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: 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.
THROWBACK: MESSAGE IN A GOBBLE
Partisan turkey, a viral gold watch, and Republican trolls in New England 130 years ago
BUY ME, BOSTON: CLASSIC ADVERTISEMENT PATCHWORK PROVIDES VAST PORTRAIT OF MASS CULTURAL HISTORY
“I honestly thought that the most challenging thing would be to create this narrative of a city that doesn’t exist anymore purely with raw materials that everyone considers trash. Ads are cutting room floor. It’s like when you make a pie and you have extra dough and you make snickerdoodles out of it.”
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.
