Who are the people in your neighborhood?

[dancerjodi]

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

Comments

Scary Condos

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"Why would anyone want to pay that much for a place that looks like it's made out of Home Depot wallboard and covered in aluminum siding. I really hate when this happens to old neighborhoods. It's entirely disrespectful to the neighborhood, etc."

Because they are in rampant supply maybe? Cheaper than most houses in Waltham? Brand new and thus not as much worry about repairs? It sickens me everytime I drive by something like this - they are scattered all over the city and none of them are cheap.

"At lesat most of Salem seems to be going the route of what was done with my place - buying old rental properties, rehabbing them, and reselling them as condos. At least that doesn't destroy the look of the neighborhood."

Oh there are a lot of these in Waltham too (not as much as the "cookie-cutter new condos, though"). They charge just as much as the new places and sometimes even more. The people that lived in them as apartments would never be able to afford to buy the places, which makes me very sad (the people that built the city can't afford to live there anymore).

We'll be patient. We'll find someplace - and then hold on for dear life (thus, preventing another condo going in on *that* land, at least).