UPDATE: Guido's Court

From Dave Brigham:

Longtime readers of this blog might recall that every once in a while I check in on a quaint campo di bocce in Brighton known as Guido's Court. I was unaware when I stopped by this past June that good things are in store for this little gem.

(Bocce courts.)

Located along the Leo M. Birmingham Parkway, up a small hill behind Acura of Boston and tucked nicely under some shade trees, Guido's Court was named for Guido Salvucci, a local Italian-American guy who helped build the court. According to someone who commented on one of my previous posts about the court (see May 15, 2021, "A Magic Trek in Brighton" and November 18, 2010, "Guido's Court"), his son was Fred Salvucci, former secretary of transportation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Born in Brighton, Fred, who is 86 years old, left quite a service legacy. From Wikipedia: he "served two terms as Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation under Michael Dukakis from 1975 to 1978 and 1983 to 1990. During his tenure, he gave particular emphasis to the expansion of the transit system, the development of financial and political support for the Big Dig, and the implementation of strategies in compliance with the Clean Air Act. Other efforts included the extension of the Red Line to Quincy and Alewife, the relocation of the Orange Line to the Southwest Corridor, the acquisition and modernization of MBTA Commuter Rail, the restructuring of the MBTA, and planning for the redevelopment of Park Square by placing the State Transportation Building there."

That commenter I mentioned also said that Guido, who passed away in 2006, was a wine maker and a Mason. It seems evident that his heavy-hitter son had something to do with naming the park, which sits on what was formerly a neighborhood of approximately 20 homes.

As for the court, it doesn't appear to have been used in quite some time, but that will likely change in the near future. The adjacent parkway, named for a former Massachusetts House of Representatives member, was recently reconstructed, with travel lanes reduced from four to two and the addition of a shared-use path along the southern edge of the park.

(Bocce scoreboard.)

(Horseshoe pit.)

According to the web site of landscape architecture firm Shadley Associates, proposed improvements for the small park "include universally accessible walkways, woodland trails designed to meet U.S. Forest Service accessibility guidelines, and a new overlook plaza featuring a shade structure, picnic tables, and timber benches. Recreational amenities include reconstructed bocce courts, new horseshoe pits, bicycle parking, benches, picnic tables, and a water bottle filling station."

Shadley Associates says the State of Massachusetts acquired the land in 1932 and constructed the park and parkway. Check out that web site for more history, as well as photos and maps of the proposed work.

New Balance Draws a Red Line with Diner

From Dave Brigham:

I can't be expected to know everything about the backside of America, nor of Massachusetts or even of Boston. But I'm flabbergasted that I didn't learn for more than a dozen years about a longtime Hub diner that's been sitting in a parking lot roughly four miles from my house, converted to new use by a major footwear company.

Thanks to a video shared by one of my favorite Instagram accounts, Chris Tanaka of Boston's WBZ-TV, I found out that the former Englewood Diner, which had previously been located in Dorchester, among other locations, sits on private property in Brighton. Tanaka posts regularly about walks he takes around the city, offering up lesser-known facts about streets, architecture and the city's history. Definitely check him out.

"The Englewood Diner stood in Peabody Square from the 1940s until the 1970s, when it was replaced by the Englewood Apartment building in the point between Dorchester Avenue and Talbot Avenue," according to this Dorchester Atheneum 2 blog post.

The diner over the years has moved to several Bay State towns. Per an article in the Diner Hotline Weblog, the old eatery relocated from Dorchester to Cambridge, Somerville, Fitchburg, Holden and Salisbury over the years. The diner, however, never operated in those locations. It was either stored or sat waiting for a plan to come to fruition.

The diner even went on a road trip.

"While in [Dan] Johnston’s possession, the diner ended up taking its longest round trip to be in a big budget Hollywood movie!" per the Diner Hotline article. "Johnston was approached by Dreamworks Production Company in 2001. Dreamworks wanted to use the diner in a scene of the movie 'Road to Perdition' starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. According to [Randy] Garbin as quoted from his book Diners of New England, Dreamworks reportedly paid Johnston nearly $40,000 giving Johnston the first option to purchase it back after the scenes in the movie were completed. The diner was transported to the Chicago area for the film and Johnston bought it back for less than half his original sale price."

I highly recommend reading the entire article to understand the full breadth of the old diner's life.

In 2012, I believe, the owner of New Balance, or perhaps the shoe company itself, acquired the diner and moved it to a private lot behind Boston Volvo. I accessed the site via a parking lot behind 38 Everett Street. I believe you can also check it out by walking to the rear of the car dealer's property and winding your way around to the rear of a low-slung building that is perpendicular to 38 Everett Street.

New Balance uses the old Englewood for corporate events.

A Saturday Skulk Through Southie

From Dave Brigham:

I've covered South Boston quite a bit on this blog (see the bottom of this post for links) yet somehow I found more to check out this past April. The impetus for visiting this Boston neighborhood yet again was a ghost sign that I didn't know about the last time I was there.

I forget where I learned about this old sign for Bay State Brewery located on the side of The Distillery North apartments on East 2nd Street at the intersection with H Street. "The large brick factory building that sits between East 1st and 2nd Street in South Boston was first constructed in the 1860s as the Bay State Brewery and Malt House for the production of beer," according to the Distillery North web site. A man named Henry Souther started the brewing operation, having "purchased the land from the Sound Boston Association, seeing it as well located beside the water for the delivery of barley from Canada. At the time, the harbor came right up to the property edge...."

