If I accidentally left my window open just half an inch over the weekend - I'd have to spend 10 minutes cleaning the dust and grime off my computer and desk.

If I remember correctly - these photos were taken between Congress and Broad Streets.





And now for something completely different...

These photos were taken within the last two years in approximately the same area.

Look...all the rats have been replaced with little humans.

The Greenway is starting to live up to it's name..

As every season passes, it gets harder and harder to remember how dark, dank and sketchy this giant swath of Boston actually was. Dirty Old Boston (to steal a term from a fellow blogger) was a very real reality. Walking under the "raised artery" late at night was a dangerous proposition - with rats the size of Zdeno Chara staring you down - looking for a fight.Before the actual digging that became the Big Dig began, those in the know knew that this little project was going to be a shit-show. Boston had a bit of a reputation for corruption - the year that ground was broken on the project was the same year Whitey Bulger went on the lam. The highway that sliced through our city like a rusty machete, from Boston Garden to Chinatown, had to be addressed...no matter how many palms needed to be greased.These pictures are dated December 2003 - but I can't be sure if that's the exact date of these photos...but I guess I did own a digital camera back then. Maybe someone more familiar with the Big Dig can comment and confirm the date.I started working on Kingston Street down by the Chinatown Gate around 1998. The ground shook and groaned on a daily basis as if Godzilla was searching for an exit from the underworld. What a friggin' mess it was downtown...It's been one hell of a renaissance for Boston, but not without it's problems and unfinished parcels. The Greenway is still a work in progress. Some of the original plans will never see the light of day, but maybe that's a good thing...hopefully it will grow organically and served the people of Boston for decades to come.