Read Part 1 of Nick Dello Russo’s “Tenement Life” here. Living in a congested neighborhood like the North End meant there were always people out in the streets and going in and out of the apartments. Families were large and people were always either leaving or returning from work. School children went home for lunch Read More…
Quarantine. Shelter in place. Fear. A reduction in human contact is hard enough, imagine being in your formative years. Imagine wanting to see your friends and can’t fully understand it beyond making someone sick. Imagine you have bundled up energy and need to burn some off. Being a parent during this time is hard. Being Read More…
December 7th 1941 was, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “a day that will live in infamy.” It was also an important day for the North End. All the street kids, tough guys who were chronically unemployed and broke because of the Depression, signed up in droves to serve in the military. What a great Read More…
Downtown JournalAn occasional column about city life Nothing dulls my senses more than a televised press conference. However, recent State House pressers starring Charlie Baker catch my full attention. When the Massachusetts governor talks to reporters about the coronavirus situation, he communicates clearly and speaks well, answering reporters’ questions without attitude or comment. Baker, generally, Read More…
In the midst of this scary, stressful time in the world, some of us may have even forgotten today is St. Patrick’s Day. This story by local resident Tom Schiavoni, originally published in 2014, provides a little light-hearted content for the holiday. THE MAKING OF THE GREEN: (of Shamrocks and Stereotypes) It’s that time of Read More…
Students from the Boston Architectural College (BAC) recently presented some possible options for Nazzaro Center use once a new community center is built. They met with many different organizations and stakeholders to develop possibilities based on recommendations they received. They reiterated that the plans they presented were meant to be used as a starting point Read More…
We are hoping for a big North End community turnout at City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 10:30 a.m. at room 801 to oppose the current plans for the condo development in the former St. Leonard’s Church Rectory, at 14 N Bennet St. The Zoning Appeals Board has scheduled a vote then on whether Read More…
Natalie McGee, mother of North End resident Mary McGee, recently passed away at the age of 94 in Long Branch, New Jersey. Her son-in-law affectionately recalls Natalie’s adventures as a sometime visitor to her daughter’s fourth-floor walk-up in a former tenement atop Copp’s Hill. The girl from Jersey City has gone away, leaving behind a bouquet of memories as Read More…
I thoroughly enjoy watching you walk your dogs through #LombardPlace, that “L” shaped alley that connects Prince and Thacher Streets, the one with a bit of cobblestone and some greening. What I’m not enjoying is whomever thought it was OK for your dog to poop in front of the stairs to my landing. Yes, you Read More…
Downtown JournalAn occasional column about city life Each December, I pay the piper after hoarding donation envelopes and non-profit pitches during the previous months. In the 2019 giving season, as I went through my envelopes, I found one addressed to the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. I pondered it, felt a bit sad, and cast the Read More…
Enrico Caruso was born in Naples Italy in 1873 into a working class neighborhood. His father was a mechanic who expected his son to follow his trade. His mother objected and he was sent to be educated where his clear angelic voice was discovered in a church choir, and his singing career was born. Whether Read More…
This is the fifth installation of Nicholas Dello Russo’s “A Shtetl in the City”, following part one, part two, part three, and part four. Phillips Street, on the North Slope of Beacon Hill, is a small, unremarkable street. Many years ago, it was considered part of the West End and was once home to a sizable Black population. Read More…