"It wasn’t long before the Bay State Brewery was sold to a railroad magnate and Congressman from New Hampshire named Frank Jones." I haven't learned when Jones took over the facility, but I'm assuming no later than the 1890s. That means the ghost sign is likely at least 125 years old, which is pretty cool.

Jones, who during his political career also served as mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, started his brewing business in that small seacoast city. "The Frank Jones Brewery was one of the largest producers of ale in the United States of America," according to Wikipedia. "In 1896, Jones' Portsmouth brewery produced about 250,000 barrels a year."

Jones died in 1902, and the brewery complex was sold to the Felton family of Newton, Massachusetts, per the Distillery North web site. "The Feltons had arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640, already with a background in ale brewing. In Boston they took up rum distilling under the names of Crystal Spring Rum and Pilgrim Rum. After purchasing the Bay State Brewery, it took the Feltons a year to reconfigure the facility as a rum distillery, a process that involved the installation of two dozen 10,000-gallon fermenting vats."

The Felton distillery closed in 1982. "In 1984...Frederick Gordon...purchased the property with its skeletons of disused machinery, molasses streaked walls, and malodorous scents," the Distillery North site continues. "The rough neighborhood and the curious layout of the 100,000 square foot factory, with spaces ranging from shoebox to gymnasium-sized, was a curious real estate puzzle. It was artists who naturally gravitated toward the atypical labyrinth, and word got around."

Currently, the development features both work and living spaces for more than 100 artists and creative professionals. The on-site Distillery Gallery "features rotating exhibitions that highlight the diverse talents of both resident and guest artists," per the web site for the community.

Whew! That was a lot of information. I'm always happy when companies that redevelop old buildings provide the history of the site.

Since I've made photos a lot around Southie, I wandered quite a bit to find new subject matter. I ended up on Silver Street, which runs parallel to the main thoroughfare, West Broadway, between Dorchester and D streets. You know I love back alleys and narrow streets where I can see the true backside.

The first thing to catch my eye was the old rear entrance to the Gorin's department store.

When I made this photo, I felt sure I had made a complementary image of the old tile entryway to the store a few years back. But in reviewing my archives, I realized that the entryway was for Pober's, another old department store. Then I thought perhaps Gorin's had been located in the same building, before of after Pober's. But I checked out Google Street View and realized the stores were located in different buildings along West Broadway.

Anyway, Gorin's was a local chain that started in Woburn, Mass., in 1900. Early on, there were stores in Everett, South Boston, Watertown Square, Central Square in Cambridge and Somerville's Union Square, according to this Bouseblog post. By the 1950s, the chain had grown to employ more than 3,000 people in at least 20 stores. Gorin's "purchase of the Almy, Bigelow and Washburn department store chain added locations in Salem, Danvers and Beverly. Later acquisitions and mergers expanded the company to New Bedford, Mass, Manchester, N.H., Waterbury, Conn. and Rochester, N.Y.," per the blog.

"In 1984, the Gorin family sold their company, by this time 32-stores strong and re-branded as 'Almy’s,' to an investment group. The Gorin’s business had been struggling to make a profit since 1978. By 1985, the new owners had sold most of the Almy’s chain to the Stop & Shop Companies," Bouseblog indicates.

Continuing west-northwest on Silver Street, I crossed over E Street and found a little bit of country in the middle of the city.

Located next to a new apartment building and across the street from the rear of the old Bigelow School, this cute little farmhouse-style duplex was built in 1890, per the Boston assessor. I dig the civic pride demonstrated by the SOUTH BOSTON sign.

I looped around some more side streets until I found myself in front of Boris Pest Control, at the corner of West Seventh and E streets (not where these guys got their name).

I love that whoever created the company's sign paid homage to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot by using a mouse with boxing gloves. Of course, Southie was once a MAJOR Irish-American stronghold. Boris Pest Control has been in business since 1967.

As I stood in front of the pest-fighting mouse, I looked diagonally across West Seventh and saw a subtly unusual home.

This Odd House, as I dubbed it, has just under 660 square feet of living area, with one bedroom and one bathroom. Built in 1900 (perhaps; you know I'm always dubious of that date), it has seemingly been altered a bit over the last 125+ years. Maybe it was once two stories?

I made my way to D Street, then headed south-southwest into a more industrial/commercial section of the neighborhood. Then I turned south on Dorchester Ave. (aka Dot Ave. I'd walked this area outside Andrew Square a few times over the years, so once again, I sought out the nooks I had passed over previously.

On Alger Street, I found my quarry.

The ghost sign at the top says INDUSTRIAL and perhaps CO. I haven't found out what business was/is here. I just love the combination of the weathered bricks with fading paint, the heavy (leaded?) glass windows, the vent, the two doors - so many squares and rectangles.

In a large empty lot across Alger Street, running along Dorchester Ave., stands (or perhaps by this point, stood) a decomissioned Red Line subway car.

Car No. 1643 will be used by the developers of the On the Dot mixed-use project to "enhance the activity space," according to something I read somewhere online. The car was previously located in a parking lot abutting Cannonball Cafe, just up the street.

The Red Line runs underneath this area of the city, with a stop at nearby Andrew Square. The 1600 series Red Line cars came into MBTA service in the late '60s and early '70s.

Some buildings for the On the Dot project are already completed, while others in the planned 21-acre development of life-science, retail, and residential buildings will rise in the future.

