We stood as silhouettes to the city below

[sovay]

On this our first half-decent day of don't-jinx-it spring, spatch and I left the house in search of pizza. What with having a family crisis in the middle of Pesach and not going shopping for the first time in weeks until last night, I was rather desperately in need of bread with things on it. We found it at Regina Pizzeria in the North End; to get there, we took the Orange Line to Community College and walked the footpath underneath the Northern Expressway that I now know is called the Millers River Littoral Way, after the lost river whose quondam soundings are etched into the concrete of the path, then under the Zakim Bridge and across the Charles River Dam and out onto the harborwalk on the other side of the rust-angles of the North Washington Street Bridge. Afterward we got one chocolate-dipped cannoli and one piece of marzipan cunningly decorated to look like a kiwi slice from Modern Pastry and enjoyed them on a bench in Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, where there were couples sunbathing and kids playing in the fountain and we were hassled by an opinionated anti-Trump voter, which was a fascinating experience since we disagreed with nothing he said and we still wanted him to stop yelling at us. Rob had a rehearsal at MIT, so we caught the Red Line from Park Street and I worked my way home on the buses.

And I remembered for the first time in months to bring a camera, so please enjoy a lot of pictures under the cut.



Evidence of spring! A tree flowers on Marshall Street.



Graffiti on old train cars seen from the Orange Line between Sullivan Square Station and Community College.



It was lying on the sidewalk on Rutherford Avenue. I have no idea what it was.



Honest to God, a potato memorial.



With documentation and everything.



The sole remaining stretch of Millers River, the lost river of Boston.



Buried by the landfill and development of Cambridge and Charlestown, preserved during the Big Dig. Known also as the Lost Half-Mile.



Life underneath I-93.



Steel, concrete, sky.



With a cameo by the Boston Sand and Gravel Company.



Under the Zakim, or, the Imperial Star Destroyer.



Different concrete, same sky.



The sun seen through the Zakim.



The Zakim seen through itself.



We got to watch the drawbridge out of North Station being raised on one side; commuter trains still rolled across the other.



Forsythia, thin and bright and flourishing.



Bridges beyond bridges.



The Zakim is just a very photogenic bridge.



Currents at the locks of the Charles River Dam. Taken by Rob Noyes.



All that glassy water, braiding and breaking. Taken by Rob Noyes.



The North Washington Street Bridge from the Charles River Dam.



Some accidental but attractive concrete, like a sea-spell in sand.



One lock, with cormorants.



The mechanism of the locks.



Not in action today, but waiting.



I did not photograph any of the signs which explain that you have been well and duly warned if you stray off the walkways and turn yourself into hamburger.



The North Washington Street Bridge. It was completed in 1900; the swing span was closed in 1961; the elevated line was stripped out in 1975. I love it.



Come for the traffic cone, stay for the shoal of fish.



Portrait of the artist as a young tangle of kelp. Taken by Rob Noyes.



Portrait of the artist as a young tangle of kelp, now with eye contact. Taken by Rob Noyes.



Portrait of the artist who took the last two pictures, with bridges.



Under the North Washington Street Bridge.



On the other side of the North Washington Street Bridge.



After dinner. Sunlight, red brick. A photobombing parking sign.



After dessert. We were starting to lose the light. The Custom House Tower of 1915 still clears, barely, some glassy block of new construction.



The old Haymarket of my childhood was here: sides of beef hanging, fresh-cut oranges, the smell of cilantro. Carts and crates. The old six-lane elevated Central Artery, racketing and banging and green as Fenway. No more.



City Hall Plaza, Brutalist as ever.



About here is where Rob starts doing his Peter Boyle in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) impression. Farewell, Scollay Square.



The Art Deco portal of the once-New England Telegraph and Telephone Company. Now Verizon.

I had a much less pleasant evening than I had hoped once I got home, but I am pleased with these pictures; my husband is home from his rehearsal; there are cats. I like this city. It was a good walking day.

Comments

[julian]

Wow, I have never gone under the Zakim or the North Washington St and now I really have to; a reward to myself soon, for finishing Papers Of Not Doom, yes.

[sovay]

Wow, I have never gone under the Zakim or the North Washington St and now I really have to; a reward to myself soon, for finishing Papers Of Not Doom, yes.

Godspeed with your papers! From under the Zakim you can also take a helical-looking footbridge of which I am very fond across the train tracks (right past the old Signal Tower 'A' of the Boston and Maine Railroad, which every year looks more dilapidated yet still not abandoned) and into the North Point Park, on the other side of the viaduct from the Museum of Science; it has canals, willows, usually a lot of kids and dogs. It is an excellent place to read and eat astronaut ice cream.

