Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray WBS Costin's new radio.
Speaker 2: The temperature has gone down a degree. It's forty four
Speaker 2: degrees now. It started at forty five when we began Nightside.
Speaker 2: They say, we because I'm here with Jack Hart.
Speaker 3: Hello Jackhart, Oh Hi, hello, oh Hi?
Speaker 2: Tell people what we are doing.
Speaker 3: What are we doing?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Well, we're talking about downtown what we now call downtown crossing,
Speaker 3: the Downtown experience Downtown Boston in the in our in
Speaker 3: our youths of fifty sixties, seventies, and what it meant
Speaker 3: to so many.
Speaker 2: And I know a lot of you have incorporated other
Speaker 2: areas like the South Shore Plaza. And my producer sitting
Speaker 2: next to me is from Minnesota, so her memories were
Speaker 2: of Minnesota stores and established. Sure, I think we want
Speaker 2: to keep downtown as our focus point. But if you
Speaker 2: want to mention that, you know, the Mammoth martin Brockton
Speaker 2: did this or that or something in Stoneham, the Stoneham
Speaker 2: Zoo decorated nicely for Christmas, you may incorporate that in
Speaker 2: our conversation. Let's go to West Virginia and speak to
Speaker 2: Tom Tom Good evening.
Speaker 4: Good Morgan, how you doing. I'm doing fine, Tom, Hello Tom,
Speaker 4: and Hello Jack, Hello Jack. Good to hear you.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 4: I moved to Boston after high school in seventy eight
Speaker 4: and lived on Bowden Street, and well, my fond memories
Speaker 4: definitely yeah, yeah, Well I paid my dues in life
Speaker 4: my first night living in a rooming house on Bowden Street.
Speaker 4: That room was forty dollars a week. Then it consisted
Speaker 4: of a twin bed, a hot plate, a sink, one
Speaker 4: outlet in a cubicle refrigerator, small cubicle refrigerator. At about
Speaker 4: two o'clock in the morning, I felt something crawling across
Speaker 4: my chest. I pulled a full chain light fixture and
Speaker 4: there was about two dozen cockroaches that just scattered like
Speaker 4: politicians when the lights come on a closing time.
Speaker 2: But you know, it's funny you say, I've worked across
Speaker 2: the street from you at one hundred Cambridge Street.
Speaker 4: Yes, where I worked at Cambridge Street.
Speaker 2: Seventy five to eighty. I was a state employee.
Speaker 3: That the installed building.
Speaker 4: Okay, yes it was, yes, it was yeah, absolutely, absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 4: part of urban renewal when they yeah, yeah, they tore
Speaker 4: down the West End back in the early sixties and
Speaker 4: promised everybody in those three families. Oh, we're going to
Speaker 4: get your new housing, and it never happened.
Speaker 3: They gave them back twelve apartments in the area two thousands.
Speaker 2: Too late.
Speaker 4: Yeah that's right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: But anyway, getting back to the downtown crossing, you had
Speaker 4: a caller earlier that was talking about a shoe place.
Speaker 4: I believe that was Floorsheim Shoes. I don't know if
Speaker 4: you mentioned that trying to call in then yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3: McCann, Yeah, Floorsheim.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was a Floorsheim sold some.
Speaker 2: Very Florsheim and thom mc cann each had a downtown location.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know they used to manufacture those shoes
Speaker 4: if you go back to the sixties in Brockton, where
Speaker 4: I still own a home, and uh, you know, that
Speaker 4: was the shoe capital of the world. And anyway, you know,
Speaker 4: the taft Hartley Act is basically what drove all those
Speaker 4: jobs from the New England States down to the Southern States.
Speaker 4: And then NAFTA drove those jobs from the Southern States
Speaker 4: down to Mexico. So yeah, some things, yeah, some things
Speaker 4: never changed. But no, I used to love going into
Speaker 4: Filine's basement, Jordan Marsh and that part of Boston, and
Speaker 4: I still remember the old wooden escalator. At the it
Speaker 4: was either Park Street or the Washington Street station.
Speaker 3: Was never Washington.
Speaker 4: Street, yeah, it never, it never ever broke down. And
Speaker 4: then they put in the up to date stuff. And
Speaker 4: I don't care what tea station you go into one thing.
Speaker 4: You know, the escalator ain't going to be working, yea.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I missed that Boston of my youth. It
Speaker 4: was affordable then. I mean I was making minimum wage.
Speaker 4: I worked at TGI Fridays on the corner of Exeter
Speaker 4: and Newbury Street, and that was the Fall of seventy nine.
Speaker 4: And the guy who trained me to be a bus
Speaker 4: boy was none other than w BZ Fame for Bradley
Speaker 4: j Huh.
