The late Mayor Richard S. Caligiuri and Resurrection's long-time former pastor Father McMahon say a few words before taking up the ceremonial shovels at the 1981 groundbreaking for the new senior citizen highrise apartments in East Brookline. Located at the corner of Breining Street and Brookline Boulevard, this was a large step forward in affordable senior housing in Brookline. It joined Mazza Pavilion, opened in 1982, as the first senior's-only apartments in the area. This building would replace the old East Brookline Shopping Center, home of Manco's Pharmacy, the Open Pantry and the Big Bundle Coin-Op Laundomat.

I believe the speaker here was our City Councilman at the time. The photo shows the Big Bundle Coin-Op Laundomat, which when it opened in the early 1950s was touted as the greatest thing in self-serve laundry since the drying machine, and this building included several of those. I do remember going in there after a long day in the snow or rain and drying my jacket for a quarter, and mom remembers using it quite often in the fifties before my grandmother spent the $50 necessary for a brand new Sear's Kenmore dryer. Well, by 1981 the Big Bundle building had seen better days. It had been closed for a couple years by now and a recent fire had drove in the final stake. Somehow, though, the site of the building and the path in the background that led down to the park brings back a flood of old memories.

In the photo above, Mayor Richard Caligiuri and other local dignitaries scoop up the first clumps of dirt that will eventually transform this area into a Senior Citizens Complex. In the photo below, Father McMahon of Resurrection Parish, Father Marpes of St. Pius X Parish, Pastor Ed Naumann of St. Mark Church and other local clergymen take their turn with the shovels. Mayor Caligiuri was instrumental in many Brookline projects in the late 70's and early 80's. He was an extraordinary man who left quite a legacy. There is a beautiful bronze statue of the late-Mayor at the entrance to the City-County Building on Grant Street downtown.