# Boston question



## BigMoaner (Jan 28, 2016)

I am mid thirties now but when i was 15 I stayed with a mates Aunt in Boston for four weeks. It was the trip of a life time. We also spent time in Washington, but I have fondest memories of Boston.

I wonder if you can help...i have tried many times to work out where we stayed. It was a slightly run down area, with nearly all wooden houses, our one had three floors I think. Nice little houses, tightly packed but not really terraces, but as i say run down, i remember them saying it was quite crime heavy. It was a VERY working class neighborhood, I stayed with an Irish-American  family, but it was also quite a black neighbourhood also. It was around the corner of a school. One night, we hung out with the local teens at a disused bit of railway. Got drunk. Had a great time. There was a video shop at the corner of the road (probably long gone). 

I know that's hardly anything to go on, but can anyone help with what possible areas that could be, back in 1997? I'd love to see the area on google maps and perhaps even locate the house we stayed in. 

Thanks


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## Maharani (Jan 28, 2016)

I have a good friend from Boston. I shall ask him.


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 15, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> I am mid thirties now but when i was 15 I stayed with a mates Aunt in Boston for four weeks. It was the trip of a life time. We also spent time in Washington, but I have fondest memories of Boston.
> 
> I wonder if you can help...i have tried many times to work out where we stayed. It was a slightly run down area, with nearly all wooden houses, our one had three floors I think. Nice little houses, tightly packed but not really terraces, but as i say run down, i remember them saying it was quite crime heavy. It was a VERY working class neighborhood, I stayed with an Irish-American  family, but it was also quite a black neighbourhood also. It was around the corner of a school. One night, we hung out with the local teens at a disused bit of railway. Got drunk. Had a great time. There was a video shop at the corner of the road (probably long gone).
> 
> ...



Hmm, I'm from Boston. What you describe could be several different areas. South Boston? Jamaica Plain? Somerville? Cambridge? Allston? Dorchester? 
Did you go into the city itself (from the wooden houses thing, it doesn't sound like you were in any of the Boston proper neighborhoods)? And if so, do you remember how you got there? Bus? Subway? above ground or below?


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 22, 2016)

BigMoaner (please see above post)


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## Bonfirelight (Feb 22, 2016)

Sounds like you might have been in a Ben Affleck movie.


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## BigMoaner (Feb 22, 2016)

Miss Caphat said:


> Hmm, I'm from Boston. What you describe could be several different areas. South Boston? Jamaica Plain? Somerville? Cambridge? Allston? Dorchester?
> Did you go into the city itself (from the wooden houses thing, it doesn't sound like you were in any of the Boston proper neighborhoods)? And if so, do you remember how you got there? Bus? Subway? above ground or below?


Ill get back to you today or tom, sorry. Cheers


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 24, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> Ill get back to you today or tom, sorry. Cheers



aw, I'm dying to help you figure this out. let's get this mystery solved!


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## BigMoaner (Feb 25, 2016)

Miss Caphat said:


> Hmm, I'm from Boston. What you describe could be several different areas. South Boston? Jamaica Plain? Somerville? Cambridge? Allston? Dorchester?
> Did you go into the city itself (from the wooden houses thing, it doesn't sound like you were in any of the Boston proper neighborhoods)? And if so, do you remember how you got there? Bus? Subway? above ground or below?



right, sorry for the delay and thanks for you help. none of them names ring a bell  we did go into the centre for just one day, and i think, though really am not sure, that it was overground. i am pretty sure it was a suburb as the journey took a while.

hmmmmm

i have no interest connecting the with the bloke i went with on facebook (long story).

all i can say was that it felt very, very inner city. It had a huge irish population and a huge black population. there's no two ways about it - it had a rough feel. but it was also a brilliant neighbourhood where everyone knew everyone else. the family i stayed iwth, the bloke ran a boxing club. i was told to "listen out for hte police sirens at night" and sure enough, there was one after the other. but it didn't feel a dangerous place. re ben effleck, yeah it sounds like i have romantacised a poor area, but it wasn't like that. we played football in teh street in the day in a school play ground (it was the summer holidays), we went to BBQs, hung around basket ball courts, got pissed with the local teens by this weird sort of abandoned rail way track. does that ring any bells? all the local yoots used to hang out there. it was a just a lovely time, a time surrounded by warm people. and i have never had so much female attention due to the english accent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! probably one of teh best two weeks of my life. as a sixteen year old, it was all exciting. 

thanks if you can help. damn i wish i could remember more!


