I was running errands on Needham Street today and drove around behind the EZ Storage building at the corner of Needham St and Christina. I cam across this sign.
Generally signs in parking lots communicate some useful information to passersby – “No parking”, “Entrance”, One Way”, etc.
This one has me completely stumped. Does anyone on Village14 have a clue about the intended meaning of this one?
As you can see from the second photo, the sign is not warning you that an entrance is just barely big
enough to squeeze a car through, so you won’t fit if you happen to have a man clinging to the side of your vehicle …. not something I often see in Needham St parking lots.
It’s beside train tracks, or where there used to be train tracks. If a train were to come by, there’s not room for a person (“man”) between whatever structure is there and the side of the train (“car”), even if said person were to try to get out of the way (“on side”).
Indeed, you can see the tracks clearly on Google Maps at the end of Charlemount St: https://goo.gl/maps/8CYWhhTHY3ciPPR16
Nicely done Doug L. In one fell swoop you have made the inscrutable, scrutable.
It’s odd, and kind of cool, that this accidental piece of history lives on in the parking lot to befuddle the passersby of the future.
I rather like the idea of such “obsolete” signs or other objects that remain in our midst, functioning as reminders of the past, whether distant or more recent. Like the “City Stables” emblazoned on the front of 92 Crafts Street — if I’m walking past it, and I close my eyes, sometimes I can imagine hearing a horse whinnying.
Since the 1960s the transformation of Needham Street has been an amazing thing to watch. Some might say it’s gone from an industrial wasteland to one giant parking lot. Even with the traffic and all the upcoming challenges, I’ll take today’s hustle and bustle Needham Street any day over the factories and warehouses that used to define the landscape there.
When we were kids back in the late 40s, we hopped slow moving freight trains that went from what is now the Newton Highlands T stop to the depot in Upper Falls. I don’t recall the sign that Jerry posted, but I do remember being chased on two or three occasions by railway officials who were not at all happy that we broke a lot of laws and regulations by riding without authorization. They never caught me.
That’s a great image – A young Hobo Burke hopping a westbound freight train and heading out to the frontier in Upper Falls
Bob, I recall a previous confession: biking on 128. Now hopping on slow trains. What else did Newton kids do?
@Mike Striar – The only establishment from long ago Needham St that I have any fond memories of is this 1982 Best Steakhouse in Boston winner.
Bob likes to make people think those were just youthful hi-jinx but old Hobo Burke kept hopping those freight trains his whole life
Here’s hoping that train service is eventually restored thru the highlands – not on this spur specifically but Green branch off the D or Orange line up from Needham. That could reduce the parking lot factor.
@Isabelle and Jerry: In terms of discussing “other things” we did, I’ll have to consult my lawyer to see if statute of limitations applies.
@Jerry. That photo of me was when I campaigning for my first term on the Highlands Area Council. Recreating the spirit of Harry Truman with your expose on my now revealed Highlands to Upper Falls “whistle stop campaign.
When it comes to historical signage, I recall shortly after moving to Massachusetts in 1972, my husband and I were struck by an engraving as we were visiting Back Bay in Boston. Above us, chiseled into a huge building’s granite facade, was the curious name:
“Overseers of the Poor”. Dunno if it’s still there.
There was a similar sign where the tracks led into the (now Northland) building at Oak and Chestnut. I used to see it every time I took advantage of the now regrettably-closed short cut between Tower Road and Oak Street. Given the narrowness of the opening in the building, the meaning was pretty clear on that one.