Tag: storrow drive

Sunday Rush Hour on the Esplanade Canoeway

The canoeway on the Charles River Esplanade was busy Sunday afternoon while Storrow Drive was quiet.

A couple, out for a romantic gondola tour, smiled at passing paddlers from their sedate and elegant ride.

We stopped for a little while just to watch the parade of passing boats.

Most folks were taking it easy, but this trio paddled at high speed. Perhaps they were running late on their kayak rental return.

Most boaters avoided the lily pads but a few, like this paddleboarder, cut a pathway through the plants.

These women used the patch of pads as a rest area to take a break and check their phones …

… before continuing on their way. (Or at least one of them continued paddling, the other must have been answering an important text.)

While you do have to rent the boats, sitting and watching them go by is free!

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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August 10, 2015
Then and Now: Back Street Was Once the Shoreline of the Charles

In the days before political manipulations created the dreadful Storrow Drive, Back Street was the shoreline of the Charles River. Here's a photo from the City of Boston Archives taken 107 years ago, on this day, in 1907.

Here's the scene in a photo I took last week.

Below is a map of what the area looked like a few years later, after a new dam created the Charles River basin and the mud from the dredging of the river was used to create a parkland beyond Back Street.

As you can see, what we call the Charles River Esplanade was identified as the Charles River Embankment.

This is an idealized postcard depiction of the embankment parkland. You could walk from your home on Beacon Street right into the park.

Next came the parkway along the river for pleasure drives. It was called a driveway back in the day and as you can see, you could pull over and enjoy the river scenes.

Then, in the 1950s, the ugly scar called Storrow Drive became a barrier between Bostonians and their riverside park.

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2014 Penny Cherubino with this link provided to historic photo from the Boston City Archives. The postcards are from a private collection.

October 17, 2014
Hotel Fensgate: It Was a Steak, Lobster, and Jazz House
Back in the 1930s and 1940s, 534 Beacon Street was the Hotel Fensgate. This post card was created before the dreadful Storrow Drive took away the Fenway and Back Bay connections to the Charles River.

On this 1928 atlas page, the arrow points to the Hotel Fensgate. You can see links to both the Charles River and the Back Bay Fens before Storrow Drive and the Bowker Overpass. (There is a group, Friends of the Charlesgate, working to restore Charlesgate.)

Today, this address is the Charlesview Condominiums. Here's a photo of the building today. It was built in 1923 and E.B. Stratton was the architect. And, here's a map showing the overlay of the highway ramps.

This is an illustration of the same Beacon Street view from the hotel's stationery.

The Fensgate's menu proclaimed it was,"Boston's Famous Steak and Lobster House." (Click on the menu for a larger view.)

Menu items included:
- Large Broiled Live Lobster for $2.75
- Lobster Salad for $2.00
- Famous One Pound Sirloin Steak-Club Style for $2.95
- Planked Steak for two for $6.00
And, while those prices look very inexpensive today, it was known as an expensive place to dine.

And, Jazz Too!

In his book, The Boston Jazz Chronicles, author Richard Vacca wrote,

"The Fensgate already had a club, the Satire Room, once advertised as 'Boston’s most expensive and intimate rendezvous.' Liberace made his Boston debut at the Satire, as did Irwin Corey. George Frazier, in his Herald review of singer Elsie Houston in August 1942, noted the cost of an evening at the Satire Room: 'She is so good that you forget for the moment that the check will be a sum only slightly smaller than the national debt. That’s being pretty good.'"

In his book, Myself Among Others: A Life In Music, jazz impresario George Wein talks about his days at the Hotel Fensgate. He tells of finding this as a spot for his own group for a few weeks and that he eventually took the advice of the attorney for the hotel which was, "You know George, I think you should open your own club." Wein did, and the rest is jazz history.

In Boston, there are stories on every corner. Let us know if you find an interesting tidbit on some Boston corner that we should explore and share!

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
December 2, 2013
Hotel Fensgate: It Was a Steak, Lobster, and Jazz House
Back in the 1930s and 1940s, 534 Beacon Street was the Hotel Fensgate. This post card was created before the dreadful Storrow Drive took away the Fenway and Back Bay connections to the Charles River.