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## BigMoaner (Feb 25, 2016)

i've tried a google image search with terms "boston wooden terraced houses" and the nearest i could get was these in san fran

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Haight_Ashbury11.JPG

but - the houses we stayed in and the surrounding streets where smaller, BROWN, and not as done up. the ones above look expensive, but this was clearly a very working class area, where families lived in modest but roomy houses. i think our one even had three floors. little wooden yard iwth a pool crammed in overlooked by about ten other houses, where everyone on the balconies chatted with each other.


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## BigMoaner (Feb 25, 2016)

have you got an american word for terracing, i.e houses that are joined in one long line? might help me search


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## BigMoaner (Feb 25, 2016)

just remembered something else!

the first night we went to watch a baseball game and the pitch thing was right by a massive lake. MASSIVE lake. !!!


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## Spymaster (Feb 25, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> have you got an american word for terracing, i.e houses that are joined in one long line? might help me search


Try "tenements". It's not strictly terracing but might get you somewhere.


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## mauvais (Feb 25, 2016)

The Yanks call them 'row houses', I think.


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## souljacker (Feb 25, 2016)

Theres an article here about minor league baseball in the New England area. New England Minor League Baseball Parks

That's assuming it was minor league and not at Fenway Park or kids baseball.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 25, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> I wonder if you can help...i have tried many times to work out where we stayed. It was a slightly run down area, with nearly all wooden houses, our one had three floors I think. Nice little houses, tightly packed but not really terraces,



It sounds like the sort of area like between 5th and 9th St. Tightly packed, not really terraces, but also often 2 or 3 floors. Slightly run down, working class-ish. You also mentioned railway tracks so I'm going to hazard a guess at South Boston.

Take a look at Google Maps for 7th Street as an example. Something like this perhaps?


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## BigMoaner (Feb 25, 2016)

it was kids baseball thanks soulj. just 10-12 year olds i think. might have even been girls. crowd of parents watching. i can remember getting bored with the baseball and wondering along this massive lake to go for a sly ciggy.


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## BigMoaner (Feb 25, 2016)

skyscraper101 said:


> It sounds like the sort of area like between 5th and 9th St. Tightly packed, not really terraces, but also often 2 or 3 floors. Slightly run down, working class-ish. You also mentioned railway tracks so I'm going to hazard a guess at South Boston.
> 
> Take a look at Google Maps for 7th Street as an example. Something like this perhaps?


you know what, that's certainly what it was like. but it was a bit more run down, i think. i headed down on your google map to dorchester street and that is even more like it! ha, needle in hay stack! but at least i have an area to start to look into! thanks. 

ethnic mix of that area in the 90s?


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 25, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> ethnic mix of that area in the 90s?



Not really sure, would have to ask our Bostonian peeps I think.


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 25, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> right, sorry for the delay and thanks for you help. none of them names ring a bell  we did go into the centre for just one day, and i think, though really am not sure, that it was overground. i am pretty sure it was a suburb as the journey took a while.
> 
> hmmmmm
> 
> ...



that sounds like an amazing trip!

the funny thing about this is while you've given a lot of details, many of them describe several different possible areas of Boston...you had a very typical yet very genuine Boston experience. 
There are working class Irish neighborhoods with basketball courts & baseball fields in many parts of Boston & the surrounding villages, and there are countless abandoned or otherwise train tracks, and also sorry to say it but the houses you describe are incredibly common as well in almost all of the Boston neighborhoods.  

What I'm going on is mostly the baseball field by the lake, and the above-ground commuter rail. I will look into those now and get back to you.


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 25, 2016)

ok, so the subway* from South Boston looks like it's all underground, but I'm not ruling South Boston out because it's a very good contender and your memory of the train ride might be confused with something else.



