Artair Geal discovered these 1980s ads for Prime Computer, which turned the old Carling Brewery on the shores of Lake Cochituate into a minicomputer powerhouse, and which apparently dabbled in romance advice on the side: Read more.
On the Channel explores the pothole that just keeps getting bigger on Thomson Place, an increasingly busy Fort Point Street because Boston Public Works won't fix it, not because the department is shirking its duties but because of the street's oddball status as a private way. With a detailed history of why the street remains a private way, going back to the turn of the 20th century.
Boston Stone (lower left) on Marshall Street sometime before 1930.
The Boston Landmarks Commission resorts to pesky facts to show that the Boston Stone might have had a more mundane origin than being the point to which all Boston-area mile markers refer - although it is possibly an indicator of how long Masshole drivers have been around: Read more.
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism recounts the saga of Charles Taylor, a native Liberian who went to Bentley and lived in Roxbury, returned to Liberia to become a government official, fled after he was charged with embezzlement, was picked up by US marshals and put in the Plymouth House of Corrections, from which he escaped in 1985 to become the leader of a bloody campaign to become the country's dictator.
Aline Kaplan recounts the transformation of what had been a way for men to relieve themselves in private rather than in the Frog Pond into today's Earl of Sandwich.
In December, 1895, construction of what would be the nation's first subway was well under way along and under Tremont Street, but that didn't stop busy Bostonians from making their rounds.
Compare to the view today: Read more.
In 1856 or thereabouts, A.H. Folsom photographed the northwest corner of the intersection of Warren and Dudley streets in Roxbury.
The view of that corner today: Read more.
After protesters dumped the tea into the harbor 250 years ago, they tossed the chests it had been in into the harbor as well. J.L. Bell posts a copy of an account by Rev. Dr. John Prince of Salem, who watched the Tea Party and then returned to the wharf the next morning: Read more.
WBUR interviews Sally Snowman, the last keeper at the country's first lighthouse, on her impending return to terra firma.
State House mural in 1908.
J.L. Bell compiles a chestload of links to videos and articles about the Boston Tea Party in advance of Saturday's 250th anniversary.
Baldwin Coolidge's 1908 photograph of a State House mural from the BPL's Boston Pictorial Archive.
On April 24, 1949, an employee of the Boston Transportation Department took this shot of Blue Hill Avenue outbound at Columbia Road.
Note the trolleys on both roads (the reason both have paved medians -that's where the trolleys used to go) and compare to today's view: Read more.
Jam and cram in front of the Hotel Buckminster. See it larger.
Richard Merrill photographed traffic heading into Kenmore Square on Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street past the Hotel Buckminster in March, 1946.
Roughly the same view via Google Maps in November, 2022: Read more.
No, not City Hall or the Government Services building a few blocks away. The Boston Landmarks Commission is considering granting landmark status to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Building, 133 Federal St. downtown. Read more.
Engraving by John L. McGee of the attack on Sumner.
Markwayne Somethingorother, the junior senator from Oklahoma, didn't actually throw down with Teamsters President (and Medford native) Sean O'Brien yesterday, due to a stern talking-to by Bernie Sanders, but he wanted to. Read more.
GlobalEats takes a look at the restaurants that opened in Boston in the first three decades of the 20th century as new immigrant groups moved into the city. Read more.
The locals said they dumped 342 chests of tea overboard in ye olde tea party, but the owner of the ships only put in for compensation for 340. What happened to those other two chests? J.L. Bell ponders.
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this photo. See it larger.
What might have grabbed the guy's eye in the day's paper? Read more.
Daniel Steiner comes up to Boston and talks to a couple of local experts on the way roads in olde Boston got laid out.
H/t Brendan.
Erich L. reports from the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Hynes today: Read more.
J.L. Bell recounts that on his arrival in Philadelphia, Ben Franklin tried to get some bread to tide him over, but couldn't find any bakers who understood the Boston terms he used. Finally, he just told a baker to give him "three penny worth of any sort" of bread - and then was amazed at the three huge "puffy rolls" he got, because it turned out that pennies had a different worth in Philly than in Boston.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
