Original 16mm footage taken in 1949 of streetcars running from Maverick underground station up onto the streets of East Boston and out to Suffolk Downs racetrack.
fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
Linda, I don't know if you will read this, but my grandma was born in 1949, on Valentines Day. She grew up in Portugal and is currently in the hospital. It is nice to see that although this looks to be ancient to me (born in 2006) to you this looks normal.
that's when it was called the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority). my father drove street cars and when he retired after 31 years, he was driving the money truck to all the downtown stations in Boston. what nostalgia.
I'm from Jefferies point, East Boston and from my day in the 70s 80s 90s all the way back to this time...Eastie was all Italian as well as Revere. It really was God's country. It was glorious.....
For the mass of people commuting it was just a routine day, taking the streetcar to work, to school, running so they would not miss one-- time flies by and we watch them on that day from their future. When the streetcar emerges from the tunnel the size of the street, the shops and buildings are all human scale, not overbearing. Ah, and the motor cars were nice to view, especially the station wagon "woodies". I really enjoyed the woman waiting on the island for her streetcar, looking straight at the camera. She kept looking back, and I'm sure when she sat down she talked to someone about it...and later she talked about it at work...then again at home to her family--but probably never saw the film in which she made a cameo appearance. This is a feel good video that comes with a hint of melancholy for the so-called "good old days" that really were not all that good for many people.
Fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
The gateway to Christmas in year 1950! MTA streetcars rolling down into the Maverick Square station. Actually old enough to have then ridden those type #5 cars. As a little kid then living in Chelsea, that underground terminal was the connection point for the subway trains traveling under Boston harbor into the city. Arriving at Scollay Square station, my father and me would pop to the surface for the walk up Tremont Street to Eric Fuch's toy train store. There were two side by side shops there having one stocked with American Flyer and the other Lionel trains exclusively. From there we'd stroll downtown to the great Jordan Marsh department store. Every Christmas they'd set up a large Lionel train layout up on the 5th floor of the annex building. Of course near by to the large train setup was the big guy himself . . Santa Claus. My obligatory visit to him was actually top place on our agenda. Our family did not have an automobile in those days. We always used public transit. The streetcar stop was almost in front of our house. Going the other way was Revere Beach via various surface rail routes. The video posting is good and much appreciated but not in correct continuity. It does however do an excellent job in presenting a glimpse of that period.
Were those streetcars very cold in the winter time? Do you know when this fleet when out of commission? I will have to see if there's any historical information on that toy train store! Sounds like you had a delightful time.
Most of the time there were so many people on them, you never thought about being cold. It was so much fun to ride the trolley and for a nickel you could go just about anywhere in the Boston area including Revere which I went many many times. Those were the good old days gone forever. I couldn't count how many times I rode the Cyclone at Revere Beach. What great memories. Too bad the kids today don't have the same opportunity that we did. Long gone but not forgotten.
want to hear a bus song we take the bus them bum bum bum bum bum we take the bus love bum bum bum bum bum bum be taking the bus to school everyday we take the bus we flap out on Mount on the bus and some kids be on punishment from the bus please be quiet sometimes
Really remarkable footage... despite the BERy/MTA fleet of some 271 PCC cars by 1949, there isn't a single PCC to be seen anywhere! I don't know Boston well enough, but presumably they just hadn't been assigned to any of the routes that were shot? No Type IV cars either, but those were all retired around this time period I think. Was a real treat to see the Type 3 plow and the snow sweeper at the end.
I grew up in Wheeling/Warwood WV, there were routes from Wheeling to ponts south, north, and west into Ohio. "Everyone" rode the streetcars, I used to ride them into the city for ten cents a ride...loved them!
I realize that no time in our past was ever perfect, and we have made many social advances in human rights and medicine, to name just two examples, in the years between 1947 and now, in 2022. Yet, still, while watching your video here (which, by the way, was very well done using a good 16-mm film camera and good cinematography techniques) reminds us of a simpler, more down-to-earth and a more honest time. People managed very well without smartphones and selfies and all the other gaudy bells and whistles of modern technology. The streetcars depicted in your film were dependable and sturdy; they served Boston's transit needs very well for many years. I believe that if those streetcars were still serving the public in "Eastie" in 2022, they'd still be well patronized. Thank you as well, Allen, for the piano solo music accompanying your video, which is a lovely reminder of a now-long-gone past.