The subway and public transportation in general around Boston is called the "T" or the "MBTA"


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## mauvais (Feb 25, 2016)

?


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 25, 2016)

what is that mauvais ?


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 25, 2016)

mauvais said:


> The Yanks call them 'row houses', I think.



yes, row houses. or townhouses. 



Spymaster said:


> Try "tenements". It's not strictly terracing but might get you somewhere.



not quite...tenement is like one big uniform building with lots of apartments, and has a pretty negative connotation in the US


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 25, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> it was kids baseball thanks soulj. just 10-12 year olds i think. might have even been girls. crowd of parents watching. i can remember getting bored with the baseball and wondering along this massive lake to go for a sly ciggy.



there's this park with a big lake and a baseball field, but it would have been a 20 minute drive or longer on the highway. do you remember being driven there? Or you could have taken the train there and walked a bit. probably a long shot but maybe we can rule it out


Lake Quannapowitt - Wakefield, MA


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## mauvais (Feb 25, 2016)

Miss Caphat said:


> what is that mauvais ?


Pleasure Bay in South Boston. Just about constitutes a lake, has a baseball field.


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## BigMoaner (Feb 26, 2016)

mauvais said:


> Pleasure Bay in South Boston. Just about constitutes a lake, has a baseball field.



now this i recognise, but i can't remember how long the drive was 


Miss Caphat said:


> there's this park with a big lake and a baseball field, but it would have been a 20 minute drive or longer on the highway. do you remember being driven there? Or you could have taken the train there and walked a bit. probably a long shot but maybe we can rule it out
> 
> 
> Lake Quannapowitt - Wakefield, MA



def not this one. 

thanks all, i am going to trawl around that dorchester street area because i think that's the sort of neighbourhood it was.

lol, needle/haystack. 100s of k of homes, wish me luck


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## BigMoaner (Feb 26, 2016)

also, i played football in a school play ground that was deserted because it was summer hols. so i am going to look at the schools in south boston, click to street view, and hopefully BOOM


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## Bonfirelight (Feb 26, 2016)

This is a good game. A bit like Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice

I went to hotel in Greece once. It had a high up bar area overlooking a rocky bay.
Go.


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## BigMoaner (Feb 26, 2016)

Bonfirelight said:


> This is a good game. A bit like Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice
> 
> I went to hotel in Greece once. It had a high up bar area overlooking a rocky bay.
> Go.




my internetting skills are legendry. i'll find it


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## catinthehat (Feb 26, 2016)

I'm going to Boston in a couple of weeks - staying in Back Bay then Harbour.  First visit but will keep an eye out for this mystery area!


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 26, 2016)

catinthehat said:


> I'm going to Boston in a couple of weeks - staying in Back Bay then Harbour.  First visit but will keep an eye out for this mystery area!



Uh yeah, no,   if you're staying in the Back Bay and then the harbor (not quite sure what that means but I'm assuming somewhere equally upscale and centrally located, near the harbor) I highly doubt you'd be travelling to or through any of the suspected neighborhoods. They're not tourist areas and Boston is pretty huge. Also if you did, you'd realize what I mean about so many places looking exactly as BigMoaner described. Sorry  

Hope you have a great trip though! You're lucky that we're having an exceptionally warm winter. This time of year we're usually still covered in snow and freezing.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 26, 2016)

I looked out this morning and the sun was gone


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## catinthehat (Feb 26, 2016)

Miss Caphat said:


> Uh yeah, no,   if you're staying in the Back Bay and then the harbor (not quite sure what that means but I'm assuming somewhere equally upscale and centrally located, near the harbor) I highly doubt you'd be travelling to or through any of the suspected neighborhoods. They're not tourist areas and Boston is pretty huge. Also if you did, you'd realize what I mean about so many places looking exactly as BigMoaner described. Sorry
> 
> Hope you have a great trip though! You're lucky that we're having an exceptionally warm winter. This time of year we're usually still covered in snow and freezing.