To the south of the old subway car/soon-to-be social hangout stands a bit of old-school Boston: Andrew Square Liquors.

The Internet says this business opened in the late '90s. I'm guessing it took the place of a similar operation. I have a thing for packies, as they often have old signs that make for decent photos. Google Street View shows me that Andrew Square Liquors up until four years ago had a cooler sign than the current Budweiser one hanging over the awning.

I doubled back along Dorchester Avenue, cut down Damrell Street, went north-northwest on Old Colony Avenue and then headed onto E Street. After winding my way around, I ended up in front of some stunningly beautiful row houses on F Street.

These gorgeous homes date to the late 19th century.

I trekked up to Dorchester Street (not Ave.) and walked around the lovely and historic St. Augustine's Chapel grounds.

Founded in 1818, the chapel is the Boston Archdiocese's oldest Catholic church. It is open to the public only on holy days. The cemetery is the oldest Catholic burial ground in New England. There is a nice shrine that backs up to Tudor Street; it's obviously also used as a shed. Poor Mary!

I headed northeast along Dorchester Street, popping down West Fourth Street to check out a former fire house.

Completed in 1869, the station housed Ladder 5 until 1917, when the company moved next door to the much larger Engine 1 headquarters, which also served as a municipal district court. The building was converted to condos in recent years.

I headed next to East Broadway, about ready to finish my trip. At the intersection with Emerson Street, I was quite taken by the building housing M&T Oil Company / Metro Energy, which has been in business since 1929.

Upon getting back to my car, I remembered one more spot I wanted to document.

The Galley Diner is located on P Street, just off of East 1st Street. Established in 1995, the diner serves up breakfast seven days a week, and lunch Monday through Friday. Notice the sign also mentions Rumpy's, which is evidently is a brand of roast beef served at the diner.

For more on South Boston, check out the links below:

October 5, 2024, "Goin' ta Southie, Kehd"

August 27, 2020, "Circling Andrew Square"

January 25, 2020, "The Walk of Fame"

June 25, 2019, "Wool-d You Like to Join Me For a Walk?"

January 12, 2019, "Power Move in South Boston"

November 17, 2018, "Southie to Lose An Institution"

April 22, 2018, "Fort Point Channel - It's Electric!"

February 1, 2017, "Bon Voyage, Lady"

November 17, 2014, "Whitey Wuz Here"

Checking Out Dudley Street in Roxbury...and a Historic, Pre-Civil War House

From Dave Brigham:

As part of a series of quick-hit jaunts through Boston this spring, I checked out the outer reaches of Nubian Square, mostly along Dudley Street. Earlier that day, I was in Egleston Square (see July 18, 2026, "Scrambling Through Boston's Egleston Square"), and subsequently I walked through Newmarket Square. I don't plan to publish anything about the latter neighborhood, having covered it pretty well a few years back (see May 15, 2022, "Busting Ghosts in Boston's Newmarket Square").

I'll admit that when I steered myself toward Dudley Street, I didn't realize that I wasn't far from Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square), which I wrote about last year (see March 4, 2025, "Nubian Square: New Name, Old Buildings"). My first stop, Montesino & Sons Tire Shop, is located just a half mile from Hibernian Hall, the historic events venue in Nubian Square that I wrote about in the post linked above.

Situated at the northern end of Blue Hill Avenue, where it intersects with Dudley Street, the tire shop has been in business for at least 30 years. I like Montesino's sign, with a tire forming the "O" in "Sons." Adjacent to the store is a large parking lot and work area. I can't say I've ever seen a storefront tire repair joint before. Usually they're located in service stations.

The building rose in 1890, per MACRIS.

I headed southeast on Dudley Street, passing a park (Dudley Town Common), the old St. Joseph Home for the Aged, numerous three-decker homes and brick apartment buildings, until I spied Davey's Super Market (formerly F and T Supermarket).

I'm guessing that there has been a market here for several decades. "We're like a staple in the community," Jacqueline Teixeira, owner of Davey's, told the local CBS news station, WBZ, in this article. "We're not only like a grocery store; we're like a community center."

At the left of the photo, you can see part of the mural that runs the entire length of the store along Clarence Street. The art work depicts "heroes from our community," according to the web site for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. The mural was the first that DSNI produced.

Continuing along, I stepped into an alley next to Nos Casa Cafe (Spanish and Portuguese fare) to check out a ghost sign for a much older business.

I don't know how old this sign for Smith Grocery is, when the business was started, nor when it went out of business. I always love seeing relics like this, fossils from earlier times.

Located at 475 Dudley Street, this building is known as the Adolph Miller Building, which dates to 1897, according to MACRIS.

Further south on Dudley Street, at the corner of Albion Street, I made an image of the side of Market Borinqueña.

This is one of those photos that I just walk into. The bold lettering on the sign telling potential customers important information, the contrast of the tan and blue section of painted wall, the stacks of plastic crates, the bike, the pallet. I really like this image. The next one is no slouch either.

I walked past Market Borinqueña, then turned around and headed back toward my starting point. I was thrilled by the sign painted on the side of Ideal Sub Shop. Again, the sign tells you everything you need to know, in a bold but simple fashion.

A little further north, I looked east down Rockford Street, a narrow way running down the side of a two-and-a-half story building that, I found out later via MACRIS, is a former Metropolitan Street Railway car house (so sorry, no photo). I spied a carriage house and thought, "Oh, that's cool. And in really good condition."

