Erin had an audio conference to record Thursday morning, so to ensure a quiet house, I put the kids in the car and went to Revere Beach, the scene of my tumultuous, painful, angry yet beautiful upbringing.
I’ve written a lot about Revere in this blog. How could I avoid it? But I’ve been short on photos to show you. I fixed that problem with this latest journey back in time. Sean and Duncan had a field day picking up shells and jumping in the water — things I took for granted at their age.
The most striking thing about visiting my old home is that as a whole, Revere Beach is a far more beautiful place than I remember growing up. Part of it is because there was a massive renovation of the beachfront in the 1990s. Pavilion roofs ripped off in the Blizzard of 1978 were replaced, sidewalks were extended to the entire length of the beach and, most importantly, the Deer island sewage treatment plant has cleaned up the ocean considerably.
Here’s the rocks behind Carey Circle, just footsteps from my front door. I used to hide here during moments of anger and depression, chain smoking Marlboro Reds:
The house on the right is where Sean Marley grew up. My house was two doors down. During my teenage years, I spent more time in the Marley house than I did in my own. The house on the left is where Sean moved in after he and Joy got married. It’s also the house where his life ended:
My house, dead center, as seen from Pines Road, across the street:
A lot of dead jelly fish used to wash up on the beach. Here’s the private part of the beach, where the bored among us would blow up the dead fish with firecrackers and, on the fourth of July, the bigger explosives.
This is the first house after Carey Circle, where the Lynnway becomes Revere Beach Boulevard. Me and my siblings used to hang out in this house in the 1970s and play with the kids who lived there. Their father allegedly had ties to the mob and, sometime in 1978 or 1979, he was gunned down in the kitchen. It was believed to be haunted after that, but I never really took that seriously. The house did creep me out, though:
The trip ended with lunch at Kelley’s.
A good trip, I’d say.
How come you didn’t bring me back a lobster roll? 😉
It would have been smelly and gross by the time we got it home.
Bill didn’t Sean have a sister named Grace. I remembered her but not her brother unfourtnately for some reason.
Glad to see new Happy Memories! The Boys look like they had a blast.
Oh My! Thanks for the memories! My home on 335 Rice Av is there NO More. Great meomories growing up in the Pines!
Hi Bill
I don’t remember you but I attended school in Revere from 1982-1984. I too walked that beach. I want you to know that I too knew Zane and hung out with him many times. I still to this day think of him also. I remember scaling fences with with my friends when the cops would show up at the park in the pines. I had the hugest crush on one of the bridge rats. Those times are ones that I would never give back. I had a ball at that park. Was it a healthy way to have fun? No but I made everlasting memories that still make me smile. And Zane – I thought he was a really great guy. Thanks for writing the blogs. I really enjoyed reading them.