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The first auto mile was along Comm. Ave.
By adamg on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 10:06am
BU Today recalls the halcyon days when car dealerships dotted the avenue from Kenmore Square to Packard's Corner. Many of the showroom buildings still stand - repurposed as retail stores, condos and, of course, BU classrooms. And Presidents' Day car sales? They started as Washington's Birthday car sales right in Packard's Corner.
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Comments
Great article!
I love this article. I remember some of the dealerships (my parents bought a Chevy Chevette at what is now the supermarket. Let me just say my antipathy towards American cars is well earned...), and I think I remember when there were still cars at the Cadillac dealership. Other buildings, especially on the BU campus, I had no idea where not built for their current purpose. Also very cool learning how Packards Corner got its name.
I remember the Cadillac-Olds dealership
That building, and especially its rooftop sign, was a huge landmark at the intersection of Comm. Ave. and the BU Bridge.
Central Square Car Dealership
I also recall when there was a car dealership right on Mass. Ave. in Central Square near the firehouse. In was there into the 80s. It was a large circular glass building. I used to wonder how they got the cars innto the showroom, as it appeared to have no visible entrance large enough.
Another blast from the past
The new armory, in 1920, from the BPL's collection of photos by Leon Abdalian (posted under this license).
I ran indoor track there in
I ran indoor track there in high school. No track, just smooth concrete floors with four wooden 'banks' at each corner.
The Armory
I used to go past this place on the way to and from school every day in the 1980s. The National Guard or Reserve was based there, so there were tons of camo jeeps and trucks and stuff. We kids all believed that it was the headquarters for the US Army.
Ellis the Rim Man!
Ellis the Rim Man!
Photo of the sign
Here.
YESSS!
Friends and I used to make dirty jokes about said rim man.
What's so great about an "Auto mile"?
Car dealerships = parking lots = blight.
No thanks. Every time I pass by Herb Chambers I wish they would go the way of Packard and Peerless.
The old photos are neat, though.
Pssst...Chicken....
Now you're getting it.
:)
Sure but
is a neat picture too, yet I don't look fondly back on what went on to produce that kind of destruction.
Oooh...
Yeah, that's a pretty cool picture too. Really gets across just how much territory was torn down and rebuilt. What was the source for this pic?
Back to the auto mile; the awsome factor of the article isn't "Ooh, cars!" but "Ooh, history!"
Also, the car dealers left behind some pretty nice buildings
nice enough to still be in use by BU today.
College of Communication
looked so much nicer as a dealership. I wish they'd have left those big windows in place. The architecture of the B.U. campus is really interesting and much of it is unique. The predecessor industry played an important role in that regard. I have to think that the Norwood automile, if ever replaced by something else, will not retain a single building.
I saw a great picture of the West End devastation
one time in an article, and I thought it was hosted by BPL (flickr). However, when I went back to see it again, I couldn't find it, so I turned to Google and found this instead from some article or thread on "Cyburbia.org"
Pre-destruction photos at BPL
Here and here.
Well I was looking for post-destruction actually
Seems like NotWhitey found it.
You mean this link?
You mean this link?
http://goodoldboston.blogspot.com/2011/10/link-tim...
I love this stuff!
Thanks! Looks like a lot of lovely buildings were destroyed in the process of "renewal".
Different Paradigm
The old "automile" had a couple of features:
Showrooms
On the Green Line, as they liked to sell their wares to new customers
Only in modern times has "auto dealership" meant "acres and acres of cars". There were not only fewer models then, but less overall inventory and less demand by the auto makers that their dealers be big big big.
Inventory Considerations
These buildings were here because of the quick access to the railroad. Inventory could be shipped after orders with quick off loading to the showrooms, no need for acres of parking. The railroads also helped in other forms of distribution. That is why the Landmark Center, formerly Sears, SS Pierce (Groceries), now HPHC, Goodyear Tire, now Boston Beer Works were also located next to tracks on Brookline Avenue.
Let alone was the Commonwealth Avenue/Brighton for cars. You could buy tractors up until the early 1960's at what is now a sporting goods store just east of Planned Parenthood. (It is now a Thai Restaurant).
Also, International Harvester, had their Boston building on North Beacon Street, next to what is now Boston Volvo Village.
Cool article
I knew some of this history, but seeing it all tied together was fun. I once worked in the Fuller Cadilac/Olds building, and was a frequent visitor to the convenience store in the Packards Corner building (totally thought the corner was named for the dealership). And Ellis the Rim Man was probably one of the first things I noticed when I toured the B.U. campus as an impressionable 17 year old.
I'm also getting a kick out of the image of cars sold from stalls in the automart building.