Speaker 2: I'm going to have Bradley Jr. Next week. I forget
Speaker 2: which day because I'm filling in for Dan all next
Speaker 2: week and I think he is going, oh you are.
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna be on with me Thursday or Friday, So.
Speaker 4: I will make it a point to call in because
Speaker 4: he knew me as Tommy Toons back going like nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty because I used to roller skate and used to
Speaker 4: have those headphones on and literally skate backwards through downtown
Speaker 4: Boston traffic that if you were a good roller skater
Speaker 4: you could you could do stuff like that. And the
Speaker 4: moment part was one, go ahead.
Speaker 2: I will mention that to him when I have him
Speaker 2: on Tarmy toone I will. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. But now, like I said, Boston was a livaboo
Speaker 4: city back then, and unfortunately I googled my old apartment
Speaker 4: in miss Hill off a Caliumet Street and what used
Speaker 4: to go for seven fifty and ninety two for a
Speaker 4: three bedroom now goes for thirty seven hundred dollars. It's
Speaker 4: just disgusting. I agree with Yeah, it is awful. All right, guys, thanks.
Speaker 2: For the call, and happy holidays to you.
Speaker 5: Mary Gris.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and a merry Christmas of the both of you,
Speaker 4: and a happy New Year as well. But I'll make
Speaker 4: an appointment call on Thursday or Friday next week. Bye bye, guys,
Speaker 4: thank you, good night.
Speaker 2: All right, one open line if you want to grab
Speaker 2: it six one, seven, four ten thirty or eight eight,
Speaker 2: eight nine to nine ten thirty. Jim in Boston, you
Speaker 2: were next on Night Side.
Speaker 6: I'm a joint this show tonight. I've been listening to
Speaker 6: well for people that had shortly identifying and i was
Speaker 6: going to identify this one and that one, and people
Speaker 6: ahead of the already have done it. But well, I
Speaker 6: did say I used to go down there quite a bit.
Speaker 6: And uh, I don't know if you remember they had
Speaker 6: the record American was down there behind Kennedy's.
Speaker 2: They had the street.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and when I was a kid on a Saturday night,
Speaker 6: you could go down there. You hang around the dark,
Speaker 6: and the guys would You could work for the guys
Speaker 6: and be a runner from when they went around the
Speaker 6: city and dropped off, uh, the paper at all the locations,
Speaker 6: and you always see the guys on the car and
Speaker 6: are waiting for that paper because they had played the
Speaker 6: number that night. There was a big pile of the
Speaker 6: city back then. I don't know, I'm serious, I remember it.
Speaker 6: That was kind of funny. Did anybody mention Mickey fans
Speaker 6: down there this morning? Good store?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah I did.
Speaker 6: I didn't hear that.
Speaker 2: Washington and West Street, yeah.
Speaker 6: And I think it was a store named Bonds near Kennedy's.
Speaker 5: I don't know if anybody mentioned that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember they.
Speaker 6: Were yeah, yeah, I remember that. And then I know,
Speaker 6: if you like watching movies or playing pinball, Washington Street
Speaker 6: was the place to go. They had more pinball machines
Speaker 6: and the movies were like, so we're triple headed, you know,
Speaker 6: and it's a wonderful experience. And anyway, I just started
Speaker 6: keep you a call, and they're enjoying the show tonight,
Speaker 6: and that's all I gotta say.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Jim, thank you for your call. Merry Christmas
Speaker 2: to you. Get it right. And look at the time.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take my break, Rob, I hope you're paying attention.
Speaker 2: Every break has been dead on on time. Okay, so
Speaker 2: uh you want that open line, it's already been taken.
Speaker 2: Time and temperature here on night Side nine fifteen forty
Speaker 2: four degrees.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Mine from the Window World
Speaker 1: Night Sex Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Dan is off tonight. I get to say that every
Speaker 2: break because there are people who tune in in the
Speaker 2: middle of the show. At the end of the show,
Speaker 2: they've been with me all night. But I need to
Speaker 2: let everybody know that I am filling in for dam
Speaker 2: My name is Morgan. My buddy Jack Hart is here
Speaker 2: with me and we're reminiscing about the look of downtown
Speaker 2: back in the day, fifties, sixties, seventies. Let's go to
Speaker 2: Weston and speak to Joan. Joan. Good evening, Good.
