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Boston Hotel Buckminster, formerly Hotel Buckminster and briefly Hotel St. George, is a historic hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located on the triangular intersection of Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue in Kenmore Square. Along with the Hotel Commonwealth, it is one of two hotels located within one block of Fenway Park, the oldest baseball stadium in the nation and home to the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.
The hotel, built in 1897, was designed for Arnold A. Rand by Boston architects Winslow & Wetherell, [1] architects of many large hotels and office buildings. At the time of its construction, the Hotel Buckminster was one of the first hotels in Boston and the largest building in Kenmore Square. [2]
On September 19, 1919, on a day that the Chicago White Sox defeated the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park 3–2, bookmaker and gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan went to the Hotel Buckminster room of Arnold "Chick" Gandil, first baseman for the Chicago White Sox. There they conspired to fix the 1919 World Series, which was to take place thirteen days later, for personal gain. When the "Black Sox Scandal" was revealed it led to eight White Sox players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, being banned from Major League Baseball for life. Also banned was Joe Gedeon, a second baseman for the St. Louis Browns who had placed a bet on the game and later informed to White Sox owner Charles Comiskey in hopes of getting a reward. The 1988 movie Eight Men Out is based on this scandal. [2] [3] [4] [5]
In 1929, pioneer station WNAC Radio moved to new studios inside the Hotel Buckminster, with the entrance on the Brookline Avenue side (21 Brookline Avenue), which would become the station's home for the next four decades. WNAC made history in January 1923 by linking up with New York's WEAF for the first chain broadcast (it lasts for only five minutes), and later formed a new company known as the Yankee Network. A second station (WAAB) was added at the same location (eventually moving to Worcester as today's WVEI). A pioneer FM station was added in the late 1930s. Later, WNAC converted most of its studio space into one of Boston's first television studios and began broadcasting on Channel 7 in June, 1948. For the next twenty years, WNAC operated an AM, FM and television station in the hotel basement. During this time the station went through various facility upgrades and changes in ownership. One of its earliest and most successful radio announcers was Fred Lang (1910–1968), hired c. 1936, who read the news for Yankee network over WNAC through World War II: Lang also did Queen for a Day, the Tell-o-test Quiz Show, and a music show with a laid back flavor leading some to credit him with pioneering the "Easy Listening" style. However, with dwindling affiliates and an aging listening audience, the Yankee Network disbanded in 1967, with the flagship Boston station WNAC changing call letters to WRKO and becoming a Top 40 music station. The television station call letters WNAC-TV remained, and in 1968 the radio and TV operations moved to 7 Bulfinch Place, near Government Center . [2] [5]
A portion of the building was used in the 1940s by a detachment of military police for the purpose of holding Italian prisoners of war during World War II. [2] [5]
In 1950, Boston native George Wein moved his Storyville nightclub to the ground floor of the Hotel Buckminster. A number of notable performers, especially jazz musicians, were featured in this new venue, including Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Red Garland, Erroll Garner, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan. Many made radio broadcasts from this location, some recordings of which still survive. In later decades, this venue hosted performers such as the Del Fuegos and the Violent Femmes. The space that housed Storyville was later occupied by a Pizzeria Uno restaurant, but as of 2020 that had also closed. [2] [4] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
A change in ownership in the 1960s led to the hotel being briefly renamed the Hotel St. George. The building was sold to Grahm Junior College in 1968 and was renamed Leavitt Hall. WNAC by this time had moved to brand new studios in Government Center but the college never made use of the radio and television production studios left behind in the basement because of financial reasons. A few years later, the building was sold again. After restorations, the building was renamed "Boston Hotel Buckminster" and has operated as a hotel and apartment building ever since. [2] [5] The Hotel Buckminster has 132 guest rooms and suites. Much of its advertising is based on its relatively low price for a hotel in Boston in very close proximity to attractions including Boston University, Charles River Reservation, the Emerald Necklace (especially Commonwealth Avenue Mall and the Back Bay Fens), Fenway Park, the Freedom Trail, Hynes Convention Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Lansdowne Street (home to entertainment venues including House of Blues), Newbury Street and the Prudential Center.
Kenmore Station, a subway stop on the Green Line that also has an above-ground bus terminal, is located on an adjacent city block and is the hotel's closest MBTA station.
In March 2020, the hotel announced on its Facebook page that it was closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic with no plans of reopening under the current management. The hotel's website was taken offline in June 2021.
In November 2021, real-estate developer IQHQ announced its acquisition of the Buckminster, serving its ongoing development plan on the adjacent lands in Fenway. [12]
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the ballpark of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and, since 1953, its only Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantially rebuilt in 1934, and underwent major renovations and modifications in the 21st century. It is the oldest active ballpark in MLB. Because of its age and constrained location in Boston's dense Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood, the park has many quirky features, including "The Triangle", Pesky's Pole, and the Green Monster in left field. It is the fifth-smallest among MLB ballparks by seating capacity, second-smallest by total capacity, and one of eight that cannot accommodate at least 40,000 spectators.
Grahm Junior College was a non-profit junior college located in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1951 under the name Cambridge School, as part of a chain of schools that started in New York City and later included Chicago and Philadelphia branches. It was accredited in 1964 as a business school and later expanded to include radio and TV broadcasting. It was renamed Grahm Junior College in 1968. The college radio station and a closed-circuit television station were known as WCSB.
Fenway–Kenmore is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. While it is considered one neighborhood for administrative purposes, it is composed of numerous distinct sections that, in casual conversation, are almost always referred to as "Fenway", "the Fenway", "Kenmore Square", or "Kenmore". Furthermore, the Fenway neighborhood is divided into two sub-neighborhoods commonly referred to as East Fenway/Symphony and West Fenway.
