Boston in the Seventies

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Courtesy Google Maps
 
the building on the right is about as close to Gaudi as Boston will ever get....

I love that building...walk by it every day
 
It's one of my favorites, too. They don't build them like that anymore. Must be too expensive.
 
Ames is great but they need to do something with facade...you can't even see the small amount of ornamental work on it anymore...they cleaned it up a bit but it still looks worn and there is just too much gray in the picture.

I am excited for the hotel to open up though...the street level is a huge improvement.

I wonder how it will do with it being next to the homeless veterans shelter..pretty ballsy.
 
Don't order those prints of the State Street building. I donated a set to the BPL rare prints department a few years back. They can get you copies far cheaper than what you can order here.
 
Harvard, and I think MIT as well, has a full archive of that architect's newspaper as well. You'll need to make an appointment to see them. If Boston had a quality publication like that for current and realistic paper projects it would be a boon to the profession.
 
Boston.com ran a series of photos yesterday entitled, ?Boston?s South End through the years?.

Here are a couple of ?then and now? photos from my The Life of a City website. I would have done more but it started to get dark.

Click on photos to enlarge images.

Tremont Street 1974 & 2010

In this photo, you can see how some things haven?t changed, but a bit. The corner market (at Tremont and West Canton streets) has changed from ?Aguada Market? (aguada: ?watered-down? or, in this case, ?small? market) to Casa Cuong (629 Tremont Street).

The ?Real Estate Mortgages? shop is now OKW ? custom clothing for women (631 Tremont). The shop next door, ?Furniture Movers? is now the South End Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage branch (633 Tremont).

?Longs?, which looks like a pawn shop (and, perhaps, is the precursor to the ?Long & Gordon? real estate company, which now owns those two buildings, I believe) is next door; this is now (minus the jut-out) a dentist's office (635 Tremont).

Current day, there's a frame shop next to that (637 Tremont).

Nicoles Pizza is now located next door to that (639 Tremont). In the 1990?s, Nicoles was located at 627 Tremont Street, now the location of the Starbucks Coffee shop (as well as my current location).

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Shawmut Ave 1974 & 2010 (at least, my best guess of where the original photo was taken)

The only building that matches up is the one off in the distance, on the left. I think this is the building at the corners of Shawmut Ave and West Newston Street, next to Blackstone Square. In the forefront, you can see, on the right, a bar. This is (if I?m correct) now the location of the Salvation Army rehab office. There is a church, two doors down, which I think matches up. Otherwise, I have no idea if these are the same views.
 
My immediate impression from these contrasting photo sets is that the street was more commercial, and had many fewer trees, in 1974.
 
They must be photos of two different streets intersecting at the white building at left. Otherwise I don't see the match, either.

Also: were all signs just more cheaply made back in the day?
 
Seeing these reminds me of how the old West End, if it had been left standing, would have undergone a similar rejuvination.
 
czsz I didn't take his comment to mean that the photos didn't match, only that things were different then. The only other things that match up are the traffic lights - there are two sets on each side.

I'm pretty sure I got it right but it requires more research.
 
This might even be Boston in the Sixties.

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733 Boylston Street, across from Lord & Taylor. (The Starbucks on that block is 755 Boylston Street, fyi.)
 
Seventies -- I remember this building, with its three entertainment venues, while I was in college from 1975-79. They all closed some time before 1979.

The Cinema 733 was known for its cheap double-features, usually recent hits but sometimes older films, which changed every two or three days. They published a monthly schedule.

I never went to the two jazz clubs, but they were legendary.

Edit: from various web sites I gather that the two jazz clubs closed in 1978, and that at least the Jazz Workshop dates back to 1963. The cinema opened later but I'm not sure exactly when, and it closed around the same time as the clubs.
 
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Holy cow, I would give anything to go back in time and see Bill f'n Evans live.
 
Almost done.

Three mentions of parking restrictions in the Boston Proper neighborhoods. The first is included in case anyone ever asks, "Is there really a parking ban in Boston?" you can respond, "Yes", with reference.

Of the proposed street closures, here's what happened:

Winthrop Square - as mentioned, a (very) small park / rotary was created.

Dartmouth Street - I believe this is still "un-widened" although you wouldn't know it since few use the space between Commonwealth Ave and Newbury Street.

Copley Plaza - as we all know, this did take place; Copley Plaza was improved, and then improved again in the mid-1980's (or, '90's?).

South End Exclusive Bus Lane - not as far as I know; Dartmouth Street / West Dedham Street is open to traffic 24-7.

Salem Street, North End - I haven't seen the street blocked off in years but perhaps it still happens in the summer or on weekends or something.

Clarendon Street closure, South End - never happened; Clarendon Street still proceeds all the way to Tremont Street.

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A column I wrote for the Boston Herald online is here. It uses the photo someone posted of Boston circa 1967 envisioning the city in 1975.

Dear Ed Logue: We miss you
John Keith

It seems as though nothing ever changes in Boston. In a lot of ways, that?s a good thing - for one, we have beautiful downtown neighborhoods full of historic architecture. But, it can also be very frustrating - it seems nothing ever gets done.

So, which is it?

Well, based on this photo, things can change A LOT.

This is a photo from 1967 showing downtown Boston. It?s from 1967 but it is envisioning the city eight years from then, in 1975.

As you know from what Boston looks like, now, a lot of this didn?t come to pass while a lot of other things did.

If you open up the photo image in another window, you can use the legend below to read about what?s changed and hasn?t changed in the past 43 years.
Click to expand...

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/news/getting_real/?p=348
 
Here are a couple of great photos from that site, circa 1979. I tried to do a "then and now" but could only figure out the second one; it's near the intersection of Dartmouth and Tremont streets. The first one I made a guess but it could be anywhere, at least 'til we find out where that market was. Someone thought it might be Sister Sorel at 645 Tremont Street; this would make sense, since both photos were taken during the same time.

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