Then I walked up a series of short stone stairways up a small hill in front of me and saw the main house. "This place is beautiful," I said.

I'd heard of the Shirley-Eustis House, and knew it was in Roxbury, but I had no idea I was close by. I'm thankful that my backside nose led me to it.

"The Shirley-Eustis House was built in bucolic Roxbury in 1747 by William Shirley as his country estate," according to the web site for the non-profit organization that operates the home as a museum and event and education space. "Shirley was Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1741-1749 and 1753-1756. In 1756 he was also appointed by King George II Commander-in-Chief of all British and Colonial Forces in North America. In this grand example of English Palladian design, Governor Shirley and his family lived very public lives as representatives of the British Empire. Their persons, their house, and the grounds were cared for by a staff of enslaved Africans, indentured servants, and sometimes idle soldiers."

In 1759 Shirley was reappointed as the Governor of the Bahamas and he deeded the property to his son-in-law, Eliakim Hutchinson, according to MACRIS. Hutchinson, who served as a member of the governor's council and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, lived in the property until his death in 1775.

The estate served as a vital property for the colonists during the Revolutionary War. "Despite Hutchinson's demise, the Americans seized his property officially in 1782, but practically in 1775 because of its former owner's Loyalist sentiments. Beginning in 1775 the house was used as barracks and hospital for men stationed in Dorchester during the [British] siege [of Boston]," MACRIS continues.

Per the Shirley-Eustis House Association, the home was owned by a succession of wealthy Bostonians in the following decades, including Capt. James Magee, a merchant; and former diplomat William Eustis and his wife, Caroline. In 1865, Hannah Osgood purchased the property and ran it as a boarding house.

"By 1900...the aging structure was a tenement falling quickly into disrepair," per the web site. "In 1913 it was condemned and slated for demolition."

Preservationists stepped in to save the home. "Led by Lillie B. Titus and William Sumner Appleton, the Shirley-Eustis House Association managed to rescue the house and worked diligently over several decades to restore it to its former grandeur. With the exception of the lost piazzas and verandas, the house now looks very much as it did in 1820."

The carriage house dates to 1806.

Scrambling Through Boston's Egleston Square

From Dave Brigham:

I've danced around Boston's Egleston Square quite a bit over the years I've been publishing this blog. I've roamed Jackson Square, the Fort Hill Tower area, Franklin Park and parts of the nearby Jamaica Plain neighborhood (see the bottom of this post for links to those articles). Recently, I finally checked out the Egleston area, using as motivation my hope that there was an old sign still hanging outside the final Skippy White's Records store to close.

My jaunt through the square was part of a one-day whirlwind tour including Jamaica Plain (to make photos, once again, of Boston's old breweries), the outskirts of Nubian Square and the gritty streets of Newmarket Square (where I've also been before).

I recently decided that I want to make photos of as many Boston-area record stores as I can. I included Skippy White's on the list, even though the store in Egleston Square had closed in January 2020. I noticed on Google Street View that as of October 2022, there were signs promoting "CD's - Videos - DVDs" above the windows at 1971 Columbus Avenue. Alas, when I arrived in early spring of this year, those signs were gone. The good news is that another small business now fills the space -- I forget what sort of outfit it is, and a Google search did not provide an answer.

I never had the pleasure of going to any Skippy White's store. Founded in 1960 in Boston's South End as Mass Records, the chain grew to include shops in other Boston neighborhoods, as well as Cambridge, Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, as well as New Orleans (!), according to this Bay State Banner article.

"For more than six decades, White sold gospel, R&B and soul music to Boston’s African American community and other lovers of Black music," the article indicates. I encourage you to read that Bay State Banner article.

The Skippy White signs were gone, but there were other things that caught my eye in Egleston Square, which straddles Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

Right across Columbus Avenue from the old record store is the circular residential tower known as the Doris Bunte Apartments. Completed in 1970 for the Boston Housing Authority, the cylindrical building was originally known as Walnut Park. The architecture firm of Richmond & Goldberg designed the project. The firm, which was in business from 1946 to 1973, also designed the Egleston Square branch of the Boston Public Library; a number of temples in Brookline; and many other municipal and religious structures.

The building reminds me of Chicago's Marina City, a mixed-use residential and commercial complex along the Chicago River. I mentioned those towers in a post about the Windy City several years ago (see May 18, 2018, "Rollin' On the River").

The Bunte building is slated for renovation.

The tower was renamed for Doris Bunte, who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1984, and administrator of the Boston Housing Authority from 1984 to 1992. She was the first African-American woman to hold either position, according to Wikipedia.

I've taken a liking to storefronts of late, be they old or new.

On the corner of Weld and Columbus avenues stands Violeta Appliance, a store that I believe is relatively new. I really love the bold colors in the lettering and background.

Around the corner on Washington Street is Egleston Liquors. I like that the sign tells potential customers in both English and Spanish what type of store it is.

On the corner of School and Washington streets, I found a beautiful doorway.

Erected in 1905, the Queen Anne / Richardsonian Romanesque commercial/apartment block was built for D.F. and W.S. Littlefield, brothers who owned a fruit market. Currently the ground-floor retail space is occupied by a market and a barber shop.

At the corner of Washington Street and Chilcott Place stands Pika Pollo, a Dominican fried chicken joint. On the side there is a fantastic mural.

Painted by Philadelphia-based artist Betsy Casañas, the work is a vibrant addition to the neighborhood.

