Back in the 1970s, Charles River Park was more than the place where “… if you lived here you would be home now …” as the iconic sign along Storrow Drive has said for years. During my childhood, Charles River Park was a home away from home due to the fact that my grandmother lived Read More…
Over the course of many years, short-term rentals listed on platforms like Airbnb have seen explosive growth throughout Massachusetts which has profoundly affected Massachusetts’ neighborhoods, especially in more urban areas, by reducing our housing stock and contributing to skyrocketing rents. Neighbors are disturbed by around the clock comings and goings of complete strangers, and the Read More…
By Bennett Molinari and Richard Molinari Saint Leonard Parish has been presented with a unique opportunity requiring that we seize the moment and take advantage of it for such an opportunity might never come again. Six months ago, a generous benefactor from Florida offered to match dollar-for-dollar donations to Saint Leonard’s renovation, up to one Read More…
This is the second installation of Jessica Dello Russo’s “Brethren, Bethel, And Basilica”, following part one. Inside the only surviving Colonial-era house of worship in Boston’s North End, today’s Christ Church or “Old North”, a modern plaque on the wall close by the door to the vestry (below a bust of George Washington) states that Charles 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…
By Jessica Dello Russo North Square is undergoing a $2.5 million facelift – the first in many decades. It includes the installation in 2019 of public art by A+J Art+Design on the theme of the many historical periods through which the square has endured as open space. There will be tributes to Boston’s first colonists from Read More…
Last February ownership of the Boston Herald was awarded to Digital First Media for $11.9 million, which hopefully means a new beginning for a paper that has served Boston well for over 100 years. I do not remember a version of the Herald as early as the 1800s, but I do remember the Boston Herald Read More…
It appears that the age of the taxi cab in the city of Boston is coming to an end. I was talking to a hotel doorman in Copley Square last Sunday morning and mentioned how business appeared to be slow. “Cabs sometimes wait in line for seven hours for a fare,” he said. For a 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…
The North End of Boston has changed a great deal since I lived there between 1991 and 2003. When I was a young kid, my family spent many weekends shopping at old Haymarket. Not crazy about being drowned in crowds of hot, sweaty people and rotting vegetables, it was not my favorite weekend activity. So Read More…
By Joe Sarno St. Mary’s Church in the North End was a magnificent structure. Built in 1834, it was the second largest Catholic Church in the Boston Archdiocese, the largest being the Cathedral in the South End. It was run by the very learned Jesuit Fathers and Brothers. It lasted a mere 130 years. If Read More…
Letter from Maria Stella Gulla, Director of ABCD North End / West End Neighborhood Service Center. The ABCD North End/West End Neighborhood Service Center (NE/WE NSC) recently held its Independence Day Party to celebrate America’s birthday. Special guests included Representative Aaron Michlewitz, who visited with his constituents and passed out flags in honor of the Read More…