A Saturday Skulk Through Southie

From Dave Brigham:

I've covered South Boston quite a bit on this blog (see the bottom of this post for links) yet somehow I found more to check out this past April. The impetus for visiting this Boston neighborhood yet again was a ghost sign that I didn't know about the last time I was there.

I forget where I learned about this old sign for Bay State Brewery located on the side of The Distillery North apartments on East 2nd Street at the intersection with H Street. "The large brick factory building that sits between East 1st and 2nd Street in South Boston was first constructed in the 1860s as the Bay State Brewery and Malt House for the production of beer," according to the Distillery North web site. A man named Henry Souther started the brewing operation, having "purchased the land from the Sound Boston Association, seeing it as well located beside the water for the delivery of barley from Canada. At the time, the harbor came right up to the property edge...."

"It wasn’t long before the Bay State Brewery was sold to a railroad magnate and Congressman from New Hampshire named Frank Jones." I haven't learned when Jones took over the facility, but I'm assuming no later than the 1890s. That means the ghost sign is likely at least 125 years old, which is pretty cool.

Jones, who during his political career also served as mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, started his brewing business in that small seacoast city. "The Frank Jones Brewery was one of the largest producers of ale in the United States of America," according to Wikipedia. "In 1896, Jones' Portsmouth brewery produced about 250,000 barrels a year."

Jones died in 1902, and the brewery complex was sold to the Felton family of Newton, Massachusetts, per the Distillery North web site. "The Feltons had arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640, already with a background in ale brewing. In Boston they took up rum distilling under the names of Crystal Spring Rum and Pilgrim Rum. After purchasing the Bay State Brewery, it took the Feltons a year to reconfigure the facility as a rum distillery, a process that involved the installation of two dozen 10,000-gallon fermenting vats."

The Felton distillery closed in 1982. "In 1984...Frederick Gordon...purchased the property with its skeletons of disused machinery, molasses streaked walls, and malodorous scents," the Distillery North site continues. "The rough neighborhood and the curious layout of the 100,000 square foot factory, with spaces ranging from shoebox to gymnasium-sized, was a curious real estate puzzle. It was artists who naturally gravitated toward the atypical labyrinth, and word got around."

Currently, the development features both work and living spaces for more than 100 artists and creative professionals. The on-site Distillery Gallery "features rotating exhibitions that highlight the diverse talents of both resident and guest artists," per the web site for the community.

Whew! That was a lot of information. I'm always happy when companies that redevelop old buildings provide the history of the site.

Since I've made photos a lot around Southie, I wandered quite a bit to find new subject matter. I ended up on Silver Street, which runs parallel to the main thoroughfare, West Broadway, between Dorchester and D streets. You know I love back alleys and narrow streets where I can see the true backside.

The first thing to catch my eye was the old rear entrance to the Gorin's department store.

When I made this photo, I felt sure I had made a complementary image of the old tile entryway to the store a few years back. But in reviewing my archives, I realized that the entryway was for Pober's, another old department store. Then I thought perhaps Gorin's had been located in the same building, before of after Pober's. But I checked out Google Street View and realized the stores were located in different buildings along West Broadway.

Anyway, Gorin's was a local chain that started in Woburn, Mass., in 1900. Early on, there were stores in Everett, South Boston, Watertown Square, Central Square in Cambridge and Somerville's Union Square, according to this Bouseblog post. By the 1950s, the chain had grown to employ more than 3,000 people in at least 20 stores. Gorin's "purchase of the Almy, Bigelow and Washburn department store chain added locations in Salem, Danvers and Beverly. Later acquisitions and mergers expanded the company to New Bedford, Mass, Manchester, N.H., Waterbury, Conn. and Rochester, N.Y.," per the blog.

"In 1984, the Gorin family sold their company, by this time 32-stores strong and re-branded as 'Almy’s,' to an investment group. The Gorin’s business had been struggling to make a profit since 1978. By 1985, the new owners had sold most of the Almy’s chain to the Stop & Shop Companies," Bouseblog indicates.

Continuing west-northwest on Silver Street, I crossed over E Street and found a little bit of country in the middle of the city.

