building dates to 1920 and was for many years the location of bar/restaurant River Gods. That establishment, which is where I once saw my buddy Jay do his DJ thang, closed up shop in 2016 after 15 years.
Cutting east into the neighborhood, we come to the corner of Cottage and Magazine streets, and the First Korean Church in Cambridge.
The building dates to 1910. I haven't been able to find out the history of congregations here.
Over at 77 Pleasant Street is a warehouse that dates to 1902, according to the assessor.
Located in the middle of a largely residential neighborhood, this little building is occupied by architecture and urban design firm Preston Scott Cohen, Inc. That firm's projects span the globe, from the Anhui Science Center in China, to Taubman College in Michigan, to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel to a private home on Cape Cod.
Righ around the corner, on Kelly Road, is APA Automotive Transmissions.
The assessor's web site provides a date of 1817 for this building, which I find astounding. I suppose inside this repair shop, which looks as though it could date back 100 years, is the shell of something yet another hundred years older. I wish I could find out more.
Along Upton Street I found a bilingual school, as well as some great rowhouses.
Located in the old Webster School, which dates to 1915, the Amigos Two-Way Bilingual School serves kindergarten through 8th grade students. On the school's web site, the principal/directora says: "While our two – way mission provides opportunities for students to develop high levels of reading, writing and oral skills in English and Spanish, they also develop a range of cultural competencies that will assist them in developing cross-cultural friendships and balancing diverse global perspectives in the 21st century."
Directly across the street is a great row of colorful homes.
They all date to the 1870s, I believe. Aren't they fantastic?
Just steps away, at 56 Magazine Street, is a really impressive house of worship.
Pentecostal Tabernacle is a "multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, bible-believing church that exists to restore lives broken by the consequences of sin, and bring them to the place where these very same lives bring glory to God," according to the church's web site. This "exuberant Queen Anne," as MACRIS calls it, was built as the Grace Methodist Church in 1886 from a design by Franklin Kidder. According to MACRIS, Kidder "was the author of Churches and Chapels and Architect and Builders' Handbook, which went into eighteen editions."
A short walk away at 189 Pearl Street is the former Church of the Blessed Sacrament, a brick behemoth.
Built between 1907 and 1916, the house of worship is just part of the complex that the Roman Catholic Church once operated here. There was also once a convent, a rectory and a school. The school closed in the 1980s and the parish complex was sold to a developer in the early 2000's. Subsequently, the buildings (or at least some of them) were redeveloped as housing.
Southwest of the old parish complex, along Magazine Street, is a neat old building with a nice surprise.
Built in 1922, as you can see in the round medallion above the front door, this building is currently home to an office of landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones. Founded in 1983, the company has completed projects across the country, including open space for MIT in Kendall Square.
I was pleasantly surprised to spot a ghost sign on the side of the building, which leads me to believe that at some point, this was a pharmacy.
I can see the word PRESCRIPTIONS in there.
At the corner of Putnam Avenue and Magazine Street is the Cambridgeport Baptist Church.
The church was built in 1906.
Swinging back out to River Street, we come to the former location of Keezer's, which claims to be America's oldest used clothing store.
Now located just outside Porter Square in Cambridge, sharing space with Le Couturier House of Alterations, Keezer's has been in business since 1895. Currently the space, which dates to 1934, is occupied by interior design firm Analogue Studio. I rented a tux at Keezer's for an inauguration party in 1992.
Heading southwest, you come to the River Street Firehouse, which was under renovation when I swung by.
Built in 1890, this Queen Anne-style brick building is home to Engine and Hose Company No. 6. The station will reopen after the updating work is completed.
Adjacent to the 19th-century fire station is a building that allegedly dates to 1900, and which has been converted to condos.
I've been unable to determine what used to be here. I'm guessing a store or two at some point.
Continuing on River Street toward the river, I spied the great mural below.
Designed and created the Community Art Center's Teen Public Art Program, this beauty was painted in the spring of 2021.
Just a paint can's throw from the mural is The Coast Cafe, which has been serving Southern soul food since 1997, in a building that dates to 1902.
And on the side is yet another great mural.
The artist is Bradley Dickinson.
Just around the corner, on Putnam Avenue, is a takeout place that wouldn't be out of place on the coast of Maine.
Yes, you can buy fresh lobsters, clams and other seafood out of a small market located about 800 feet east of the Charles River, which definitely does not have any shellfish in it. Not the kind you'd want to eat, anyway. I'm not sure how long Alive & Kicking has been in business.
At the corner of Putnam Avenue and Pleasant Street is Cambridge Gospel Hall.
Built in 1930, the little building has been home to Gospel Hall since 1964.
At the corner of Pearl Street and Putnam Avenue is Gallery 263, which, more importantly to me, is the former home of Organic Furniture Cellar.
Sometime in the mid- to late-'90s, my girlfriend (now wife) and I got a hot tip about Organic Furniture Cellar. We were living in Somerville and needed some inexpensive furniture. We ended up buying a chair and a chest from the store, which was chock-a-block with great old pieces. We still have those pieces of furniture. The store went out of business around 2009, I believe.
Out on Memorial Drive is a building that I refer to as "the old Polaroid Building," which short-changes this place.
Currently home to the Harvard University Information Technology department, this building with the prominent clock was built in 1937. Constructed in what's called the International Style, 780 Memorial Drive was originally home to Boston Blacking Company, a subsidiary of United Shoe Machinery Corp. "The Cambridge, plant produced adheslves for use in shoe maufacturing and other Industries," according to MACRIS.
"[T]he building was occupied as a laboratory by Polaroid from 1966 to 1996, when the company transformed the factorylike interior spaces into its corporate headquarters," according to this Society of Architectural Historians web page.
Down the road at the Trader Joe's, artist David Fichter has created quite a stunning mural.
Called "Sunday Afternoon On the Charles River," the 25' x 120' mural "depicts local people eating, playing, relaxing, and walking on the banks of the nearby Charles River on a Sunday afternoon when the highway is blocked off," according to Fichter's web site. "The far left side, painted in grisaille, is a depiction of Harvard Square in the early 1900's."
I have featured Fichter's work in many posts, including this one about Natick Center, this one about Cambridge's Central Square and this one about Cambridge's Kendall Square.
To wrap up Cambridgeport, I'm going to talk about the most iconic sign in the entire city, and certainly, other than Boston's Citgo sign, the most well-known in Greater Boston.
"Constructed in 1933 for the Shell Office Building on Commonwealth Avenue, [the sign] was moved to its present location in 1944," according to MACRIS. "Except for the much more recent Citgo sign [in Kenmore Square], it's the only example of 'Spectacular' lighting display to survive in the Boston area."
Spectacular neon lighting, as far as I can understand, is defined by big, bold, colorful signs with movement of lights. The Citgo sign, of course, flashes up and down, with the red triangle receding into the distance and then coming back to the foreground, while the Shell sign lights up from bottom to top and flashes. Both of these iconic signs have been replaced by LED technology in recent years
So for 79 years, the Shell sign has lit up the portion of Memorial Drive across from the outdoor pool and bath house. It's a landmark like no other in the area. I find it hard to believe there used to used to several more signs along Storrow and Memorial drives, as well as in Kenmore Square.
During the heyday of neon in the 1940s and '50s, "an extensive array" of signs between the Boston University and Longfellow bridges included ones advertising White Fuel ("with its animated oil spilling from a derrick"), a Dawson's Ale sign and a Coca-Cola sign in Allston, according to this Boston Landmarks Commission report about the Citgo sign.
Signing off...from Cambridgeport.
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