Of them all, many would argue that Jack and Marion’s in Brookline served as the local standard-bearer of quality New York-style delicatessen fare with service to match.
DIRTY OLD BOSTON: DELI SANDWICH HISTORY
Dirty Old Boston
DIRTY OLD BOSTON: THAT FUNKY SQUARE
Taken from this world in the late ’90s and turned into an Abercrombie & Fitch—a development that till this day peeves many square vets, the loss being one of those perfect early symbols of accelerated gentrification in retrospect—the Tasty was a one-room diner that was about 30 feet long and a quarter that wide.
DIRTY OLD BOSTON: THE WARD 8
Pore through the pages of any cocktail history tome and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a distinctive contribution to the art that is Boston’s and Boston’s alone. The Ward 8, however, is a drink that did originate here, specifically at the long-gone Locke-Ober restaurant on Winter Place (in the spot currently known as Yvonne’s).
DIRTY OLD BOSTON: MISSING JIMMY’S
Jimmy’s, which first opened as the Liberty Cafe and was eventually renamed after its owner, had little competition until 1963, when Anthony’s Pier 4 was opened by restaurateur Anthony Athanas.
GRAVE ENCOUNTER: A QUEST TO LEARN HOW A KENTUCKY TOMBSTONE WOUND UP IN AN ALLSTON BASEMENT
Was it the result of a college prank? Something more sinister? It’s possible that nobody will ever find out.
THE EERILY FAMILIAR TALE OF SHADRACH MINKINS AND THE CENTURIES-OLD FEDERAL THREAT TO THE COMMONWEALTH
The guards prepared to fight any slave hunters who entered Boston, and specifically patrolled the streets of the West End and the northern slope of Beacon Hill, which at the time was home to the majority of the city’s black population.
DIRTY OLD BOSTON: THE RISE AND RAGE OF BOSTON PUNK IN THE ’70S, ON FILM
Most subterranean icons never got much recognition in their day, but there have been some consolations in the decades since, in part thanks to Boys From Nowhere: The Story of Boston’s Garage Punk Uprising.
DIRTY OLD BOSTON: THE HUB’S WAR ON SATAN
Looking through old newspapers, it’s clear that there have always been unscrupulous cult leaders in Mass. For the most part, they’ve worked for Christian churches.
SOUL SURVIVORS: A DEEP LOOK AT THE HUB’S OBSCURE DISCO SCENE
"It took a lot of patience. It wasn’t an easy three years to get the records I wanted before I could start making the actual mix."
THROWBACK: IS HOMELESSNESS WORSE IN BOSTON NOW THAN IT WAS A CENTURY AGO?
Boston’s most infamous homeless shelter was established only a few years later, in 1915, under Mayor James Michael Curley, who was as well known for his corruption as he was for being a friend, however superficially, to the downtrodden.