[julian]

(Also, some nice pictures here. Really love the water under the Zakim one. With the sun.)

[sovay]

(Also, some nice pictures here. Really love the water under the Zakim one. With the sun.)

Thank you! I was really glad that one came out.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed looking at these.

(I'm sorry about the less-than-pleasant evening though, although cats are good, yes. <3)

[sovay]

Aw, thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed looking at these.

Thank you! I do not often remember to take photographs (I have to carry an actual camera, since my phone is not smart), but I really enjoy it when I do. I am glad that comes through.

(We tell our cats they are the best cats. There is no evidence against it.)

[ckd]

Lovely pictures, which make me miss Boston. (Though I was in town last month and got to stay in the Custom House. Amazing views.)

[sovay]

Lovely pictures, which make me miss Boston. (Though I was in town last month and got to stay in the Custom House. Amazing views.)

You know, I don't think I'd realized you could do that. What's it like?

(Thank you!)

[ckd]

Very nice. My parents took my niece and nephew to Boston for their spring break, and since they have a Marriott Vacation Club membership and the Custom House is now a Marriott Vacation Club....

We were in the tower on the 10th floor, which has 5? suites (I think all 1BR + living room) and amazing views. There's also an observation deck on 26 (above the clock), which is technically open to the public though it sounds like Marriott severely limits it (2pm only on Mon-Thu and requiring a $5 donation to charity is what I'm finding with Google).

[strange_complex]

What a lovely set of pictures! Especially for someone who has never even seen Boston. It was fun to sit on your shoulder and be toured around. ;-)

Is it wrong of me to imagine the smell of the potato storage sheds burning down in the mid-1930s as a delicious waft of baked potato, though?

[sovay]

What a lovely set of pictures! Especially for someone who has never even seen Boston. It was fun to sit on your shoulder and be toured around.

Thank you! I'm very glad you enjoyed it.

Is it wrong of me to imagine the smell of the potato storage sheds burning down in the mid-1930s as a delicious waft of baked potato, though?

Not at all: I had the same problem with the fire that destroyed the original location of James Hook & Co. in 2008. They were lobster wholesalers. Pounds and pounds of lobsters in tanks on the premises. It was a waterfront tragedy (they have since rebuilt) and all I could imagine was that the fire hoses should have been spraying melted butter.

[poliphilo]

That discarded thing looks like a home-made weapon. A cosh of sorts. Hit someone with that in the right place and they wouldn't be getting up again.

[julian]

Honestly, I thought it might've been a bike pump. (Which doesn't mean it couldn't also be a cosh!)

[sovay]

Honestly, I thought it might've been a bike pump. (Which doesn't mean it couldn't also be a cosh!)

It looked sort of like industrial nunchaku to me: the metal bars were solid except where pierced and the string part was wire rope. I suspect it used to be part of some larger machine, because it didn't look like any tool I recognized, but I'd still like to know.

[jesse_the_k]

It brings to mind the working part of the ends of bridge cable stays before they're fixed in place. Like this would be a handle to stretch a stay over a fastening?

[cmcmck]

Fascinating pics and well, you know me and bridges! :o)

[sovay]

Fascinating pics and well, you know me and bridges!

I'm glad you liked them! I am very fond of the bridges in this city.

[moon_custafer]

my husband is home from his rehearsal;

What’s he rehearsing?

[sovay]

What’s he rehearsing?

A Midsummer Night's Dream. I think it's the third Dream he's done, but I am looking forward. I will see him for the solstice.

[moon_custafer]

Cool! Who’s he playing (he’d be a good Peter Quince)?

[sovay]

Who’s he playing (he’d be a good Peter Quince)?

I think he would be an excellent Peter Quince! He's Egeus in this production. I'll hold out for a fourth Dream. (I missed the one where he played Snout the tinker as a sock puppet who carried his Wall off in his mouth at the end of the scene. It was the year before we met. This is a tragedy.)

[selkie]

I am sorry the evening went slightly to pot, but the pictures of the day are good.

[sovay]

I am sorry the evening went slightly to pot, but the pictures of the day are good.

Thank you. I like photography and almost never have a camera on me and it seemed a day worth taking pictures of.

[asakiyume]

Those are magnificent photos. You may not have made it to the bridges tour, but you sure did create a great bridge/sky/ghost river tour all on your two-person own. I like the diamond of sky held by the Zakim bridge in that one photo, and I like the idea of calling it the Imperial Star Destroyer. The potato memorial is fascinating, the traffic cone going wading is charming, the current, as captured by Mr. Noyes, is gorgeous--all in all, a lovely collection. Thanks you for sharing.