Located next to a new apartment building and across the street from the rear of the old Bigelow School, this cute little farmhouse-style duplex was built in 1890, per the Boston assessor. I dig the civic pride demonstrated by the SOUTH BOSTON sign.

I looped around some more side streets until I found myself in front of Boris Pest Control, at the corner of West Seventh and E streets (not where these guys got their name).

I love that whoever created the company's sign paid homage to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot by using a mouse with boxing gloves. Of course, Southie was once a MAJOR Irish-American stronghold. Boris Pest Control has been in business since 1967.

As I stood in front of the pest-fighting mouse, I looked diagonally across West Seventh and saw a subtly unusual home.

This Odd House, as I dubbed it, has just under 660 square feet of living area, with one bedroom and one bathroom. Built in 1900 (perhaps; you know I'm always dubious of that date), it has seemingly been altered a bit over the last 125+ years. Maybe it was once two stories?

I made my way to D Street, then headed south-southwest into a more industrial/commercial section of the neighborhood. Then I turned south on Dorchester Ave. (aka Dot Ave. I'd walked this area outside Andrew Square a few times over the years, so once again, I sought out the nooks I had passed over previously.

On Alger Street, I found my quarry.

The ghost sign at the top says INDUSTRIAL and perhaps CO. I haven't found out what business was/is here. I just love the combination of the weathered bricks with fading paint, the heavy (leaded?) glass windows, the vent, the two doors - so many squares and rectangles.

In a large empty lot across Alger Street, running along Dorchester Ave., stands (or perhaps by this point, stood) a decomissioned Red Line subway car.

Car No. 1643 will be used by the developers of the On the Dot mixed-use project to "enhance the activity space," according to something I read somewhere online. The car was previously located in a parking lot abutting Cannonball Cafe, just up the street.

The Red Line runs underneath this area of the city, with a stop at nearby Andrew Square. The 1600 series Red Line cars came into MBTA service in the late '60s and early '70s.

Some buildings for the On the Dot project are already completed, while others in the planned 21-acre development of life-science, retail, and residential buildings will rise in the future.

To the south of the old subway car/soon-to-be social hangout stands a bit of old-school Boston: Andrew Square Liquors.

The Internet says this business opened in the late '90s. I'm guessing it took the place of a similar operation. I have a thing for packies, as they often have old signs that make for decent photos. Google Street View shows me that Andrew Square Liquors up until four years ago had a cooler sign than the current Budweiser one hanging over the awning.

I doubled back along Dorchester Avenue, cut down Damrell Street, went north-northwest on Old Colony Avenue and then headed onto E Street. After winding my way around, I ended up in front of some stunningly beautiful row houses on F Street.

These gorgeous homes date to the late 19th century.

I trekked up to Dorchester Street (not Ave.) and walked around the lovely and historic St. Augustine's Chapel grounds.

Founded in 1818, the chapel is the Boston Archdiocese's oldest Catholic church. It is open to the public only on holy days. The cemetery is the oldest Catholic burial ground in New England. There is a nice shrine that backs up to Tudor Street; it's obviously also used as a shed. Poor Mary!

I headed northeast along Dorchester Street, popping down West Fourth Street to check out a former fire house.

Completed in 1869, the station housed Ladder 5 until 1917, when the company moved next door to the much larger Engine 1 headquarters, which also served as a municipal district court. The building was converted to condos in recent years.

I headed next to East Broadway, about ready to finish my trip. At the intersection with Emerson Street, I was quite taken by the building housing M&T Oil Company / Metro Energy, which has been in business since 1929.

Upon getting back to my car, I remembered one more spot I wanted to document.

The Galley Diner is located on P Street, just off of East 1st Street. Established in 1995, the diner serves up breakfast seven days a week, and lunch Monday through Friday. Notice the sign also mentions Rumpy's, which is evidently is a brand of roast beef served at the diner.

For more on South Boston, check out the links below:

October 5, 2024, "Goin' ta Southie, Kehd"

August 27, 2020, "Circling Andrew Square"

January 25, 2020, "The Walk of Fame"

June 25, 2019, "Wool-d You Like to Join Me For a Walk?"

