Looking Back at Medford History with Louis Spagnola

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Host Laura Duggan interviewed historian Lou Spagnola regarding the development of Revere Beach as the first public beach in America. The discussion covered its 19th-century origins, legendary amusements, and the impacts of urban renewal and environmental events.

0:27 Introduction and Guest Background — Host Laura Duggan introduced Lou Spagnola, a Medford Vocational High School teacher and Revere Beach historian.
1:05 Sarah Bradley Fulton Statue Dedication — Duggan announced the dedication of the Sarah Bradley Fulton statue at Medford City Hall on April 20th.
2:09 Origins of Historical Interest — Spagnola described how his research into digital newspaper archives in 2017 led to his expertise in Revere’s history.
5:02 Charles Elliott and the Public Beach Vision — The discussion detailed Charles Elliott’s 1890s vision to create an open public beach by clearing shoreline buildings through eminent domain.
9:10 Town Naming and Revolutionary War History — The participants reviewed the naming of the town after Paul Revere in 1871 and the significance of the Battle of Chelsea Creek.
11:01 Historic Preservation and Lost Landmarks — Spagnola and Duggan discussed the loss of historic houses to development and the successful preservation of the Chevalier Theatre.
13:49 Revere Beach Amusements and Roller Coasters — Spagnola recounted the history of famous attractions such as the Cyclone, the Lightning, and various beachfront fun houses.
18:24 Shoreline Railroad History — The guest explained the 1875 construction of the narrow-gauge railroad and its eventual relocation to accommodate the public beach sweep.
19:44 Archival Photo Presentation — Spagnola presented a series of historical images showing the Great Ocean Pier, the original bathhouses, and beachfront hotels.
34:27 Urban Renewal and the Blizzard of 1978 — The discussion addressed the decline of the amusement district following state land acquisitions and the impact of the 1978 blizzard.
43:14 Food Culture and Social Traditions — The guest highlighted iconic concessions like Kelly’s Roast Beef and the history of summer-long dance marathons.
47:36 Wonderland and Regional Tourism — Spagnola provided a timeline for Wonderland Amusement Park and discussed how commercial air travel impacted local beach tourism.
50:21 Teaching and Musical Career — Spagnola shared details about his teaching style at Medford Vocational and his side career as a professional bass player.

[Unidentified]: and through the wood to grandmother's house we go. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the wood, oh how the wind does blow. It stings the toes and bites the nose as over the ground

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Welcome to Looking Back at Medford History. I'm Laura Duggan, your hostess. Today's guest is Louis Spagnola, a historian of Revere Beach, who also has 30 years experience as a teacher at Medford Public Schools. Lou's currently a popular teacher of graphic design at Medford Vocational High School. I met him as two of his students, Veronica Hurst and Rebecca Olivier, are doing the layout and printing of the memorial booklet for the Sarah Bradley Fulton statue. I hope all of you know that the statue is being unveiled and dedicated on Patriots Day, April 20th, 1015 AM at Medford City Hall. And just in case you don't know, take in this poster.

When researching for this show, I found out that Lou is also a bass player who works with the bands of Fortune and Tangerine. Mr. Spagnola is apparently a man of many talents. For today's interview, we'll be focusing on Lou's revered beach history expertise. Lou, welcome to Looking Back at Metro History.

[Lou Spagnola]: Thank you, Laura. I do have to say, I haven't been teaching for 30 years. That would make me a lot older than I really am.

[Lou Spagnola]: That's OK. Listen, you know what? Maybe it seems like that. Well, you know, it's been a long 30 years, this school year, I'll tell you.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: My first question for you is, how did you become interested in the history of Revere Beach?

[Lou Spagnola]: Well, it's interesting. I was originally hired here as a substitute teacher in 2017, so I was actually sitting upstairs in one of the classes and I was on the computer and I have I have a subscription to newspapers.com, so I go down the rabbit hole all the time. And so I wanted to find, let me go and look up when Revere Beach was opened, because I know they always talk about this date of July 12th, 1896. So I went and looked up July 13th, and I didn't find anything.

