Here are three views of Brookline Boulevard in 1951. The top photo shows the area near the intersection with Edgebrook Avenue, near DeBor Funeral Home, with a Gulf station on the left instead of the present-day Citgo station. It was at this point on the boulevard were the full pavement ended and cars were forced to veer to the right and drive down the narrow lane with parked cars on the right and steel poles on the left.

The middle photo shows the intersection at Breining Street near the present-day highrise apartments. In place of the apartments is the East Brookline Shopping Center, which at the time was home to Liepack's Pharmacy, Open Pantry Grocery Store and the Big Bundle Coin-Op Laundramat.

The bottom photo shows the section of the boulevard adjacent to Brookline Memorial Park, where only one lane of traffic was possible due to curbside parking. Today, thank God, we have two lanes and seperate parking is available on the left. At that time, the 39-Brookline trolley loop was located on the left side of the street, down the hill a bit.

The big buzz at the time was the fact that with the increasing number of vehicles on the road, this section of Brookline Boulevard was deemed an unsafe area to drive (judging by the photos for good reason) and residents were pushing hard to get the city to remove the steel poles and widen the street. It took several more years to accomplish, but eventually the City obliged.

Click on image for a larger picture.