Almost unrecognizable the last time I was down to Carr's for a funeral a few years back. But that's the way of things
All hail to original Bostonians.
I'm JP and Dorchester so I don't claim one place as my own but
two.
As a young kid, lived in one of the toughest parts of JP, Montebello Road not far from Franklin Park. Lot of hoodlums, winos( the old Orange Line El was just a block from my house- winos,junkies, you name it). My Dad used to stand up to the hoodlums and chase them out of the hood. The last straw for him was when one of the punks threw a huge rock through a window which landed inches from my newborn baby sister, in her crib.
He went flying out the door and lucky for the punk he couldn't catch him.
But then he was determined. He bought a building lot in Quincy and built a beautiful house.
When I left home I lived in a few spots in Dorchester, last one on Tonawonda St near Fields Corner. That was in the 80's and then the Jamaican Cocaine Wars started. There's a black church on Tonawonda(neighborhood was 90% black but I never had any problems) and one Sunday morning one of theJamaican gangs opened fire with automatic weapons as the church was letting out. They killed multiple people and wounded lots more. I walked right by that church about 10 minutes before the shooting on my way to the gym. Those Jamaicans were crazy and it lit a fire under the Mayor and Police Dept. Innocent civilians were killed. They declared war on the Jamaicans and pretty much wiped those scumbags out.
Eventually my girlfriend and I bought a condo in JP near the Arboretum. Very nice. Got married.Soon moved Down South in 1991.
But I will always consider myself a Bostonian. Had friends from all over the city, back in the older days before gentrification. JP, Dorchester,Southie,West Roxbury,Roxbury,Eastie,South End,North End. And of course. Ctown. I miss the City. But I have kids who are still in school down here and I'm not leaving until they're grown and settled.
But I'll always be a New Englander, also lived in Maine, NH,RI and the Cape.
And I have a special regard for all native Bostonians.
Damn, what a motormouth rant. Thats enough Jamesons for me