Blue Men, Red Sox, Green Line and Grey Movie Palaces--Boston theater district trip report
May 18th, 2004, 05:40 PM
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Blue Men, Red Sox, Green Line and Grey Movie Palaces--Boston theater district trip report
Thanks again to all who posted on my three threads asking questions before my trip to Boston last week. I thought I'd let you know how it turned out.
As it happens, I've already posted comments on my hotel (Radisson) and big meal out (Pigalle) on other threads. My Radisson comments are on a thread started by another person and named something close to Boston Hotel--Back Bay or Downtown?, and my Pigalle comments are on a thread about the restaurant I ate at the night before in Waltham, Seventy@Third. In case you want to read them, click on my screen name to find them.
Rizzuto and bostonpaul9, thanks for the recommendation of Pigalle (even though you couldn't remeber the name, Rizzuto.) Finding such a well-reviewed-by-many restaurant right next to the hotel was just what I was looking for, and I'm glad you identified it for me even if our evening there turned out to be a little on the disappointing side. Reviews I found on Chowhound.com show that many people would rate it much more highly than we would from our one visit, although they also show that a few have also been less thrilled.
By the way, rizzuto, special thanks to you for recommending Finale! Not feeling happy enough with Pigalle to feel like ordering dessert, we walked over to Finale and it saved the evening! We were delighted with our molten chocolate cake and five-port flight.
Travelbabe, thanks for your generously detailed response, and also for turning us away from the Bristol Lounge for dinner. A stroll past confirmed that this was too much of a generic chain hotel restaurant to be the kind of place we were seeking for our special Boston meal. I had also asked about breakfast near the Radisson in a separate post, and someone else had mentioned Bristol Lounge for that. It might have been fine, but due to unexpected circumstances, breakfast ended up waiting for selections from stalls at Quincy Market (delicious and varied) one morning; came from the Dunkin Donuts in the transportation building across the street another morning (and we had heard about that food court here, thanks
and against all advice, we tried the Radisson's buffet breakfast another morning. The advice was right.
We loved the Blue Man Group and were helpless with laughter at points. I think almost anyone would have been--it was a show with a broader appeal than I expected. Thanks to all who encouraged me to go, especially you, ParrotMom, who assured me it was not too "young" for you or for for me, and who also looked for other entertainment possibilities for me.
Speaking of being young--we did the Old Town Trolley, and maybe it was good for us, as being a little older and apt to get footsore, it allowed us to see some things and travel some places while guaranteed a seat (not always true on the T), but for individuals and families who are younger and don't need to get off their feet as much, I don't think it would be worth the money. It doesn't go to some of the more interesting places, and those it does, it tends to zip by in heavy traffic. The driver/guides seemed to do the best with what they had, but didn't really have the opportunity to give a genuine tour. A lot of the time is spent on wider, faster moving, but less interesting streets. It was best for its stop on Charles Street at the base of Beacon Hill, which is relatively far from any T stop. We did use that stop to get off and take a delightful stroll around Louisburg Square and nearby streets, just as you recommended, Travelbabe, and did not have to wait long at all for another trolley to come for us to resume the tour when we were done.
Since everything is pretty close together and walkable, and the "T" provides such good coverage, I don't think Old Town Trolley would be worth the money for younger feet in Boston. For a number of reasons related to differences in the cities, the way the points of interest are distributed, and the nature of the transit system, I think this company's tour in my current home area, Washington, D.C., has value to more people, and I would be more likely to recommend it here.
As I said in my original post, I spent my early boyhood in Boston, and one thing I didn't really expect was just how much I enjoyed taking the "T" again. The ancient stations and cars of the Green Line, the noise, the jarring stops and starts, the winding tunnels, the glimpses of other trains at connecting points, those tall exit gates with "teeth." For years since, I've lived in the SF Bay Area, and now DC, and have enjoyed the smooth, modern BART and Metro systems with none of these characteristics, and I'd forgotten just how much fun the "T" was to me as a little boy. And to find the Green Line, at least, doesn't seem to have changed at all--that was great! I was seven again.
I also wrote about wanting to visit the old movie theatres (or their sites) where I was taken to see my first movies. Thanks again, jv827, for referring me to the wonderful Cinematreasures.com web site which gave me a lot of info which made my search more worthwhile. It was fun to locate the Wang Center (Metropolitan), the Majestic (then the Saxon, I think), the Paramount, and the RKO Keith Memorial, all of which I remembered, and especially to be able to see quite a ways inside the latter due to the restoration that is going on.
