Investigate Person 06/01/11 – At about 3:03 p.m., an Area D-4 officer responded to a radio call for a harassment report at 170 Commonwealth Ave. On arrival, the officer spoke with the witness, who said she dropped her son off at school when a staff member approached her and asked why her son wasn’t...
Full Print Edition
To Market, to Market
“To market, to market, to buy a plum bun: Home again, home again, market is done!”(The original verse of the traditional English nursery rhyme – circa 1611.)
From Nothing to Something – How BHV Made It Happen
By Karen Cord Taylor Entrepreneurship is trendy these days. It requires innovation. Everyone wants to be the person who takes an idea, gets it going, and comes out a winner. Downtown Boston has such a winner. Beacon Hill Village, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, serves 375 members 50 years or older who live...
William Lloyd Garrison, Reformer
By Penny Cherubino William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879) was a man of strong words, and strong words are used to describe him– reformer, activist, abolitionist. His statue, on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall near Dartmouth Street, is inscribed with one of his powerful statements. “I am in earnest – I will not equivocate – I will...
Gas Lamps Going Green
The period gas lanterns that give so much charm to our neighborhood are now being fitted with automatic igniters that will cause them to go on only in the evenings at nightfall rather than flickering wastefully all day. The city will save approximately $140,000 a year in fuel costs for the 2,800 lamps which...
The Budget
Mayor Menino has presented his $2.4 billion Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 and he has also presented a five year $1.7 billion Capital Plan, including $168.7 million in new FY 2012 project authorizations. He has presented this to the Boston City Council. Every important base in a big city budget is tweaked and...
Police Briefs 06-07-2011
Assault and Battery 05/23/11 – At about 8:18 p.m., officers responded to a radio call for an assault and battery in progress at 223 Commonwealth Ave. On arrival, police spoke with the victim, who stated that while operating a taxi, he became involved in an altercation with another cab driver. The victim said the...
Strolling In The Park
“A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo.”- Paul Scott Mowrer (1887-1971 Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper correspondent)
America’s Oldest Family-owned Art Gallery
-By Penny Cherubino A discrete brownstone at 238 Newbury Street is home to Vose Galleries. Most shoppers passing by the building have no idea that behind the blue doors is one of the largest collections of American realist paintings in New England. Family and Art For 170 years descendants of Joseph Vose have operated the...
Much to Look Forward To
It was an America at peace with itself this long Memorial Day weekend. The kick-off to the Summer of 2011 went smoothly in New England and here in the Greater Boston area where the weather finally, fully, wonderfully cooperated, sending tens of thousands to our beaches and into the streets of our neighborhoods for...
Police Briefs 05-31-2011
Robbery – Other Weapon – Business 05/16/11 – At about 7:29 p.m., officers received a radio call for a panic alarm at Sugar Heaven, located at 669 Boylston St. On arrival, officers spoke with the victim, who stated that an unknown male had just threatened her with a syringe. The victim said she was...
Women at Work
These hard-working women were part of a Garden Club of the Back Bay clean up crew that recently rejuvenated blocks of street tree enclosures along Beacon Street. (Left to right: Glenda Mattes, Beverly Barlow, Rita Christensen and Nancy Totton.)
Adopt a Street Tree
-By Penny Cherubino Throughout the city there are what Jackie Blombach, Co-President of the Garden Club of the Back Bay, calls “abandoned tree pits.” These are filled with trash and weeds. Their soil is so compacted that water can’t reach tree roots, and the lack of plants or mulch lets the sun bake away...
The Back Bay Association Holds its 88th Annual Meeting at Four Seasons
The Back Bay Association (BBA) held its 88th Annual Meeting at the Four Seasons Boston Hotel on Monday May 9. Members of the Association gathered to revisit the successes of both the organization and neighborhood. BBA President Meg Mainzer-Cohen welcomed members to the event and introduced Chairman (General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel...
The Weather
Cab drivers share cab stories. Cops trade cop stories. New Englanders talk about the weather. For the past ten days we have experienced nothing but rain, cold, dreariness and more dreariness. This spate of bad weather at a time when things are supposed to be looking up tends to bring down even the heartiest...
Police Briefs 05-24-2011
Robbery – Firearm – Business 05/09/11 – At about 9:58 p.m., officers responded to a radio call for a male suspect dressed in all black clothing and a black ski mask with a handgun seen on foot in the area of Newbury and Fairfield streets. On arrival, police spoke with an employee at Emack...
Picture Perfect
“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.”- Eudora Welty (American Author 1909 – 2001)
Junior League Selects Local Architecture Firm for $1 Million Renovation Project
The Junior League of Boston announced Friday that it has selected Linea 5, Inc. to provide architectural and engineering services for the renovation of the league’s headquarters at 117 Newbury St. The project will include the construction of a demonstration kitchen for JL Boston’s Kids In The Kitchen project that teaches nutrition to young...
And the Words Move on …
-By Penny Cherubino In another rite of spring, readers have returned to benches and lawns in the parks. Neighbors stop to say hello and ask, “What are you reading?” Conversations follow, books are reviewed, and recommendations made. Book Gatherings Anne Drazen, chair of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s Friends & Neighbors Activities,...
A Week of Rain is Forecast
The weekend was about gray skies and rain. Monday came up gray and rainy. The weathermen and women on Boston’s major television stations are all predicting a week of gray and rain at a time when all of us want to be wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts, and taking long walks by the...
Police Briefs 05-17-2011
Motor Vehicle Recovered in Boston 05/01/11 – At about 2:41 a.m., an individual walked into Area D-4 headquarters at 650 Harrison Ave. to report his car was stolen. The individual said he parked and locked his motor vehicle at Exeter and Beacon streets at around 1 a.m. When he returned at about 2:30 a.m.,...
What do You Call that Long Bridge across the Charles?
-By Penny Cherubino Whether you call it the Harvard Bridge or the Mass Ave Bridge, it’s a handy part of life for Bostonians. Early on it was dubbed the “Xylophone Bridge” for the sounds emitted as vehicles crossed its wooden deck. When a head-on collision closed this vital link during rush hour last December,...
Collecting Our National Pastime
-By Kenneth Gloss Since the incredible World Series win of 2004 by the Boston Red Sox, interest in all sports has increased and over the past 25 years, interest in sports collectibles has continued to skyrocket. Baseball has been particularly popular – it is the epitome of America. There is a little bit of...