From Dave Brigham:
I did a fair amount of Christmas shopping at local businesses this season. For the first time ever, I combined that effort with a photo trek through the main retail district in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Here's what I found.
Along South Street, just north of where it intersects with New Washington Street, I spied Arborway Auto Service.
I was struck by how neat and clean this place looks, with its immaculate brick front and gleaming sign, which was done by Josh Luke of Best Dressed Signs. You can really sense the pride in this business, which was founded in 1971.
Heading north along South Street, I was captivated as much by the outside of Botanica San Miguel....
...as by what they sell inside.
I'm not sure how long the store has been in business; I found a very positive review from 2010 on Yelp.
Next door is The Jeanie Johnston Pub and Grill, a joint named after what it calls "the legendary Irish famine ship" on its web site.
The ship was built in 1847 in Quebec. "The 408 ton cargo ship was purchased in Liverpool by John Donovan and Sons of Tralee, Co. Kerry," according to the Jeanie Johnston Educational Foundation web site. "As the famine gripped Ireland, the company ran a successful trade bringing emigrants from Ireland to North America and returning with timbers bound for the ports of Europe. She made her maiden emigrant voyage from Blennerville, Co. Kerry to Quebec on 24 April 1848, with 193 emigrants on board, as the effects of the Famine ravaged Ireland. Between 1848 and 1855, the Jeanie Johnston made 16 voyages to North America, sailing to Quebec, Baltimore, and New York."
As for the pub, it hosts open-mic and karaoke events, as well as trivia nights. None of those activities are happening these days, though. The building dates to 1910. I'm not sure what was in the space before the Jeanie Johnston.
A few doors down is Deep Thoughts record store.
Again, I'm not sure when this fantastic store opened, but based on the video below, it seems like the best kind of place for record lovers: stocked with more genres of music than you can imagine; jammed with buttons and books and art - a real orgy for the eyes.
STO 3: Deep Thoughts from Teen-Beat on Vimeo.
I've suggested to my wife's brother in law that he seek out a synergistic marketing deal for his Deep Thoughts Designs fishing gear.
Next up as we head north is Happy Market & Spirits.
The store looks great, but I was most interested in the Budweiser sign hanging outside.
Across the street is a Boston Housing Authority apartment complex. I like the fading mural on what appears to be a storage or maintenance annex.
I love how the artist incorporated the door of the building into this pastoral scene of a small house, a woman gathering fruit from trees, a river and gently rolling mountains in the background.
From South Street, I spied a cool building just a little ways down Carolina Avenue.
Established in 1894, Penshorn Roofing does slate work, asphalt shingles, copper fabrication, gutter work and more. I thought at first that this place was abandoned, but I was wrong.
Back on South Street, something about the signs for Peru Travel hit me just right.
The sign on the side of the building is hand painted and looks pretty old. The one on the front of the store has a fantastic image that makes travel seem glamorous. And the way the phone number is painted -- old-school, no area code -- speaks of a simpler time. By the way, notary services are also available here.
On the east side of South Street, just before it merges into Centre Street, is the Curtis Hall Community Center.
Built in 1868, this beautiful Second Empire building served as the West Roxbury Town Hall from that year until 1873, per MACRIS. From 1876 to 1908 it was the Jamaica Plain Library. Founded in 1630 as part of Roxbury, West Roxbury seceded from its parent town in 1851, per Wikipedia. West Roxbury, which included the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, was annexed by Boston in 1874.
A fire destroyed part of the building in 1908. In 1911, the JP library reopened. In more recent years, Curtis Hall (aka the Memorial Building) housed Jamaica Plain Little City Hall, per MACRIS. These days, the hall features a community room, a computer lab, a fitness center, an indoor pool, a senior center and a teen center.
This brings us to the triangular intersection of South, Centre and Eliot streets. Here is located the Loring Greenough House, just north of Curtis Hall. Built in 1760, the house since 2008 has served as a center for social, cultural, historical, and educational activities, per its web site. It is operated by the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, which was founded in 1924 as a ladies-only club and functioned that way until 1993. As you perhaps are figuring out, I didn't shoot any photos of the house, as I'm not really into well-preserved, museum-type places.