January 12, 2019, "Power Move in South Boston"

November 17, 2018, "Southie to Lose An Institution"

April 22, 2018, "Fort Point Channel - It's Electric!"

February 1, 2017, "Bon Voyage, Lady"

November 17, 2014, "Whitey Wuz Here"

Tip-toeing Through North Cambridge

From Dave Brigham:

OK, let's get my headline explanation out of the way. Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives who served in those hallowed halls for 34 years, was a North Cambridge guy. Born and bred. Below I'll feature a great mural dedicated to the man known for the quote, "All politics is local."

I knew about O'Neill's connection to this area of Cambridge, but I learned plenty on my exploration. For instance, I stumbled across the one-time location of a locally famous recording studio, and discovered that North Cambridge was once a major player in the brick-making industry.

Let's start this tour on Massachusetts Avenue, just outside Porter Square, which I recently featured (see November 26, 2022, "Drinking in Porter Square").

I was drawn in by the sign above the front door of Rinaldo Realty Company. It's simple and clean and looks like it's been there for quite a few decades.

The Mansard-style house dates to 1880, according to the Cambridge assessor's database. The real estate firm was established in 1923, per Dun & Bradstreet, which tracks business information. A Google search indicates that the business is temporarily closed. There are apartments in this old building, which would look a LOT better with some colorful details.

Moving along, on the opposite side of the avenue is a North Cambridge institution: Pemberton Farms Marketplace.

Begun in 1930 as a fruit and vegetable shop run by Tofic Saidnawey, Pemberton today is run by his descendents, and sells produce, seafood, garden products, cheese, beer and wine, and much more. The assessor's office indicates that at least one of the buildings on the site dates to 1923. I'm not sure if that's that main structure seen in my photo above, or the brick building at the rear of the property.

Directly across the four-lane boulevard is Foodland, a Bangladeshi, Indian & Pakistani market with a halal butcher.

I love small markets like this, which are the lifeblood of so many immmigrant communities.

Right next door is Scholars Guest House.

I haven't found much online about this place, which seems to be a boarding house/inexpensive solution for travelers on a budget. The house dates to 1910.

Back across Mass. Ave., at the corner of Meacham Road, is Cambridge Greenhouse Antiques & Collectables, which was founded in 1980.

There is a sign in the window indicating this place is open by appointment, but I'm not sure that's still true. The shop's Facebook page hasn't been updated in 13 years. The assessor's database lists the house as dating to 1890, and the greenhouse to 1936. I assume there was a florist/garden shop there prior.

(I like the carriage house at the back of the property.)

Pinballing back across the street, we find a beer supply business that was ahead of its time, but which unfortunately is now tapped out.

Modern Homebrew Emporium opened along Mass. Ave. in 2001, the third in a small chain run by two entrepreneurs. The store's history actually goes back to 1990, when it was founded under different owners, according to this Boston.com article. "'Twenty-five years ago there was no good beer,' says [former owner Roger] Savoy. 'If you went to the beer market you had American crap beer, and European stale beer. If you wanted something good you made it.'"

With so many local breweries offering a wide variety of beers these days, and taprooms opening over the past decade or so, the need to brew your own tasty suds has waned, I guess.

A store named Momma's Grocery & Wine is slated to open here.

Next, another North Cambridge mainstay, Frank's Steakhouse.

Around since 1938, the restaurant has an interesting, if apocryphal, origin story. "According to local legend, originally there was no name of the restaurant in its beginnings; however, there was a neighborhood friendly drunk named Frank who was always on the first stool in the bar. Evidently the owners looked at each other and said 'why not?' and named the place after the friendly lush," according to the eatery's web site.

In the building next to Frank's is the Notre Dame Association French Club.

Established 1920, the club seems to be a pretty social place, based on signs in the windows that include ones advertising Bud Light ("COLDEST BEER ON THE BLOCK") and "POOL, LOTTERY AND MORE INSIDE."

Across Mass. Ave. I spied a cool architectural detail on the facade of a circa-1920 house that is now law offices.