[Lou Spagnola]: No, so I looked up July 14th, and I looked up that entire month and I couldn't find a thing. But what I did find was a lot of interesting things about the beach. And then that's what, you know how history is. All it takes is one little grain and next thing you know, you have a cake. So I was down that rabbit hole. Every night I was researching. I went to Boston Public Library. I went and looked on the microfilms and that was my, I just couldn't get enough. I became just encapsulated by this whole thing that I needed to find out about it and along the way I met some people to help me. I couldn't find an expert on Riviera Beach. So you had to become one. Well, I wouldn't call myself that. I think you are. I've been accused of a lot of things, but that isn't one of them.

I'm a historian, I'm an enthusiast, and I'm, you know, if you're an enthusiast of something and you're a historian, then, you know, you basically become psychotic with your research because And that's the other part of how I got into research. So my mother was a Revere historian.

[Lou Spagnola]: Did not know him. No, because she was young, too. I mean, I'm only 39, so therefore, you know. But all seriousness aside, she would have to go to Boston Public Library or, you know, somewhere in Chelmsford where they'd have to go down to the cellar and remove a boulder to get to the archives, you know, to come up with some kind of a dusty tablet that was engraved by a caveman, you know. So that's what ends up happening with history is that You know, now we have the internet, but even still, I would go to look up the Revere Journal, and that was where I found a lot of discrepancies in the historical information.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah. So the journal started in 1881. 1881, right. And so Revere Beach, what ended up happening, there was a man, Charles Elliott, who, he's responsible for Boston, all the parks, the Emerald Network, Emerald Necklace. And yeah, what happened was he wanted to preserve, it was called the Waverly Oaks in Belmont. He wanted to preserve it from being taken down. And his whole thing was open space, open parks for the public. And so that ended up, he ended up in Revere in 1892 and he said, this beach is a disgrace. Because he said, if you looked at it, he said there's a train that ran, you know what the blue line runs right now? Okay, so what happened originally was they built the train line in 1875. And it was on what is now Revere Beach Boulevard. And so what he said was, they built the train line just to get people to the beach so they would have customers. And basically that was his thing. And he said, and they use all of these buildings now. If you look now, there's this beautiful landscape. It's a wall that goes all the way from Winthrop to the Point of Pines. And you know, I should say Beachmont, but it goes all the way. It's a beautiful long sweep. And he said, you can't even see it. You can't even see the beach on the train because of all the buildings that they put up. And so what ultimately happened was Elliott led to getting the state to put up a million dollars to buy the beach. Oh, so they got rid of those houses? So they tore everything down. Some of them got moved. But ultimately, it was in 1896 that the state took ownership of Revere Beach.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah. And so they made a hardline date that it was going October 1st, 1896, the state took ownership from Beachmont all the way to the Point of Pines. And they own the street. So if you're standing on the sidewalk, As soon as you step on the street, that's state. And then they own the sidewalk on the other side, all the way to the water.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So one man sort of had a vision, is what you're saying?

[Lou Spagnola]: He's responsible for His vision of open space, the public deserves to have open space.

[Lou Spagnola]: But you know something, and you can appreciate this, because in the spirit of Sarah Bradley Fulton, the people who get left behind in history, there was a man called Sylvester Baxter. he worked with Charles Eliot. And he was a big part of it. Eliot ended up, tragically, he was 37, he died of spinal meningitis. And so his work and his vision was just coming to fruition in 1897 when he died. So Baxter saw to it that everything got done to the letter of what Eliot and their vision was.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Fortunately, he had this fellow on the side there, a partner, I guess, and he saw to the finish, right? But because he died young then there's probably not, that's probably why he's not better known now. If you live long enough maybe there's more paperwork on you or something or people write about you.

[Lou Spagnola]: There are a couple of, Blue Hills I believe has an Elliott monument. Do they? And if you go to Revere Beach, if you're coming down, so you take Medford the parkway, you go all the way down. You get right to the beginning of Revere Beach is a little rotary. It's called Elliot Circle.

[Lou Spagnola]: So that was, you know... They have a statue there? No. They should. I actually said that. But I did a piece that I had written a while back. I said it's fitting that Revere Beach should begin with a circle named for the man who started it in the first place. Yes.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: That's something. Maybe I'll have to talk to you about how you get a statue, right? The thing that I found interesting in researching is that I didn't realize I should have, being so interested in revolutionary history, that Revere and Revere Beach is named after Paul Revere. I don't know how that went like this. So they said it happened on March 24th, 1871, and that it was originally part of Chelsea. Is that correct?