Of more interest to me in this intersection was the Civil War Monument.
Dedicated on September 14, 1871, this 27-foot-high memorial to West Roxbury's Civil War dead is one of the more impressive war statues I've seen in Greater Boston. W.W. Lummus -- who sounds like a Dr. Seuss character -- designed the entire monument; Joseph Sala sculpted the statue of the soldier that tops it off.
On the corner of Centre and Eliot streets, on the west-facing side of a one-story retail building, is the cool mural below.
Painted by the Mayor's Mural Crew (have I mentioned how much I love that the MMC is a thing?), the artwork features perhaps two dozen people across all ages and ethnicities and times, including the soldier from the Civil War monument.
Just up Eliot Street is the stunning Eliot Hall.
Home to the Footlight Club, which claims to be America’s oldest community theater, having produced performances every year since 1877, this Greek Revival/Italianate beauty was built in 1832. The theater group has used the building since 1878. At that time the hall was owned by First Parish Church, which is located across the street on property once owned by Rev. John Eliot, the so-called "Apostle of the Indians" (see December 18, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 2)" for more about Eliot and a memorial to him in Newton). According to the church's web site, Eliot is considered "a perpetrator of cultural genocide by indigenous scholars."
I'm not sure if the church owned the hall since its construction. Regardless, by 1889 the parish considered razing the building to "put the property to better use," according to the Jamaica Plain Historical Society's history of the building. "Friends of the Club formed a committee who sold 1000 shares of a trust in Eliot Hall and bought the hall for the Footlight Club. Major renovation was done to convert the hall into a true theater and on January 9, 1890 the Club's 50th production played in the new Eliot Hall," according to the JPHS.
The Footlight Club has undertaken some major renovations to the hall. In the photo below, notice the white/gray structures floating above the main building. I'm not sure when that addition was put on. I believe that's the main auditorium.
More recently, the troupe has undertaken accessibility upgrades. "The work will provide access to four levels of Eliot Hall – from the basement to the first and second floors and to the stage level – ensuring that both audience members and potential cast and crew can access all parts of the building," according to the group's web site. "Alongside the building will run an accessible ramp that leads to a new entrance, the elevator, and a staircase to all four levels of the club. An additional accessible restroom will be added on the second floor, as well as increased storage space in the basement and on the first floor."
Next on our tour, along Centre Street, is an outlet of a local liquor-store chain that was founded 40 years before the Footlight Club's members began to trod the boards.
(Cool sign.)
Blanchards Wine & Spirits was established in 1838 in Boston's Scollay Square. In 1938, the company was bought by John Corey who "grew the company from one retail location into a chain [of] retail stores," according to the Blanchards web site. "He also opened a distilled spirits plant and import division in the 1950’s located in Boston’s Historic South End." The company operates seven retail stores in Greater Boston. Third- and fourth-generation Coreys continue to operate the business.
Blanchards is located next to the Robert Seaver & Company Block, which was built in 1875.
This site was where a provisions store stood in the late 18th century, according to MACRIS. "After retiring from the teaching profession, [Joshua Seaver] bought an old store on or near the site....During the early 19th [century] the store was the first stop for the stage coach on its trip from Boston to Providence." Robert Seaver took over the store from 1833 to 1885, having a new building constructed in 1875. His sons eventually owned the business. I'm not sure when the store closed, or what may have been there prior to the current tenant, Robert T. Fowler & Sons Insurance.
When I saw Costello's Tavern, below, I thought not of the famous comedian Lou Costello, who with his partner Bud Abbott is best known for the "Who's On First?" skit, but rather of two men named Costello I knew just a little bit many, many years ago.
The first was my elementary school principal, who of course we only knew as "Mr. Costello." I think his first name was Paul. In my mind, he looked a bit like Ed Sullivan, with jet-black, slicked-back hair and a perpetually red face. I recall him as being mean, but I imagine he wasn't like that all the time. The second guy is named Mike Costello, and he lived in an apartment building that my girlfriend (now wife) resided in in the early '90s in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. This guy, who was maybe in his early 40s, was nice enough, but seemed to be complete and total lush. I would exchange pleasantries with him, but I felt a bit creeped out by him.