Great video (and music) but when did Maverick become a station for subway cars? I can't imagine the amount of labor that would have taken to raise the platforms, or to dig down. The platforms were probably raised, as the Blue Line subway cars that replaced them could not raise their pantographs because the ceilings were too low, but yet they raised them at Maverick, so I’m confused!
What a great video! I did not know there was so much private ROW, or such extensive streetcar service in Eastie and Revere. Note that as the car emerges from the Maverick portal, there are tracks going off to the right, to either Chelsea Street or Maverick Street. I know there was a loop - before WWII - on Sumner Street and Maverick. Note the large number of men wearing hats, even in this largely blue collar area.
Great video, but a reminder of how much public transportation we threw away. Now Chelsea has no rail transit except for the single Commuter Rail station. The new Silver Line branch there is only a very incomplete substitute for the streetcar lines that were abandoned and now can't be restored.
Don't forget the Mattapan-Ashmont line which totally runs above ground and uses PCC cars built in the 1940's.. Best way to reach it is to take Red Line Ashmont train to the last stop.
Eddie Crane King And after North Station the Green Line goes above ground and is on elevated tracks like New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore, L.A. and Chicago subway trains.
B & C are tramways in their own center reservations. D is a light railway and probably the first on the East Coast after Philadelphia's. E is mostly a center reservation tram but it has the last stretch of streetcar track after Brigham Circle.
For those who wish to pursue these lines further! See the following publications from the Boston Street Railway Association,Bulletins number 22,23,and 25,! Bulletin 23 covers the streetcars in the 1940's,which the film covered! Best of all,there are track diagrams of all the,then active lines,along with carhouse diagrams,and car assignments! Well worth reading,and having a working library! There was also a book on the trolley coach network,which I do believe,is out of print,and also useful! If anyone from the BSRA is reading this,its long overdue for a reissue,with updates[ala the Silver Line routes,and the Harvard lines]! Anyway,hopefully this information proves useful! Thank you!'Thank you 😇☺️!
Where's Spencer Tracy and the boys? Pretty nice free piano work for the background. Kind of Mr. Rogers thing going on. Thought Waits was gonna come in and sing over it.
Hello Allen, we have been trying to find your contact but have been unable to, so I will leave you a message here. We are putting a film together about boston and would love to use a clip from this film reel. Would that be ok with you?
Hi Allen. I am producing a documentary about the streetcar and what it was to America, and also about the Connecticut Trolley Museum and how we preserve that part of history. Aside from the CTM, I am looking for photos or videos of streetcars in their hay day. This video seems like I would like to use if possible. Full credit would be given to whoever contributes, and I do not intend to make money off the production.
Which means you couldn't tell who was a detective. Nowadays detectives dress and act like street thugs and you still can't tell them apart! Which is why if you're confronted by one you have to make sure he is not an impersonator.
Beautiful. How much more relaxed and unhurried the people were. Unless you were black or gay, 1949 was a much more pleasant and happier time. It makes me wish the automobile never got as popular as it did, because it was the death of the streetcar trolleys and the trackless trolleys that followed them 😭😭😢
fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
Fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
Fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
Linda, I don't know if you will read this, but my grandma was born in 1949, on Valentines Day. She grew up in Portugal and is currently in the hospital. It is nice to see that although this looks to be ancient to me (born in 2006) to you this looks normal.
that's when it was called the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority). my father drove street cars and when he retired after 31 years, he was driving the money truck to all the downtown stations in Boston. what nostalgia.
I'm from Jefferies point, East Boston and from my day in the 70s 80s 90s all the way back to this time...Eastie was all Italian as well as Revere. It really was God's country. It was glorious.....
My parents were married in 1949. They would of been married 71 years this coming October. RIP dad.
For the mass of people commuting it was just a routine day, taking the streetcar to work, to school, running so they would not miss one-- time flies by and we watch them on that day from their future. When the streetcar emerges from the tunnel the size of the street, the shops and buildings are all human scale, not overbearing. Ah, and the motor cars were nice to view, especially the station wagon "woodies". I really enjoyed the woman waiting on the island for her streetcar, looking straight at the camera. She kept looking back, and I'm sure when she sat down she talked to someone about it...and later she talked about it at work...then again at home to her family--but probably never saw the film in which she made a cameo appearance. This is a feel good video that comes with a hint of melancholy for the so-called "good old days" that really were not all that good for many people.
This is truly amazing footage from the good old times!
What a ride back to the years of my youth. I recognized every foot of the film! Thanks for sharing and the memories!
I am so proud to work here for 31 years and counting!❤!
So great seeing how old Eastie used to look. This film is amazing and holds up because it is in black and white .
