Jamaica Plain Historical Society Photo Gallery

Photos by Donald W. Latham

Donald W. Latham took this series of photographs that illustrate Jamaica Plain homes and businesses as they appeared in the 1970s and 1980s. Latham was a long-time Jamaica Plain resident who was raised in Hyde Square and later lived on Green and Washington Streets. Mr. Lathan worked at the Veterans Administration Hospital on South Huntington Ave. and also at Harvy's Hardware in Jamaica Plain. His sister-in-law Shirley Latham describes Donald as a warm, outgoing man who loved conversing with others. He was born April 17th, 1933 and passed away February 7, 1999. The selection of photographs shown here is part of a collection of several hundred photographs by Latham graciously donated to the Jamaica Plain Historical Society by Donald's brother, Tom Latham. Frank Norton provided production assistance. The house shown above is at 100-102 Seaverns Ave. at the corner with Everett St., Elm St. and Gordon Place..

100-102 Seaverns Ave. at the corner with Everett St., Elm St. and Gordon Place.

Seaverns Ave looking towards Centre St. at the intersection with Starr Lane.

38-40 Seaverns Ave.

These businesses occupy the block of Centre St. ending at Elliot St. The addresses include 765, 767, 769, 775, 777, 779, and 783 Centre St. Two of these businesses, Julia's Beauty Shop and AAA Appliances, remain in business at their same locations as of March 2003. Other stores currently in business on this block are Li'l Peach, Great Wall, American Dry Cleaners, JP House of Pizza, and JP Asthma Environmental.

Bank of Boston, 677 Centre Street. Current location of a Fleet Bank branch.

Boston Chicken, 725 Centre St.

The Boston Five Cents Savings Bank, previously located at 696 Centre St. Currently the location of a Citizens Bank branch.

These businesses occupy the block of Centre St. between Blanchard Liquors and Bukhara. The addresses are 733, 735, 729, 725, 723, and 713 Centre St. As of March 2003, the businesses occupying this block, from left to right, are Hyde Park Cooperative Bank, Boing Toys, Peoples Federal Savings Bank, Costello's, and Coldwell Banker.

726 Centre St. at the corner of Harris Ave. Jamaica Plain Real Estate occupies the building on the corner. The building was subsequently occupied by Innovative Moves, established by Avi Davis in 1985 and closed in 2002. It is currently occupied by Jamaica Hill Realty.

726 Centre St. at the corner of Harris Ave. In this picture, Louis Market occupies the building on the corner. The building was subsequently occupied by Jamaica Plain Realty and then Innovative Moves. It is the current home of Jamaica Hill Realty.

This photograph of 144-146 South Street shows the old Bulldog Pub and Christy's Market. As of March 2003, the Jeanie Johnston Pub is located at 144 South Street and El Puly Fashions clothing store is located next door at 146 South Street.

JAX Discount Center at 704 Centre St. Currently the home of a CVS store.

663, 665, and 667 Centre St. JP Licks is currently located directly to the right of the printing business shown in this photograph.

713, 711, 709, and 707 Centre St. are shown here. As of March 2003, these storefronts are occupied by Coldwell Banker, 711 Grill, Arborview Realty, and the Ban Chaing House.

462, 464, and 470 Centre St. are shown here. As of March 2003, these storefronts are occupied by Quisqueya Bakery, Acapulco Restaurant, and the Rhythm & Muse bookstore. In the 1950s, Louie’s Deli, perhaps the only Jewish Deli in Jamaica Plain, was owned by Louis and Lillian Rosenfield and occupied 466 Centre St.

720, 722, and 724 Centre St. are shown here. As of March 2003, these storefronts are occupied by Sawyer Insurance, Scanlon Physical Therapy, and Jamaica Hill Realty.

Woolworth Co. was located at 678 Centre St. In this view looking towards Seaverns Ave., Publix is seen to the right and Jones Card Shop to the left of it. Beyond Hallmark, not seen, is Hailer's Pharmacy. On the far corner of Seaverns Ave. is the Clothes Inn, now a video store.

The Children's Museum, once located at 60 Burroughs St, has now moved downtown.

The Clothes Inn located at the corner of Centre St. and Seaverns Ave. Now a video store. Kennedy's Butter and Eggs is seen to the left.