The furthest west I went on this jaunt was the former Franklin Brewery building, which towers over Washington Street. If you enlarge the image below, you can see the beer brewer's name chiseled into the stone rectangle in the middle of the entryway.

I wrote about (and shared images of) this place in the blog post linked above about Boston's old breweries. In part, I wrote: "Built in 1894, this Queen Anne fortress was a brewery until...1918," shortly before Prohibition kicked in. "In 1900, 'the Franklin Brewery became a branch of the Massachusetts Brewery Co., a consortium which included the American Brewery at 249 Heath Street, the Alley Brewery at 123 Heath Street, H. and J. Pfaff Co. at 1276 Columbus, and the Robinson Brewery at 55-71 Amory,' per MACRIS."

"'The brewery was named for nearby Franklin Park....Around 1918, the Franklin Brewery building was vacant and a year later was owned by the Union Wool Co. and used for storage. By the 1920's, 3179 Washington had become the home of the D.W.. Dunn Storage Company,'" MACRIS continued.

Today, this beauty is home to Extra Space Storage.

At this point, I headed north-northeast to Columbus Avenue. Standing at the corner of Washington and Atherton streets, I had to rub my eyes as I looked across Columbus. "Is that part of the old elevated railway?" I said out loud, to nobody but myself.

No, the 14,000-square foot Egleston Center isn't a relic from Boston's transit days gone by. But is an homage. Located on the site of the former Egleston Station stop on the Washington Street elevated rail line, the commercial development was built in the mid-1990s by Urban Edge, a community developer founded in 1974.

Pretty cool!

Check out this image of the old elevated station, from Digital Commonwealth.

Heading north on Columbus Avenue, I passed #1945, a large triangular property that was once a used car lot.

(The former sales office for Columbus Auto Sales and, more recently, Roxbury Motors.)

Looking at Google Street View, I saw that the last business to occupy this lot was Roxbury Motors. For years prior, it was home to Columbus Auto Sales. Sometime between August 2019 and October 2022, Roxbury Motors vacated the lot. The site has been owned by Larosa Development Corporation of Norwood, Mass., since early 2019. I haven't been able to determine what, if any, plans there are for the property.

At the corner of West Walnut Park and Columbus Avenue sits my favorite site of that day.

I love the layers of history here. In reverse order: El Cruce Market, which replaced Salcedo Market within the last three years; Columbus Market, which, judging from the plastic sign, dated back at least a few decades; and the name carved into the building, C.J. Spenceley Block, and the date "1888."

Of late, I've focused my lens on storefronts such as this one. I love the bold colors, the variety of food and other products catering to local ethnic groups, the sense of community they engender. As painter Debbie Shirley writes to describe an exhibit of hers showcasing immigrant-owned convenience stores, "Each piece celebrates the cultures, communities, and everyday encounters that give these storefronts their stories."

So, who was C.J. Spenceley?

"Christopher Jackson Spenceley was born in Wicasset, Maine on August 16, 1840," according to this Jamaica Plain Historical Society article. "He...came to Boston at the age of 17 [where] he learned to be a carpenter and by 1863 had started his own business. He became engaged in the building and selling of structures in the South End and Roxbury."

Spenceley served three consecutive terms on the Boston Common Council, a precursor to the Boston City Council. He also served a Trustee for the Boston City Hospital (now known as Boston Medical Center) for several years. He married Rebecca Staples (from Truro, Nova Scotia) on August 16, 1863 and they had three children: Joseph Winfred, Fred and Mineola, the article continues.

The family lived at 367 Walnut Ave, just a few blocks from the C.J. Spenceley Block. He died on August 12, 1903 and is buried at Fox Hill Cemetery in Billerica.

My final Egleston Square image is of a simple yet effective and eye-catching sign, in front of IAO Auto Repair, at Columbus Avenue and Bancroft Street.

The sign seems to date from when E & J Auto Tech was on the site, in early 2016, according to Google Street View.

Check back soon for my write-up about a stretch along Dudley Street on the outskirts of Boston's Nubian Square.

Below are links to posts referenced above:

March 4, 2025, "Nubian Square: New Name, Old Buildings"

October 19, 2024, "Beyond the Standpipe: I Find Black Jesus and Other Cool Stuff in Fort Hill"

September 21, 2024, "Franklin Park is Ruin-ed"

May 18, 2024, "Stadium Tour in Franklin Park"

February 26, 2022, "Jamaica Plain, Part II: The Return"

December 18, 2019, "Having a Bear of a Time at the Zoo"

January 26, 2018, "Jamaica Plain Has Plenty of Flair"

December 9, 2017, "Artist Thinks: I HAF to Fix That Smokestack"

Former Rock Club in the Fenway Slated for Redevelopment

From Dave Brigham:

Sometime in the late '90s/early aughts, I saw one of the greatest Boston bands of all time, the Upper Crust, in a small club not far from Fenway Park:

That club, the Linwood Grill, was located in the Fenway neighborhood, on a street named for a Scottish town: Kilmarnock. I believe I saw other bands at that venue over the years, but the Crust stick out. I also saw some shows at Church, the club that took over when the Linwood closed many years ago. The one I recall from that era was an iteration of the International Pop Overthrow featuring my friend Ray's band, Powderhouse.

Church closed in late 2015. A restaurant named Tapestry took over the space, but alas, that place closed in August 2019.

Since that time, the doors below have been shuttered.