Speaker 7: Evening, gentlemen. I hope you don't mind. Someone who didn't
Speaker 7: see the Enchanted Village, Well saw it in the nineteen fifties,
Speaker 7: but my memories go back before that.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 7: Oh, so I can remember something magical for me at
Speaker 7: Jordan Marsh back in the nineteen thirties. And I don't
Speaker 7: know if you remember, but Nickey Mouse had made his
Speaker 7: debut in around nineteen thirty and by the middle of
Speaker 7: that decade or around that time, he was really big,
Speaker 7: and Minnie was introduced. So then was a thing, an
Speaker 7: entertainment or just something available at Jordan Marsh where people
Speaker 7: could buy a ticket and their child cougar in and
Speaker 7: have tea with many mouse in a little house. And
Speaker 7: my mother took me in, and I was half afraid
Speaker 7: and half enchanted. And there was this house with a
Speaker 7: center door and little windows with shutters and a roof
Speaker 7: over it. And Minnie opened the door, and my mother
Speaker 7: wasn't allowed in. She could look in through the window.
Speaker 7: Then she looked in and saw it was inside, which
Speaker 7: was just a table and two chairs. And I sat
Speaker 7: down and had tea with many mouse I don't really
Speaker 7: I think I ate or drank anything. I just looked
Speaker 7: at her because she had one of those heads on
Speaker 7: that you see at Disney Worlds, you know, and I thought, oh,
Speaker 7: poor Minnie, she has a funny.
Speaker 3: Head, you know.
Speaker 7: I was maybe three and a half, four and a half,
Speaker 7: and I can remember that because it was so indelible
Speaker 7: in my mind, and that was my experience at Jordan's
Speaker 7: and then across in the nineteen fifties when I was
Speaker 7: out of college. I remember seeing the enchanted village. But
Speaker 7: later on, not later on, early on at Felleen. Someone
Speaker 7: mentioned Fellen's restaurant well in those days, in order probably
Speaker 7: to bring people into the store because people didn't have
Speaker 7: much money in the nineteen thirties, they had these special
Speaker 7: parties for children, and the whole restaurant was just two
Speaker 7: giant long tables, and they were just dozens of children.
Speaker 7: And I think they must have had seatings where the
Speaker 7: kids were about the same age, because I can remember
Speaker 7: being not overwhelmed by the older kids and not underwhelmed
Speaker 7: by babies. They all seemed to be around my size
Speaker 7: or age, and they had the most gorgeous ice sculptures
Speaker 7: all the way down the table in beautiful colors, and
Speaker 7: then you got these wonderful sandwiches with the crust cut off,
Speaker 7: and of course the big thing at the end was
Speaker 7: ice cream, because ice cream was still something special, very
Speaker 7: special in the nineteen thirties. So I thought, you guys
Speaker 7: would like to know some things that went on before
Speaker 7: you were even born.
Speaker 2: Wow, do Mini Mouse wear a red and white poka
Speaker 2: dot dressed?
Speaker 8: Yes?
Speaker 9: She did.
Speaker 7: I was going to say she had a red dress
Speaker 7: with white polka dots on it. And I listened to
Speaker 7: the main Mickey Mouse program that occasionally came on the radio,
Speaker 7: because of course that's all you had, and I just thought, oh,
Speaker 7: I'm right here with the real people. It just was
Speaker 7: amazing and scary at the same time.
Speaker 3: Now did many speak?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 7: Yes, she spoke very very carefully and nicely, and a
Speaker 7: little squeaky because of the head I think, you know,
Speaker 7: I'm not sure the mouth was where her mouth was,
Speaker 7: but you know, looking back, I didn't know that at
Speaker 7: the time. I just felt sorry for But it was
Speaker 7: really really kind of special and I'll never forget it, and.
Speaker 2: I would imagine by it to all our family.
Speaker 7: M I seek y, yes, I think later. Thank you
Speaker 7: so much. I remembered most all of those places along
Speaker 7: Washington Street in the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your call.
Speaker 7: Thank you you.
Speaker 3: Going downtown was a full dress affair when I was
Speaker 3: a kid.
Speaker 2: It was Jack, are you ready?
Speaker 3: Am I?
Speaker 2: Uh? Huh? Are you?
Speaker 4: I could be?
Speaker 2: Are you ready for the next call?
Speaker 5: Who's that?
Speaker 2: Florence, Florence, welcome tonight's side?
Speaker 4: Name morning, good evening Florence.
Speaker 10: Jack.
Speaker 2: And did you notice how he knew it was He
Speaker 2: knew it was you.
Speaker 3: I knew it was you.
Speaker 9: Did you expect me to call the two of you?
Speaker 2: Actually no, because this was an emergency. Normally I promote.
Speaker 2: I promoted that Jack, what's going to be on with
Speaker 2: me next Monday? I remembered that year, and I called
Speaker 2: them to say, can you come on tonight? I need you?
