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Eat at the Shamrock, then get gas
By adamg on Tue, 06/20/2017 - 12:32pm
![Mobile station in old Boston](https://www.universalhub.com/files/styles/main_image/public/new/mobilsham.jpg?itok=1_9TswgJ)
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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I'm gonna go with East Boston
I'm gonna go with East Boston
Market St. at N. Beacon
In Brighton. The gas station and empty diner are still there.
Yep!
I THOUGHT that was the Pig n' Whistle.
The view today (the diner is in the middle of the shot...a little hard to see.)
https://goo.gl/maps/kDT94bbhAj22
this was my guess
Anyone know why the Pig & Whistle is shuttered - think it would have been reopened or torn down by now. Ghosts?
Photo cropped
https://twitter.com/ArchivesBoston/status/877181236363616256
In the top right of the original photo, you can see trolleybus wires.
Boston? Or Mayberry?
RFD....
What
is the tower in the background
as you look toward commonwealth ave
Comm Ave?
Comm Ave is miles from this location. Do you mean the antenna tower behind the New Balance store? That's the former TV38 tower on Leo Birmingham Parkway.
no
looks more like a water tower.
I think com ave is in that direction.
unless I'm looking down market and not north beacon
looking in opposite direction
If this is the Pig & Whistle, you're looking towards Watertown. Your back is to the Dunkin Donuts, WGBH is on your right across the street, and the street ahead will take you out opposite the McDonalds on Leo B. Pkway.
you're looking down north
you're looking down north beacon, but comm ave is still parallel and way left of the vantage point. I tried to find the water tower thingy, but its tough to pick something like that out on historic aerials.
Weld Street & Centre, West Rox (looking towards Belgrade Hill?)
It seems like the water tower is awfully close in this photo, but it kind of makes sense...
Yeah, it sort of reminds me of that intersection ...
The station being where the Weld American used to be.
I was thinking that, too
But the tower in the distance makes me doubt it.
The Answer
Thanks for playing, folks! This is the Winthrop Ave crossing at the Beachmont Station site in 1952
Hey, not fair ;-)
I thought all of your locations had to be within the city of Boston. That is Revere.
Yes — Even Those Tanks In The Background Were In Revere
They've pulled this on us before.
Apparently, anything on the Blue Line is considered part of Boston.
Not the Pig and Whistle, not Brighton
There used to be lots of diners around greater Boston, which have vanished without a trace. This diner does not resemble the Pig & Whistle.
I can't figure it out myself, but I can offer the following clues, all of which also indicate that this was not the Pig & Whistle and probably not in Brighton.
Someone else has already pointed out that the full (not cropped) view of the image shows trackless trolley wires above the street in the foreground, that runs from right to left. Market Street in Brighton never had trackless trolleys. Western Avenue did, but this doesn't look like Western.
The large sign with the diagonal brace, under the street lamp in the center, is an old-fashioned railroad crossing sign. So there must have been a rail line immediately behind the photographer. But it couldn't have been either the Boston & Albany (now Framingham-Worcester) line or the Providence line, both of which were fully grade-separated by the early 1900s. It was most probably a branch line or an industrial spur.
The highway sign to the left of that, which can't be read because we're looking at the back, is the shape that Massachusetts used along numbered highways, meaning that the foreground (right to left) street was probably a numbered highway. Of course, numbered highways have been rerouted a number of times since the 1950s.
Possible trackless trolley routes that come to mind include the 36 (Spring St.), 34 (Washington St.), 32 (Hyde Park Ave.), and 20 (Neponset Ave.). The latter had a state highway and a railroad spur near its end. So I'm guessing maybe somewhere near Neponset Circle??
I'm shocked
I was SO sure! Oh well, better luck (for me) next time.
Love the detailed post Charles!
P.S.
The tank in the left background, above the back of the diner, is for natural gas, not water.
Gasometer Tanks — Inner Cylinders Slid On Rails Inside Cage
Shamrock Is Now Beachmont Roast Beef— Gas Station Dunkin' Donuts
( see it larger ) Even some of the traffic signal fixtures are still there!