Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos with the keyword: Fenway

Looking back over the fens from the bridge on Boylston drive. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

The fens.. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

Most of the time I lived in Boston, I lived in the Fenway area. The fens were then, and still were in 2007, a popular gay cruising area. It was always slightly disconcerting to cruise the fens, with the Prudential tower seemingly watching overhead. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

Opposite the gardens, with the Prudential tower rising in the distance, are the tall reeds of the fens. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

One of the most well-known features of the fens is the "Victory gardens," community gardens maintained by residents of the area. The gardens had first been established during WW II to grow vegetables, though many of the plots now are just flowers. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

One of the reasons the area is called the Fenway is that there is a stream running through the area which forms what is called a fens (a type of wetlands). Across from where I lived is a long park, the Back Bay Fens, which is quite lush during the summer -- the satellite map provides a good perspective. The park has multiple athletic fields, gardens, and a large community vegetable garden - but is also very well known as a gay cruising area. The area was a quite popular cruising area when I lived there in the 70's, and I was surprised to see that it was still well-used when I visited in 2007. Close to each other in the park are memorials to the Korean, Vietnam, and WWII wars. But, what was most important, was that surrounding those memorials were areas where gay men would lay out in skimpy bathing suits, and retreat into the bushes at times. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

Fenway Park baseball stadium, the home of the Red Sox, is just a couple of blocks northwest of the Fenway neighborhood. The stadium is so wedged into the neighborhood, that you could pass it without hardly knowing it was there. Interesting also is that two of Boston's more popular gay bars were behind where I was standing when I took this picture in 2007. So, on weekend game nights, you had gay bar patrons and baseball fans passing in the streets. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

In the center of the Fenway are a number of small restaurants and retail businesses. Like very much of the rest of Boston, though, there was quite a bit of construction of new high rise housing on the edges of the area in 2007. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

Most of the Fenway is 4 story apartment buildings and the architecture is very consistent, except a couple of buildings like the red brick building in the picture below. Many of the apartments were converted to condos at some point. When I lived there, it seemed that most of the buildings did not have elevators, though I suspect that has changed as some were converted to condos. One thing that hasn't changed is that parking is atrocious -- the majority of the buildings do not have garages or parking lots. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

Park Drive & Queensberry, next to the same apartment (see adjacent picture) Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

George... of course, in this, he's not sitting in his usual window. (Photo taken some time in the early 80's)

From Fenway window, scan of an older photo taken some time in the early 1980's Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

George's window (see adjacent picture) -- and a jade plant that I had until 2013. The jade plant made it from Boston, to SF, to San Diego, to Los Angeles. But, didn't make the last move to Palm Springs -- something about the dryness out here in the summer doesn't work for that particular type of jade. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

When I lived there, there was a small tree at the bay window that was closest to the main door, and my cat (George) would jump out the window and onto the tree, to wander the neighborhood. (This photo was taken some time in the early 80's) Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

The last place I lived in Boston (211 Park Drive) was only a block from the first, though I had lived in various other places in between. Tom (see adjacent picture) was, again, my landlord. On this I do remember the apartment -- on the first floor, in the front, on the right. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

My first apartment was in this building (151 Park Drive) -- I believe it was on the third floor (no elevator) -- it overlooked the street, and was on back end of the building. The biggest surprise when I found a building that I liked was that the building manager (Tom) was the man I had met in the park (adjacent picture). Tom and I remained in fairly close contact for all the years that I was in Boston, though we were never particularly close friends. He was, however, one of the men that I credit for having been a good role model for how to live a fairly radical, and sex-affirming, life as a gay man. Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set

When I first visited Boston in '75, somehow I quickly discovered the Fenway neighborhood. Maybe it was the fact that I met up with a mysterious, handsome, and relatively rugged man while walking through the Fens on a snowy day after Christmas -- but I ended up with the Fenway as my basic base for all the years I lived in Boston. (This picture was taken some time in the 70's, I don't know exactly when.) Makes most sense if viewed as part of Coming Out/Northeast set