"Dirty Old Boston"

#bancars said:
The Globe's Camberville newsletter today had this cool photo of trolleybuses (RIP) in Somerville from a storm on Dec. 12, 1960.

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Based on the 1-28-38 stack of three route markers and the Somerville Ave/Union Square directional sign on the left, this photo looks like it's on McGrath Hwy northbound on the north side of the junction with Washington St.
Google streetview of that location matches the buildings:

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A vampire clearly bought the white house on the right, since all the windows have been replaced with smaller ones.
 
I was looking for photos of the old Roggi's in Cleveland Circle and found these pics online. That building (that I think must be owned by the T) has always, in my lifetime, been such a blight on Cleveland Circle, and I never knew it had a small storefront, an Esso, a beauty shop, and a Chinese food place, no less. Also cool to see people boarding right in the middle of the circle, and some sort of no man's land in the actual intersection. The only pic of these that has a date says 1953. Im guessing they're all early 50s.



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FK4 said:
I was looking for photos of the old Roggi's in Cleveland Circle and found these pics online. That building (that I think must be owned by the T)
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I'm in the middle of a mapping project of all T/MassDOT owned properties, and I can tell you with some certainty that the T never owned that building - BERy owned the site in the early 1910s, but by 1920 or so it'd been partioned out as a garage. That building was explicitly drawn into the Aberdeen Architectural Conservation District, so TBD if replacing it will ever happen, but It's still privately owned to this day.
 
Stlin said:
I'm in the middle of a mapping project of all T/MassDOT owned properties, and I can tell you with some certainty that the T never owned that building - BERy owned the site in the early 1910s, but by 1920 or so it'd been partioned out as a garage. That building was explicitly drawn into the Aberdeen Architectural Conservation District, so TBD if replacing it will ever happen, but It's still privately owned to this day.
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That is totally wild. Is there any active use of it whatsoever today? I mean, if it was converted to residences with some commercial fronts it would be fine, it’s just a big hulking semi abandoned building and always has been.
 
Charlie_mta said:
Based on the 1-28-38 stack of three route markers and the Somerville Ave/Union Square directional sign on the left, this photo looks like it's on McGrath Hwy northbound on the north side of the junction with Washington St.
Google streetview of that location matches the buildings:

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Makes one wonder why a decision was made to replace the windows on those two houses, with windows 1/2 the size of the originals.
 
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cooper said:
Makes one wonder why a decision was made to replace the windows on those two houses, with windows 1/2 the size of the originals.
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I saw that and thought the same thing. Then I tried to relate.
New highway noise, cold north winds, ruined view, exhaust pollution coming through old single pane glass. Relative poverty or wage stagnation did everything else. Small windows are cheaper.
Economics.
 
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That is looking south over Haymarket Square, towards the Flour & Grain Exchange at distant left and the old Post Office at distant right.

And in the other photo I believe that is indeed the fated molasses tank whose rupture is remembered every warm day in mid-January....
 
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Justbuildit said:
And is that the famous molasses tank in the North End?
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If you're referring to this tank, then no, it's not the molasses tank. That's a gas holder. (I had no idea there used to be one there.) It's like an upside down cup filled with natural gas. The tank part could slide up and down in that surrounding frame when gas was pumped in or out, and the weight of the tank down on the gas would help keep even pressure in the pipes through the city.

This photo was taken in 1925, years after the molasses flood, so I don't think any part remains in the photo. Wikipedia has a good map showing where the molasses tank was, nearby, north of Commercial Street (marked #1).

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And an old Bromley map shows the Boston Consolidated Gas facility that I think you're looking at.

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Charlie_mta said:
Alewife Brook Parkway, 1916, the way it should be today:

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Given some of the neighborhood politics - if someone proposed the building on the left there in another area, you might get some people claiming that it "looms" over open space and casts too much shadow.

But, beside the point - how wild that the Brook has been channelized kind of like the LA river for more than 100 years.
 
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