News

by Rick Winterson   There are many, many South Boston traditions.  Some of them extend over several generations, like Sullivan’s, which opened its season for the 67th year last Saturday, February 24.  The first couple of photos show Sullivan’s before and after the short snowstorm late in February – the second shows Opening Day. And something of a record was set last Saturday as well.  The line into Sully’s extended from its front entrance all the way out to and along the walkway at the edge of Pleasure Bay – the longest anyone had ever seen it.  Several patient individuals commented, “I’ve never seen the line to Sully’s this long before.”  The wait was an estimated 50 minutes.  Oh well, Sully’s hot dogs and double [...]

State Representative Nick Collins will Serve as General Chairman The South Boston Citizens’ Association has announced that Tom McGrath, who stepped down from the presidency of the Association at the close of its 2017 Evacuation Day events, is returning to act as interim president for the foreseeable future. “Last March I made my farewell speech at the Evacuation Day Banquet,” McGrath said, “not knowing that the challenges presented by the time required for planning all of the Association’s annual events would make it impossible to have a new president in place for 2018. There are many dedicated and capable members who are interested in the position, but current commitments have prevented them from being able to assume the duties at this time. So, I’m back [...]

by Rick Winterson   In the dim and misty past that was once the 20th Century, neighborhood rivalries in South Boston were intense.  Because West Broadway attracted so many people – shoppers, movie goers, Sunday strollers, and so on – the denizens of West Broadway at that time started calling it “Big Broadway”.  This, of course, meant that East Broadway became Little Broadway. But times changed.  Influences such as closures, relocations, forced busing, altered economics, and the inevitable urban decay brought hard times to West Broadway.  We’ll let the urban anthropologists at Harvard do their PhD dissertations on exactly why this happened, and even more important, exactly why the changes along West Broadway have reversed themselves.  But suffice to say, they have indeed reversed themselves [...]

by Rick Winterson   For many years now, getting to a movie in South Boston was difficult, and occasionally impossible due to traffic, weather, and/or “T” breakdowns.  The theaters in South Boston had closed down, including that one inelegantly known as the “Bug House” (something in the popcorn, perhaps?). That’s unfortunate, because film-making is really an American art – invented here, developed here, and even the home of Hollywood, the world’s first moving picture colony. But no matter.  That has changed, as of year-end 2017.  We now have two theaters in our neighborhood that can be reached by auto, public transport, or (are you ready?) on foot, providing the weather smiles.  One of these movie houses is located in One Seaport/Courthouse Square.  It is called [...]