My dad's store was in the space where Papa David's was, which was gone by the time we moved in so I don't know the date of this photo.We moved in after NE Music City closed.
He was a trip, Papa David. He liked to drive around in a Rolls Royce with "Papa" on the plates. One little known fact was that when the toilet leaked in my dads store, it leaked into the fryolator in the Bulkie.
Just out of the shot to the right was the building that would become Copy Cop's headquarters, where I worked off at several different times between 1980 or so and 1999. The Apple Store is in that space now, but the buildings in the photo still remain.
Those oval pendant lamps visible just behind the two men are in the lobby of the Paris Cinema - now demolished and replaced by a Walgreen's.
I suspect it was very late 70s or very early 80s. If it was early-mid 70s New England Music City would have been where Papa David's is. I bought many an album there in the golden age of albums. NE Music City was gone by the late 70s or very early 80s, and the Bulkie followed soon after. Also, tellingly, one of the people in the photo is wearing bell bottoms and one is not. The late 70s were the end of bell bottoms.
I'm betting on 1969 or so - there's a poster on that plywood structure to the right (a newspaper kiosk?) for the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band, who put out one album in 1968 and later played a reunion gig at the Stone Phoenix Coffee House (that might even be a poster for that gig.) Underneath that is a poster for The Ark, a very short-lived club on Lansdowne Street that became the later home of the Boston Tea Party, and a couple of posters for a production of the play "Fortune and Men's Eyes," which was put on at the Craft Experimental Theater in March-April of 1969.
My husband moved to Boston in 1974. He says Papa David's was gone by then but he remembers eating at the Bulkie. I moved to Boston in 1980 and the Bulkie was gone by then.
I love seeing these photos, and I'm glad that city life and street scenes from different eras have been documented. The below-street phone booth is particularly cool. I came here for college in 1981 and I don't remember these places, but I did go to the Paris theater numerous times, along with the nearby Cheri and the 57 down by the Park Plaza.
he used to hang outside the rat in kenmore for many years. he would stand right on the corner with his tiny amp and just kick out the jams. when the neighborhood went chic they kicked his ass off the curb. allston welcomed him with open arms. i bought butch more beers from marty's than i can remember. rest in peace mr butch.
I remember Mr. Butch in Kenmore Sq. One of the used record stores had a 'tip jar' at their cash register for him...you'd buy a couple used vinyl or CDs, put your change in the jar and they'd bring it down to him every once in a while.
But I'm curious to know when/why he hung out at the 800 block of Boylston, since that is the apparent location of the photo.
I'm betting that Adam, like several other people in this thread, mistakenly thought that the photo was taken in Kenmore Square. The building where Planet Records was for many years has some similarities; so do the below-stairs spots on the block of Comm. Ave. where the Deli Haus was. But those two buildings close together, with shops both downstairs and up a short flight, are pretty distinctive - they're on Boylston Street for sure.
I remember both locations. If I recall, they moved into the NE Music City space in about 77-78. I bought a number of albums there. I seem to recall a man with glasses and a beard running the place.
Still has the beard and glasses! We moved into the NE Music City location in 78. We had a direct line to all the people at BCN who sold the old man their promos.
An attempt at doubling the rent did us in. Supercuts wanted the space and was willing to pay the price. My Dad then went to work at Tower Records, where he ran the jazz department for nine years.
It also looks like Kenmore Square, which is where I remember Mr Butch hanging out. If it is, those stairs led to where Planet Records was (probably after this photo was taken.) I had a friend who worked there for years. I can't even walk through Kenmore Square anymore due to the gentrification.
that old, weathered doorway at the right, middle edge of the picture might have been the entrance to the basement, which was the Unicorn Coffee House, back in the late 60s, early 70s, when folk music was popular. I saw Linda Ronstadt there one night.
the old Charles Street Steakhouse. A huge burger and a baked potato for a buck and a half. The entertainment was provided by the owner yelling at Jeff (Mono Man) Connolly who was a busboy there.
Was Comm. Ave, across from the Chapel, but there's no corresponding building on the corner. Amazing how much the scene has changed, yet how much is the same.
That's Boylston St. Japanese restaurant eventually went into thte below ground space that was the Bulkie. Guyahama? It was one of the early sushi spots in town and was there for many years.
That mysterious sign that said "A & S Realty 271 Newbury" was in that window at 827 Boylston for YEARS. Like from the early 70s through the 80s. I used to walk by it all the time and wonder about it. I remembered it immediately seeing it in the photo.
I remember going past the Bulkie many a time. But I'm not sure I ever went in it. In the group I hung out with, we had many debates about whether we should go to Ken's or the Bulkie, but after every one of those discussions, we ALWAYS ended up at Ken's. That was the original Ken's at Copley, of course, across from Trinity Church, not the Ken's Pub spinoffs that ended up in Central Square Cambridge and a few other places. (There was a connection at the beginning.)