Speaker 2: And Jacket, you never ever told me no, never, That's right.
Speaker 3: So now there's all kinds of people making, making cookies
Speaker 3: and things making getting a snack ready for Monday, and
Speaker 3: I won't even be there.
Speaker 9: I had just turned to on a little while ago,
Speaker 9: and I thought, wait a minute, Morgan and Jack, what's
Speaker 9: going on? And so what you were talking about old
Speaker 9: times and post and I don't have a lot of memories,
Speaker 9: but I think I mentioned once on your show, Morgan,
Speaker 9: that years ago, when I was younger elementary school age,
Speaker 9: my mom and dad took me into this store called
Speaker 9: House of Nine if I got a now, and I
Speaker 9: did some modeling in there, and that I remember. It
Speaker 9: was upstairs in the building and they had a big window,
Speaker 9: like a big just a huge window where you could
Speaker 9: look out and see the street activity, you know. And
Speaker 9: that I remember, and I remember Jordan marsh and so
Speaker 9: I just thought, well, I'll call in and mention that, well,
Speaker 9: thank you.
Speaker 2: House of Nine were located at the corner of Washington
Speaker 2: Street and Winter Street.
Speaker 9: It was, yeah, across from either of you have a
Speaker 9: memory of them.
Speaker 3: I remember that, I remember the name. I remember the name.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't recall having having gone in there
Speaker 3: for for any particular reason.
Speaker 2: And I remember, but I never I never went in it.
Speaker 9: It was clothing, you know, they had a dull clothing
Speaker 9: and children clothing, and yeah, yeah, I don't know. I
Speaker 9: was modeling dresses and I bet you you were stunning,
Speaker 9: tell me you, I think I was. And then when
Speaker 9: I was five years old. I was in a beauty
Speaker 9: contest that myself and a little boy we both won.
Speaker 9: It was yeah, and it's funny. I can't recall him now,
Speaker 9: but you know, probably back at the time, I probably
Speaker 9: didn't get a big charge out of it. You know,
Speaker 9: when you're a kid.
Speaker 2: You've got a lot of memorable history.
Speaker 3: Wow, you grew up in Boston.
Speaker 9: No One, Maldon. Oh okay, I was, you know, born
Speaker 9: in Marlton, grew up in Marldon, and you know, it
Speaker 9: was nice back then there. I liked it and moved
Speaker 9: a few times and then this is my last stop
Speaker 9: that my husband and I found this town just by
Speaker 9: accident driving through it, and you know, it appealed to us,
Speaker 9: and so we ended up, you know, by in a
Speaker 9: house here, and you know, it's been good. He's gone now,
Speaker 9: but I'll remain here. You know, I like it. I
Speaker 9: like it. It's very quiet that appeals to me.
Speaker 2: I mean nice, I mean, it's so Sincerely, I hope
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five is your best year ever, and I
Speaker 2: hope you have a very I'll say again, very happy.
Speaker 9: Holiday, and I wish the both of you a nice
Speaker 9: Christmas and New y It's okay.
Speaker 3: Very thank you, good night.
Speaker 2: Out about good night. Florence's line is open six one, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine to nineteen thirty.
Speaker 2: Dial it and cheer some of your memories with Jackhart
Speaker 2: and yeah me Morgan White Jr. Time and temperature nine
Speaker 2: thirty forty four degrees.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on' WBZ, Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: Dan Ray is off to night. I think he has
Speaker 2: a hint of laryngitis that started to develop last night.
Speaker 2: And if you listen to him last night, you heard
Speaker 2: him refer to that. I listened partially to his show
Speaker 2: last night. I found it interesting that he spoke to
Speaker 2: a guy who does rodeo for a livingis no, no,
Speaker 2: no no, because Dan does the show from a remote location.
Speaker 2: I think his home. As I do listant filling in
Speaker 2: for Dan and your home, and you say on clear
Speaker 2: as the.
Speaker 3: Bell, Jack, Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And I'm actually on
Speaker 3: my cell phone and I'm not even talking into a
Speaker 3: like a microphone or anything like that.
Speaker 2: Let's go to gentlemen. Speak to Fred. Fred good evening,
Speaker 2: Welcome to night Side.
Speaker 8: Thank you very much. It's fun listening to your show tonight.
Speaker 8: I got a cute little story. I'm eighty four years old,
Speaker 8: and I grew up. I grew up in Winthrop and
Speaker 8: I'll never forget back. Around nineteen fifty three, my buddy
Speaker 8: and I it was a Satdy afternoon and we heard
Speaker 8: on the radio the rodeo was at the Boston Gardens. Well,
Speaker 8: we didn't have much money, so each of us went home.