Thank for that - glad to hear about the weather.  Hotel is near airport and I assumed it was a harbour as it mentioned a water bus.  My preference would be not up market and tourist but I am traveling with a sensitive soul who will cry if she cant plug in her hair straight things.  Any must see things or must do things ?


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 26, 2016)

catinthehat said:


> Thank for that - glad to hear about the weather.  Hotel is near airport and I assumed it was a harbour as it mentioned a water bus.  My preference would be not up market and tourist but I am traveling with a sensitive soul who will cry if she cant plug in her hair straight things.  Any must see things or must do things ?



water bus? they probably mean a ferry from the airport/ hotel to the waterfront which will be fun...it's a pretty ride 








I didn't mean to sound like I was scoffing at your choices of places to stay...they sound great! Back Bay will be great and there's lots in walking distance. 
It's just that logistically, if you're staying in town, you probably won't travel through most of those areas we mentioned because they're mostly not on the way to anywhere you'd be going*...which is why a lot of them have stayed working class while the rest of Boston gets sky-high rents and gentrification. With the exception of Jamaica Plain, and certainly Cambridge & Somerville, which do have a lot more going on for visitors...I highly recommend all 3 of those areas, and they do have a lot to do. 


*for example, having lived in and around Boston for most of my life, I have never been to South Boston myself...there just never has been a reason...it's mostly residential afaik.


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## spanglechick (Feb 27, 2016)

catinthehat said:


> Thank for that - glad to hear about the weather.  Hotel is near airport and I assumed it was a harbour as it mentioned a water bus.  My preference would be not up market and tourist but I am traveling with a sensitive soul who will cry if she cant plug in her hair straight things.  Any must see things or must do things ?



Has the baseball season started? If so, go see a Red Sox game. Just for the completely different atmosphere to uk sporting events. 

The aquarium is good if it rains. Or if it doesn't and you like penguins.  They have three types! And a gigantic turtle. 

Walk the freedom trail. (Edit: every time you see a reference to Faneuil (so?) Hall, pronounce it as "Fanny".  It's the gift the keeps giving, in puerile comedy terms).

Eat lobster roll; Boston cream pies; Boston baked beans; chowder.


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## catinthehat (Feb 27, 2016)

spanglechick said:


> Has the baseball season started? If so, go see a Red Sox game. Just for the completely different atmosphere to uk sporting events.
> 
> The aquarium is good if it rains. Or if it doesn't and you like penguins.  They have three types! And a gigantic turtle.
> 
> ...


All the above makes me think you must know me very well!  Thanks Spanglechick.


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## Miss Caphat (Feb 29, 2016)

catinthehat there are also a few longish threads in this forum about things to do in and around Boston. I would link to them but I'm on my phone. Baseball season starts in April in Boston - April 11 this year


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## catinthehat (Feb 29, 2016)

Thanks Miss Caphat - a good set of info - I had not really thought about the literary connections and now I am a lot more looking forward to it.  Little Women ahhh.


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## catinthehat (Mar 23, 2016)

I can report that enjoyed Boston a lot more than I enjoyed New York.  The Fine Arts Museum and the Contemporary Media Center were worth the trip alone.  We went to see the Boston Symphony which was an experience.  Followed a lot of the suggestions from here so thanks to all those who made them.  Overall happy to be back in Iceland though.


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## Casually Red (Mar 24, 2016)

BigMoaner said:


> I am mid thirties now but when i was 15 I stayed with a mates Aunt in Boston for four weeks. It was the trip of a life time. We also spent time in Washington, but I have fondest memories of Boston.
> 
> I wonder if you can help...i have tried many times to work out where we stayed. It was a slightly run down area, with nearly all wooden houses, our one had three floors I think. Nice little houses, tightly packed but not really terraces, but as i say run down, i remember them saying it was quite crime heavy. It was a VERY working class neighborhood, I stayed with an Irish-American  family, but it was also quite a black neighbourhood also. It was around the corner of a school. One night, we hung out with the local teens at a disused bit of railway. Got drunk. Had a great time. There was a video shop at the corner of the road (probably long gone).
> 
> ...



I've a few relatives out there.

Any of this look familiar ?


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