That may well be the Unicorn entrance at the right. That club closed around '68 or so, I think, and they just left the entrance boarded up like that for years.
As for the A&S Realty sign with the address on Newbury St., that refers to the landlord of that building. The building is on Boylston but the landlord's office was on Newbury. A&S was a pretty big property owner, their signs were all over the Back Bay.
Wasn't the Unicorn a few more blocks up, near the corner of Boylston and Mass. Ave. near where the Berklee bookstore is now? There was a large sign saying "Unicorn" up above that location (at what used to be Jack's Drum Shop) long,long after the Unicorn itself actually closed. the sign was there until 1975 or so. That block is also where the Stone Phoenix was.
But there was some folk club in the basement next to the Bulkie, that left a boarded-up entrance for a few years. Both it and the Unicorn were defunct, I'm sorry to say, by the time I arrived in Boston in 1968.
Comments
Boylston St.
across from Pru.
That's 829 Boylston Street
My dad's store was in the space where Papa David's was, which was gone by the time we moved in so I don't know the date of this photo.We moved in after NE Music City closed.
He was a trip, Papa David. He liked to drive around in a Rolls Royce with "Papa" on the plates. One little known fact was that when the toilet leaked in my dads store, it leaked into the fryolator in the Bulkie.
This one is easy!
Just out of the shot to the right was the building that would become Copy Cop's headquarters, where I worked off at several different times between 1980 or so and 1999. The Apple Store is in that space now, but the buildings in the photo still remain.
Those oval pendant lamps visible just behind the two men are in the lobby of the Paris Cinema - now demolished and replaced by a Walgreen's.
Y'all beat me to it
Yep - Walgreens, Supercuts and a copy center (not copy cop). Early mid 70's?
Found an interesting note on "The Bulkie" if anyone's interested -
one man's college recollections:
http://www.salvatorebasile.com/blog/?p=386
Late 70s or early 80s
I suspect it was very late 70s or very early 80s. If it was early-mid 70s New England Music City would have been where Papa David's is. I bought many an album there in the golden age of albums. NE Music City was gone by the late 70s or very early 80s, and the Bulkie followed soon after. Also, tellingly, one of the people in the photo is wearing bell bottoms and one is not. The late 70s were the end of bell bottoms.
1969?
I'm betting on 1969 or so - there's a poster on that plywood structure to the right (a newspaper kiosk?) for the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band, who put out one album in 1968 and later played a reunion gig at the Stone Phoenix Coffee House (that might even be a poster for that gig.) Underneath that is a poster for The Ark, a very short-lived club on Lansdowne Street that became the later home of the Boston Tea Party, and a couple of posters for a production of the play "Fortune and Men's Eyes," which was put on at the Craft Experimental Theater in March-April of 1969.
1969 sounds good
My husband moved to Boston in 1974. He says Papa David's was gone by then but he remembers eating at the Bulkie. I moved to Boston in 1980 and the Bulkie was gone by then.
Commonwealth Avenue
Could it Be? It kind of still looks the same near the ramp on Comm Ave.
Commonwealth Avenue
Could it Be? It kind of still looks the same near the ramp on Comm Ave.
I was going to guess Comm Ave & Kenmore SQ.
....because that Papa David's sign reminds me of the Deli Haus for some reason. A truly uneducated guess on my part!
looking back
I love seeing these photos, and I'm glad that city life and street scenes from different eras have been documented. The below-street phone booth is particularly cool. I came here for college in 1981 and I don't remember these places, but I did go to the Paris theater numerous times, along with the nearby Cheri and the 57 down by the Park Plaza.
I remember Mr Butch from Kenmore Sq.
What was his connection to this location, please?
RIP, Butch.
mr. butch
he used to hang outside the rat in kenmore for many years. he would stand right on the corner with his tiny amp and just kick out the jams. when the neighborhood went chic they kicked his ass off the curb. allston welcomed him with open arms. i bought butch more beers from marty's than i can remember. rest in peace mr butch.
Right, but when was he at # 8xx Boylston?
I remember Mr. Butch in Kenmore Sq. One of the used record stores had a 'tip jar' at their cash register for him...you'd buy a couple used vinyl or CDs, put your change in the jar and they'd bring it down to him every once in a while.
But I'm curious to know when/why he hung out at the 800 block of Boylston, since that is the apparent location of the photo.
Mistake
I'm betting that Adam, like several other people in this thread, mistakenly thought that the photo was taken in Kenmore Square. The building where Planet Records was for many years has some similarities; so do the below-stairs spots on the block of Comm. Ave. where the Deli Haus was. But those two buildings close together, with shops both downstairs and up a short flight, are pretty distinctive - they're on Boylston Street for sure.