Also the RKO Boston Cinerama, which you had fingered, Anonymous, even if it's now encased in that office building. Cinematreasures has the account of someone who has been in there recently, found the auditorium in good condition, and even found the old unique multiple Cinerama projection booths and projectors still intact.
I had particularly mentioned a theatre which I remember that my mother and I used to enter by a long, mirrored passageway which really fascinated me then. You, Anonymous and Cigalechanta, confirmed my memory of such a place, although you didn't remember what theatre it was, but both identified it as being farther north on Washington St. from most of the other theatres. You were right. I'm almost certain it was the Orpheum.
According to Cinematreasures, the Orpheum during that era had a walled passageway leading from Washington Street to its entrance off Hamilton Place, but said it has long since been widened and incorporated into a small shop mall and food court, the Corner Mall. They didn't say anything about mirrors, but going into the Corner Mall, I found what I'm pretty sure is a large remnant of the old mirrored wall forming the north wall of a portion of the food court near the Hamilton Place entrance. I remember my mother used to take me shopping for clothes at Jordan Marsh (now Macy's), then she must have taken me a block or so to a movie at the Orpheum. It was a satisfying discovery, though my companion desrves high marks for patience with me.
One of the places we took the "T" was to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox lose to the Indians. My last game there was in 1955, my first major league game. It was against the Yankees, and Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra all played in it. The Sox lost that one too. Since I'm clearly a jinx, it's good that I stayed away for 49 years, or the Sox wouldn't have won all those World Series in between, right? (Sorry--if it's not me, must be the Bambino.)
I've heard a lot of talk here and elsewhere about how impossible it is to get Sox tickets. It's true that when I went shopping for them, about a month in advance, there was nothing but standing room available at the redsox.com site. But typing "Red Sox tickets" in a search engine brought up numerous agencies with an abundance of tickets--if one was willing to pay the substantial premium over face value which was asked. It was worth it for me.
On the way from the "T" to Fenway, we also passed many scalpers hawking tickets. I don't know about their reliability or prices, but some claimed they were selling at face value. The "T", of course, was a cattle car before and after, but that just made us feel we were particpating in the great Boston communal experience we were.
As it happens, I've already posted comments on my hotel (Radisson) and big meal out (Pigalle) on other threads. My Radisson comments are on a thread started by another person and named something close to Boston Hotel--Back Bay or Downtown?, and my Pigalle comments are on a thread about the restaurant I ate at the night before in Waltham, Seventy@Third. In case you want to read them, click on my screen name to find them.
Rizzuto and bostonpaul9, thanks for the recommendation of Pigalle (even though you couldn't remeber the name, Rizzuto.) Finding such a well-reviewed-by-many restaurant right next to the hotel was just what I was looking for, and I'm glad you identified it for me even if our evening there turned out to be a little on the disappointing side. Reviews I found on Chowhound.com show that many people would rate it much more highly than we would from our one visit, although they also show that a few have also been less thrilled.
By the way, rizzuto, special thanks to you for recommending Finale! Not feeling happy enough with Pigalle to feel like ordering dessert, we walked over to Finale and it saved the evening! We were delighted with our molten chocolate cake and five-port flight.
Travelbabe, thanks for your generously detailed response, and also for turning us away from the Bristol Lounge for dinner. A stroll past confirmed that this was too much of a generic chain hotel restaurant to be the kind of place we were seeking for our special Boston meal. I had also asked about breakfast near the Radisson in a separate post, and someone else had mentioned Bristol Lounge for that. It might have been fine, but due to unexpected circumstances, breakfast ended up waiting for selections from stalls at Quincy Market (delicious and varied) one morning; came from the Dunkin Donuts in the transportation building across the street another morning (and we had heard about that food court here, thanks
and against all advice, we tried the Radisson's buffet breakfast another morning. The advice was right.We loved the Blue Man Group and were helpless with laughter at points. I think almost anyone would have been--it was a show with a broader appeal than I expected. Thanks to all who encouraged me to go, especially you, ParrotMom, who assured me it was not too "young" for you or for for me, and who also looked for other entertainment possibilities for me.