Slingshotting across the avenue once again (understand this: the way I'm presenting things here isn't the way I checked them out during my tour), I loved the signage for Greek Corner, a restaurant that's been in business since 1989.

Across the way is an MBTA bus garage, which is located where car barns of one sort or another have stood since 1874.

"The first carbarn on this site, a handsome brick building with a great clock and monumental doors, was built in 1874 by the Union Railway and remained in use until the introduction of electric streetcars in 1889," per the above plaque, which was placed here in 2002 by the Cambridge Historical Comission. "The West End Street Railway put up a larger and more impressive carhouse around the original structure in 1897, but this was razed by the Boston Elevated Railway in 1937. The present structure was built in 1979 to house the trolley buses that replaced streetcars on this route in 1958."

Just up the street, at the corner of Mass. and Cameron avenues, is a boring old building and a bland new apartment development. Would you guess that this corner was once the home of a groundbreaking Americana and bluegrass record label, as well as a Civil War training camp?

I lived in Somerville from January 1995 to November of 1997, and had friends who lived in the city as well. One of them lived at the northeastern end of Cameron Ave., so I drove down this street with some regularity. The photo above shows the southwestern end, which is, duh, in Cambridge. Behind the odd little brick building that is home to a law office (perhaps Bob Loblaw?) once stood the headquarters of Rounder Records.

Founded in 1970, the independent label "first struck musical gold with the 1975 release of J.D. Crowe & The New South (featuring future stars Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas and Tony Rice)," per Rounder's web site. "[T]his seminal recording revitalized bluegrass music and inspired a generation of artists including Rounder's own Alison Krauss, the most decorated female artist in the history of the Grammy Awards."

"Rounder's catalogue of more than 3,000 titles includes records by Alison Krauss and Union Station, George Thorogood, Tony Rice, and Béla Fleck, in addition to re-releases of seminal albums by artists such as the Carter Family, Jelly Roll Morton, Lead Belly, and Woody Guthrie," per Wikipedia. "...Rounder releases have won 54 Grammy Awards representing diverse genres, from bluegrass, folk, reggae, and gospel to pop, rock, Americana, polka and world music."

The label was acquired by Concord in 2010, and has been based in Nashville for many years.

The Rounder building sat vacant for a while before a developer knocked it down and put up 7 Cameron, a development of one- and two-bedroom apartments. There is also a nice park there.

Looking at this site on Google Maps before my trek, I noticed "Camp Cameron" listed there. "What the heck is that?" I wondered. Here's what I found at The Cambridge Room, a blog offering "Historic tidbits, facts, and notes of interest on Cambridge, Massachusetts brought to you by the Cambridge Public Library's Archivist."

"In 1861 North Cambridge and West Somerville was a very thinly settled area. Camp Cameron (Later named Camp Day) was a Civil War camp of Rendezvous and Instruction located on the North Cambridge / West Somerville town line. The Massachusetts First Regiment occupied the camp on June 1, 1861 and the last troops left in January 1863. The camp sat between what is now Mass. Ave. and Broadway. Cameron Ave. runs through the center of it.

"For twenty months thousands of troops were both recruited and trained at Camp Cameron. The camp consisted of thirty permanent buildings and several smaller temporary buildings and tents."

Cool, right?

Boy, that's a lot of words about a building and an old military camp that don't exist anymore....

Cameron Ave. crosses Mass. Ave. and becomes Harvey Street, which is where I found the storefronts below.

Optometrist David Conway has been in business since 1992, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Two doors down is New England Friends of Bosnia and Herzogovina.

Founded in 2012, this organization promotes Bosnian-Herzegovinian heritage, through cultural, educational and festive programs; runs the Bosnian Language School; raises genocide awareness through human rights campaigns, lectures and commemorations; and fosters partnerships and collaborations with like-minded organizations, State and City institutions, in the United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and elsewhere, according to its web site.

Back out on Mass. Ave., heading northwest, is Norton's Liquors, which has been in business for an amount of years that I have been unable to determine.

