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Clang, clang, clang went the trolley
By adamg on Wed, 12/18/2019 - 9:32am
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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East Boston
Bennington St, outside of Cental Square
history is everywhere
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=rhoda-butt...
BUTTERS, Rhoda Rhoda Butters, one of the longest living residents of Massachusetts, has died at the age of 105. Born Rhoda Kachelnik in Boston, MA on 8/22/1910, she graduated from Winthrop High School and in her 20's married Saul Butters. The two owned Butters Furniture in East Boston
Cry of the City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_of_the_City
Is that a record for fastest correct answer?
4 minutes from original post to correct answer!
Bennington Street East Boston
Bennington Street East Boston ( central sq) ahead
Lacey’s dept store to the right
Arkin clothing store to the right
Santoro’s subs further ahead to right at corner
East Boston savings bank at corner on left side
Lacey's!
My mother went there all the time when I was a kid in the 60s. :-)
But what's that movie theater? The Seville was around the corner on Meridian Street.
It’s quite sad that the old
It’s quite sad that the old movie theater’s East Boston once had are no longer.
Starlight bowling alley use to be a theater as you can see in photo.
Take a look inside at the Somerville theater everything is preserved back to its glory days.
"Double Parking in the Bus
"Double Parking in the Bus Lane, 1941 version"
Well great now I have the
Well great now I have the song stuck in my head!
even better
Caught the movie last week on the big screen
Is that
Truck double parked?
That's what I thought at first
But you can't really tell if it's standing still or being driven ahead of the trolley. I went back to the original photo the Archives folks posted and it sort of looks like there's nobody behind the wheel, but that might just be glare:
Wondering how that trolley
gets the power to move without overhead wires?
The wires are there
Just not visible due to the exposure or resolution of the image. But the trolley pole does appear to be there. Looks like an outbound trolley, too, headed to Revere Beach & Orient Heights.
Might even be around Christmas, 1948, since there appears to be a Christmas tree in Central Sq. and the other trees are quite bare.
East Boston Christmas Tree
Pretty much in the same spot where the Christmas tree is now. Except the Christmas tree in Central Square for the past several years, including this year, has a decided and noticeable slant, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You'd think they'd be able to do something about it, or put the tree in a different location.
yes!
The minute someone said bennington street, the minute I saw the big pine tree in the background, I knew that was Central Square, East Boston.
This must be pre-Liberty Plaza, and the vehicles make this late 1940s..
Liberty Market
I remember when the Liberty Market supermarket was actually in Liberty Plaza in the pre-Shaw's days. it wasn't where Shaw's is now (that was originally a bank, if I'm not mistaken), it was more where Kappy's is now. Owned by the Lombardo family (who also had a popular function hall called "Lombardo's" where the Walgreens is now), even then it was one of the last of the independent supermarkets. Sweet Life was their discount store brand. As far as generic brands went, Sweet Life had excellent products.
The Answer
Thanks for playing, folks! This does indeed show Bennington Street, right outside of Central Square. The year is 1948. We think this was taken in December, because of the Christmas tree.