Boston Neighborhoods

[statler]

I assume it was mostly among the Irish Catholics. Whether it was adopted outside that (large) group I don't know.

[AmericanFolkLegend]

And people from Savin Hill seem to have a particular affinity for that "sub-neighborhood". Presumably because it's a wealthier (and whiter) area of Dorchester.

[Tombstoner]

Interesting to me that the "Symphony" section of Fenway is not near-unanimously acknowledged as Fenway. I can't imagine what else people would call it. Certainly not Back Bay or South End or Roxbury. I also wonder what it means if bits of the city aren't ascribed to any neighborhood...Is it de-facto its own neighborhood?

[vanshnookenraggen]

I always say it as East and West Fenway. But Fenway none the less.

[JohnAKeith]

East Fenway and West Fenway, but always "The" Fenway.

[Ron Newman]

From Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City, written way back in 1960:

One of the most interesting districts is one that isn't there: the triangular region between the Back Bay and the South End. This was a blank area on the map for every person interviewed, even the one who was born and raised there. It is an area of substantial size containing some known elements such as Huntington Avenue and occasional landmarks such as the Christian Science Church, but the matrix in which these might appear is absent and nameless. Presumably, the blocking by surrounding railroad tracks, and the conceptual squeezing-out of this area because the main streets of Back Bay and the South End are felt to be parallel, both contribute to this disappearance.

[JonFrum]

Originally Posted by Ron Newman

From Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City, written way back in 1960:

Why won't the multi-quote icon work?


Anyway, that triangle of land was, literally, the back bay. It's the same filled land, no different from Comm. ave. What defined the rectilinear Back Bay residential district from the rest of the back bay filled land was the pre-existing railroad tracks that cut through the bay. The Boston & Providence line to Park square forced parallel streets, which gave us Huntington ave and Columbus ave. The Boston & Albany line cut across the rectilinear pattern at Boylston st and Mass. ave, putting an end to the pattern at that end.

For some reason, the back bay that didn't become the Back Bay, as such, never got a name for itself. Bay Village was also part of the back bay, but was filled independently from the greater project, and got its own name as a result.