There’s nothing new under the sun. And in Boston and the North End, it’s parking. Just as there’s neighborhood opposition today to plans for a glass tower above the Dock Square parking garage, a tower that would shutter views of Custom House Tower, there was neighborhood opposition in 1954 to allowing parking on the roof of Read More…
On the outbound platform for the Green line (the line going on to North Station and Lechmere) there an electronic sign used on street and highways that shows “Your Speed” and “Speed Limit”. Now what in the world is a speed sign doing at a platform where Green line cars stop? I asked a friendly Read More…
Photo of the Boston Opera Guy, performing in the Prado, offering great opera arias and well-loved classic Italian songs. (Photo by Bob Skole.) “Neighborhood Photo” is a regular feature on NorthEndWaterfront.com. Submit your best photos using our Submit a Post form or tag @northend.waterfront on Instagram. Please include a caption or story telling us Read More…
What happened to the Greenway’s tablet of the first years of Boston’s North End history? As seen in the photo, the first tablet of the brief histories of Boston, along the Greenway on south side of Hanover St., is missing. Has it been stolen, even though securely attached? Was it removed to be updated with Read More…
Leading up to the Memorial Day weekend, Excellence V was docked at Boston Yacht Haven, Commercial Wharf, on Boston’s North End waterfront. According to her website, she can be chartered for $725,000 a week. If you have to ask what that includes, you can’t afford it. She sleeps 12, has a crew of 14, and is 197 feet in length. Read More…
North End nearing its tipping point — A vision of a spectacular future Definition of tipping point the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place. Hanover St., Salem St., nearby North End streets, the Bulfinch, Haymarket and Boston Garden neighborhoods, are nearing the tipping point, when pedestrian and vehicular Read More…
It’s not often one sees a non-military/rescue boat with a helicopter aboard. The Itasca is currently docked at Boston Yacht Haven. Good news! She is for sale for only $18.7 million! The Itasca is a vessel of impressive proportions and unlimited potential. Equipped for encounters with polar ice and recreation equipment for the tropics, Itasca can cruise the Read More…
The 288-foot mega-yacht, Fountainhead, arrived in town on Friday, July 8th, docking at Boston Yacht Haven on the North End waterfront. Yes, it does have a basketball hoop with a glass backboard mounted over the large rear deck. It’s owner is Mark Cuban, according to several media sources (Ed: but maybe not … see below). The photo above Read More…
Adding to the interest in the Partners Nursing Home, might I modestly add an overlooked point: The location of the home is a historic North End site. At the corner of Fulton and Richmond was a rickety building, perhaps dating to the 1700s, that was home of The Italian News in the early and mid-1950s. This weekly Read More…
North End History Secrets — This pay phone on Commercial St., opposite the Battery Wharf Hotel, has the distinction of being the oldest broken pay-phone in Boston. According to well-informed historians, the last to use the phone was Charley, prior to his getting on the MTA subway for his famous ride. He was in the Read More…
At last! A public toilet near the Freedom Trail. This innovative contribution to Boston tourism has been on Hanover Ave. (repeat, Hanover Ave.), just a few steps from St. Stephen’s Church and the Freedom Trail, for at least one week. It will be handy for spring and summer tourists. Bob Skole
North End Innovation is illustrated by the city’s cutting down a tree on Hanover St., corner Parmenter, leaving the stump for a while, then removing the stump, and creating a hole in the sidewalk. It is an obvious hazard to the hundreds of thousands of tourists walking the Freedom Trail, as well as to North Read More…