Speaking of being young--we did the Old Town Trolley, and maybe it was good for us, as being a little older and apt to get footsore, it allowed us to see some things and travel some places while guaranteed a seat (not always true on the T), but for individuals and families who are younger and don't need to get off their feet as much, I don't think it would be worth the money. It doesn't go to some of the more interesting places, and those it does, it tends to zip by in heavy traffic. The driver/guides seemed to do the best with what they had, but didn't really have the opportunity to give a genuine tour. A lot of the time is spent on wider, faster moving, but less interesting streets. It was best for its stop on Charles Street at the base of Beacon Hill, which is relatively far from any T stop. We did use that stop to get off and take a delightful stroll around Louisburg Square and nearby streets, just as you recommended, Travelbabe, and did not have to wait long at all for another trolley to come for us to resume the tour when we were done.
Since everything is pretty close together and walkable, and the "T" provides such good coverage, I don't think Old Town Trolley would be worth the money for younger feet in Boston. For a number of reasons related to differences in the cities, the way the points of interest are distributed, and the nature of the transit system, I think this company's tour in my current home area, Washington, D.C., has value to more people, and I would be more likely to recommend it here.
As I said in my original post, I spent my early boyhood in Boston, and one thing I didn't really expect was just how much I enjoyed taking the "T" again. The ancient stations and cars of the Green Line, the noise, the jarring stops and starts, the winding tunnels, the glimpses of other trains at connecting points, those tall exit gates with "teeth." For years since, I've lived in the SF Bay Area, and now DC, and have enjoyed the smooth, modern BART and Metro systems with none of these characteristics, and I'd forgotten just how much fun the "T" was to me as a little boy. And to find the Green Line, at least, doesn't seem to have changed at all--that was great! I was seven again.
I also wrote about wanting to visit the old movie theatres (or their sites) where I was taken to see my first movies. Thanks again, jv827, for referring me to the wonderful Cinematreasures.com web site which gave me a lot of info which made my search more worthwhile. It was fun to locate the Wang Center (Metropolitan), the Majestic (then the Saxon, I think), the Paramount, and the RKO Keith Memorial, all of which I remembered, and especially to be able to see quite a ways inside the latter due to the restoration that is going on.
Also the RKO Boston Cinerama, which you had fingered, Anonymous, even if it's now encased in that office building. Cinematreasures has the account of someone who has been in there recently, found the auditorium in good condition, and even found the old unique multiple Cinerama projection booths and projectors still intact.
I had particularly mentioned a theatre which I remember that my mother and I used to enter by a long, mirrored passageway which really fascinated me then. You, Anonymous and Cigalechanta, confirmed my memory of such a place, although you didn't remember what theatre it was, but both identified it as being farther north on Washington St. from most of the other theatres. You were right. I'm almost certain it was the Orpheum.
According to Cinematreasures, the Orpheum during that era had a walled passageway leading from Washington Street to its entrance off Hamilton Place, but said it has long since been widened and incorporated into a small shop mall and food court, the Corner Mall. They didn't say anything about mirrors, but going into the Corner Mall, I found what I'm pretty sure is a large remnant of the old mirrored wall forming the north wall of a portion of the food court near the Hamilton Place entrance. I remember my mother used to take me shopping for clothes at Jordan Marsh (now Macy's), then she must have taken me a block or so to a movie at the Orpheum. It was a satisfying discovery, though my companion desrves high marks for patience with me.
One of the places we took the "T" was to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox lose to the Indians. My last game there was in 1955, my first major league game. It was against the Yankees, and Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra all played in it. The Sox lost that one too. Since I'm clearly a jinx, it's good that I stayed away for 49 years, or the Sox wouldn't have won all those World Series in between, right? (Sorry--if it's not me, must be the Bambino.)
I've heard a lot of talk here and elsewhere about how impossible it is to get Sox tickets. It's true that when I went shopping for them, about a month in advance, there was nothing but standing room available at the redsox.com site. But typing "Red Sox tickets" in a search engine brought up numerous agencies with an abundance of tickets--if one was willing to pay the substantial premium over face value which was asked. It was worth it for me.
On the way from the "T" to Fenway, we also passed many scalpers hawking tickets. I don't know about their reliability or prices, but some claimed they were selling at face value. The "T", of course, was a cattle car before and after, but that just made us feel we were particpating in the great Boston communal experience we were.
May 19th, 2004, 03:31 AM
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Thanks, johncharles, for your report. Forums such as these work so well when people such as yourself both mine information from others and then pay back the community by sharing experiences.
