Category Archives for Demolished structures
† 5 Bradford Street Extension
† 122 Bradford Street Extension
† 125 Bradford Street Extension
† 175 Bradford Street Extension
Alfred “Fall River” Perry, originally Perreira, opened the Wagon Wheels diner shortly after World War II, Joseph Andrews recalled. (Though it’s not a very clear reproduction, you can actually discern the wagon wheels flanking the stairway to the diner entrance.) It stood at the intersection now occupied by Victor’s, when this part of the West End was almost rural, given the presence nearby of the large Galeforce Farm.
† 175 Bradford Street Extension
Alfred “Fall River” Perry was succeeded at this site by Joe “The Barber” Ferreira, who opened what was “probably the only Dairy Queen franchise in America that served kale soup,” Amy Whorf McGuiggan wrote. The DQ morphed into Silva’s Seafood Connection, whose spokesfish is seen in the picture, run in its last years by the brothers David Silva and Paul Silva. After turns as LiCata’s and the Beach Grill, it was razed to make way for condominiums and Victor’s restaurant.
† 2 Bradford Street
Mary’s Snack Bar (Mary Spaghetti’s)
From the 40s through the 60s, this side shack (c1880) was Mary’s Snack Bar, run by Mary Souza. Open until 3 a.m., it was a popular rendezvous with “night prowlers,” as The Advocate put it. Reportedly among those prowlers once were Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. What made it popular among the nocturnal set, of course, made it anathema to the neighbors, including Clarence Kacergis, who had Souza hauled up for censure by the Selectmen in 1959, saying he could not sleep. Mary’s claims to fame were clamburgers and pepper steak, but the joint was also known as Mary Spaghetti’s, suggesting another specialty of the house — besides general uproar. ¶ Updated 2012-11-13
