At the Stoneybrook Neighborhood Association meeting in December, I met someone who used to live in the building next door to me and through our conversation discovered a bit more about the history of both buildings. Fifteen years ago when he bought the place, it had reputation as a drug house and had been condemned by the city. Just as Frank began to rehab it, a local film-maker asked if he could use it to shoot a scene film he was making. Frank had already begin cleaning up the place when they asked if they could add some the graffiti to portray the blight of the main character’s neighborhood of Dorchester.

In 1997, the file Squeeze came out and in one of the first scenes, the three friends walk past my place and onto the porch of the building next door, where they stand talking with my porch in the background. The porch was remodeled recently, so looks a bit different, but the tan shingles are very recognizable.

For a low-budget film, it’s quite well done, though difficult to watch with it’s gritty portrayal of gang violence and urban social decay. Finding out how my place became the backdrop to the film also helps me appreciate how much work my neighbors put into the street before I arrived.

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The other day this sign appeared just a few houses down the street in response to the cars that regularly barrel down Rossmore as they cut through to Washington. This has been a source of concern and complaint for several neighbors, and someone apparently was driven to take matters into his or her own hands. It’s not uncommon to see the “Slow Down Boston” signs provided by the city in yards, but I like the defiance and righteous indignation in this hand-made sign. Hard to say if it wil have any effect, but I’d like to think that it will cause a few drivers to pause a least a few moments before hitting the accelerator.

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