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, we became North Chelsea. And that lasted until 1871, as you said. We became the town of Revere. And then it was the early, I forgot the date, but it was the early 1900s when we became incorporated as a city.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: as a city, so it changed over. So if you go to Revere, you should tip your hat in memory of Paul Revere, because it's actually named after him. And of course, he's going to be riding through Medford. And Medford was his first stop, which many people don't know, but it was.

[Lou Spagnola]: You know, the second battle of the Revolutionary War was at the corner of Broadway, Revere, and Chelsea at the City Line.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I was going to ask you about that because I came across that.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, that was the second battle and you know there's, it's kind of, tragic in a way. If you go to Marblehead, of course, Medford itself has some beautiful old historic buildings.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yeah. And then they restored, of course, the Brooks Estate. That's much later, but it's still, that was public, some citizens led that effort.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, well, Revere, it's like I say, we, you know, Marblehead puts up plaques, Salem puts up plaques, you know, with that nice date built in 1687. Revere, we put vinyl siding on them or we just tear them down. So, there was a building, there was a beautiful house called the Greenhouse. And I was trying to find the location of it and I found I found a photo of it, black and white, and I followed it, and I looked, and I said, that's the railroad bridge. Okay, so that was right about here. And so I'm on a map, and I'm looking, and I said, so I asked one of the historians from Revere, and he goes, yeah, he said, when they built 1A in 1935, they tore it down. I said, they couldn't have moved it. He goes, it was criminal. what they did to that house. They tore it down. And then there's another one, the Yeeman House, which was down the street, that actually, during the Battle of Chelsea Creek, cannonballs were fired, and this was across from the creek. There was cannonballs still in the yard, and there were- You're kidding. There were like, from gun butts, scuffs on the floor, when they tore the house down around 1902.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Well this is the thing, you've got to preserve this history. It takes a group of people maybe, or one person in particular, driving the force to preserve our history. Otherwise it doesn't happen. The Chevalier Theatre was going to be sold off or torn down. But citizens got banded together, and the friends of the Chevalier Theater. I know May Markoprek is a friend of mine who was one of the people involved with that, and John Costa, too, who used to have the electronic shop. You know, he's now down in North Carolina, I think. But it takes these kind of people to save our history.

[Lou Spagnola]: You gotta chain yourself to a tree. I mean, let's face it, you really, right? You have to just, eventually you do have to take rash matters and you have to say, okay, well, I'm gonna do that. Because I'll tell you, I now have more respect for that kind of a thing because, you know, you can't just always look at progress as we're just gonna go tear it down and build new. Or, you know, you look at something and say, well, why save it? You know, it's better off if we build something that's gonna be fresh. and better, and no, not always.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: But look at the Chevalier Theater, which they restored, they got the money. I know Representative Donato helped getting money in there. The air conditioning now, they have new seats, and that's driving the economic engine of Medford Square now. All those new restaurants, that didn't happen by accident. It's being driven a lot by the people coming to the Chevalier Theater, and we almost lost it. It's amazing, isn't it?

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, Revere Theater. And then somebody bought it and they tore it down so that they could have more parking for their Chinese restaurant.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Oh my God. Well, let's go back to the Revere Beach thing here. Can you tell me about some of the former attractions there that they had?

[Lou Spagnola]: A lot of roller coasters. That's what I was hearing. Everybody knows the Cyclone roller coaster.

[Lou Spagnola]: Cyclone was at one point the fastest in the world it was the most terrifying and it was a wooden roller coaster so I can only imagine you know, getting to 100 miles an hour, and it's wood, wood, and you know that you're gonna take a turn on a wooden coaster, and it's gonna be creaking, and it's gonna be, I, forget it, I'm scared of heights as it is. I would have been down, I would have been down, I would have been underneath going, make it stop.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I would have been there with you, Lou, because I don't like that.

[Lou Spagnola]: But there were a bunch, they actually had one, for instance, it was called the Thunderbolt, The Thunderbolt? That was near the Cyclone.

