"Dirty Old Boston"

F-Line to Dudley said:
So was the cosmically tight turning radius of the switchback curve. Box-truck Storrowings used to also have a "smash guardrail / land on hillside / possibly tip over" competitive sub-division in this spot before the bridge's 1990 rebuild got rid of that exploit.
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At least with the trucks flipping over on that tight radius onramp. it kept them from proceeding onto Storrow EB and getting stuck under Mass Ave. Maybe that was by design, LOL.
 
shmessy said:
So that’s how BU Beach came about? I know it is actually a bit west of this, but were there other ramps?
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No. BU Beach is just some random berm. I don't know the exact origin story behind that one, but that fronts a stretch of flood-prone parkway at the lowest-lying point of Charles Basin (i.e. BU Sailing Pavilion) so it offers passive flood protection for BU Central Campus.
 
Screenshot 2021-05-27 9.05.31 AM.png

Screenshot 2021-05-27 8.58.11 AM.png


The skimpy old Prudential Bridge-court
 
if the 1929 colorized view is Boston, where is it flat with a street grid but obviously not the Back Bay or South End? I would guess the lower end of South Boston looking toward Broadway Station or the NY streets
 
DZH22 said:
1929 expansive density. Anything recognizable to make us sure this is even Boston?

Boston, Massachusetts, aerial view, 1929 by Bob Smerecki Art, on Flickr
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The street in the foreground makes me think E Broadway, but it doesn't look to be a match and the Southie grid just isn't that expansive. I feel like it's hard to get a shot from this angle anywhere in dense Boston without seeing more water.

I could be wrong, but my gut says that this isn't Boston.
 
Scott said:
if the 1929 colorized view is Boston, where is it flat with a street grid but obviously not the Back Bay or South End? I would guess the lower end of South Boston looking toward Broadway Station or the NY streets
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I’d bet my life that this is the Jeffries Point/Gove Street neighborhood of East Boston, taken from the top of a now demolished grain elevator on Marginal Street. The Gumball Factory (adaptively reused as condos) is visible top, right of center.
 
Beton Brut said:
I’d bet my life that this is the Jeffries Point/Gove Street neighborhood of East Boston, taken from the top of a now demolished grain elevator on Marginal Street. The Gumball Factory (adaptively reused as condos) is visible top, right of center.
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Could also have been taken from the Adams Elementary School, assuming it had been built at the time.

Here’s the building on the lower right edge now.

goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl
 
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Beton Brut said:
I’d bet my life that this is the Jeffries Point/Gove Street neighborhood of East Boston, taken from the top of a now demolished grain elevator on Marginal Street. The Gumball Factory (adaptively reused as condos) is visible top, right of center.
Click to expand...
kmp1284 said:
Could also have been taken from the Adams Elementary School, assuming it had been built at the time.

Here’s the building on the lower right edge now.

goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl
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Ah yes great catches. Gumball Factory plus the currently-vacant old warehouse building at the corner of Orleans and Porter. The street in the foreground is Webster St, with most of those buildings still standing but wrapped in vinyl siding.

Current Google Maps view would be approximately this:
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51135831859_fe38856a0d_o.jpg
 
JumboBuc said:
The street in the foreground makes me think E Broadway, but it doesn't look to be a match and the Southie grid just isn't that expansive. I feel like it's hard to get a shot from this angle anywhere in dense Boston without seeing more water.

I could be wrong, but my gut says that this isn't Boston.
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If you zoom in it appears at the very top left to be some water with a couple boats.
 
It's amazing (to me) how prevalent rail and trolley service was in Boston and the distant suburbs. I've seen pictures of small towns with trolley service as the primary means of transportation before the automobile took center stage.
 
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