Speaker 8: We found pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. I think we
Speaker 8: had each one dollar one of two dollars for each
Speaker 8: of us, plus all all a pocket full of change.
Speaker 8: So we decided to get on the bus and Winthrop
Speaker 8: back then, the Blue Line started it at Maverick station.
Speaker 8: I went to bus, went all the way to Ori
Speaker 8: to Maverick station. There was no such thing as Orient
Speaker 8: Heights Blue Line back then. And then we got on
Speaker 8: and we went a couple of stops to the Boston
Speaker 8: Gardens and we went in there and we asked for
Speaker 8: the two cheapest tea tickets, and I think it costs
Speaker 8: like two dollars. And here I am pulling out a
Speaker 8: dollar bill and a dollar in pennies, Nicholson dimes, and
Speaker 8: he did the same thing.
Speaker 11: They took it and they say, have fun so anyway,
Speaker 11: we got in what was the big draw for us,
Speaker 11: gene Aufrey and Champion his horse Champion.
Speaker 8: That was a big draw for us. And that's when
Speaker 8: I got shocked by Boston prices. I think an ice
Speaker 8: cream was like four times the price that I pay
Speaker 8: in Winthrop at a corner variety store. So needless to say,
Speaker 8: we didn't buy anything in the Boston Johnsons. We found
Speaker 8: a variety store towards the North End, and then we
Speaker 8: just to have something in Boston and then we went home.
Speaker 8: So we had a good time there. Another good story
Speaker 8: is any kid who was a nerd back in the fifties,
Speaker 8: you went to Scarlet Square and you went to the
Speaker 8: radio shack, the very original radio shack, and it was
Speaker 8: in the basement of a building. You literally went down
Speaker 8: four rickety wooden stairs and there was part of the
Speaker 8: store was a dirt floor, lots of barrels from World
Speaker 8: War two radios, and the big thing was they ripped
Speaker 8: out the crystals. But the guys in the store told
Speaker 8: you if you bought the radio, it was a probably
Speaker 8: the military paid bundles for it. You paid like five
Speaker 8: dollars for it, and they told you what variable capacitor
Speaker 8: you could put in it and you could listen to
Speaker 8: the stations. Another famous thing that the kids did. You
Speaker 8: got the plastic covered that cigarettes came in like camels
Speaker 8: to protect your camels, Paul Malls or your Chesterfields. And
Speaker 8: you took that and you bought from him a little
Speaker 8: tuna and a couple of resists and a capacitor, and
Speaker 8: you went back to school and he told you how
Speaker 8: to wire it out, and you hooked one wire to
Speaker 8: your radiator at your house and another wire out to
Speaker 8: a golf club sticking up and you could get w
Speaker 8: BZ on your radio with a little battery in it.
Speaker 8: And that was the biggie for the nerds and science
Speaker 8: back in the fifties.
Speaker 2: Well it's a simple now with the devices that you
Speaker 2: can buy.
Speaker 8: But oh yeah, much more. But it was really something.
Speaker 8: They had bells of all time. The original radio check was
Speaker 8: in Scarlish Square where it all started. Thank you for
Speaker 8: the memory, Thank you, Thank you Sank you did wonderful program.
Speaker 8: Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2: Bye buys line. Whoops, Fred's line is open. And if
Speaker 2: you call in six one, seven, two, five, four ten
Speaker 2: thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two nine ten thirty,
Speaker 2: I guarantee Jack and I will get to you. With
Speaker 2: the amount of time we have left. We have roughly
Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen minutes of show to go. Right now, Let's
Speaker 2: go to Winter and speak to Jerry. Jerry.
Speaker 5: Yes, Hi, Morgan, I used to talk to you and
Speaker 5: to Jack. Thank you, Jerry. I Hi, Hi, you doing Jack?
Speaker 5: I have a question goes back into the fifties. I
Speaker 5: remember my mother would take me to what is now
Speaker 5: downtown Crossing. I don't know if this questions being as yeah,
Speaker 5: but there were four I don't know what's well, I
Speaker 5: know it's there now. But in the fifties there were
Speaker 5: four major stores, well, there were three that I remember.
Speaker 4: One was.
Speaker 5: Macy or Jordan mash Right across the street was Pileen's,
Speaker 5: and then across the street.
Speaker 2: From there they were next to each other on the
Speaker 2: same side of the.
Speaker 5: Street, which which ones Jordan's and Vilenes were.
Speaker 3: Next to each other, yes, well, the same side of
Speaker 3: the street on Washington Street, but across the street from
Speaker 3: each other on the on the summer street.