Anyway, Costello's Tavern has been around a long time, I'm sure. It closed temporarily during the pandemic, but reopened shortly after I snapped this picture. The new apartments rising above the bar were added in 2020. According to a commenter on an article at Universal Hub about the apartments, "The space above the former Redds and Tony's had upper floors as part of the original structure. In fact the space on the 2nd floor, historically, was the home of the first silent film house that was accompanied by piano."
Wow! Love that history. The floors were torn down after a fire.
Across Centre Street from the tavern is Galway House, which has been serving up food and drink to the locals since 1960.
There's a fantastic painting on the front door.
The artwork is by Chris Plunkett, depicting a streetcar of the type that used to roll by the front door of Galway House. In 1985, the MBTA temporarily halted trolley service in Jamaica Plain. My son, who is my in-house expert on the T, tells me that temporary order is still in place even though the tracks were torn out a decade ago.
A little further north is the Centre Building.
This building rose in 1920, according to the Boston assessor's office. Current tenants include Eastern Bank and Susanna, a clothing store established in 1982.
I've featured a few murals and front-door paintings in this post, but none of them can hold a candle to the next one.
This is just a detail of the amazing work on the side of Purple Cactus, a Southwestern restaurant. This masterpiece was painted in 2013 by the Mayor's Mural Crew and Heidi Schork, who is the director of the crew. Schork lives in JP and spent eight years living in Mexico. So it's no surprise that this mural has a Day of the Dead look about it. "The Mexican Mural Movement of the early and mid 20th century remains an important influence in [Schork's] mural work," according to the City of Boston web site. "Heidi has led countless mural, installation, and public art events in Boston and in Mexico."
Arguably the centerpiece of this shopping mecca is the original JP Lick's ice cream shop.
Located in a circa-1865 former fire station, JP Licks was founded in the neighborhood in 1981, according to its web site. "The shop immediately began to gain popularity and became a hit with local residents and area college students," the site crows. "Its eclectic look gave the store a distinctive atmosphere and my staff, mostly Mass College of Art students (who one customer good naturedly described in 1981, as a 'freak show of polite, tattooed, body pierced, gay and lesbian kids, and other assorted weirdos'), added to the shop’s unique environment."
The business operates nine stores in Greater Boston. As for the building, it once housed the Jamaica Plain Fire Engine Co. #28 and the JP Hook and Ladder Co. #10, per MACRIS. I'm not sure whether JP Licks moved here in 1981 or not, and when the fire station was shuttered.
Across Centre Street from JP Licks, on the side of Lebanese eatery Cafe Beirut, is another fantastic mural.
Painted by Bob White in 2004, this scene of kids hanging out and playing in a wooded area overlooking a lake and small town was the first completed by the Jamaica Plain Youth Mural Program, according to this 2008 article. "It was designed as a tool to teach the students to paint depth, shading, and contrast," the artist says in that article.
We conclude this tour with a shot of a former service station.
I don't know how long ago this place ran out of gas. Back in 2010, it was known as Mike's Service Station, and it was shut down for code violations, including operating without permits and having abandoned cars, a leaking oil tank and "illegal" propane heaters, according to the linked article. In October 2013, the Jamaica Plain Gazette ran an article indicating that the site was being targeted for redevelopment as a liquor store. At that time, the shop was known as El Rubio's Auto Repair Shop. That proposal fell through. Something will go here someday.
That wraps up my review of this area of Jamaica Plain. Stay tuned for the next installment, in which I venture further north along Centre Street and then east into the Hyde Square neighborhood.
Here are some other Jamaica Plain posts from years past:
January 26, 2018, "Jamaica Plain Has Plenty of Flair"
December 9, 2017, "Artist Thinks: 'I HAF to Fix That Smokestack'"
March 27, 2015, "Blessed Renovation"