Thank you Alan for the memories. Well done I miss the way we were. God bless be safe
Fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
The gateway to Christmas in year 1950! MTA streetcars rolling down into the Maverick Square station. Actually old enough to have then ridden those type #5 cars. As a little kid then living in Chelsea, that underground terminal was the connection point for the subway trains traveling under Boston harbor into the city. Arriving at Scollay Square station, my father and me would pop to the surface for the walk up Tremont Street to Eric Fuch's toy train store. There were two side by side shops there having one stocked with American Flyer and the other Lionel trains exclusively. From there we'd stroll downtown to the great Jordan Marsh department store. Every Christmas they'd set up a large Lionel train layout up on the 5th floor of the annex building. Of course near by to the large train setup was the big guy himself . . Santa Claus. My obligatory visit to him was actually top place on our agenda.
Our family did not have an automobile in those days. We always used public transit. The streetcar stop was almost in front of our house. Going the other way was Revere Beach via various surface rail routes.
The video posting is good and much appreciated but not in correct continuity. It does however do an excellent job in presenting a glimpse of that period.
Were those streetcars very cold in the winter time? Do you know when this fleet when out of commission? I will have to see if there's any historical information on that toy train store! Sounds like you had a delightful time.
Most of the time there were so many people on them, you never thought about being cold. It was so much fun to ride the trolley and for a nickel you could go just about anywhere in the Boston area including Revere which I went many many times. Those were the good old days gone forever. I couldn't count how many times I rode the Cyclone at Revere Beach. What great memories. Too bad the kids today don't have the same opportunity that we did. Long gone but not forgotten.
want to hear a bus song we take the bus them bum bum bum bum bum we take the bus love bum bum bum bum bum bum be taking the bus to school everyday we take the bus we flap out on Mount on the bus and some kids be on punishment from the bus please be quiet sometimes
eric fuch"s train store......wow havent heard that in eons thanx remembering
Globie the last lines to use the underground loop were the 114 115 116 117 118 121 .they operated until January 4th 1952.
Really remarkable footage... despite the BERy/MTA fleet of some 271 PCC cars by 1949, there isn't a single PCC to be seen anywhere! I don't know Boston well enough, but presumably they just hadn't been assigned to any of the routes that were shot? No Type IV cars either, but those were all retired around this time period I think. Was a real treat to see the Type 3 plow and the snow sweeper at the end.
I grew up in Wheeling/Warwood WV, there were routes from Wheeling to ponts south, north, and west into Ohio. "Everyone" rode the streetcars, I used to ride them into the city for ten cents a ride...loved them!
I realize that no time in our past was ever perfect, and we have made many social advances in human rights and medicine, to name just two examples, in the years between 1947 and now, in 2022. Yet, still, while watching your video here (which, by the way, was very well done using a good 16-mm film camera and good cinematography techniques) reminds us of a simpler, more down-to-earth and a more honest time. People managed very well without smartphones and selfies and all the other gaudy bells and whistles of modern technology. The streetcars depicted in your film were dependable and sturdy; they served Boston's transit needs very well for many years. I believe that if those streetcars were still serving the public in "Eastie" in 2022, they'd still be well patronized.
Thank you as well, Allen, for the piano solo music accompanying your video, which is a lovely reminder of a now-long-gone past.
I'm sure they would be still popular! But alas, the automobile forced the humble streetcar trolley off the street.
Great video (and music) but when did Maverick become a station for subway cars? I can't imagine the amount of labor that would have taken to raise the platforms, or to dig down. The platforms were probably raised, as the Blue Line subway cars that replaced them could not raise their pantographs because the ceilings were too low, but yet they raised them at Maverick, so I’m confused!
i loved those witt double enders back in the day. nice music. people look spooked by the camera.
4:05
They didn't think that they would be watched 60-70 years later on a phone screen
What a great video! I did not know there was so much private ROW, or such extensive streetcar service in Eastie and Revere. Note that as the car emerges from the Maverick portal, there are tracks going off to the right, to either Chelsea Street or Maverick Street. I know there was a loop - before WWII - on Sumner Street and Maverick. Note the large number of men wearing hats, even in this largely blue collar area.
Beautiful video; never seen this before. I wonder if there are other gems like this out there, maybe showing videos of Dorchester, Cambridge, etc.
Great video, but a reminder of how much public transportation we threw away. Now Chelsea has no rail transit except for the single Commuter Rail station. The new Silver Line branch there is only a very incomplete substitute for the streetcar lines that were abandoned and now can't be restored.