Kenmore Square is a square in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is formed by the crossing of Beacon Street,Commonwealth Avenue, and Brookline Avenue. It is the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 20, the longest U.S. Highway. The Citgo sign is a prominent landmark in Kenmore Square, and Fenway Park is just to the south. Kenmore station is located under the square, with a surface bus terminal inside the square.
WBIX – branded Nossa Rádio USA – is a commercial Brazilian Portuguese radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston. Owned by the International Church of the Grace of God, the WBIX studios are located in the Boston suburb of Somerville, while the station transmitter resides in Quincy, on the southern banks of the Neponset River near the Southeast Expressway. Besides its main analog transmission, WBIX is available online.
WMEX is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Quincy, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston media market. It is owned by L&J Media, headed by Tony LaGreca and Larry Justice. WMEX broadcasts an oldies radio format of hits from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, as well as full service features including local DJs, news, traffic and weather. Late nights and weekends, it uses the MeTV FM syndicated music service. The radio studios and offices are on Enterprise Drive in Marshfield.
Fenway station is a light rail stop on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located under Park Drive near the Riverway in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It opened along with the rest of the D branch on July 4, 1959, when trolleys replaced Highland branch commuter rail service. The station is fully accessible from Park Drive via the Landmark Center parking lot, as well as from Miner Street. Named after the Fenway parkway rather than Fenway Park, it is further from the stadium than Kenmore, though still used during events.
The Yankee Network was an American radio network, based in Boston, Massachusetts, with affiliate radio stations throughout New England. At the height of its influence, the Yankee Network had as many as twenty-four affiliated radio stations. The network was co-founded by John Shepard III and his brother Robert, in 1929–1930. The beginnings of what became the Yankee Network occurred in the mid-1920s, when John Shepard's Boston station WNAC linked by telephone land lines with Robert Shepard's station in Providence, Rhode Island, WEAN, so that the two stations could share or exchange programming. Those two stations became the first two Yankee Network stations. In 1930, they were joined by the first affiliated radio stations, including WLBZ in Bangor, Maine; WORC in Worcester, Massachusetts; WNBH in New Bedford, Massachusetts; and WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the 1930s, the network became known for developing its own local and regional news bureau, the Yankee News Service. The Yankee Network and the Yankee News Service operated until February 1967.
WVEI is an AM sports station in Worcester, Massachusetts, operating with 5,000 watts. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. Most programming is provided by Boston sister station WEEI-FM.
James Joseph Britt was an American sportscaster who broadcast Major League Baseball games in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s and 1950s. On June 15, 1948, Britt was at the microphone on WBZ-TV for the first live telecast of a Major League game in New England, as the Boston Braves defeated the Chicago Cubs, 6–3, at Braves Field.
The 1948 Boston Red Sox season was the 48th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. After 154 regular-season games, the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians finished atop the American League with identical records of 96 wins and 58 losses. The teams then played a tie-breaker game, which was won by Cleveland, 8–3. Thus, the Red Sox finished their season with a record of 96 wins and 59 losses, one game behind Cleveland.
Lansdowne station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the Framingham/Worcester Line. Landsdowne is located next to the Massachusetts Turnpike in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood near Kenmore Square, below grade between Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue.
John Shepard III was an American radio executive and merchant. Among his many achievements, he was one of the original board members of the National Association of Broadcasters, having been elected the group's first Vice President in 1923. Shepard co-founded a New England radio network, known as the Yankee Network, along with his brother Robert, in 1929–1930. Shepard was also an early proponent of frequency modulation or FM broadcasting: he established the first FM network, when he linked his station in Massachusetts with one in New Hampshire in early 1941. He also was an early experimenter with home shopping, creating perhaps the first all-female radio station, WASN, in early 1927; the station broadcast some music, but mostly focused on shopping news and information about merchandise that listeners could purchase. Additionally, he created a local news network to serve New England, the Yankee News Service, and was instrumental in getting radio journalists the same credentials as print journalists.
Jersey Street is a street in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, part of a scheme of alphabetical street names in Back Bay. It lies parallel to Ipswich Street and Kilmarnock Street, and runs from Brookline Avenue to Park Drive. Named in the late 1850s, the street's name is a reference to the sixth Earl of Jersey, George Augustus Frederick Child Villiers.
Joseph J. "Sport" Sullivan was an American bookmaker and gambler from Boston, Massachusetts who helped to initiate the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
Thomas Goldsmith Hussey was a Major League Baseball announcer for the Boston Red Sox and Boston Braves.
Storyville was a Boston jazz nightclub organized by Boston-native, jazz promoter and producer George Wein during the 1940s.
WNAC-TV, channel 7, was a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station was owned by RKO General. Originally established in 1948, WNAC-TV signed off for the final time at 1:00 a.m. on May 22, 1982, due to improprieties by its parent company; it was replaced that morning with WNEV-TV, which operates on a separate license. The station was Boston's original CBS television affiliate; except for a period from 1961 to 1972 during which it was an ABC affiliate, WNAC-TV would remain with CBS until its replacement with WNEV-TV.
Samuel H. Kennedy is an American professional baseball executive who is the president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. Previously, Kennedy served as the Red Sox' executive vice president and chief operating officer and as president of Fenway Sports Management.
The Ipswich Street line was a streetcar line in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. The line ran on Boylston Street and Ipswich Street in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood, and on Brookline Avenue through what is now the Longwood Medical Area to Brookline Village.