Music clubs are a tough business. Boston has lost many such venues in recent decades. The Rat in Kenmore Square. The Channel in South Boston. Bunratty's/Local 186/Wonder Bar in Allston. Chet's Last Call near TD Garden. Green Street Station in Jamaica Plain. Western Front in Cambridge. Great Scott in Allston.

So what's to become of the old Linwood/Church space?

Idyl Fenway, that's what. The first phase of this residential redevelopment sits across the street from this address; the second will feature 75 condos at the old music club site. I'm not sure when construction is slated to begin on that (it may have by the time this post goes live).

OK, that's it.

Former Investment Property for Well-Known Philanthropist Tucked Away Near Fenway Park

From Dave Brigham:

This is another one from the "Gee, I wonder if this place is 'something'" files.

Back in February, I decided to walk around Fenway Park, Kenmore Square and parts of nearby neighborhoods, camera in hand. I got some decent shots of the home of the Red Sox, as well as a random bicycle gang rolling down Beacon Street. As I was heading back to my car, east-northeast on Beacon, I looked to my right down Aberdeen Street, and thought, "Huh, never been down here before."

The street, which dead-ends at the MBTA's Green Line D branch tracks, is short. It is lined with a handful of apartment buildings ranging in height from two to six stories. Some of these contain housing for Boston University students. At the end, on the east side of the street, is the Blauer company, which for 90 years has manufactured public-safety apparel of all types.

Abutting the company's headquarters is a rowhouse that appeared older and more refined than the other apartment buildings. So I made a photo and headed to old friend MACRIS.

Built in 1914, this two-family, English Revival house has ties to a well-known Boston philanthropist who died more than 100 years ago, but whose name is in Boston news in the Now Times due to a clash over a stadium in Franklin Park named for him.

Score one for Backside intuition!

"This charming row of Jacobethan two-family houses was built...as an investment property for Boston philanthropist George Robert White," MACRIS indicates.

I've mentioned White several times here over the years. Born in Lynnfield, Mass., in 1847, he lived most of his life in Boston. "As a boy he began working for the Weeks and Potter Drug Company," according to Wikipedia. "Over time White's responsibilities grew and he eventually became the president and owner of the firm. White changed the name of the corporation to that of the Potter Drug and Chemical Company. The company was best known for its antibacterial soap with the brand name Cuticura. Over the course of his life he amassed a fortune. He was active in a number of charitable organizations."

I first mentioned White in a November 21, 2018, post about Boston's North End (see "A Little Further Into the North End"). That post refers to his bequeathing $5 million to the City of Boston as a permanent charitable fund.

In May 2024, I featured the Menino Arts Center in Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood, which is also home to the George Robert White Trust (see "Seeking Out Hyde Park"). A year later, I posted a photo of the long-defunct health unit of the White Fund, in a post about Boston's Roxbury and South End neighborhoods (see May 24, 2025, "Lower South Roxbury End").

But what makes White's name relevant today is the stadium in Boston's Franklin Park.

Built in 1949, White Stadium (originally known as the George Robert White Schoolboy Stadium) was used for football, track and other sporting events and practices for Boston school athletes, as well as concerts and other events.

In recent years, the open-air arena has fallen into disrepair. When I visited in early 2024, I was expecting a rather drab facility. I was pleasantly surprised, then, by the detail over the entrances to the stadium, which you can see in images I made for a post about it (see May 18, 2024, "Stadium Tour in Franklin Park").

I made that visit because I was aware that big changes were coming to the stadium. As I wrote in 2024, "In the late summer of 2023, the owners of the city's entry in the National Women's Soccer League, the Boston Unity, announced a plan with the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools (BPS) to overhaul the aging facility and take over primary usage of the stadium from March to October each year."

As it stands now, the redevelopment calls for a state-of-the-art, 10,000-seat stadium to serve as the home for Boston Unity. White will also be accessible to schools and students. Needless to say, this is a controversial plan. The stadium is located in a public park -- the most expansive and popular one in Boston -- and is vital to local schools and their athletic programs. There are lawsuits pending, with plaintiffs hoping to stop or alter the scale of the project, especially as costs for the city have continued to rise.

If you want to read more about the stadium and its supporters (foremost of whom is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu) and detractors (led by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy), you can search online.

I was taken aback when I saw images of the stadium -- or what's left of it -- in recent media reports. I was under the impression that more of the bones of the place were going to be saved. At least one entrance seems to have been spared. Check out this report from WBUR to see photos and read a bit more about the plan.

Records, Wrecks + Religion

From Dave Brigham:

I used to love going to record stores and flipping through albums, EPs, 7-inches, cassette tapes and, as time wore on, CDs, hunting for punk, post-punk, New Wave, blues, classic rock, etc.

I still hit such shops once in a while, mainly looking for used country records, and always keep my eyes peeled for the stores when I'm out and about with my camera. I've featured images of record stores in plenty of blog posts, including in Gardner, Mass., Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Beverly, Mass., Worcester, Mass., Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., Ball Square in Somerville, Mass., Boston's Allston neighborhood, Natick, Mass., Belmont, Mass., and others that I didn't take the time to look up.

I recently decided I wanted to make photos of as many Boston-area record stores as I can. With that in mind, I headed to Mattapan, specifically the north-central part of the Boston neighborhood, along its commercial spine, Blue Hill Avenue. There, I found one that will be hard to beat, aesthetic-wise.

