I took this very quickly with my cell phone… while driving. Yea, I’m one of those people.
Anyway, I hit the shutter and put the phone down, didn’t even look at the picture, and figured it came out horribly.
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Just a few days ago, while idling in evening rush-hour traffic around the Alewife Brook Parkway, I stared at bit at Faces.
That creepy, dilapadated building right on the tail end of route two east has been slowly decomposing since I was in elementary school. (Sorry if this makes you feel old — if it’s any consolation, it make me feel like a kid.) I’m now a post-undergraduate working a salaried, professional job and that old nightclub is still abandoned, boarded-up, and a complete eyesore for anyone entering the Camberville area. What better greeting to visiting students, parents, tourists and business investors than a long-abandoned nightclub?
A little while ago on the Davis Square community on livejournal, I asked if anyone knew why this building has remained in its forgotten state for so long. It’s hard to ignore, and surely that’s prime real estate (even if it is next to a busy highway). A few people pitched in answers but no one could authoritatively say why Faces was still around.
Well, the Boston Herald’s Scott Van Voorhis reported a few days ago that Faces is finally getting its funeral. Hallelujah! That answers the question about Faces’ future. It doesn’t tell me what the heck took so long for someone to decide to tear this place down. Despite my best google-fu I really can’t find any definitive information on this place. Is it owned by the city of Cambridge? Perhaps the Commonwealth? Maybe even the Cambridge Gateway Inn (which lives in Faces’ ugly shadow)?
Tonight I’ll try to bike here and take a few photos of my own (or at least snap a few on my cell phone as I’m sitting in traffic). Until I see bulldozers on that site I’m not going to bust out the champagne for Faces’ demise-party.
If the Faces site is turned into rental property, I do wonder how that will affect the Alewife Brook parkway traffic. That entire area needs an overhaul. The backups are one thing, but have you ever tried to explain that area to someone who’s never been there before?
“Get into the leftish lane, but not all the way, be like in the right lane of the left lane, then after the traffic light be careful of traffic merging on the right and then cross over to the right two more lanes.
…Aw, screw it, just follow the signs for Tufts and try not to hit anybody.”
And just a PSA for any of my Davis Square neighbors: there have been a rash of break-ins in the area over the past few weeks, and it seems they are only getting worse.
Read the discussion on the Davis Square LJ community for specifics on locations, etc. My housemate, who has been living in this area for a few good years now, says these rashes of break-ins tend to come and go, but it’s still good to be aware in this open-window season.
Perhaps worst of all, it seems even potted plants aren’t safe. Flower theft is not a victimless crime, people!
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