Speaker 5: Right, oh yeah, right, right, right, okay, But then there
Speaker 5: was another building which was Gilchrist's across right, but now
Speaker 5: on the other corner. For the life of me. I
Speaker 5: can't think of what that fourth store was if there
Speaker 5: was any there. There was Jordan's, Vileens, Gil Chris, and
Speaker 5: there was the.
Speaker 3: Was just talking about House Nines, and then there was
Speaker 3: something on the first floor there as well, which was
Speaker 3: a hosiery store.
Speaker 5: I think, yes, oh, House of Nines? What is what
Speaker 5: was House of Knines? Was that a clothing store too?
Speaker 3: Or a clothing store?
Speaker 2: I'm guessing nine mint size nine or less?
Speaker 5: Oh? Oh oh, okay. I remember my hopping us through.
Speaker 5: I was only I think seven or eight years old
Speaker 5: at the time. It took the some kind of a
Speaker 5: subway to get there. But yeah, I remember going go
Speaker 5: Christian fy Wins and and Jordan's. But I didn't remember
Speaker 5: that fourth That's why it was the House of Nines.
Speaker 5: That wasn't it what you said? The name of the
Speaker 5: store was in the basement.
Speaker 3: The first flow is that was a hosiery store.
Speaker 5: Oh maybe ladies hose? Yeah they could get a hose. Okay, yeah, jeez,
Speaker 5: I wouldn't think. I've been working about that for years
Speaker 5: and I couldn't take that fourth store. But that's probably
Speaker 5: why it's not as famous, I suppose, as.
Speaker 2: As the other Jack and I just helped you.
Speaker 5: Yesppreciate it. Thanks so much, great show. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Jerry, thank you all right, thank you to Boston and
Speaker 2: speak to John by the Jerry. Hello to John, John,
Speaker 2: Welcome to Well.
Speaker 12: You got me to call because I wondering if you
Speaker 12: remember the joke shops in Boston.
Speaker 2: They're long gone. Oh yeah, five of them.
Speaker 12: Jack Shop, those two guys, little Corner Jack's.
Speaker 2: Jack's Jokes Shop had a location on Tremont Street more towards.
Speaker 3: Uh one or so. It was that Little Jack Horner.
Speaker 12: Well they moved, those guys had Jack moved a few
Speaker 12: times before they gave up and retired.
Speaker 3: They and then there was little Jack Horner.
Speaker 12: Magic shop, remember them on South Street.
Speaker 4: I remember tradicians boy, oh yeah, yeah, they were gone.
Speaker 12: Yeah, there's really nothing like that to buy anything. You know,
Speaker 12: it's all online.
Speaker 2: And it was gone. They would demonstrate any and all tricks.
Speaker 12: And they were buying in the store. You got to
Speaker 12: see it how it worked.
Speaker 2: And they knew how to do every trick, how to
Speaker 2: pull out handkerchiefs that were different colors from your mouth,
Speaker 2: how to make anything disappear and or reappear. They knew
Speaker 2: how to do all their tricks.
Speaker 12: Well, it was gone as joke shopping Quincy. He's been
Speaker 12: gone a few years.
Speaker 4: I think he passed.
Speaker 12: And he was a dinosaur down there, and.
Speaker 3: He was Jerry, the one right there was there just
Speaker 3: just just a handful of years ago down there on
Speaker 3: uh Hancock Street.
Speaker 12: And he's gone. Unfortunately, you know, he was the last
Speaker 12: of them, I think, the last shop that had joke
Speaker 12: shop on it, not smoke shop, joke shop.
Speaker 2: If you're young, if you're a young kid and you
Speaker 2: you were fascinated by magic. Unfortunately, there are no stores
Speaker 2: like that anywhere anymore. And that's a shame.
Speaker 12: Well, I rememberly two years ago. That's about it.
Speaker 2: Wow. I think that's a bit far to go to
Speaker 2: learn how to do the trick.
Speaker 12: Then then how about Joe and Nemo's hot Dogs. They
Speaker 12: were around for years. You forgot that you were.
Speaker 2: And as a matter of fact, earlier we had a
Speaker 2: caller who lived on Bowden Street and the last Joe
Speaker 2: and Nemos was on Bowden Street, right there at that
Speaker 2: little corner where the State House.
Speaker 12: Yes, I think that they were the nephews. I think
Speaker 12: the original owners of that, you know, passed on and
Speaker 12: then nephews try to take it, but they weren't successful.
Speaker 12: They're keeping the business going. That was back in the nineties.
Speaker 12: They were around a short time and they were gone.
Speaker 12: There's nobody doing a.
Speaker 3: Really good the resurrect they tried to resurrect the brand
Speaker 3: a little bit.
