What a pillar of salt sees…

[ornoth]

Yesterday, modpixie posted to the b0st0n community a list of Boston sights and sounds that no longer exist. It sparked enough nostalgia that I thought it might be interesting to set down a list of the things I’ve seen here that are, sadly, either endangered, going, or gone.

There are two lists. The first column enumerates those elements of Boston that are already historical data. The second column is a list of things which are currently in the process of failing. Most of those are still here—at least nominally—but I think they are endangered species that could disappear tomorrow.

Long Gone Going? Bands The Cars Cliffs of Dooneen Concussion Ensemble EBN: Emergency Broadcast Network Steady Earnest The Allstonians The Bentmen Bim Skala Bim The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Powerman 5000 Clubs Local 186 Mama Kin The Rat Venus de Milo The Linwood Grill Jacques The Plough & Stars Restaurants 33 Dunster The Blue Diner Bombay Bistro Cafe Avventura The Deli Haus The old India Quality Kebab-n-Kurry Mehfil The Rattlesnake Bar & Urban Canyon Steve’s Ice Cream Bartley’s Burger Barn Herrell’s Little Stevie’s The Pour House Rodizio @ Midwest Grill Organizations Bank of New England (BONE) Filene’s Basement & bridal rush Jordan Marsh Lechmere The MDC NECCO NYNEX Stah Mahket Tower Records Newbury Waterstone’s Booksellers Wordsworth Books The Boston Bruins Building 19 Coolidge Corner Theater MFS Newbury Comics Places The Boston Garden The elevated Central Artery The Fleet Center The John Hancock Observatory The DuBarry mural The Haymarket The old Northern Ave Bridge Yawkey Way as a public way Media WSBK, WLVI Mighty Mouse Creature Double Feature   People Bird, Parish, McHale Bobby Orr, Terry O’reilly Red Auerbach The Woop-Woop Guy Miscellaneous Bowling under Fenway Park Meeting people at the gate at Logan MBTA tokens The Mattapan High-Speed Line

More recent updates can be seen at this post from 2009 and this one from 2013.

Comments

[f-l-i-r-t.livejournal.com]

What, what, and what? I am confused... there are too many major places on the list of gone. Boston Garden, Fleet Centre... have I really been gone that long?

Boston Bruins?
The Mighty MIghty Bosstones?

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suppose some of those might sound ominous to someone who isn’t up on the local news. Well, let’s see…

The Boston Garden was torn down ten years ago, replaced by the Shawmut Center, renamed the Fleet Center, this week renamed the TD BankNorth Garden.

The Bruins, like every other NHL team, haven’t played once during the ’04-’05 season, as the entire season was cancelled over a labor dispute.

A year or two ago, the Bosstones went on “indefinite hiatus”, essentially going their separate ways.

Plus ça change, plus ce n;est pas la même chose.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

what an impressive list. i've been contemplating putting together a brief blog entry about bank mergers and the way the mergers have mirrored the economic growth in boston -- the two or three big banks/lots of smaller banks seems equivalent to the few rich people/lots of poor people, where mass. used to have room for the middle class. however, if you're going to remember BONE i hope you also remember new england telephone ("we're the one for you, new england...") and not just nynex.

a few of the things you recall are still around in some altered form, such as the fleet center and the rattlesnake (which reopened last year). just thought i'd point that out. ^_^

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, I was on one of the teams that built HomeLink. IIRC, the project started as BayBank, then was BankBoston throughout its implementation, then was renamed FleetBoston, and now it’s BofA. And I thought Web sites turned over quickly!

New England Tel could equally be New England Bell, IIRC. Amusingly, I also worked on NYNEX’s BigYellow yellow pages site, which subsequently went to Bell Atlantic, then Verizon after merging with GTE’s SuperPages. This kinda thing sure makes a mess of one’s résumé!

The ’snake is indeed back, although I haven’t been. It turned sour even before the horrid “George” episode. I fear it’ll never be the same, sadly.

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Any BTW, thanks for the original post. As you can imagine, it provoked both thought and a wee bit of melancholy.

[blowtorch-betty.livejournal.com]

EBN was from boston?

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Argh! Okay, I’ll admit that’s a stretch. They were from Providence, but played here a few times. I always thought of them as local, but technically they weren’t. Good catch.

[https://users.livejournal.com/-pianississimo/]

It makes me sad to see all these independent stores going or gone. i'm coming to boston for school next year. but in the downtown part of my town (it's historical) there are only two chains. the rest of the stores are indie. so i hope there's still a bit of that feel in boston, maybe?

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

It depends a great deal on where in town you are. Harvard Square and Newbury Street have been almost completely assimilated by national chains, and Central Square is well on the way to the same fate. However, I think places like JP and Inman Square and the South End still have some of that local vibe. I think it’s still there, but you have to really look for it, because as soon as one place becomes “cool”, it also gets gentrified and absorbed into the collective of faceless, personality-less national chains.

[https://users.livejournal.com/-pianississimo/]

yeah, i think i heard something about like, parts of boston being very tourist-trappish and parts not. that seems pretty logical. this will be exciting, i guess, figuring out the difference. but when you've only been to boston once, i wonder if it's hard to tell. hmmm. yeah, i tend to prefer the indie stores to the chains. i'll keep 'JP and Inman Square and the South End' in mind. Haha. do i sound like i know what i'm talking about? i still think it'll be fun exploring the whole city, figuring out the best places. i'm so excited! is it college yet?

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

You're headed to Emerson? That's cool. Do they have dorms? Apartments are often really pricey, but where you live will make a big difference in your experience of the city. My suggestion is to get a bike and the nastiest lock(s) you can find. And remember that the South End and South Boston are *completely* different things!

[https://users.livejournal.com/-pianississimo/]

yeah, i'm going to emerson. and they do, in fact, have dorms. i want to live in the Little Building, which i think is on Boylston. they're also building more housing for next year, so hopefully i won't need an apartment for at least a few years, if at all. yeah, i'm definitely not bringing a car to boston. first, i'm gonna be a broke college student, probably. and then, the whole notoriously crazy drivers thing. and also being in the city, i just dont want to deal with it. i guess i'll get friendly with the subway (of course, i've only been on a subway once... but i guess i'll figure it out). thanks for al your help

A new going?

[rubyred660.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I wanted to stop at the Store 24 behind the infamous Twin Donuts at Union Square in Brighton and saw it was now a Tedeschi's --- no big deal, I don't have any affection for either.

BUT

I saw that they have a partially built Dunkin Donuts kiosk in the store and it made me worry for the future of Twin Donuts. How will the people of Brighton give directions anymore if that landmark is gone???