I'd strongly concur with your assessment that Boston is a better place on foot than in the tourist trolley. OK, you won't cover as much ground, but a stroll down Mt Vernon Street on Beacon Hill or Marlborough Street in Back Bay is a great experience, one that pays you back many times when you travel at walk-and-stop speed.
Some of the Green Line T stations from johncharles's childhood have disappeared. I remember going to Bruins games and passing through the Adams station, which was always closed in the evening. I never did discover where its entrance was. After the big construction in the late 50s/early 60s, the Scollay station got replaced by Government Center and Haymarket station was reconfigured, but you could still see remnants of the Scollay station in the Green Line tunnel for years and years.
Sox games in the 50s were great for kids. Unreserved grandstand seats were $0.75 for under-16s ($1.50 for everyone else), and games never sold out except occasionally for the Yankees. Everyone remembers the Williams-Piersall-Jensen outfield, but my mind is still full of players like Billy Klaus, Dick Gernert, Ted Lepcio, Sammy White, Tommy Brewer, Frank Sullivan. They were actually a half-decent team then -- never good enough to challenge NY of course, buy usually just god enough to finish in what they used to call the first division. Then came Don Buddin and Jerry Casale et al., and things went downhill.
I'd strongly concur with your assessment that Boston is a better place on foot than in the tourist trolley. OK, you won't cover as much ground, but a stroll down Mt Vernon Street on Beacon Hill or Marlborough Street in Back Bay is a great experience, one that pays you back many times when you travel at walk-and-stop speed.
Some of the Green Line T stations from johncharles's childhood have disappeared. I remember going to Bruins games and passing through the Adams station, which was always closed in the evening. I never did discover where its entrance was. After the big construction in the late 50s/early 60s, the Scollay station got replaced by Government Center and Haymarket station was reconfigured, but you could still see remnants of the Scollay station in the Green Line tunnel for years and years.
Sox games in the 50s were great for kids. Unreserved grandstand seats were $0.75 for under-16s ($1.50 for everyone else), and games never sold out except occasionally for the Yankees. Everyone remembers the Williams-Piersall-Jensen outfield, but my mind is still full of players like Billy Klaus, Dick Gernert, Ted Lepcio, Sammy White, Tommy Brewer, Frank Sullivan. They were actually a half-decent team then -- never good enough to challenge NY of course, buy usually just god enough to finish in what they used to call the first division. Then came Don Buddin and Jerry Casale et al., and things went downhill.
May 19th, 2004, 04:44 AM
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Excellent trip report, johncharles! I thoroughly enjoyed all the personal references and observations. Boston is a city i haven't visited in quite some time and i'm excited to share it with our kids, hopefully soon. Thanks for sharing!
May 19th, 2004, 04:51 AM
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Rizzuto, weren't you a Yankee, not a Red Sox? Weren't you retired by the time of that 1955 game I saw?
I may be overnostalgic by nature, but I can remember feeling that way as early as 1961, when I saw a game at Cincinnati's old Crosley Field in which Dick Gernert pinch hit for the Reds and Sammy White was catching Warren Spahn for the then-Milwaukee Braves. Which makes me want to ask--is Braves Field still standing in Boston? Seems like it was in my day, and had been taken over by Boston University, but I'm not sure my memory is accurate about that. Where is, or was, it?
Jackie Jensen had gone to what later became my alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley. It might interest you to know, rizzuto, that at least as of about 15 years ago when I was living in Berkeley, Pumpsie Green was the baseball coach at Berkeley High School.
I may be overnostalgic by nature, but I can remember feeling that way as early as 1961, when I saw a game at Cincinnati's old Crosley Field in which Dick Gernert pinch hit for the Reds and Sammy White was catching Warren Spahn for the then-Milwaukee Braves. Which makes me want to ask--is Braves Field still standing in Boston? Seems like it was in my day, and had been taken over by Boston University, but I'm not sure my memory is accurate about that. Where is, or was, it?
Jackie Jensen had gone to what later became my alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley. It might interest you to know, rizzuto, that at least as of about 15 years ago when I was living in Berkeley, Pumpsie Green was the baseball coach at Berkeley High School.
May 19th, 2004, 05:08 AM
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Yes, Boston U did buy Braves Field on Comm Ave, about a half-mile from Fenway Park. It was used as a football stadium for a while (when BU had Harry Agganis as quarterback and dreams of the big time).
It's been replaced by dormitories and a much smaller stadium. (I think the stadium is still there.)
It's been replaced by dormitories and a much smaller stadium. (I think the stadium is still there.)