Speaker 12: There's nobody doing a good hot dog that you could
Speaker 12: go in, you know, any place, really good tasty hunt,
Speaker 12: you know, satisfying her be a great.
Speaker 3: Going, be a great place you can get a hot
Speaker 3: dog and buy jokes and buy joke stuff.
Speaker 12: There was one at the corner downtown crossing. Well, let's
Speaker 12: not forget the combat zone either, you know, you gotta
Speaker 12: mention that. But yeah, you can go.
Speaker 4: You used to get to the heavy Body.
Speaker 12: There was a hot dogs stand there there too.
Speaker 2: There was There wasn't Joe Neimos down in the combat zone.
Speaker 12: No, but no. But there was a corner little stand
Speaker 12: where they used to grill the bread, put mayonnaise on
Speaker 12: the bread, and sell hot dogs. Only that was about it.
Speaker 12: You could wash them, make them up, I know. And
Speaker 12: there's nothing like that anymore a good hot dog stand
Speaker 12: in Boston that I know of.
Speaker 2: Let's let's pull the money and make let's pull on
Speaker 2: money and make it happen.
Speaker 12: The three of us. Steam didn't be a hot dogs.
Speaker 12: They had a great taste. You know. I wasn't a
Speaker 12: beer drinker by any means, but the steam would give
Speaker 12: the heart dog a great favor.
Speaker 2: I agree, John. I gotta take a break, but thank
Speaker 2: you for Thank you John, the last break of the hour.
Speaker 2: Mary in Boston, be patient, you'll be first after we
Speaker 2: take this break. Time and temperature nine forty six forty
Speaker 2: four degrees.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night.
Speaker 2: Side Studios on WBZ News Radio. No, Dan, tonight, you
Speaker 2: got Morgan, and you got Jack, and you got Mary
Speaker 2: in Boston. Mary, good evening to you. Yes, Hello.
Speaker 10: One day, I have a two story was that I
Speaker 10: hadn't been mentioned so far. One is Grayson's that was
Speaker 10: on Tremont Street.
Speaker 2: Okay, what did Grayson sell?
Speaker 10: Grayson's was a lady's clothing store.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 10: It was also across College, which was a fancy women's
Speaker 10: clothing store.
Speaker 4: I remember that, I call that and what what years?
Speaker 3: What years are these?
Speaker 10: And this would be in the fifties.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 10: I didn't shot. I think my sister did.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 10: I was all I j Fox and R. H.
Speaker 2: Stearns Sterns. They were located around Bailey's.
Speaker 5: Yes, as a.
Speaker 3: Matter of fact, they're they're they're some of their the
Speaker 3: facade work is I think there's a Lambert's in there
Speaker 3: now in the front of the store. And but they
Speaker 3: still some of them decorate some things of.
Speaker 10: Just have everything in case in glass. Like if you
Speaker 10: wanted to look at gloves, they were under glass. You
Speaker 10: had to you had to ask to look at them,
Speaker 10: and they would show them to you. Did you know that?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 10: Okay? And another thing is did you notice that the
Speaker 10: lady who called who was talking about the nineteen thirties, Yes,
Speaker 10: and there was downtown. She's pronounced Piles is Follen's, which
Speaker 10: is what my mother used to.
Speaker 2: Say, because the pronunciation affected by those who pronounced it
Speaker 2: or mispronounced it, and in Boston we were famous for
Speaker 2: mispronouncing things.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 10: Well, Fillen Lincoln Paullen was the one who started Williams
Speaker 10: and he was a big promoter for the Girl Scouts
Speaker 10: of America. Did you know that?
Speaker 2: I didn't. I thought it was what I thought it was,
Speaker 2: William Filene's.
Speaker 10: No, Lincoln Lincoln.
Speaker 3: William was was was a sun. I think, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: the shopping bags the girl scouts.
Speaker 2: I know that, okay, Mary, because the shopping on the
Speaker 2: shopping bags. A lot of them said William w M.
Speaker 2: Because I remember asking my mother what did w M
Speaker 2: stand for? Because I'm in kindergarten. How do I know
Speaker 2: how to spell William? You said, that's a short way
Speaker 2: of spelling William. I said, oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 10: And the other thing I remember looking in the windows
Speaker 10: of Jordan's with the the Christmas Time show that they
Speaker 10: used to have with the with the Enchanted Village, but
Speaker 10: it wasn't called that then. It was just you just
Speaker 10: went to the window and there were people standing behind you,
Speaker 10: and everybody was ooing and iry about what they were seeing.
Speaker 10: It was. It was lovely, it was magical.