Thank you for this amazing video!
They show Broadway Revere several times with street cars passing the Broadway/Central Fire Station.
Wonderful memories.
I was 13 at the time.
Too bad this clip doesn't show all of the way to Revere Beach. Still, it is a wonderful piece of film.
LOVELY soundtrack.
great player.
vid as well :)
Based on some of the cars I see, I believe part of this has to be in the early 1950s.
Can you share where this footage comes from? I'm working on a PBS documentary which will have a need for a ton of Boston footage. Thanks!
They are still there now. Green Line B,C,D,E are all go above the ground after Copley and Kenmore.
Eddie Crane King actually e goes above ground after symphony
Don't forget the Mattapan-Ashmont line which totally runs above ground and uses PCC cars built in the 1940's.. Best way to reach it is to take Red Line Ashmont train to the last stop.
Eddie Crane King And after North Station the Green Line goes above ground and is on elevated tracks like New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore, L.A. and Chicago subway trains.
B & C are tramways in their own center reservations. D is a light railway and probably the first on the East Coast after Philadelphia's. E is mostly a center reservation tram but it has the last stretch of streetcar track after Brigham Circle.
Just great footage
For those who wish to pursue these lines further! See the following publications from the Boston Street Railway Association,Bulletins number 22,23,and 25,! Bulletin 23 covers the streetcars in the 1940's,which the film covered! Best of all,there are track diagrams of all the,then active lines,along with carhouse diagrams,and car assignments! Well worth reading,and having a working library! There was also a book on the trolley coach network,which I do believe,is out of print,and also useful! If anyone from the BSRA is reading this,its long overdue for a reissue,with updates[ala the Silver Line routes,and the Harvard lines]! Anyway,hopefully this information proves useful! Thank you!'Thank you 😇☺️!
4:55 mark- Shawmut Bank and the Post Office in the background..
Hello,
Do you happen to have any more old footage of Boston? I'm working on a project about Boston and I'm looking for shots of the city.
Best,
Rich
Where's Spencer Tracy and the boys? Pretty nice free piano work for the background. Kind of Mr. Rogers thing going on. Thought Waits was gonna come in and sing over it.
Hello Allen, we have been trying to find your contact but have been unable to, so I will leave you a message here. We are putting a film together about boston and would love to use a clip from this film reel. Would that be ok with you?
Hi Allen. I am producing a documentary about the streetcar and what it was to America, and also about the Connecticut Trolley Museum and how we preserve that part of history. Aside from the CTM, I am looking for photos or videos of streetcars in their hay day. This video seems like I would like to use if possible. Full credit would be given to whoever contributes, and I do not intend to make money off the production.
LUV LUV LUV!!! STREETS WERE CLEAN AND PEOPLE TOOK PRIDE IN THERE APPEARANCE!!!
And back when people knew when to use "their" instead of "there".
Oh gosh, more cliches about the "golden past"
🇮🇹 That’s why. Jews, Islamic and Indian ( dot not feather ) only care about themselves!
I like how all the people are dressed up!
Back when everyone dressed like a detective
Love it.
Which means you couldn't tell who was a detective. Nowadays detectives dress and act like street thugs and you still can't tell them apart! Which is why if you're confronted by one you have to make sure he is not an impersonator.
Is this film public domain?
The only negative of scenes of this era would be,
had only the Weed Eater been thought of . . . ?
VERY INTERESTING
What is the song in the beginning
Kick ass
Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, music and all. the war was over and people were fleeing the city for the new 'burbs.
Well said Kathleen!!
These were the days when morality and self respect was the norm!
men wore pants women wore dresses, so much order and balance.
That's because capitalism was on a very tight leash.
When America was still America.
And even more racist as it is today, genius.
Beautiful. How much more relaxed and unhurried the people were. Unless you were black or gay, 1949 was a much more pleasant and happier time. It makes me wish the automobile never got as popular as it did, because it was the death of the streetcar trolleys and the trackless trolleys that followed them 😭😭😢
Back when this new sick society did not existed. No camera phones or Twitter to record any minimal thing to get those mbta workers in trouble.
Wasn’t really a “simpler” time for minoritites in the country... or for the poor.
Or for gay men either. One really had to watch his step and watch where he was looking!
fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
Fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.
Linda Stack I agree it was such a better time. Not easy but a better Time. I live in Maine now but I still miss it.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Fills my heart with joy. I was 2 yrs old in 1949. could have been my parents or relatives on the trolley. such a simpler wonderful time. I still miss Eastie. thank you so much.