Her Boston Experiences

This is the book that gave me the inspiration for this blog. I knew I wanted to write a blog that would be interesting to a larger public than my own circle of friends and family but I'm not really an expert in much of anything.

I love Linda Purl's Crazy Cat Lady who drinks and knits blog:

http://crazyauntpurl.com/

I'd use her great idea as a starting off point but I knit a only a little, (mostly things that are square or rectangle in shape) and don't own even one cat. I do like my wine but my idea of a good wine is the big jug of Gallo "Paisano" that retails for a whopping $10.99 at my local emporium and it's best year is usually this year for maximum freshness. If I started a wine blog the most interesting things it would have on it would be where locally to get the cheapest price on a good box o'wine.
Limited audience for that kind of info and not really the mass market sort of blog I had in mind.

There are people who write about anything and everything on thier blogs and some of them are highly informative and entertaining. My friend Pilar turned me on to The Bloggess and I like her site enough to revisit it on a fairly regular basis:

http://thebloggess.com/

I would use her success at writing about everything and nothting as an inspiration but as pleasant as it is overall, my life just isn't all that funny.

Back to square one....

I was having a really hard time finding a place to start til I thought of this book that I've been carrying around since it was given to my Father in 1981.

I would have been 10 years old when this was given to me and I am pretty sure it was my Father who actually passed it on to me and not the woman who wrote the inscription although he had no memory at all of ever doing so.
No matter, the item for what it was/is was the reason I held onto it as long as I did.
I grew up in Brookline, MA ( a suburb of Boston) and lived in Brighton and Jamaica Plain for the bulk of my life up until the past 10 years which I have spent on the south shore of MA.
I have a large volume of Boston related memories and boxes upon boxes, upon boxes of various photos and ephemara from the generations of my family that came before me.
I know I can't be the only one....

In my 20's, I worked for the Filene's department store in Downtown crossing. I found that old building with all it's history to be a really fascinating place to work and even though it's mostly gone now (only the outer shell of the building remains), the downtown Boston area never ceases to offer up some little snippet of wonder every time I walk those streets.

So here I find myself, kind of getting comfortable, a few posts into my new blog about a subject that I don't need to be an expert on but know enough about to know that it will continue to be interesting to me as we grow together.

With this post I invite everyone along for the ride, I sincerely hope you all find this site seeing journey around Boston past and present as interesting a trip as I do.

The Boston Globe June 4, 1976 David Farrell

The Boston Globe - Tuesday, June 4 1974 - By David Farrell

Supt. Sullivan retiring as police rift flares

"Boston Police Supt. Jeremiah P. Sullivan will retire from the department on July 16. Sullivan is the second top superior officer to announce his retirement since the hassle last March between the commissioner and some of the top members of his staff.
A month ago Supt.-in-charge William J. Taylor advised diGrazia that he was getting out in September.
Sullivan told diGrazia that his wife's illness and a desire to spend more time with her and other members of his family were factors in his decision to retire.
He also said that he and one of his sons, Jeremiah Jr. an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, were planning to to work together in the establishment and development of a school for policemen seeking promotional advancement.
The superintendent, who has been one of the outstanding superior officers in the department during the past two decades, made no mention of the difficulties between diGrazia and some of the high ranking members of his staff.
But it is no secret at 154 Berkley st. that relations between the commissioner and Sullivan, Taylor, and other staff officers have been severely strained.
The inability or unwillingness of diGrazia to communicate and level with these officers is the real reason for the retirements of Taylor and Sullivan.
Another high ranking officer who was busted from superintendent's rank by the commisioner several months ago is expected to follow suit and submit his retirement papers.
Capt. James L. Buchanan, who was offered the commissioner's post by Mayor White two years ago, has been shelved by diGrazia in a humiliating manner totally unbecoming his long years of dedication and integrity. He is now confined to an upstairs office in traffic with nothing to do.
The loss of these men, who have the respect and admiration of the non-white as well as white community, will be a severe blow to the police department's efforts to hurdle the forthcoming crises anticipated with the busing of school children.
Supts. Sullivan and Taylor have been upset at the manner in which diGrazia's so-called whiz kids have walked all over the superior officers, a point not overlooked by Mayor White.
The mayor reportedly has had his fill of one of them and his days as a member of the commissioners civilian staff are numbered.
The Taylor retirement announcement in May disturbed the mayor, but the decision by Sullivan to leave is expected to upset the mayor even nore because if it's implications to the public.
Sullivan is so highly regarded by the community and by the patrolmen that his departure will affect adversely the already low morale on the PD.
The brush which triggered the final collapse of relations between diGrazia and the superior officers occured three months ago at a staff meeting at headquarters. The meeting was rocked by some vigorous comments by Sullivan and others on some moves being proposed by the civilian staff and bought by diGrazia. The superior officers felt that thier long years of experience were being scrapped and tossed aside.
After the confrontation became public , Mayor White called in the commissioner and told him to cool it and lower his public profile.
The mayor also was upset at a statement diGrazia made at a Harvard Law Enforcement session at which he said he hoped the city's 2500 policemen would go on strike so that he could get rid of most of them and begin anew with a neucleus of the 125 good men.
As for Supt. Sullivan, he departs with the knowledge that he left a legacy of impeccable integrity and a record of accomplishmentwith under privilaged groups that even the whiz kids -elated as they must be in that another obstacle in their path has been removed-will have to concede.

-David Farrell is a Globe political columnist. "


I found this article folded up with some others in my Grandfather's belongings. My Grandfather Charles McIntyre retired from the Boston Police in 1976 and although he never discussed his job with his 5 year old grand daughter , he was surely right in the middle of one of the more troubled times in Boston history.

Old Boston Public Library

This is a shot I snapped on a whim out one of the windows of the old Boston Public Library building, probably sometime in the summer of 1989.

I think I recall liking the way the sun glinted off the church. I have since swapped my 110 instamatic for an even more "instant" digital camera but I still like this snapshot and the moment in time it captures.

Wollaston Beach Quincy, MA 7-13-10

Downtown Crossing / Park Street Station

I found this photo in my Grandparents belongings.
The actual photo itself is about the size of 2 postage stamps. It's a very small actual photo and I think it may have been a photographers proof of some sort.
At that tiny size it appeared to me that the man in the forground might have been my Grandfather Charles J. McIntyre but after taking the image and blowing it up on my computer I am no longer sure that it looks like him.
I know that intersection though, the photographer must be standing right in front of Park Street Station in Downtown Boston looking toward the street that leads to the Downtown Crossing shopping area.

Vintage Post Cards

I don't own any of these postcards but I found the images on line and I think they are really neat older images worth sharing.