May 19th, 2004, 05:31 AM
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Thanks for a great report on my hometown. I too remember shopping trips with my mother that also included RH Stearns, Best & Company, and a visit to the ice cream place that served the hot fudge on the side (can't remember the name!); not to mention the huge blueberry muffins sold at Jordan Marsh. Yes, Howard, BU stadium is still there.
May 19th, 2004, 07:08 AM
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Thanks, JohnCharles, for a great read! It's wonderful to see the familiar through new eyes, and I especially enjoyed your reminiscences of childhood. Do you remember the Jordan Marsh restaurant with the "Queen of Hearts" and the the meringue swans filled with ice cream?
I agree with you about Pigalle. Next time Mistral!
Glad you had such a wonderful trip!
I agree with you about Pigalle. Next time Mistral!
Glad you had such a wonderful trip!
May 19th, 2004, 07:53 AM
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Baileys for the hot fudge sundaes..lol would you belive Parrot Pop went to BU with Harry Agganis and played baseball with him at Fenway Park...true...he says he was very talented and had bseball and football agents bidding for him.Sorry about the Red Sox loosing...and NEXT time go onthe Duck tour..lol Thanks to whoever put that site up about the old movies.. I still have it and have memories of the Oriental in Mattapan with their dark blue ceiling and lights looking like the sky. Somebody in Brockton is making the Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins..and I remember the Essex Deli where my mother and I would spit a corned beef sandwich before going home after seeing a vaudeville show and a movie...
May 19th, 2004, 08:09 AM
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Thanks for the update on Pumpsie Green, johncharles. Of all the bizarre stories surrounding Boston sports teams, the Pumpsie Green-Gene Conley escape to Israel may have been the weirdest.
Braves Field was on Gaffney Street, next to the Commonwealth Armory and just down the street from Peter Fuller Cadillac. As stated, it became BU field, and the Boston Patriots played their home games there (usually on Friday nights, so as not to conflict with Giants' tv broadcasts on Sunday afternoons) for a few years before moving to Fenway Park (and then BC and then Harvard). Peter Fuller's and almost all the other car dealerships are gone, and the armory followed suit last year.
(And this typist is from the Bluto Rizzuto wing of the family, strictly Bostonian.)
Braves Field was on Gaffney Street, next to the Commonwealth Armory and just down the street from Peter Fuller Cadillac. As stated, it became BU field, and the Boston Patriots played their home games there (usually on Friday nights, so as not to conflict with Giants' tv broadcasts on Sunday afternoons) for a few years before moving to Fenway Park (and then BC and then Harvard). Peter Fuller's and almost all the other car dealerships are gone, and the armory followed suit last year.
(And this typist is from the Bluto Rizzuto wing of the family, strictly Bostonian.)
Mar 5th, 2005, 11:59 AM
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Hi, if anyone can help me, I am looking for photographs from Mattapan Square from the 1950's-1970's of Blue Hill ave from River St. north to Calendar st. including the business and the Oriental and Morton theatres. I grew up in the area during the 1960's and would like to see what things looked like from that era. Thank You!
Phil K.
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Phil K.
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Mar 5th, 2005, 03:58 PM
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Great report! We don't see many Boston trip reports on here. My husband's great grandfather was fire chief of Boston, and I have been corresponding by email w/the current chief, Paul Campbell. He invited us to come to Boston to see the official portrait of DH's great grandfather, which is in Chief Campbell's conference room now. I will use your trip report when we prepare for that trip. Thanks very much!
Mar 5th, 2005, 04:32 PM
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I too loved this trip report. It seemed very nostaglic. My grandmother and I used to go to Bailey's and I went to the Enchanted Village more than once. Also saw my first movie in Boston - Bambi. This was before they had cinemas in the suburbs. Harry Agganis is a hero in Lowell where I live.
Mar 5th, 2005, 05:21 PM
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Thanks for a lovely trip report. It brought back wonderful memories-Bailey's sundaes, Howard Johnson's on Washington St. where my mother and I would have clam rolls after shopping at Jordan's, R. H. Whites and Gilchrists. I remember vividly skipping school to go see Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the RKO on Washington. Mmmmm-memories!
Mar 6th, 2005, 03:49 AM
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Under the category of "you never know".. while helping somebody look for pictures of Dorchester and Mattapan I've found a site where we found two cousins...and an old childhood friend looking for my husband....lol Still no pictures though..
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