On this 1928 atlas page, the arrow points to the Hotel Fensgate. You can see links to both the Charles River and the Back Bay Fens before Storrow Drive and the Bowker Overpass. (There is a group, Friends of the Charlesgate, working to restore Charlesgate.)

Today, this address is the Charlesview Condominiums. Here's a photo of the building today. It was built in 1923 and E.B. Stratton was the architect. And, here's a map showing the overlay of the highway ramps.

This is an illustration of the same Beacon Street view from the hotel's stationery.

The Fensgate's menu proclaimed it was,"Boston's Famous Steak and Lobster House." (Click on the menu for a larger view.)

Menu items included:
- Large Broiled Live Lobster for $2.75
- Lobster Salad for $2.00
- Famous One Pound Sirloin Steak-Club Style for $2.95
- Planked Steak for two for $6.00
And, while those prices look very inexpensive today, it was known as an expensive place to dine.

And, Jazz Too!

In his book, The Boston Jazz Chronicles, author Richard Vacca wrote,

"The Fensgate already had a club, the Satire Room, once advertised as 'Boston’s most expensive and intimate rendezvous.' Liberace made his Boston debut at the Satire, as did Irwin Corey. George Frazier, in his Herald review of singer Elsie Houston in August 1942, noted the cost of an evening at the Satire Room: 'She is so good that you forget for the moment that the check will be a sum only slightly smaller than the national debt. That’s being pretty good.'"

In his book, Myself Among Others: A Life In Music, jazz impresario George Wein talks about his days at the Hotel Fensgate. He tells of finding this as a spot for his own group for a few weeks and that he eventually took the advice of the attorney for the hotel which was, "You know George, I think you should open your own club." Wein did, and the rest is jazz history.

In Boston, there are stories on every corner. Let us know if you find an interesting tidbit on some Boston corner that we should explore and share!

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
December 2, 2013
Hotel Fensgate: It Was a Steak, Lobster, and Jazz House
Back in the 1930s and 1940s, 534 Beacon Street was the Hotel Fensgate. This post card was created before the dreadful Storrow Drive took away the Fenway and Back Bay connections to the Charles River.

On this 1928 atlas page, the arrow points to the Hotel Fensgate. You can see links to both the Charles River and the Back Bay Fens before Storrow Drive and the Bowker Overpass. (There is a group, Friends of the Charlesgate, working to restore Charlesgate.)

Today, this address is the Charlesview Condominiums. Here's a photo of the building today. It was built in 1923 and E.B. Stratton was the architect. And, here's a map showing the overlay of the highway ramps.

This is an illustration of the same Beacon Street view from the hotel's stationery.

The Fensgate's menu proclaimed it was,"Boston's Famous Steak and Lobster House." (Click on the menu for a larger view.)

Menu items included:
- Large Broiled Live Lobster for $2.75
- Lobster Salad for $2.00
- Famous One Pound Sirloin Steak-Club Style for $2.95
- Planked Steak for two for $6.00
And, while those prices look very inexpensive today, it was known as an expensive place to dine.

And, Jazz Too!

In his book, The Boston Jazz Chronicles, author Richard Vacca wrote,

"The Fensgate already had a club, the Satire Room, once advertised as 'Boston’s most expensive and intimate rendezvous.' Liberace made his Boston debut at the Satire, as did Irwin Corey. George Frazier, in his Herald review of singer Elsie Houston in August 1942, noted the cost of an evening at the Satire Room: 'She is so good that you forget for the moment that the check will be a sum only slightly smaller than the national debt. That’s being pretty good.'"

In his book, Myself Among Others: A Life In Music, jazz impresario George Wein talks about his days at the Hotel Fensgate. He tells of finding this as a spot for his own group for a few weeks and that he eventually took the advice of the attorney for the hotel which was, "You know George, I think you should open your own club." Wein did, and the rest is jazz history.

In Boston, there are stories on every corner. Let us know if you find an interesting tidbit on some Boston corner that we should explore and share!

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
December 2, 2013