"Dirty Old Boston"

[DZH22]

Technique1964Opening__6 by MIT Alumni Association, on Flickr

Technique1964Opening__8 by MIT Alumni Association, on Flickr

 

[DZH22]

Mayor Menino's Enchanted Trolley Tour by Ethan Long, on Flickr

Signs R Us 02 - Boston - c. 1870 by Johnny El-Rady, on Flickr

 

[DZH22]

Here's a bunch of random shots from the "Historic Boston" facebook page:

Historic Boston

Historic Boston. 40,505 likes · 5,578 talking about this. Local & travel website

www.facebook.com

 

[Arenacale]

I rediscovered my photos from the Bruins Stanley Cup parade from 2011. Can't believe it's that long ago now. Not quite so dirty but getting older all the time...

 

[DZH22]

Year unknown but I know there's interest in this particular building.

Boston by Kenny Ganz, on Flickr

2003 but looks significantly older. Also hard to believe that people born in 2003 are now old enough (or about to be old enough) to drink.

Boston.2003 by Alexander Tkachev, on Flickr

 

[Charlie_mta]

1940's East Boston, in unbelievable clarity, like it was taken yesterday. It apparently starts at Maverick Station when the surface trolleys used to ramp down into the station. When I was a kid in the late 1950s, the ramp was still there, and you could see it ramp up to daylight from the BL platforms.

 

[Beantropolis]

1940's East Boston, in unbelievable clarity, like it was taken yesterday. It apparently starts at Maverick Station when the surface trolleys used to ramp down into the station. When I was a kid in the late 1950s, the ramp was still there, and you could see it ramp up to daylight from the BL platforms.

Amazing. Old photos and films like this one make you feel like we're currently living in the post-apocalyptic remnants of a once great civilization.

 

[Arenacale]

I picked up these old coffee table books at the Westborough Library book sale last month, because I am now "Reminisce about my hometown" years old. They're all great, but the book in the upper left, Boston: Beacon for the New Horizon is the clear nostalgia winner. It's from 1994, partially written by Jack Hynes, and is gloriously corporate with profiles of lots of companies that 30 years later are just memories. The photos are amazing too. Going to keep an eye out for more books like these going forward, hoping there's a 1997/1998 one out there yet to be discovered.

 

[RandomWalk]

I remember my parents having the one in the bottom left.

 

[bigpicture7]

I picked up these old coffee table books at the Westborough Library book sale last month, because I am now "Reminisce about my hometown" years old. They're all great, but the book in the upper left, Boston: Beacon for the New Horizon is the clear nostalgia winner. It's from 1994, partially written by Jack Hynes, and is gloriously corporate with profiles of lots of companies that 30 years later are just memories. The photos are amazing too. Going to keep an eye out for more books like these going forward, hoping there's a 1997/1998 one out there yet to be discovered.

Best kept secret back in those simpler (more analog, more human) times:
At that particular Legal Seafoods at the Pru (4th photo), call them on the phone a few months in advance and make a reservation for a window seat on Patriots Day. Then arrive and munch shrimp cocktail and sip champagne while having a perfect birdseye view of the Marathon finish line. No extra charges/no special fees...just first come/first served via phonecall. My family did it a few times when I was a kid. We didn't have a ton of money, yet this was as good a "luxury box" sporting event experience money could(n't) buy.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Amazing. Old photos and films like this one make you feel like we're currently living in the post-apocalyptic remnants of a once great civilization.

I guess "dirty old Boston" wasn't so dirty after all.

 

[DZH22]

1979

Union by just another drop out?, on Flickr

 

[DZH22]

1983

boston-001-83-08-012.jpg by Found Photos, on Flickr

boston-001-83-06-001.jpg by Found Photos, on Flickr

 

[Charlie_mta]

1983

boston-001-83-08-012.jpg by Found Photos, on Flickr

boston-001-83-06-001.jpg by Found Photos, on Flickr

Those 1983 photos remind me of how far we've come with bus lanes, bike lanes, and "active transportation" (i.e. bikes, e-bikes, scooters, etc.). The absence of these things in these old photos is jarring. But we've still got a long way to go.

 

[DZH22]

Some 1980's pics from an old firefighter on flickr.

Joe Marino-Boston 1991-53 by Joe Marino, on Flickr

Boston 1988 by Joe Marino, on Flickr

7-17-1983 Boston FD Tour Marine 1-2 Oliver ST Station E-21 (6 of 46) by Joe Marino, on Flickr

Boston 1988-28 by Joe Marino, on Flickr

3-6-1988 Boston, Photo of Travelers Building on High ST-Photos of Bill Noonan (7 of 39) by Joe Marino, on Flickr

 

[Charlie_mta]

Some 1980's pics from an old firefighter on flickr.

3-6-1988 Boston, Photo of Travelers Building on High ST-Photos of Bill Noonan (7 of 39) by Joe Marino, on Flickr

I loved the Travelers Building on High Street ^ (now demolished). I worked there in 1967-68 on the 13th floor in the mailroom while I was in high school, for Cabot Corporation. Great people, great company, great building.

 

[Charlie_mta]

A little bit more info about the Travelers Building that was at 125 High Street, built in 1959 and demolished in 1988. I remember at the time it was built as being a really big deal for Boston, one of the first new sizeable office buildings to be built after World War Ii. It predates Boston's huge urban renewal projects, and was touted by the City and the Boston Globe as the start of the "New Boston", as Boston had been in a long slump after WW II. I remember when I worked there as a teenager in 1967-68 as being really inspired by the building as I walked down High Street, looking up at it and thinking, maybe someday I'll have a nice office with a window on one of the upper floors. It helped inspire me to make something out of my life, as I was facing the prospect of being drafted at the peak of the Vietnam war, and wondering what to do, as many young men were at the time. Lot's of great memories of that building, which architecturally I thought was superb as well.

 

[Plen-T-Pak]

A little bit more info about the Travelers Building that was at 125 High Street, built in 1959 and demolished in 1988. I remember at the time it was built as being a really big deal for Boston, one of the first new sizeable office buildings to be built after World War Ii. It predates Boston's huge urban renewal projects, and was touted by the City and the Boston Globe as the start of the "New Boston", as Boston had been in a long slump after WW II. I remember when I worked there as a teenager in 1967-68 as being really inspired by the building as I walked down High Street, looking up at it and thinking, maybe someday I'll have a nice office with a window on one of the upper floors. It helped inspire me to make something out of my life, as I was facing the prospect of being drafted at the peak of the Vietnam war, and wondering what to do, as many young men were at the time. Lot's of great memories of that building, which architecturally I thought was superb as well.

I recall you mentioning this before and thanks for sharing it. Context is everything and it gives me an appreciation for a building that I would've ignored otherwise.

 

[Charlie_mta]

I recall you mentioning this before and thanks for sharing it. Context is everything and it gives me an appreciation for a building that I would've ignored otherwise.

Yes, a building is personal, has soul, began as an idea in a cultural and personal context, and has a fabled history. All of that is a big part of architecture.

 

[kz1000ps]

Another vintage book to share... "Boston" by Bill Harris from 1980.

I saw that fat '70s Souvenir font on the homeowner's shelf (I was working my real estate job) and had to have a quick look.

Pardon my fingers but the pages weren't staying flat