[Lou Spagnola]: It was near it. No, at one point... One wasn't enough? At one point, there were four roller coasters. Four? If you were down on Revere Beach in 1927, you had those two, and then there was another one called the Lightning, which was a steel coaster. And this was... Oh, steel, okay. It was the most ridiculous turns and loops that somebody died on the first day. really yeah and so but you know how it was back then it was kind of like are they okay oh how long until we can get this back running you know and that's that's what life was like in the 1920s just you know get get them okay can we turn this back on now yeah right but i think you know that there was a uh an actual joke that, you know how it was, people were more cynical back then. And it was like, there was actually a joke about like, you know, terminating pregnancies, take her on the lightning. Take her on the lightning. I mean, yeah, there was an ad for it in the newspaper. There was an ad? Yeah, they made jokes about things like that, because that's how dangerous it was. It was ridiculous. It was the worst, it only lasted, actually I shouldn't say it only. It was there until 1933. I think four total people died on it.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Whoa. Today, if that happened, they would shut it down for like, they would just shut it down.

[Lou Spagnola]: So that, but, and then there was another one, the Jack Rabbit. The Jack Rabbit? Yeah. There were four roller coasters at one time. And then later on, there was a few more. There was Hurley's Coaster. There was the, um, there was a double one, it was the derby coasters, two of them at the same time, would like kind of go at the same time, racing sort of derby racers.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So people wanted to really be scared, huh? Or distracted, maybe it's a distraction.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, a few fun houses too, and they had like live shooting ranges with real guns.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Oh, they did? Yeah. And I heard there was like movie theaters there?

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, there was the Crescent Gardens Theater, was there until it burned down in 1959.

[Lou Spagnola]: So Bluebeard's Palace was a funhouse. A funhouse? Yeah, the Nautical Gardens was, there were There were four different ones. There was one that was built at the turn of the century that burned down. They rebuilt it, burned down, rebuilt it, burned down. Yeah. So there was the one that there's some older photos that you could see and it had like a nice nautical lighthouse on top of it. And that blew down and they just left it. And then if you were there in the 70s at the bowling alley, the nautical bowling alley, that was kind of the remnants of what was left of the old nautical, but you could find photos of, it was an enormous Olympic-sized swimming pool. That's what the nautical was. It was a pool.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: And what was the pit? Do you know something about that?

[Lou Spagnola]: The pit was, I've seen some photos of it and I think it was one of those things where it would have the spinning wheel and you know, you'd try and walk across it and then you'd end up getting thrown about. You know, there was violence down there.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: There was a fun house, I'm from California, and there was a fun house in San Francisco, I remember when I was a little kid. It's like a big circular thing, you get in there and it would start turning around, and you have to get in the center and go like this so you wouldn't get, you know, thrown off it as it was going around.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So they probably, that's what they had, something like that.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Okay, so what can you tell us about the train? You mentioned the train that ran along the Revere Beach Boulevard. Do you know when did that go up?

[Lou Spagnola]: Was that before the various... So that went from 1875 to 1940, believe it or not. And that was the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn. And that went, originally that went from Lynn and it went right along against the sand all the way down right along the boulevard. And it's interesting because what Ocean Ave is now was actually, you might call that the beachfront because There was no beachfront with the train here and then there were, one of the images will show, has the buildings on both sides. Ocean was on the other side. But there wasn't, you know, just the way the train went, there wasn't any beachfront really in terms of that. Then they ended up moving it.

You know, it was 1897 when they moved the tracks, and then they stood... So they moved the tracks, okay. Yeah, when they took it by eminent domain, that was one of the things that said the tracks have to be moved.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So the train was there first, and then they decided they'd move it back and sort of develop it as a big amusement area, right? And they took it. Let's see some pictures. Speaking of pictures, let's see the first one. Okay, we're talking about trains.

[Lou Spagnola]: So that one right there is Railroad Ave. Now if you're standing right there, you're standing pretty much in front of the bandstand and the pavilions that are over by the corner. That's the corner of Shirley Ave and the boulevard right now. And the buildings on both sides, they pretty much I'd say some of the ones on the left came down, all of the ones on the right came down.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Also, that's when they took all the buildings down, so you could see the beach, right?

[Lou Spagnola]: That's a great picture. That is the 1920s, where you're looking south, and you're looking at Condit's Ballroom, that later became the Ocean View. In 1959, it burned down. It's the ocean views to the far left, and then that's the Revere Beach Parkway Hotel. And there's actually the, towards the top right, you can see a couple of spires. Those are actually there, that's right over where what used to be the Castlemar Hotel, which survived all the way up until about, 10 years ago.

