There’s been a lot of discussion about the building at the corner of Prince and Salem Streets which is owned by Joe and Fred Giangregorio. The building is slated to be demolished and replaced with an attractive, modern apartment building. North Enders refer to it as the “Postale” building because the latest tenant was a Read More…
October 1st in 1979 was a momentous day for the city of Boston and for the North End. The city was still polarized by the forced busing of its public schools and racial tensions were palpable throughout the neighborhoods. Ray Flynn was the mayor and Umberto Medeiros was the cardinal. The North End was rapidly Read More…
Since February is Black History Month, I thought it would be interesting to remember an important, but now largely forgotten, resident of the North End, an African slave named Onesimus. In 1706, Cotton Mather received a slave as a gift from his congregants. This was an extravagant gift because slaves were not only expensive to Read More…
Italians love joining clubs and the North End of seventy five years ago had an abundance of social organizations where men could gather and enjoy the company of their friends. There were many clubs honoring saints from a particular city or town. We still have the St. Anthony’s club, the Madonna della Cava and the Read More…
The phone call came at the worst possible time, but isn’t that always the case? Christmas was in four days and Angela was pregnant with their first child. They were living in a fourth floor walk up on North Street which was somewhat renovated. It had heat, hot water and a private bathroom. It was Read More…
When the Southern Italian immigrants first arrived in Boston at the end of the nineteenth century, one of the few professions open to them was being a barber, and the North End had scores of barber shops. My maternal grandfather had a barber shop on Haverhill Street near North Station, and my cousin’s son has a barber shop Read More…
When the Southern Italians first arrived in America, their first ports of entry were the big eastern cities – Boston, New York, Philadelphia and others. Life in these metropolises was very different from the small, isolated mountain villages they came from, and it took them a while to negotiate the subtle and not so subtle Read More…
Autumn was everyone’s favorite season in the North End. The feasts were over, the air was crisp and cool, the smell of burning leaves would drift in from the suburbs, the kids were back in school, and it was wine-making season. Old Italian men kept their traditions alive and made wine in many of the Read More…
Ah, midsummer in Boston. Swan boats cruise languidly in the Public Garden lagoon while tourists feed the ducks popcorn and peanuts. Squirrels (tree rats) beg for food and brazenly assault strollers in the Boston Common who are on their way to work or to shop. The Red Sox are in first place and are well on Read More…
The North End of my childhood was a neighborhood of tenement buildings and storefronts. Almost every street had at least one storefront and some streets like Salem, Hanover and Endicott were lined with shops selling all the goods and services necessary for tenement life. One of the reasons people loved living in the North End Read More…
This is the third installation of Nicholas Dello Russo’s “A Shtetl in the City”, following part one and part two. There has always been a Jewish presence in the North End. Jews were probably living here since Colonial times, but the height of Jewish immigration to Boston was from about 1870 to 1920 when Eastern Read More…
Is there anything sweeter than Spring in Boston? The long, harsh New England is finally over, the magnolia trees on Commonwealth Avenue are in bloom, the Red Sox are winning and may finally have a decent pitching staff and, best of all, the Swan Boats are back in the Public Garden lagoon. The post card Read More…