Speaker 2: I think they had those windows settings going back to
Speaker 2: the fifties. And then somebody said, you know, we should
Speaker 2: take over our fifth floor and get people pay to
Speaker 2: see all these things interacting with each other.
Speaker 10: Right, but this was in the fifties and I saw it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, took over.
Speaker 10: Yes, Yeah, it was very nice though. And also I
Speaker 10: had chicken pot pie at Leen's restaurant on the top
Speaker 10: floor of Leens.
Speaker 3: And we had a wonderful restaurant up there and one
Speaker 3: day we have it.
Speaker 2: We haven't mentioned yet in Jordan's those blueberry muffins. Oh
Speaker 2: my goodness, they were so delicious and.
Speaker 3: You can you can still get them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But also mentioned about filings is people don't remember the
Speaker 3: Red Land and Cafe in the basement.
Speaker 10: The Red Lands and down off of.
Speaker 3: Cambridge Street, red Lan, Well there was the red there
Speaker 3: was the Red Hat off off the off of Cambra Street.
Speaker 3: But the Red Land and Cafe was just a little segment,
Speaker 3: you little section and fine in Jordan's basement and it's well,
Speaker 3: you know, sort a little sort of a little raised
Speaker 3: platform there and they had you know'd be like tea
Speaker 3: in little sandwiches for ladies and things. And I think
Speaker 3: they might have had like an ice cream clown or
Speaker 3: something like that for kids. But yeah, my mother would
Speaker 3: go there and get t and date nutbreads with cream cheese.
Speaker 10: Asked question, are you from Boston originally of us? Because
Speaker 10: there were hearts that lived on uh a couple of
Speaker 10: doors down from from us on Blueville Avenue related to them.
Speaker 3: May very well have been my my my father died
Speaker 3: when I was young and his family was, you know,
Speaker 3: so scattered about a little bit. So they may very
Speaker 3: well have.
Speaker 10: Been, okay, because it was a frank heart that I
Speaker 10: knew name wart h A R T.
Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah, no, they say I've got an E.
Speaker 5: Oh maybe maybe.
Speaker 10: It hadn't me. I don't really never send some carter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, there there are, there are. There are
Speaker 3: a few different hearts. There are some hearts without the E,
Speaker 3: some with some with the E, and some of them are.
Speaker 4: Related to us.
Speaker 3: But we're you know, they they they kind of kind
Speaker 3: of driven. My father's father died in nineteen eighteen during
Speaker 3: the Spanish flewback then as they called it, the COVID
Speaker 3: of the time, and so the family kind of got
Speaker 3: his family kind of got dispersed a little bit, right, Okay, all.
Speaker 2: Right, Mary, thank you for the call.
Speaker 10: Thank you very much. Bye, Thanks Forky.
Speaker 2: Jack. You know, I cannot thank you enough. Last minute.
Speaker 2: You have never told me no ever, and I've had
Speaker 2: you on a dozen or more times. I thank you
Speaker 2: for coming on tonight. You help me kick off the
Speaker 2: four hours of Dan Rays show night side superbly well,
Speaker 2: and I'm.
Speaker 3: Happy to do it. It's my favorite thing to do.
Speaker 2: You know, I was to say in front of thirty
Speaker 2: eight states and parts of Canada, thank you to you, sir,
Speaker 2: thank you.
Speaker 3: It was thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: What do you want to tell all of your fans
Speaker 2: about your upcoming holiday?
Speaker 3: Let me see listen for me on traffic, doing traffic.
Speaker 3: I'll be working of the bulk of the holiday. So
Speaker 3: Merry Christmas to everybody. May your holiday be great and
Speaker 3: may and hopefully I can get you to where you
Speaker 3: need to go safely and avoiding traffic.
Speaker 2: And I'm stealing a quote here, although it's been said
Speaker 2: many times many ways, Jack Hart, Merry Christmas to you,
Speaker 2: and thank you.
Speaker 3: Merry Christmas to you.
Speaker 2: You take care of Jack YouTube, good night, Next hour.
Speaker 2: Bill Friedman is my guest. I've had him before. He
Speaker 2: has written a number of books, but we're going to
Speaker 2: speak about a his book on the Las Vegas Strip,
Speaker 2: Thirty years of History on the Las Vegas Strip. And
Speaker 2: he's got another book coming up within a year and
Speaker 2: a half it should be finished about Las Vegas. Very
Speaker 2: intelligent man, very easy to talk to. So if you're
Speaker 2: of a mind, stay port. You've given me half of you,
Speaker 2: I give me the other half. We're here till midnight.
Speaker 2: Time and temperature forty four degrees well, that's backwards temperature
Speaker 2: and time nine fifty eight