With all the media hype about building an Olympic stadium at Widett Circle I thought our readers would like to see where the wholesale fish, meat and produce dealers were located before the city moved them out in the 1970’s. Would you be surprised to know they were right here in the North End? The Read More…
Author: Nicholas Dello Russo
Life on the Corner: Haymarket Square [Part 2]
This photo is a view of Haymarket Square looking down Canal Street. It was taken at the same time as the photo in Part 1, around 1905 and both post cards look like they were printed by the same company. The building with the columns is the Boston City Hospital health dispensary. Behind it you Read More…
Life on the Corner: Haymarket Square [Part 1]
I have a small collection of old postcards depicting scenes of the North End which I will share with readers of this column over the next few months. This first photo is of Haymarket Square at the turn of the 20th century, I would guess around 1905, and the view is looking down North Washington Read More…
Life on the Corner: St. Michael’s Cemetery [Part II]
For fifty years, St. Michael’s Cemetery permitted Italians to erect tremendously elaborate monuments to memorialize their dead. Many of these were carved by Italian craftsmen who emigrated to work in the quarries in Barre, Vermont. The monuments pictured in this article were all carved by hand and it would be almost impossible to duplicate them Read More…
Life on the Corner: St. Michael’s Cemetery [Part I]
Our story begins in Southern Italy from where almost all North Enders originated especially the hill towns surrounding Avellino and Sicily. The Italians who traveled to America were desperately poor and led an agrarian life which had changed little since the Middle Ages. The voyage itself was perilous and they all traveled in Third Class Read More…
Life on the Corner: La Morte di Ciccio Sessa
On March 14, 1891 an angry mob of several thousand people descended on the jail in New Orleans, Louisiana intent on administering rough justice on nine inmates who had just been acquitted of murdering the chief of police. Barred from the front door, they gained entrance through the back and immediately shot the nine men. Read More…
Life on the Corner: Hey, Wall-Yo’
Hey, Wall-Yo’. How many times did I hear that expression growing up in the North End? I would be walking down Salem Street and some old lady would yell that at me from a fourth floor window. If I stopped and looked up she would let down a basket on a rope of clothesline with Read More…
Dom Campochiaro Remembered at Annual St. Mark’s Society Mass & Breakfast
On Sunday April 26 the Societa Cattolica Italiana di San Marco, St. Mark’s Society, held its annual Mass and breakfast at Sacred Heart Church and St. John’s school hall. The Mass was in honor of the deceased members of the society and was the tenth anniversary Mass for Armando, “Eddie”, Vignolo the longtime president of Read More…
Life on the Corner: A Walk Down Hanover Street – Part III
Here is the final photo of Hanover Street in the 1940’s and it depicts the block between Parmenter and Prince Streets. The first thing to notice is that although the cars and trucks are different, double parking was an issue even back then. Some things never change and probably never will. There are three pastry Read More…
Life on the Corner: A Walk Down Hanover Street – Part II
It’s a misty day on Hanover Street during the late 1940’s. The street was still paved with cobblestones at that time and don’t those old cars look terrific? They give the scene a noir feel which seems right in character. This photo was taken from the corner of Cross Street looking North towards the Coast Read More…
Life on the Corner: A Walk Down Hanover Street – Part I
When tourists visit the North End today they almost always come for the food. Is there a tourist who leaves the North End without a pastry box from Mike’s, Modern or Maria’s? We have some of the best restaurants, coffee and pastry shops and bakeries in the city, but this tourist trade is a Read More…
Life on the Corner: Ghost of Old North Church
Here is another picture from the walls of Nick’s Tavern, my family’s bar on Lewis Street. The photo was taken during World War II when many North End boys were overseas serving their country. It appears to be a dinner honoring wounded and fallen servicemen. The woman in the middle is a Gold Star mother. Read More…