South End, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The City of Boston lists two dozen distinct neighborhoods, each sometimes with a particular ethnic and/or cultural emphasis or heritage. The City of Boston website says, "Located just minutes from downtown and the Back Bay, in recent years the South End has become one of Boston's most popular neighborhoods. It has attracted a diverse blend of young professionals, families and a vibrant gay and lesbian population to this Boston Landmark District. You will be sure to notice the South End's renowned Victorian brownstone buildings and homes as you walk along Tremont Street, Columbus Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue. Small business owners also enjoy the amenities of the South End and are supported by the national award winning Washington Gateway Main Streets Program. Some of Boston’s finest restaurants, a thriving arts community and nearly 30 parks also call the South End home."

Great railings on the entrance stairs to these buildings.

Quiet leafy streets, beautiful old brick townhomes, shopping, transportation - the South End has it all. I don't live in the big city but, if I was going to live in Boston, I think I'd choose the South End - (although I probably couldn't afford it).

According to the real estate website Zillow, the home value index is about $645,000 compared to the national home value index of about $175,000. Boston's Back Bay area is about $805,000. I like South End - I think it's quieter than much of Boston and feels more like home to me.

A little blue door.

And a little red door.

Visible just north of the neighborhood is the Prudential towers complex.

Parking is extremely difficult for visitors. Most of the area requires a resident sticker. Otherwise, pay to park or take public transportation are the options.

Southwest Corridor Park defines the northern boundary of the neighborhood. This local resident woman doing the volunteer gardening said the best line of the day in talking about her work in the hot sun, "the world is my gym, why bother to pay to exercise when I can do this instead." 

Wikipedia describes Southwest Corridor Park as, "a linear urban park in Boston, Massachusetts, part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston and managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). It extends from the South End and Back Bay neighborhoods south for almost five miles (8 km), ending in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain in what was originally planned to be the alignment for Interstate 95 to Boston. It closely follows the routes of regional Amtrak and Commuter Rail lines and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Orange Line rapid transit rail line, from its Back Bay Station to its terminus at Forest Hills station. It features tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, and walking, jogging, and biking paths."

This is one of the streets directly off the park.

South End is a beautiful place in a world-class city. (Note: I had to take all these photos with my phone today because my camera was misbehaving. Frankly, I can't tell much difference.  Maybe it's the start of a new trend for me.)

A Touch of Color, Plymouth Harbor, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Touches of color in a black and white world.

Boats, Plymouth Harbor, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I took a morning walk around the harbor this fine summer day and this is what I saw.

15 minutes, eh? I don't think so. Most were still there much later in the day.

I walked  to the end of the stone breakwater that protects and defines the harbor area.  These views are looking westward back toward town.

Plymouth Rock is covered within the columned structure at center.

The Harbormaster's office on the town wharf. A pretty place, this town of Plymouth.

Sunset, Bartlett Pond, White Horse Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

This view faces to the northeast but, it still sometimes offers a nice sunset perspective. Notice Amy standing on the dock with her iPhone. That is important because...........

.......at the same time I was making the first image with my point-and-shoot, this is the image that Amy was making with her iPhone. It is a good illustration of how two people looking at essentially the same scene might see and record very different creative outcomes. Also a good illustration of the great quality of the camera function in her phone. (Image courtesy of Amy).

Priscilla Beach Theatre Restoration, Priscilla Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Restoration work continues at Priscilla Beach Theatre for the grand re-opening in summer of 2015 with "Fiddler on the Roof."  My previous posts about the restoration are here and here and here.

This section is the backstage and prop storage area. It required some new poured concrete foundation work and concrete footings.

The new poured concrete floor.

Here's a good example of how water can rot away a wood structure if a leak is not repaired. There was a large square corner post here but decades of water intrusion completely rotted the wood away.

Meanwhile, back in the main audience area, work continues also.  The vertical posts in the center are temporary during this phase of work. The wall at right is almost completely redone.

Much of the sub floor structure is dry and sound.

And what isn't sound is cut away and replaced.

One of the perks of ownership is that you can drive your own tractor to help out with the restoration as Bob Malone demonstrates above.

The stage area.

I just love that wood ceiling.

Looking down on center stage. (Audience area to the right, prop storage area at upper left).

Looking down on the stage, the vertical brightly lighted area is where the rotten corner post was that I mentioned earlier.

Climbing into the upper reaches above the stage area it is quiet. I am struck by the sense of years gone by. All the wood surfaces are solid and undamaged up here. The scent of aged wood seems flavored with the sweat, tears, and makeup of productions gone by. Can a theatre have a soul?  Does it reside in the walls, and floor, and beams, and rafters?  The decades of time and thousands of voices raised both in speech and song, the clapping hands, the breathless pause following a heartfelt monologue - all would have been lost had this structure been torn down.

How easy it would have been to simply bulldoze the site and rebuild - less expensive, too. Lost would have been the memories of thousands of young actors and actresses who dared to reach for their dreams to perform here. Dreams that I can feel as a wander through this quiet structure - just a hint of the voices and footfalls, the audiences shuffling in, the anticipation of the curtain to rise by both the performers and the audience, the quickened heartbeat as some excited young actors/actresses peek through the curtain to see if a special loved one is in the audience.

One cannot replace those memories by building a new structure. Yes, one could make new memories but, I for one, appreciate the choice that owners and guardians Bob and Sandy Malone made to restore rather than destroy this piece of Americana.

And the answer is - yes - a theatre can have a soul. This one certainly does.