Red herring, Adam? :)
i too thought it was deli haus location at first.
And I too hate the homogenization of Kenmore (and Harvard) sq.
RIP, Butch.
Yep, you got it
I thought it was in Kenmore, on the block destroyed, sorry, upgraded by the Hotel Commonwealth. Fixed the headline.
Not alone in that
I thought, at first glance, it was that stretch of Comm Ave, too. But then I couldn't place the brutalist building at the left of the frame.
Dvdoff: what store did your dad have there?
The old man had a used record store
called "Zoundz" . It was originally at 845 Boylston St. When NE Music City closed, we moved in their space at 829 Boylston Street.
I remember Zoundz
I remember both locations. If I recall, they moved into the NE Music City space in about 77-78. I bought a number of albums there. I seem to recall a man with glasses and a beard running the place.
That's him!
Still has the beard and glasses! We moved into the NE Music City location in 78. We had a direct line to all the people at BCN who sold the old man their promos.
ZOMG Zoundz!
Yes! I went there sometimes as a college student. Usually when I couldn't find what I wanted at Nuggets in Kenmore Square or at Newbury Comics.
Did the Tower Records do you in?
Nope!
An attempt at doubling the rent did us in. Supercuts wanted the space and was willing to pay the price. My Dad then went to work at Tower Records, where he ran the jazz department for nine years.
Pauls Mall was a jazz joint
Pauls Mall was a jazz joint at 733 Boylston, maybe that is the connection...
It also looks like Kenmore
It also looks like Kenmore Square, which is where I remember Mr Butch hanging out. If it is, those stairs led to where Planet Records was (probably after this photo was taken.) I had a friend who worked there for years. I can't even walk through Kenmore Square anymore due to the gentrification.
that old, weathered doorway
that old, weathered doorway at the right, middle edge of the picture might have been the entrance to the basement, which was the Unicorn Coffee House, back in the late 60s, early 70s, when folk music was popular. I saw Linda Ronstadt there one night.
Thick Shakes
I want one of those 35 cent Thick Shakes as seen on the sign at Papa Davids. (Zoom In) I could add a burger and have lunch for around a buck.
A better deal could have been had at
the old Charles Street Steakhouse. A huge burger and a baked potato for a buck and a half. The entertainment was provided by the owner yelling at Jeff (Mono Man) Connolly who was a busboy there.
My guess
Was Comm. Ave, across from the Chapel, but there's no corresponding building on the corner. Amazing how much the scene has changed, yet how much is the same.
Boylston St.
That's Boylston St. Japanese restaurant eventually went into thte below ground space that was the Bulkie. Guyahama? It was one of the early sushi spots in town and was there for many years.
I remember Gyuhama.
It was good.
These old pics are so friggin' fun!!!
I would've guessed Kenmore too.
Meanwhile there's a sign that says A & S Realty 271 Newbury, but the number 827 (presumably Boylston) is in the window on the upper right.
That mysterious sign....
That mysterious sign that said "A & S Realty 271 Newbury" was in that window at 827 Boylston for YEARS. Like from the early 70s through the 80s. I used to walk by it all the time and wonder about it. I remembered it immediately seeing it in the photo.
The Bulkie was the giveaway for me...
I remember going past the Bulkie many a time. But I'm not sure I ever went in it. In the group I hung out with, we had many debates about whether we should go to Ken's or the Bulkie, but after every one of those discussions, we ALWAYS ended up at Ken's. That was the original Ken's at Copley, of course, across from Trinity Church, not the Ken's Pub spinoffs that ended up in Central Square Cambridge and a few other places. (There was a connection at the beginning.)
That may well be the Unicorn entrance at the right. That club closed around '68 or so, I think, and they just left the entrance boarded up like that for years.
As for the A&S Realty sign with the address on Newbury St., that refers to the landlord of that building. The building is on Boylston but the landlord's office was on Newbury. A&S was a pretty big property owner, their signs were all over the Back Bay.
The Unicorn
Wasn't the Unicorn a few more blocks up, near the corner of Boylston and Mass. Ave. near where the Berklee bookstore is now? There was a large sign saying "Unicorn" up above that location (at what used to be Jack's Drum Shop) long,long after the Unicorn itself actually closed. the sign was there until 1975 or so. That block is also where the Stone Phoenix was.
You may be right about the Unicorn
But there was some folk club in the basement next to the Bulkie, that left a boarded-up entrance for a few years. Both it and the Unicorn were defunct, I'm sorry to say, by the time I arrived in Boston in 1968.
These are really fun! I'm
These are really fun! I'm surprised I have actually recognized the places so far. I would love to know what year this is.
The Answer
Thanks everyone! This is 827 Boylston Street and it was taken in March 1970.