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Back when you could take the bus to get your scalp treatment

Bus going down the street in old Boston

The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this image. See it larger.

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Brighton center!

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Yes, Codman Square is it. The cupola of Second Parish Church is above the "Scalp Treatments" sign. Looking up the street, on the left side, we can see the trees in front of the church, and beyond that, the large apartment building at the corner of Talbot Ave.

Above the Dorothy Muriel's sign, you can see part of a small decorative scallop, at the cornice of this block of stores. That same cornice is visible on Google Street View [586 Washington St., Dorchester MA 02124], just to the left of the sign for Jerusalem Discount Furniture.

What happened to the larger decorative scallop, just above the Scalp Treatments in the old view? My guess is that, with no support behind it, the decorative part of that wall became unstable and had to be taken down. And on Google Street View, where that scallop would have been -- above Codman Square Chiropractic -- you can see that some of the original yellow brick work has been replaced. The colors of the replacement bricks match the old pretty well, but look at the masonry and you can see it's in a different pattern from the rest of the building.

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Near River St.

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My guess is Brighton near Cleveland Circle

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…. might be a euphemism for delousing?

Or just an all encompassing term for that as well as dandruff control, baldness cures and whatever else afflicts the scalp.

I’m going with Codman Square or Moody Street in Waltham.

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You do know this is the Boston City Archives posting this, right?

They did post one from Milton Village earlier in the year but Waltham? Sure, Waltham.

Perhaps you should delouse certain things above your neck.

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Center Street, JP.

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And look who pops up.

I pity the people who have to deal with you in person.

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They have many photos of places outside the city limits. They even have an entire album of photos taken in Europe.

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n/t

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A lot of "scalp treatments" were sought out by people who were expected to use a lot of chemicals, heat, and traction on their hair to straighten it to look "presentable". These cause a lot of scalp problems: https://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-beauty/black-hairstyles-and-scalp-pr...

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Codman Square did not have a significant black population at that time. https://www.codman.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CodmanSquareHistory.pdf says that in the 1950 census, "There were 60,763 residents, of which 60,541 were white, 183 were black, and 40 'others' ".

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I answered the question about "what does this mean" and "why".

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The bus is operating on the Dorchester Belt Line. This route was created in the 1920s at the request of Dorchester merchants for their customers. Originally meant to be a streetcar line, service lasted until 1954. The MTA split the route into two linear services: Codman/Uphams via Bowdoin Street and Ashmont/Uphams via Dorchester Avenue. The former route lasted until about 1960; the latter was redirected to Andrew Station in the early sixties.

Note the Type Five in the background!

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This is definitely Codman Sq the intersection ahead is where Washington St and crosses Talbot Ave.

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Implying that some coats are unreliable?

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Thanks for playing, folks! This is Codman Square in 1941. High res version of the photo is here: https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_bb452f47-154...

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