Founded in 1981, Taurus Records specializes in reggae, soca and Calypso in their mission to bring "the rich sounds of the Caribbean to their new community," per the store's web site. "Our store remains a hub for music lovers, where culture is celebrated and the beats of Jamaica live on. For us, it's more than just a business; it's a celebration of heritage, a community gathering space, and a tribute to the unifying power of music," the shop's owners, Sonia Barnett and Leroy Webb, profess on their web site.

Taurus also sells jewelry, apparel, car accessories, flags and other merchandise.

I walked around a bit, making sure to get a shot of the Mattapan Auto Body shop, which also houses All Star Motor Group.

I'm guessing the building dates to the 1920s or 1930s, and that the business has been around for a few decades at least. I really dig the signage.

The last place I checked out on my quick trip was the Lily of the Valley Baptist Church, at Blue Hill Avenue and Hosmer Street.

The church was founded in 1984, I believe. The building looks like it may have originally been a store or a warehouse.

For the other post I've written about Mattapan, see August 16, 2018, "The Lowdown on the High-Speed Line", about the quaint branch of Boston's rail system located about 1.5 miles south of the Baptist church, just on the Milton line.

Grid Luck Crossing the Charles

From Dave Brigham:

Whenever I discover something quirky in service of this blog, I act as if people have been purposely keeping it a secret from me.

The old buildings that make up Brighton's Charles River Speedway, a favorite drinking and hangout destination of mine, were once part of a horse racing facility? Why didn't anyone ever tell me?!

There's a Colonial-era highway behind a hotel just a few miles from where I grew up in Connecticut? That's something I should have been told about as a kid!

Today, I focus my apoplexy on the folks who hid from me the existence of the Gridley Locks near Boston's TD Garden.

I stumbled across the locks, which are part of the Charles River Dam that was built in 1978, when looking on Google Maps for a good place to make photos of the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. "What the hell are the Gridley Locks?" I asked myself. "Who's responsible for keeping this Backside knowledge from me?"

Accessible via Lovejoy Wharf to the south and Paul Revere Park to the north, the locks are not at all hidden, but since they sit parallel to the North Washington Street bridge connecting the North End to Charlestown, they are certainly a less popular way of connecting those urban dots.

I love lesser-used pathways and alleys and tunnels and the like, so within a few days of learning about the locks, I had to check them out. There is nothing particularly photogenic about the locks, although there is the added attraction of the Charlestown Bells, an interactive music sculpture created by artist Paul Matisse. The bells are located, as you may have guessed by the name, near the Charlestown side of the dam.

I passed several people in my walk across the locks. I'm sure a few were wondering why the hell I was making photos of something as pedestrian as the walkway across a narrow part of the Charles River. The emotion I felt as I walked along was, I will admit, glee mixed with boredom. I'm always happy to find an out-of-the-way method of getting from one place to another.

So, what's the story with the locks, and who are they named after?

"Built and operational in 1978, the three locks can be crossed by pedestrians," per Wikipedia. "It is part of the popular Boston Harborwalk. The dam contains three individual locks, with one wider than the other two to accommodate the occasional passing of a larger vessel."

They were named for Col. Richard Gridley, who was George Washington’s chief engineer in the Continental Army. "Col. Gridley engineered the fortifications at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, and at Dorchester Heights, where General Howe and his army were forced to evacuate Boston in March of 1776," according to the always thorough and enjoyable The Next Phase Blog.

Several years ago I explored near the locks, as my son and I checked out the North Bank Pedestrian Bridge that connects the southeastern tip of Cambridge to Charlestown.

One Potato, Two Potato, a Million Potatoes

From Dave Brigham:

According to Spud Webb, this is the best monument in Boston. Spuds MacKenzie agrees. The Potato Shed Memorial along what's left of the Millers River in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood is something you have to seek out. I was willing to get fried in the sun one recent summer day in order to make a photo for y'all.

Sited near the end of a Route 1 off-ramp near New Rutherford Avenue, the memorial -- a stack of potato bags made of cast stone -- isn't something you happen upon. You have to know it's there, you have to have the starch to persevere and you have to care about this obscure bit of tuber history.

Many years ago, I was in this vicinity, checking out the North Bank Pedestrian Bridge with my son, and tried to find this monument. But I gave up, because my son wasn't into the hunt and we had other places to explore (see December 21, 2018, "The Under / Over from Cambridge to Charlestown").

But once I get a place like this -- obscure, a bit goofy and dedicated to a staple food -- in my head, I don't forget it. So I recently came at the monument from the other direction, and found it with ease. So Dave, I can hear you asking, what's the deal with the Potato Shed Memorial?

Ore-Ida, I'll tell you.

"In this area between the mid-1800's and the 1930's millions and millions of potatoes were off-loaded into storage sheds along the sidings of the Boston and Maine Railroad," the plaque begins. This area southeast of Bunker Hill Community College and next to the Charles River was once lousy with railroad tracks. The college is located on the former site of Charlestown State Prison, in the area known as Prison Point (see October 17, 2017, "Set Yourself Free on Prison Point").

The plaque continues: "Many residents of the Charlestown neighborhood regularly came to the Miller's River (Millers / Miller's, po-tay-to / po-tah-to) potato sheds to purchase their weekly supplies. Long-standing community members have first hand (sic) memories of their trips to the sheds. The potato storage sheds burned in the mid-1930's and were not replaced."

According to this Boston.com article, one man, artist Ross Miller, is "perhaps most responsible for the statue."

