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By RICK WINTERSON That’s Lorie Walsh of Broadway in South Boston, of course – East Broadway on the eastern slope of “Pill Hill,” to be exact. Lorie has just completed a run at Braintree’s Curtain Call Theater, where she performed as Felicity in Michael Cristofer’s gripping play, “The Shadow Box,” directed by Peter Kates. Many of Lorie’s friends from South Boston drove down to the Curtain Call stage to see her in that very challenging role. “The Shadow Box” debuted 40 years ago. It deals frankly – sometimes sadly, sometimes humorously – with the hospice movement and the inevitability of death. Even now, our society tends to wall off the experience of death, rather than facing (and eventually accepting) it directly. Almost two generations after [...]

By RICK WINTERSON South Boston Online mentioned 2016 Memorial Day observances at the Fitzgerald VFW Post No. 561 (VFW, 517 East Fourth St.) in our last issue. This is a brief reminder of those observances; as always, the public is cordially invited to attend and take part. The ceremonies at the Fitzgerald Post will take place on Sunday, May 29. They begin with an assembly and breakfast collation in the Post at 9 a.m. At 9:30, the Post members and their guests will march to Medal of Honor (M Street) Park, where there will be a solemn wreath laying at the Vietnam Memorial. After the ceremonies, members and guests will return to the Post for a complimentary lunch. Please plan to join us – see [...]

“It’s Time to Re-Tire” used to be the slogan of the old, once-famous Fiske Tire Company, featuring the young boy with a candle, a long, white nightshirt, and a tire over his shoulder. This picture, which has nothing to do with Fiske, was taken on East Eighth Street, in the Bayview area between I and K streets.  No one, even the police officer on detail there, seemed to know what happened. It’s not a result of Grand Prix Boston – that got cancelled - and it’s still a bit too early in the year for Halloween pranks. (Thanks to Ed Oliver-Bohlds for the tip) –Rick Winterson

By RICK WINTERSON The arrival of spring in South Boston is definitely spun out gradually (and graphically) by the northerly path of the sun, as sunsets become more or less centered upon Broadway for a couple of weeks. And with our main thoroughfares pointing west, accompanied by views from Dorchester Heights, the spring sunsets here are definitely worth a look. A long look. (Just don’t stare; it’s bad for your eyes. Use a polarizing filter, or glance at the setting sun quickly and only occasionally.) These sunsets happen in mid-April, almost a month after the vernal (spring) equinox on or around March 21. Perhaps they are rewards for what we did 240 years ago on that fateful Wednesday morning, April 19, 1775 - the first [...]

The crowd outside of 749 East Broadway (northwest corner of its intersection with L Street) early Monday evening was awaiting a meeting with the owner of a proposed new Starbucks at that location. Four Starbucks are located in South Boston now: three on the Waterfront and one at 11 West Broadway by Broadway Station. Ten or more other coffee shops are already located a few blocks from the L and Broadway intersection. In general, those gathered were firmly against opening a Starbucks there, due to potential traffic problems, a lack of neighborhood notification, and no perceived need for yet another coffee shop. No license has been granted yet. That’ll tentatively take place in City Hall on the morning of May 4. -Rick Winterson