Since I moved on to Bay State Road last fall, Kenmore square has become a regular destination to satisfy most of my needs. There are numerous and varied restaurants, convenience stores, shops, and banks. Some are hidden in basements, while others have taken over parts of the sidewalk displaying their wares. Yet walking down Commonwealth Avenue, one would never expect this two block long stretch of life. The overpass on the eastern edge effectively separates the last few shops from the residential area just beyond, and Boston university on the western side eliminates any private businesses from popping up. One the southern border is the Massachusetts Turnpike, and to the north is the old Bay State Rd. community. How did Kenmore become such a strong and diverse commercial area sandwiched between a residential and a university district?

To investigate this, I studied recent satellite photographs of Boston courtesy of maps.google.com. Perhaps the first step in understanding a city is to look for its patterns and breaks. In his book, Close-Up: How to Read the American City (Chicago, 1980), Grady Clay attributes certain characteristics of city districts to breaks or anomalies from the surrounding street patterns. Breaks can either be neglected and lead to disregarded patches of land, or they can be monopolized and turned into bustling social and economic centers. (Clay, 50)

It's easy to see that Kenmore square is one of these social and economic oases centered around a break. To the north, Bay State Rd. parallels the river and the old brownstones are neatly organized along it. To the south the Mass Pike follows the longstanding train tracks, which also parallel the river. It is very common of early settlements to follow the river, as it maximizes waterfront space and accessibility. Historically, as cities began to grow and develop, larger grids were built in a north-south, east-west orientation around these smaller settlements, thus creating numerous breaks all along the river. It seems that Beacon Street is an example of this, where as the population grew, a new artery was necessary to give Back Bay residents a second route to the Fenway/Brookline area southwest of Kenmore. Fortunately or unfortunately, Beacon St. cuts through the older residential area to intersect Comm. Ave., but in the process it creates a few odd triangular shaped blocks as it traverses northeast to southwest across the existing north-south grid. The end result is a general loss of any distinct block pattern, but the streets funnel nearly everyone going in a general east-west direction through Kenmore square. Grady Clay calls this effect a venturi tube, named after the device that constricts the flow through a pipe at a given point. In this context, it describes the flow of people that is diverted or led to a specific place, be it a club, restaurant, or strip of sidewalk, resulting in a more vibrant social climate. (Clay, 53)

It will be interesting to see the history that created and shaped these few blocks into what they are today. Superficially we can see already that the proximity to the river has had an effect on the early development patterns, but the past can reveal a much more telling story.