A visual artist who worked on the Big Dig’s Central Artery Arts Program in the 1990s, Miller "says he encountered Charlestown residents with vivid memories of the potato sheds and was amused by the idea of memorializing them," per the article. “'I sort of spearheaded the idea,' Miller said, adding that the pedestrian aspects of the massive infrastructure project were relatively 'overlooked.'"

He took charge. “There was a lot of freedom,” he said.

I hope you don't think this post was half-baked.

In Which I Am an Alley Cat

From Dave Brigham:

Nearly 40 years ago I went on what was essentially the first Backside of American expedition. A senior at New Hampshire's Keene State College, I walked around the downtown one night with two friends, singing, playing music, bantering, emgaging with strangers, checking out the back lots of the town (see October 6, 2019, "Remembering a Foundational Moment").

Since that time, I've had a fascination with the hidden parts of small towns and big cities, the places where the rats and riff-raff go. For quite a few years, I've wanted to explore the public alleys of Boston. Last fall, I did my first proper adventure in the city's Back Bay neighborhood (see February 1, 2025, "Sneakin' Sally Through Boston's Alleys"). Earlier this year, I returned to the Back Bay for another foray.

I started at the eastern end of Public Alley 421, which is off Arlington Street, directly across from the Public Garden. It runs between Marlborough and Beacon streets. As I mentioned in the first alley dispatch, the Back Bay is a fairly posh area. Even the parking spaces are architecturally wonderful.

I crossed Berkeley Street and into Public Alley 420. Where that alley meets Clarendon Street, I was inspired by a steam release.

The exhaust was coming from Hale House, a residential home for senior citizens located in a building named for Edwart Everett Hale, a Boston author, historian and minister. "Hale House was once the home of the historian and writer Henry Adams, grandson of President John Quincy Adams," per the Hale House web site. "In 1896, the Massachusetts Audubon Society was founded by Bostonians Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and her cousin Minna B. Hall, in the parlor of the house."

Continuing along, I was in Public Alley 419 when I spied the rear of 237 Beacon Street. Something about the hand-written house number just looked good to me.

I was also quite taken by the tall, skinny building facing onto Marlborough Street.

In Alley #418, I found a nice little scene asking for neighborly etiquette.

I hear Emily Post was big into the whole No Dumping movement.

I don't traverse back alleys looking for great architecture, although sometimes I do find some. What I tend to look for is little scenes that you wouldn't necessarily expect to find in a neighborhood like the Back Bay.

Obviously there is renovation afoot. But that white "X" on a red background essentially cautions first responders it's not safe to enter. I see that sign all over the place, usually on long-abandoned properties.

Why is there a lawnmower?

In Alley #417, I saw the first of two basketball hoops. This one is pretty sweet.

Great architecture, no. But cool details - yes.

And more etiquette lessons.

OK, great architecture, too.

I love this little building. I believe it was brought into the world in 1919, whereas the main buliding it sits behind rose in 1888. It's a tiny house for the post-World War I generation.

The scene below could be the cover for Urban Slacker Design weekly.

The photo below makes me wonder whether some tenant along this public alley descends the fire escape ladder to illegally dispose of rubbish.

Eventually I crossed Massachusetts Avenue and into Public Alley #908. I'm not sure why the system goes from #414 to #908. I saw another basketball hoop.

And then the back entrance to 531 Beacon Street.

The apartment building features studios, 1- and 2-bedroom units, with rents starting at $2,300 a month.

At this point, the alley makes a sharp curve to the south and toward Marlborough Street. I found the mix of buildings at this point quite pleasant.

I walked east on Marlborough Street for a minute before ducking into Public Alley #905. There, I saw a scene reminiscent of the old-timey days....and of the second photo in this post.

And then an odd little door.

At first I assumed this was another old coal-delivery entry point. But then I realized that this door used to be bigger before it was partially bricked up. I crossed back over Mass. Ave. and into Public Alley #429. I don't remember which alley I was in when I saw the industrial yellow locker featured below. This was the second set of lockers I've seen on my back-alley wanderings.

Whereas the locker was neat and secure, the barrels below look gross and dangerous. Perfect for a back alley!

I continued on through Public Alleys 428-423, enjoying seeing other folks using the alleys, and appreciating the relative peace and quiet. Not much caught my eye until the gorgeous fire escape seen below.

At the entrance to Public Alley #422, I made a photo of the gated entrance to the First Lutheran Church of Boston.

The congregation traces its history to 1839. The building dates to 1959.

My final shot was of a lovely old brick and sandstone home directly across the alley from the church.

Known as the Samuel Hooper House, this Commonwealth Avenue residence rose in 1861, from a design by Arthur Gilman and Gridley J.F. Bryant. "The house itself is one of the most elegant examples of the Second Empire style in Boston, with octagonal bays projecting up into the mansard roof," according to this Society of Architectural Historians write-up.

Gilman "advocated filling in the Back Bay district, urging this plan for years before his views were carried out by the state," according to Wikipedia. "Here Gridley James Fox Bryant was his colleague. Commonwealth Avenue, now one of the finest streets in the world, is due almost entirely to his persistent efforts, along with Frederick Law Olmsted. Gilman designed the H. H. Hunnewell house (1851) in Wellesley (then West Needham) and, with Bryant, the Old City Hall in Boston (1862–65).

That's a wrap on public alleys for now. I will explore more later this year for sure.