The Clothes Inn located at the corner of Centre St. and Seaverns Ave. Now a video store.

Condo construction under way at 131-135 Green St. on January 15, 2006. This location was also home to Green Street Station Pub, Kilgariff’s Pub and The Bog Pub. Photograph courtesy of Charlie Rosenberg.

Curtis Hall, located across from the monument on Centre St.

The old fire house at 659 Center Street. Now home of JP Licks.

The old fire house at 659 Center Street under renovation. Now home of JP Licks.

The old fire house at 659 Center Street when it housed Brueggers Bagels and the Arts Center. Now home of JP Licks.

Flanagan’s Super Market at 467 Centre St. at the corner of Moraine, Boylston, and South Huntington Ave. Now a CVS. In the 1940s and 1950s, an A&P grocery store was at this location.

650 and 654 Centre St. are shown here. As of March 2003, Classic Cleaners still occuplies the storefront to the left. Christopher Kokoras Insurance now occuplies the location where Food For Thought once thrived.

The old Orange Line station at Forest Hills.

Forest Hills T elevated station, 3700 Washington St., ca. 1980

Amy's fruit and vegetable stand, Burroughs & Centre Sts., now 683-693 Centre St., the site of Wonder Spice restaurant.

Former Boston Gas building, 144 McBride St. at Washington St. during conversion to Jamaica Plain High School ca. 1979. In 1989, it became English High School

Greater Boston Bank, formerly Jamaica Plain Cooperative Bank, Centre St. opposite Seaverns Ave.

Green St. Station pub at 131-135 Green St. This location was also home to Kilgariff’s and The Bog pubs. ca. 1988.

The following article speaks to the Green Street Station’s role in modern music history. Written by Michael Marotta, it appeared in the April 3, 2009 edition of the Boston Herald and is used with permission. © Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Media.

Boston remembers Kurt Cobain
By Michael Marotta

On Sept. 24, 1991, Nirvana’s “Nevermind” was unleashed. It would go on to dethrone Michael Jackson from the top of the Billboard charts, sell more than 10 million copies and change the face of music.

The same day “Nevermind” hit store shelves, Nirvana was in Boston, getting ready for the second of two shows at Axis on Lansdowne Street. Two days earlier, as Kurt Cobain was eating dinner at Division 16 on Boylston Street with WFNX-FM (101.7) program director Kurt St. Thomas, he asked, “So you think anybody’s going to show up to this?”

About 1,000 fans lined Lansdowne Street to get into that first Axis show, a WFNX birthday bash that also featured the then-unknown Smashing Pumpkins and local band Bullet LaVolta.

As the 15th anniversary of Cobain’s suicide arrives this Sunday, Nirvana’s prefame local club shows have become the stuff of legend. Three venues loom large in Nirvana’s local legacy: Green Street Station in Jamaica Plain, ManRay in Cambridge and Axis on Lansdowne Street. Sadly, none remain in business today.

The band’s first Hub gig was at Green Street Station on July 15, 1989, a show notable in its own right: Cobain, who broke his guitar the night before, performed the entire nine-song set without one.

On April 18, 1990, Nirvana played ManRay, performing to some 75 folks piqued by the band’s “Bleach” debut. Local punk band the Bags opened. Despite its place in local lore, recollections of the event are hazy.

“I was at that show, but I don’t have too many memories besides the fact that it was loud,” said the club’s longtime DJ, Chris Ewen, who did recall Cobain briefly singing an impromptu rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.”

Ashmont Media’s Joyce Linehan, who booked the show, is also fuzzy on details.

“I really don’t remember it being that remarkable,” Linehan said. “There weren’t a lot of people there.”

But St. Thomas was.

“The show blew me away,” he said. “I remember they thought it was really weird that I worked at a commercial radio station.”

St. Thomas would go on to play Nirvana on the radio, but mostly in the wee hours. Eight months before “Nevermind” came out in 1991, he pleaded with Geffen Records to put Nirvana on the bill for the ’FNX eighth anniversary show.

“I just wanted to book my favorite band,” St. Thomas said. “I had no idea what was going to happen. They agreed to play the gig, and it was the only free gig they ever played for a radio station.”

A month before the 1991 Axis show, St. Thomas was the first DJ to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on the radio.

