Ken – yes, if you haven’t seen the square since ‘75, you are in for quite a surprise. You’ll probably need to just sit on one of the benches in the square for a while to absorb the changes. When I was living in an apartment on the 3rd floor of the theatre building in the early 80s, a friend of mine looked out the living room window one day (which overlooked the entire square) and said “this neighborhood is in for some big changes.” Man, was he right-on. The “gentrification” has marched in. I was so sad to see the closing of La Contessa in '07. Fortunately, some of the good old places are still around – like the Rosebud, Johnny D’s and of course, the theatre itself. When you do make it to the area, check out Porter Square also. You won’t recognize it either. Even with all the changes in Davis Sq., fortunately it hasn’t been cannibalized and over-developed (my opinion anyway) as much as Porter Square.
Off the top of my head, I don’t remember where Joe & Nemos was. It’s probably way back in the mental cobwebs somewhere. Yeah, Railside was demolished sometime around ‘83 during all the changes that were going on in the square at that time. The building where it was located backed up to the tracks.
I vaguely remember it. How long has it been gone? One place I definitely remember that’s no longer there is the old Railside Pub, which was just to the north of the theatre on Holland St. Sometimes used to go in with friends for a few quick ones after seeing a film.
Ken,
Thanks for the history on the third floor. That’s pretty cool to know how it was used previous to being converted to apts. The area you describe was the exact footprint of our apt – the arched window and then the next 3 windows to the left. Good idea about getting the film cans up to the 3rd floor. We would have liked that idea when we used to schlep groceries up to the 3rd floor after walking back from Porter Sq. Star Market in the snow! A friend of mine, Bob, was one of the projectionists at the time – he later worked at the Capitol in the mid-80s. At the time I lived there, the guy who occupied the apt next to ours, would keep an eye on our cars parked on Dover Street. I believe he had former janitor’s apt you described, and since he had the apt on the corner of Dover street and at least one of his windows looked in that direction, he could sort of keep an eye out for anything amiss.
Thanks again for all the info!
Thanks for the info on what now occupies my old bedroom. It would be really cool to see it again sometime! I also remember a very busy social club on the 2nd floor back then. Greek, I believe it was. On our way up to our 3rd floor apt., when you got to the 2nd floor, the door to the Greek club was usually open and there was always so much smoke in the room you could cut it with a knife! My how times have changed.
Thanks again! Thant’s fantastic! I’ll definitely be there. It was at Off the Wall where I originally saw such cinematic wonders as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Robot Monster, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble.
Thanks Ron! So that would explain why the apartments back in the 70s/early 80s had a sort of “office” feel. You could definitely tell they were not originally built as apartments. The partitions within the space were simple frames of 2"x4" lumber with sheet paneling nailed over them, old linoleum flooring, and not nearly enough electrical outlets! What a fun place is was though for two “kids” (we were 19 and 21 at the time) to live. At that time, our monthly rent was $125.00 per month!!! Try finding anything like that in Somerville today. Back then, we also used to spend much time at the Orson Welles Theater and Off the Wall cinema in Cambridge. The Orson Welles used to have a great annual Fright Night Festival where you could come and spend the entire night in the theater watching horror flicks and the Off the Wall showed just that – really great off-the-wall stuff.
Oh, what great memories I have of this building and the surrounding area. Years ago, the 3rd floor of the building was all apartments and back in 1981/82, my roommate and I had a great apartment overlooking the square. At that time, we were able to look straight down into the construction of the Davis Sq. T station. I had a great triangular-shaped bedroom at the end of the building and the huge arched window over the inscription in the building was my bedroom. At night, through the back wall of my bedroom, I was able to hear the muffled sounds of the movie projector and the guy who ran it, having a good time with friends. It was such a great time. It’s good to see the building being put to such good use. Much has changed in the building and surrounding square since we lived there, much of it for the better. David Sq. has since become a “hip” place – something it wasn’t back then. Still, we loved living there even then. Can’t wait to attend the Science Fiction Festival in February!
All the best, David.
