Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

May 10, 2015

The Old Emerson College Campus

After I was sufficiently out of breath from hiking up and down Beacon Hill looking for those little courtyards, I walked down to Charles Street which has most of the shopping for Beacon Hill residents.  I always loved browsing the shops when I was in college even though I couldn't afford to buy anything.  Most of the stores I remember are gone now of course. 


The Paramount restaurant has been in this location since the 30s and we always ate here.  The prices were reasonable and the food was amazing, and judging by how packed it was at 10:30 AM on a Wednesday, nothing has changed.  This is the restaurant that gave birth to John Belushi's famous routine, 'Cheeburger! No Coke! Pepsi!'  The owners/cooks really did talk like that.

Rounding the corner from Charles Street to Beacon Street, I of course had to take pics of Cheers,which is really the Bull & Finch, and apart from it being below street level like the TV show, that's pretty much where the similarities end.  I've been in Cheers a couple of times and it looks nothing like the bar on the show.  It's way smaller.


Cute gardens.

Liked the running shoes but I'm not sure if those are real or fake flowers.

This is the old Emerson College student union.  I really didn't spend much time there at all, but they did have a fairly decent cafe' which served sandwiches.  So if you lived at this end of campus and didn't have time to get down to the dining hall at the other end (9 fairly long blocks away), you could grab a sandwich here.

This was my junior year dorm, at 100 Beacon, in 1984/85.  The first 5 floors were administration, then 6-9 were the residence floors, and 10 was administration.  Now they are all very high priced condos.



My room was on the 6th floor, middle two windows.

The black iron fence wasn't there in the 80s when Emerson owned these properties and this was known as 'The Wall' where everyone hung out & sat between classes. 

130 Beacon Street where most of the classrooms were located, as well as AM radio station WECB, FM station WERS and the TV studios were housed in the basement.  Spent a lot of time in this building!  I had a radio shift at WECB and I was a TV major.

Another shot of 130 Beacon.

This was my senior year dorm, 132/34 Beacon.  My room was on the top floor but in the back, facing the Charles River.  The tiny elevator (that always broke down) stopped on the 4th floor and I had to walk up one flight to the 5th. Half the time it was faster to just walk the whole way.  132 was the right side, the part that sticks out, and was very narrow.  134 is the flat part to the left. 

But now they are also condos and just known as 134.  Spent a lot of time sitting on those steps with my friends.

Here I am with my friends Ellen, Rochelle, [me] and Eileen, fall of 1985 on those steps.  

Kept on walking past campus, into Back Bay.  Had to get this shot of the Hancock Building from Dartmouth Street.

Then decided to continue heading west but on Marlborough Street because it's soooo beautiful with the trees and flowers and stuff.  Back Bay is wicked nice.  

So much interesting architecture.


Back on Beacon Street...so many pretty flowers!





14 comments:

  1. what a fun tour through the campus! I love Boston and all it's neighborhoods and history!! or an a personal favorite ... the old SNL skits with Aykroyd and Belushi - LOVE those

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    1. Thanks! Well I'm glad you like Boston because there are several more posts of my walking tour!

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  2. Really enjoyed this photo tour, JoJo, and that's a very nice retro photo of your group on the stairs. I like the architecture and I at one time wanted to go to Boston for college, but went instead to Univ of Ga. How interesting that you did that radio gig. You brought back memories of my college days. . .

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    1. Thank you! Boston was a great place to go to school, that's for sure. There are several more posts to come. I was up there from 9:30-1, walked at least 4-5 miles, and shot nearly 200 pictures!

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  3. Wouldn't it be great if the Cheers bar was recreated for visitors?

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    1. Visitors were always really disappointed when they went into this bar. lol Looks absolutely nothing like the show...it's way smaller and has a back room or two for the restaurant. Very low ceilings. Of course locals still refer to it as the Bull & Finch.

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  4. Interesting memories for you JoJo. Love all the blossoms and tulips. Nice pic of you and your friends.

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    1. Thanks! It was so much fun to live there, I just wish I'd appreciated the history more at the time. I was enjoying my social life and the city night life.

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  5. Awesome pictures, Jo. Hope you had a great time here.

    And the 30 years old picture in those steps looks cool :)

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    1. Thank you! Oh I do love me some Boston. My husband really dislikes the place and didn't even want to look at my pictures....cities 'irritate' him, but I've always been a more urban girl anyway. I see that 30 y/o picture and wonder where the time went. Ellen (far left) and I are still close. Lost touch with Rochelle and Eileen.

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  6. oooh, I love that college. I would love to own that building and live in it. So beautiful. I also love your photo. So cute.

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    1. Thank you! yes when I was young, thin and cute. I wish I was as thin as I was when I thought I was fat, as they say. Emerson's 1980s campus was so great. I remember my mom was horrified that it didn't have a gated campus with a green lawn and all, like part of Harvard across the river, but you could not beat the great vibes sitting on The Wall and the brownstone steps, people watching, listening to music, etc.

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  7. There are gems everywhere you turn. I wish I'd known about the Paramount, when I meandered around and found myself at Cheers. I was disappointed. Nobody chanted "Norm!" when I walked in. Smiles.

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    1. Well you aren't the only one who found Cheers to be a big disappointment. I think the Paramount is one of those local places that the residents just don't share with outsiders. It's literally a tiny hole in the wall. Very few tables and always packed. Best food ever though.

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