South Shore Plaza. Braintree, MA. 1961.
HI WAY
Gas station rest stops are islands of pure sterility in the dark pools of the interstate. The doppler zoom of sudden, unseen death just over the guard rail. I have my friend order me a small milkshake and a large fry from the McDonalds drive thru. The milkshake contains no milk so it’s a safe bet. He points to where an air pump used to be. Says it slowly but surely fell over after being hit repeatedly, accidentally.
Onto the speedway, the driver side window cracked. ”It’s so my window doesn’t fog up.” And to think, you used to have a BMW, the model just under the M5 to boot…
The hi rise commercial real estate of Office Park Drive rises up out of the darkness. Dabbed with familiar names like Oracle and Adobe. The for-looks-only ponds hiding behind the straight lined pines. To imagine if this violent lunge of travel wasn’t separating the CAD landscaping and geo-fluorescent build up. You could even skateboard.
Sometimes my town smells like toast.
Michael McKay “Outfield” bilboard, North Adams, MA. 2007.
Michael McKay, North Attleboro (Jolly Cholly). 2008.
Cook’s Canyon, Barre, MA c. 1924.
Dogtown, MA.
Dogtown is a ghost town on North Shore of Massachusetts, now technically part of Gloucester. It was once home to cast of characters which included a witch and mulatto drag king. Eventually the town fell into disrepair and only the poorest and craziest of citizens stayed. The last resident of Dogtown was a freed slave named Black Neil who lived in a cellar where he believed pirate gold was buried. When he died in 1830, Dogtown officially became a ghost town.
During the Depression, Roger Babson paid unemployed stonecutters to carve ‘inspirational’ sayings in the boulders there.
Nash Dino Land, South Hadley, MA.
Lee, MA.
Lee, MA.