Ken – yes, if you haven’t seen the square since ‘75, you are in for quite a surprise. You’ll probably need to just sit on one of the benches in the square for a while to absorb the changes. When I was living in an apartment on the 3rd floor of the theatre building in the early 80s, a friend of mine looked out the living room window one day (which overlooked the entire square) and said “this neighborhood is in for some big changes.” Man, was he right-on. The “gentrification” has marched in. I was so sad to see the closing of La Contessa in '07. Fortunately, some of the good old places are still around – like the Rosebud, Johnny D’s and of course, the theatre itself. When you do make it to the area, check out Porter Square also. You won’t recognize it either. Even with all the changes in Davis Sq., fortunately it hasn’t been cannibalized and over-developed (my opinion anyway) as much as Porter Square.
Off the top of my head, I don’t remember where Joe & Nemos was. It’s probably way back in the mental cobwebs somewhere. Yeah, Railside was demolished sometime around ‘83 during all the changes that were going on in the square at that time. The building where it was located backed up to the tracks.
Oh, and welcome to the website Mike.
I vaguely remember it. How long has it been gone? One place I definitely remember that’s no longer there is the old Railside Pub, which was just to the north of the theatre on Holland St. Sometimes used to go in with friends for a few quick ones after seeing a film.
Ken,
Thanks for the history on the third floor. That’s pretty cool to know how it was used previous to being converted to apts. The area you describe was the exact footprint of our apt – the arched window and then the next 3 windows to the left. Good idea about getting the film cans up to the 3rd floor. We would have liked that idea when we used to schlep groceries up to the 3rd floor after walking back from Porter Sq. Star Market in the snow! A friend of mine, Bob, was one of the projectionists at the time – he later worked at the Capitol in the mid-80s. At the time I lived there, the guy who occupied the apt next to ours, would keep an eye on our cars parked on Dover Street. I believe he had former janitor’s apt you described, and since he had the apt on the corner of Dover street and at least one of his windows looked in that direction, he could sort of keep an eye out for anything amiss.
Thanks again for all the info!
Thanks Ian! I definitely will. I’d love to see the old place.
Thanks for the info on what now occupies my old bedroom. It would be really cool to see it again sometime! I also remember a very busy social club on the 2nd floor back then. Greek, I believe it was. On our way up to our 3rd floor apt., when you got to the 2nd floor, the door to the Greek club was usually open and there was always so much smoke in the room you could cut it with a knife! My how times have changed.
Thanks again! Thant’s fantastic! I’ll definitely be there. It was at Off the Wall where I originally saw such cinematic wonders as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Robot Monster, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble.
Thanks Ron! So that would explain why the apartments back in the 70s/early 80s had a sort of “office” feel. You could definitely tell they were not originally built as apartments. The partitions within the space were simple frames of 2"x4" lumber with sheet paneling nailed over them, old linoleum flooring, and not nearly enough electrical outlets! What a fun place is was though for two “kids” (we were 19 and 21 at the time) to live. At that time, our monthly rent was $125.00 per month!!! Try finding anything like that in Somerville today. Back then, we also used to spend much time at the Orson Welles Theater and Off the Wall cinema in Cambridge. The Orson Welles used to have a great annual Fright Night Festival where you could come and spend the entire night in the theater watching horror flicks and the Off the Wall showed just that – really great off-the-wall stuff.
Oh, what great memories I have of this building and the surrounding area. Years ago, the 3rd floor of the building was all apartments and back in 1981/82, my roommate and I had a great apartment overlooking the square. At that time, we were able to look straight down into the construction of the Davis Sq. T station. I had a great triangular-shaped bedroom at the end of the building and the huge arched window over the inscription in the building was my bedroom. At night, through the back wall of my bedroom, I was able to hear the muffled sounds of the movie projector and the guy who ran it, having a good time with friends. It was such a great time. It’s good to see the building being put to such good use. Much has changed in the building and surrounding square since we lived there, much of it for the better. David Sq. has since become a “hip” place – something it wasn’t back then. Still, we loved living there even then. Can’t wait to attend the Science Fiction Festival in February!
All the best, David.