I'm happy I spied a brick building as I peeked down Edmunds Street. "Is it an old factory or mill?" I asked myself, full of hope. Before I got to that building, however, I stumbled across The Bridge Sound and Stage, a recording studio founded in 2009.

The two-studio set-up was formerly home to Fort Apache, a locally legendary place where artists including Pixies, Radiohead, Juliana Hatfield, Dinosaur Jr., The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Weezer, Yo La Tengo and Warren Zevon recorded over the years, per Wikipedia. The studio's "first location was 169 Norfolk Avenue, a warehouse in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts," according to Wikipedia. "As Bill Janovitz of Buffalo Tom noted, it was the height of the crack epidemic, and Roxbury was a dangerous place. As a result, [founder Joe] Harvard [not his real name - D.B.] gave the studio its name after the 1981 movie 'Fort Apache, The Bronx,' which was set in a crime-ridden neighborhood."

Founded in 1985, Fort Apache moved from Roxbury to Cambridge's Camp Street (above a Rounder Records warehouse). This Edmunds Street location was a secondary studio. Eventually, the operation moved to Bellows Falls, Vermont.

After checking out the studio location, I found the brick building I'd spied from Mass. Ave.

Now a condo development called Emerson Lofts, this building rose in 1909 as a factory for the J.H. Emerson Company. The manufacturer was known for its improvements to existing "iron lung" machines, as well as for developing the galvanometer, which measures voltages using quartz fibers; "the micromanipulator, which made it possible to move a slide under a microscope"; and the BarcroftWarburg apparatus for the Harvard Botany Department, which held vials of liquids and shook them to keep them in motion, according to this History Cambridge article about company founder John "Jack" Emerson.

Back out on Mass. Ave., I spied Jack's Gas, housed in a building that dates to 1934, per the assessor's office.

Across the avenue is Fast Phil's Haircuts, which has been here around 20 years, I believe.

The business is one of a handful along this stretch of Mass. Ave. that's tacked onto the front of an older house. Notice the window tinting business next door.

My final stop on the avenue, just short of Alewife Brook Parkway, was an old service station that looks like it's been boarded up for quite some time.

The assessor's database says at least one of the buildings here dates to 1886. This was formerly home to Executive Automotive, Geno's Mutual Gas and Mass. Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. I'm not sure what the fate of this property is.

I hoofed it back southeast to Rindge Avenue, which is one of the main east-west thoroughfares in North Cambridge. It was here that I found the great mural featuring many scenes from the life of the aforementioned Tip O'Neill.

Located on the side of the O'Neill Branch of the Cambridge Public Library, which opened (not as the O'Neill branch) in 1902, this work was done by Joshua Winer and David Fichter (I have discussed Winer's work here and here; and Fichter's murals here, here and here).

Called "All Politics is Local: The Tip O'Neill Story," the mural "depicts the U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House with family members, his constituency and his mentors, along with stories from O’Neill’s life and ties to the local community," per the library's web site.

(Verna's was a donut shop on Mass. Ave., located where Cafe Luna Catering is now. There is still a sign for Verna's on the exterior wall.)

We're going to take a detour down Sherman Street, which runs north-south from North Cambridge and into what is known as Neighborhood Nine. While researching North Cambridge ahead of my visits, I learned that this area was once lousy with brickyards.

"In the nineteenth century, most of North Cambridge was dug up for brickyards," according to the Cambridge Considered blog. "North of Harvard Square and west of Porter Square, the North Cambridge areas that became brickyards had always been thought undesirable," the blog continues. "The land was swampy and bad for farming, although most of it was owned by farmers. It turned out that this area was rich in clay, the raw material for a profitable industry. In 1844, Peter Hubbell and Almon Abott leased some of this land and created a brickyard. When it proved successful, it sparked a 'clay rush' as entrepreneurs took notice and entered the brick industry. Some of the most famous companies were the Bay State Brick Company and the New England Brick Company, but by the end of the century, the area had at least half a dozen companies operating side by side."