“There was nothing on ’FNX like it,” he recalled. “No other song immediately ignited a response like that. But nobody knew the name. People would call in and say, ‘What was that mosquito song?’ ”

By the time the Axis show rolled around that September, fans were ready to embrace a new sound called grunge.

Nirvana then agreed to play a second gig after being, as St. Thomas puts it, “bummed” by the 21-plus age policy at the show. So they scheduled a second Axis performance the next night with an 18-and-older admission policy in effect.

By the time Nirvana hit the stage, “Nevermind” was in stores. Cobain would never again have to worry about people showing up to a show.

The Bog pub at 131-135 Green St. This location was also home to Kilgariff's and Green St. Station pubs.

Surret Market on Green St. looking west toward Centre St. Note the fading paint just below the roof line advertising a long-defunct plumbing and heating supply company. This four-story mansard-roofed building was constructed in 1879 by Canadian immigrant Alfred Pappineau. It housed a carriage factory and livery stable. The building seen beyond the old carriage factory is the Hotel McKinley built shortly after 1890 by Patrick Meehan. Built along with a sister building, the Hotel Morse, these building were actually apartment buildings with retail space on the first floor and apartments on the floors above.

Green St. looking east toward Washington St., ca. 1980

Hailer Pharmacy, 674 Centre St. at Seaverns Ave., ca. 1980. Current location of Purple Cactus.

Hailer Pharmacy under conversion to JP Lick's ice cream parlor, 674 Centre St. at Seaverns Ave.

Workers remove the sign from the Hanlon's Shoes store at 705 Centre St. at Burroughs St.

Harry's Hardware at 708 Centre St. and the Galway House pub at 720 Centre St.

Former Howard Johnson's and Arbor House restaurants, Morton St. near Forest Hills Cemetery, ca. 1980

4 Agassiz Park

3 Storey Place

2 Storey Place

50 Burroughs St. at the corner with Agassiz Park. Now the Taylor House Bed and Breakfast, restored in 1996-2002.

Brick mansard Second Empire rowhouses were very popular in more urban sections of Boston, but were an anomaly among the detached houses of Jamaica Plain's Sumner Hill neighborhood. 22-26 Greenough Avenue, ca. 1875, is one of only four such groups built there.

92 Seaverns Street.

49 Burroughs Street.

9 Myrtle St.

Sturtevant-Foss House. This Queen Anne-style home at 11 Revere St. was built in 1890 and is shown here before conversion to condos. It was built by Jamaica Plain inventor and industrialist Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant (1833-1890) who lived here until 1889.

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Oakdale St. between Green St. and Cerena Rd., looking north with land cleared for the Southwest Corridor in the foreground.

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31 and 33 Seaverns Ave.

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12 Agassiz Park

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A view at Jackson Square. In the background the Prudential building and the Fort Hill tower may be seen. Note on the far right the remnants of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad embankment. The large granite stones removed from embankments like this one may be seen all over Jamaica Plain.

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The Franklin Building on Centre St., looking past Jones Card & Gift Shop, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, and a Dentist office.

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The Franklin Building on Centre St., with Jones Card & Gift Shop, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, and a Dentist office.

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Woolworth's, 678 Centre St., Kelleher's supermarket, 684 Centre St., Boston 5 Cents Savings Bank, 696 Centre St., and Yumont Tru-Value store, 702 Centre St.

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Kennedy Butter & Eggs store, 668 Centre St. Bob Allen closed his store in January of 2000 after 32 years of operation in Jamaica Plain. The store was part of a chain that once had more than 100 stores in New England but is now practically extinct.

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Kidstuff store on Green Street near Centre Street.

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Loring-Greenough House as viewed from civil war monument. 12 South St.

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The Loring-Greenough House, 12 South St.

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640 Centre St. at the corner with Green St. Apparently built as the Jamaica Plain Market and later home to Metropolitan Furniture company. In this view, the building was home to the Thrift Shop. The building was torn down to make room for the new Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center.

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640 Centre St. at the corner with Green St. Apparently built as the Jamaica Plain Market and later home to Metropolitan Furniture company and then the Thrift Shop. The building was torn down to make room for the new Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center.