[sovay]

I like the diamond of sky held by the Zakim bridge in that one photo, and I like the idea of calling it the Imperial Star Destroyer. The potato memorial is fascinating, the traffic cone going wading is charming, the current, as captured by Mr. Noyes, is gorgeous--all in all, a lovely collection. Thanks you for sharing.

You're welcome! I like walking around this city. I am glad to be able to take other people with me.

[negothick]

Rhyming with my recent entry, you were photographing The Bridges of Middlesex County.

[sovay]

Rhyming with my recent entry, you were photographing The Bridges of Middlesex County.

I'll take them over the ones in Madison.

[ckd]

And Peggy Suffolk County, since the Boston end of the bridges to Cambridge (and both ends of the bridge to Charlestown) would be there rather than Middlesex. :-D

[gwynnega]

Lovely photos! They remind me that I still need to watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

[sovay]

Lovely photos! They remind me that I still need to watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle.

Thank you! (I think you'll like it!)

[pameladean]

These are just glorious. I was so struck by the forsythia amidst all the lovely geometry.

P.

[sovay]

These are just glorious. I was so struck by the forsythia amidst all the lovely geometry.

Thank you.

[a_reasonable_man]

I am so happy to learn that there's a potato memorial nearby! I like it almost as much as the Houdini memorial on the Mass Ave bridge. And I've heard there's a memorial Vikings somewhere in Cambridge, but I've not found it yet.

We, your friends, should help you mount an exhibit of photos and poems.

[sovay]

I am so happy to learn that there's a potato memorial nearby! I like it almost as much as the Houdini memorial on the Mass Ave bridge.

I didn't know there was a Houdini memorial! I should visit that. I will gladly take you (and Lily, if interested) to the potato memorial.

And I've heard there's a memorial Vikings somewhere in Cambridge, but I've not found it yet.

There's a statue of Leif Erikson on the greenway that runs down the middle of Comm. Ave.; it stands atop a dragon ship made of red sandstone with runes carved into the base and I would like it much more if it were not incredibly Romantic, sinuously hip-shot and wearing classically brief armor. It makes me think of embarrassing productions of the Ring Cycle. But it's not in Cambridge, so there must be something else I haven't heard of.

We, your friends, should help you mount an exhibit of photos and poems.

Thank you. I'm honored that you think the photographs are good enough to exhibit.

[lauradi7dw]

Is it the plaque commemorating Leif Erikson's house on Mount Auburn Street? Or the round stone tower in "Norumbega?"
http://needhamhistory.org/features/articles/vikings/

Haymarket

[lauradi7dw]

The Haymarket of your childhood is still mostly there on Fridays and Saturdays, although the generally non-lamented elevated highway is gone, leaving light in its wake. Also gone is the guy from one of the butcher shops, who would wear a white butcher's jacket with chicken wings sticking out of the sleeve, instead of his own fingers. He would approach passersby saying "Want some meat? Want some meat? Want to shake my hand?" Arthur and I both remember him, separately, from the mid-1970s.
Come to Old North practice some Saturday. You can take beautiful photos of tower infrastructure and then rummage among the mounds of produce and stinky fish.

Re: Haymarket

[sovay]

The Haymarket of your childhood is still mostly there on Fridays and Saturdays

That's really good to hear. I am mostly in the area on Tuesday and Thursdays, when I do not see pushcarts, or piles of oranges.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[jesse_the_k]

As an infrastructure fan and a nostalgic former resident, these are delightful.

Our spring has been even more delayed than usual this year (6 inches of snow last week!) and I've been longing for the forsythia of my youth.

Boston is 400 years of infrastructure piled willy-nilly. I can imagine the impassioned 2180 movement to preserve Government Center's broootality in service of history. (I hope they lose.)

Re: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[sovay]

As an infrastructure fan and a nostalgic former resident, these are delightful.

Thank you! I am glad to have been able to bring you forsythia.

Boston is 400 years of infrastructure piled willy-nilly. I can imagine the impassioned 2180 movement to preserve Government Center's broootality in service of history. (I hope they lose.)

. . . I honestly miss the terrible little brick ziggurat.

[rinue]

Documentation that the sun shined! These are wonderful. I especially like the sun through Zakim and Zakim through Zakim.

[sovay]

Documentation that the sun shined!

And it did it again today! But I did not have my camera on me, so you will have to take my word for it.

These are wonderful. I especially like the sun through Zakim and Zakim through Zakim.

Thank you!