In this presentation City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU) shares its rich history of organizing in Boston to build the power of working class and BIPOC communities to fight for systematic change. Founded in 1973, and currently located in The Brewery, City Life is known for its anti displacement organizing, fighting unscrupulous landlords; defending families from foreclosures and evictions.
Read MoreThe Jamaica Plain Weekly War Bulletin was first published in January 1972 by a small group of people, opposed to the Vietnam War, who moved to Jamaica Plain in 1971. The group chose Jamaica Plain after studying census data and deciding that it was the best place in the area to organize a "multiracial movement of the poor."
Read MoreEmile Bernat, the founder of Emile Bernat & Sons, came to Boston from his native Hungary about 1902. In the 1930s he ran a company called “Bernat Superior Looms.” The address was 99 Bickford Street (they were in the old Thomas Plant Shoe Factory). The looms were to complement the work done with their “superior” yarns.
Read MoreVideo of a book talk held at the Connolly Branch of the Boston Public Library on April 2, 2022 featuring Wayne M. Miller the author of Burn Boston Burn. His book tells the remarkable story Boston in the early 1980s when the City is set ablaze. This is the true story of the deep conspiracy of nine men, determined to wreak havoc on the city and the relentless investigators who uncovered them. Told from the perspective of the head ATF Special Agent in charge of the investigation.
Read MoreJamaica Plain Spoken was a video/interview project that JP musician Rick Berlin started with his friend Todd Drogy in 2004. It consists of nearly sixty interviews with people of all genders, beliefs, ages and ethnicities. Just a bunch of local characters describing their lives and offering their opinions about Jamaica Plain. The project was stopped due to a lack of funding, so the YouTube clips are all that remain. Those links are gathered here.
Read MoreThe intersection of Prince Street and Pond Street (where it is contiguous with the Arborway) is designated as Matthew O’Gorman Square. This hero square was dedicated on October 12, 1921.
Read MoreIn 1918 a US Coast Guard Cutter was torpedoed in the Irish Sea. One of its victims was from Jamaica Plain. One hundred years later his next-of-kin is being sought to receive the Purple Heart awarded to Lt. John Thomas Carr.
Read MoreJamaica Plain old-timers will remember that only two clocks really mattered in our youth. One was outside of the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank at 696 Centre St. and the other important clock was in the lobby of the Jamaica Theatre at Hyde Square.
Read MoreThe International Chinese Business Business Directory of 1913 included four entries for Chinese-owned businesses in Jamaica Plain.
Read MoreJimmy Durante and his entourage paid a visit to Hanlon’s Shoe Store in Jamaica Plain in 1958. During a visit to Boston to perform in a downtown club Durante asked where the best place was to buy shoes in Boston and was directed to Hanlon’s Shoes on Centre St. Mr. Durante purchased five pairs of shoes on that first visit to Hanlon’s and returned on a number of occasions to make additional purchases.
Read MoreThe iconic 90s grunge band Nirvana first played Boston in Jamaica Plain. 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.
Read MoreRememberances of the Tracy family who were caretakers of the Loring-Greenough House.
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