On Sherman Street, nestled between one- and two-family homes, apartment buildings and a large public park (the history of which I'll get to in a minute), is Brickyard Cambridge Office Park, which "is the renovation of a pottery manufacturing building built in 1930," according to the office park's web site. "Originally the building was part of the Cambridge brick industry with a kiln running the length of the building and clay pits in the rear."

Today, the office park is home to many small businesss, a restaurant and a Montessori school.

(The entrance and patio for Italian restaurant Gran Gusto.)

Across Sherman Street is Danehy Park, which features a splash pad, multiple baseball fields, a playground, a grilling area, a track and field oval and soccer field -- all of it built on fill covering a former dump that was built on old brickyards.

Sherman Street forms the eastern border of the North Cambridge Catholic Cemetery. Rindge Avenue defines the northern line of the graveyard. I checked it out for a few minutes.

Heading west along Rindge Avenue, I found a shuttered business.

Rigazio Dry Cleaners may have moved to Waltham.

Further along Rindge Avenue is another reminder of the former brickyard industry.

The Wyeth Brickyard Superintendent's House was built in 1848. "Nathaniel Wyeth, a local entrepreneur, was a key figure in the establishment of the brick industry in Northwest Cambridge," according to MACRIS. "He helped finance the railroad extension in 1840, so that ice could be transported from Fresh Pond to the markets in Charlestown. In the 1840s Wyeth opened his own brickyard and it was for this operation that the superintendent's house at 336 Rindge Avenue was built."

I believe it is a private home today.

Dominating this corner of North Cambridge, between Rindge Avenue, the Alewife Brook Parkway and commuter train tracks, is the Fresh Pond Apartments complex. Comprised of three, 22-story towers, the complex has 504 affordable-housing apartments. Completed in the late 1960s, the development rose on land that was once a clay pit for the brickmaking industry.

In the photo below, one of the Fresh Pond towers rises above New England Transmission, which features a nice Mobil Pegasus logo.

The last stop on this tour is Jerry's Pond (aka Jerry's Pit), another former clay pit that has been off limits to the public for decades.

"Jerry’s Pond sits at the heart of the Alewife neighborhood of North Cambridge and for nearly 100 years, it was a vital and thriving community resource for the working-class citizens of Cambridge," according to the Cambridge Community Foundation. "It attracted hundreds of daily visitors to swim and enjoy the natural habitat. However, since 1961 it has been fenced off from public access and has become an eyesore."

According to the sign in the photo below, which was erected by the Cambridge Historical Comission, "Soon after Jerry's Pit filled with water an icehouse was built nearby to store blocks of ice that were cut there each winter. In the 1920s, when ice was no longer harvested from the pond, the insulated buildings were occupied by J. B. Johnson, an ice cream maker.

"From 1946 to 1951, fifteen barracks-like buildings next to the pond provided temporary housing for returning veterans."

The obvious question here is, "Was it really safe for people to be swimming in a former clay pit filled with God-knows-what chemicals and other nasty stuff?"

In 1979, an Alewife Revitalization Plan proposed by the City of Cambridge called for the pond to "be cleaned up and expanded to act as an amenity for nearby W.R. Grace Company development. The pond needs dredging, and its banks need easing and landscaping. It could also be stocked to promote fishing and boating activities."

That never happened, and since W.R. Grace had manufactured chemicals nearby, I assume the company would have borne a significant portion of the cost to clean the pond up. More than 40 years later, IQHQ, a life sciences real estate development company, acquired the former Grace site, with plans to construct new buildings (demolition is under way) and "safely expand public access for the area surrounding Jerry’s Pond," according to a press release the company issued.

Meanwhile, there are "Signs of Life" near the pond.

I'm not sure who is responsible for this collection of signs, which includes ones extolling the virtues of Queen Ann's Lace, butterflies and the varieties of herons in Ethiopia, as well as ones about Haitian Creole vs. French, the distance from the Earth to the moon and information about the Great Wall of China.

Make sure to check back soon for a write-up of my exploration of the IQHQ demolition site, as well as all things Alewife in North Cambridge, from the subway station to the linear path, the surrounding commermcial/residential developments that have sprung up in recent years and much more, all of which abuts or is close to Jerry's Pond and Rindge Avenue.