Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Here's our pix from the weekend:
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=200

Brian, its Mt. Feake ;)

Particular photos to note, here's the condo crap going up in my old neighborhood. In its place once stood a couple of 2 or 4 family houses. The price for these are around $340k I think (isn't this kind of scary and surreal?):
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=30

For reference, these are the kind of houses that are behind them:
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=5

The Watch Factory - here's where my grandparents first met and where my Dad rented a massive office space for his printing business years ago. Now its still office space, and apparently a place for homeless people to hang out (in the underground tunnels and hidden basement rooms):
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=16

Here's the Brandeis Castle (picture taken from inside Mt. Feake Cemetary, where my Grampy, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Buster are buried):
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=23

The massive life-sized horse statue that Brian used to live near (think there are any Italians in this neighborhood?) ;)
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=34

Would *you* want to get ink here? I think not!
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=38

Mass Merchandise Mart: home of the outdoor flea market, Building 19, and the little Asian store that will sell weapons to under-aged boys (and, things that are illegal in MA):
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=43

Nuttings on the Charles

This is all that remains today of a swanky dance hall that used to be in Waltham:
http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=200&pos=20

Here's what it used to look like until it burned down in a fire in 1961:
http://www.city.waltham.ma.us/main4.htm

Here's an e-bay auction related to a show at Nuttings; apparently a lot of famous people used to perform here (including Glen Miller and Jimmy Durante):
http://www.jabw.demon.co.uk/nuttings.htm

The city was rich with the arts back then - in addition to Nuttings was the Waldorf Theater (next to the Common, now houses a chinese medicine/acupuncture practice and some apartments), the old Embassy and the Hovey theatre. There are some descriptions and one pic here:
Here's what it used to look like:
http://www.walthammuseum.com/theaters.htm

History (and that of industrial cities and towns) fascinates me. One of these days I'll actually make it into the two Waltham museums (and those in Lowell too for that matter) :)

****

These things have been on my mind given that my dance teacher has taken a turn for the worse. Her kids are visiting from Tennessee and prepping for the end. I'm glad that I was able to study with such an amazing woman who was a part of something very neat in our community and could give the historic perspective of the local arts (in addition to Boston, Broadway and beyond).

Quote of the Day:

"The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete." - Lao Tzu