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The Mobile gasoline station at 626 Centre St. at the corner with St. John has been a fixture in Jamaica Plain for more than 60 years. For the last three decades it was known as George's Mobil before George left the Mobil franchise and changed the station's name to GRV. George passed away in the late 1990s but a service station remains on this spot today.

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Two generations of the Morrison family have served Jamaica Plain residents with quality auto repair service at 475 Centre St. Previously a Esso and then an Exxon gas station occupied this property.

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Forest Hills Station on the old elevated Orange Line.

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The Orange Line's new Green St. station under construction. On the left in the foreground businesses along Amory St. may be seen and English High School beyond them. On the right, the rear of homes on Everett St. are shown.

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A view of the newly completed Orange Line looking from Williams St. towards Green St. The smokestack of the old Haffenreffer Brewery can be seen to the right of the approaching train.

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Historic Pinebank located next to Jamaica Pond.

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The old police station on Seaverns St. before condo conversion.

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Same Old Place at 662 Centre St. looks much the same today as it does in this 1970s view.

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The Smith Pharmacy stands at the corner of Pond St. and Centre St. The storefront on the Pond St. side (#7 Pond) is home to Fire Opal. The corner store houses Cafe Cantata. Smith Pharmacy along with Hailer's and nearly every other family-owned pharmacies were driven out of business by the giant chain pharmacies that dominate the industry today. Storefronts at 603 and 597 Centre St. are also shown. 597 Centre St. was occupied by the Black Bird Cafe, followed by Centre St. Cafe, Perdix, and "10 Tables" which is located there today.

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Fran and Pat's Sub Shop served lunch to a steady stream of blue collar workers in the area from its home in a trailer off Amory Street between Green and Cornwall Streets. Although no longer in business, the small building that onced housed the establishment can still be seen on the grounds of a commercial lot.

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Sydney's bar at 203-209 Green St. Currently the home of the Somali Development Center.

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Thrift Shop of Boston occupies this storefront at 656 Centre St. at the corner with Starr Lane. This is the current home of Ace Hardware.

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701 and 703 Centre St. at the corner with Burroughs St. At the turn of the century this building housed C.B. Rogers & Company pharmacy and it remained in that use through the mid-1970s. The last proprietor was Jamaica Plain resident John Donovan and the assisting pharmacist was Bill Sullivan of West Roxbury. John would keep the store open late for a customer when an urgent prescription needed filling. Janice O'Hara Murray, who worked at the counter during her high school years, recalls the 1967 Mustang that her brother-in-law Gerry used to make home deliveries. She also recalls the beautiful carved oak Victorian woodwork and tin ceilings with ceiling fans that were eventually sold at auction. In this view, the corner is occupied by Today's Bread, a popular institution in Jamaica Plain for two decades. Teresa Bruce closed Today's Bread in 1998 and Amrik Pabla began operation of Burkhara's, an Indian restaurant, in the space soon thereafter. Today the building is occupied on the lower floors by Burkhara's Indian Bistro and Cobwebs Antiques. The upper floors, once home to Hanlon's shoe store, now house a rare book dealer and other offices.

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A view down Washington St. with the old Orange Line T overhead.

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This view looks down Washington St. with the old Orange Line T structure overhead. The low blue building on the left is the Brookside Health Center. A portion of the Evangelical Church on the corner of Washington and Cornwall Streets is visible on the right. The two triple-deckers are between Ackley Place and Cornwall Street.

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3353 Washington St, the Bottled Liquors store, at the corner of Green and Washington Sts. Seen beyond the store at 203-209 Green St. is the current home of the Somali Development Center. At 197 Green St. is a house and at 191 Green Street the Hotel McKinley is located.

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This view looks down Green St. towards Washington St. The structure over the intersection is the old elevated Orange line Green St. station constructed in 1906 and dismantled in 1987. Sydney's bar is seen to the right in the foreground and the Bottled Liquors store is seen beyond it.

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678 Centre St. The F.W. Woolworth Company, one of the many "Five and Dime" stores that were once a staple in every city and town, served Jamaica Plain with inexpensive clothes, household goods, sewing supplies, linens, plants, pet supplies, paper goods and recorded music. In it's early days, it also had a lunch counter, although that was later removed. This store and many others owned by the parent firm were closed in a national restructuring in the late 1990s. The store is now home to a Footlocker store.