[Lou Spagnola]: But you know, that's the that bathhouse is still there. Okay. And you can see a couple of little pavilions and the diagonal parking that used to be there. And it used to be two way travel both all the way from one end of the beach to the other used to be two way traffic.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I like looking at those old cars. Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it? Those are wonderful. They look a little, in some ways, more comfortable, sort of, to go touring with friends. I can't imagine hitting a bump with it, but... Oh, maybe so, but, okay. You get the perks, you get the pluses, the minuses.

[Lou Spagnola]: It looks better than it probably is, but then, you know, that's what we do with history. We romanticize.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: We do, indeed. Let's see the next picture. Oh, talking about roller coasters, huh?

[Lou Spagnola]: Wow. And that was located, if you're driving down Revere Beach, you'll see what was original MDC police station, which is now the state police. That police station was built in 1898. Wow. It's still there. It's one of the only things still left, other than the pavilions and the bandstand. But that cyclone, that was built in 1925.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Now, is this made out of wood or is it... Yes, that's the wood coaster. That's the wood one. And is that the one that went 100 miles per hour, you said?

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: You would never get me on something like that. I think my son would go on it, though. They would go, and my grandsons, they definitely would go on it. Let's see the next image. Oh yeah, tell us about this one, Lou.

[Lou Spagnola]: So now this one here is a What's kind of funny because the least interesting thing is in the middle of it, it's that house right there. Oh yeah. Because it's a panoramic shot so you can't see to the right, but to the right is actually you can see the Great Ocean Pier. Oh yes I can. Historically a lot of people will talk about the piers and they mix them up because The ballroom that everybody sees in a lot of piers, that was built in 1924. And that was a, excuse me, that was built in 1911. And what happened was a lot of photos were taken of it. The Great Ocean Pier, there were very few photos. That's the ballroom and the entrance to it. It was the longest pier in the world when it was built in 1881.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I must say you got your dates down really well on this one.

[Lou Spagnola]: I always say that's how they mixed up the birthplace of Revere Beach.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: That's a big issue you have. They keep getting that wrong, you said.

[Lou Spagnola]: Well, you know why it bothers me, not to get off track, but we talk about the preservation of history, and I think that you have to demand, you have to fight for it, because otherwise, anybody can say anything, and then people are going to believe it and say, oh, okay, so no, well, he said this, but this one said that, and it's like, No, no, no. I put years of research into this. I have mounds and mounds of dead trees that are now notebooks. You know what I mean? I have Coppelt-Tunnel syndrome from all the writing I did. So you know, that's basically it. So anybody would know it would be you. Well, I don't want to say that. But that's Revere before. That is 1888. It's a very old photo. And the Great Ocean Pier was only in existence from 1881 to 1893.

And then it was 1700 feet of pier that then they took down. And so I'm thinking to myself, I know that when the tide goes out, if you see the breakers that are there, there's rocks that go out, that's exactly where the pier was. And I think to myself, for them to be out there, in that muck taking that pear down. I can't even imagine what kind of work that was. That was a horrible job, but that's Revere Beach in 1881.

[Lou Spagnola]: I dug everywhere. Thankfully, the person who was most responsible since passed away. Peter McCauley was the guru of Revere Beach. He knew everything, he was an enthusiast, he was a historian, and he, along with my good friend Bob Upton, he's, Bob is the president of the Revere Historical Society. So Bob and I became friends, and Bob You know, he said to me, oh, geez, Peter would have loved you. He goes, because, you know, he was so into this, and you're so into this. And, you know.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: That's the whole point, somebody has to. You know, if you see something out there that's important historically, you may have to step forward to preserve it, right?

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yes, you're nothing, you're certainly not boring. Excuse me, I, okay.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Let's see the next image here. We've got, oh yeah, oh, here's some people.

[Lou Spagnola]: The reason I included this photo, though, is if you look to the right, these two pavilions, these were called the bathhouse pavilions.

[Lou Spagnola]: Because on the other side of the street was the bathhouse, and you could see there's an opening. So one of them went to, I believe it was the far one on the left, it went under the street, and took you right into the men's bathroom, bathhouse. And that one right there that we can see closest, that took you to the ladies.

[Lou Spagnola]: I believe the tunnels, all they did was cap them. I don't think they ever took the time to fill them in because, you know, it's probably like enormous pipes that they put under the street. But yeah, they capped them, I believe, when they The bathhouse was there until, I forget, I think 61. It started falling apart and instead of them fixing it, they tore it down.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: You know, gee, that would have been nice to still have.

[Lou Spagnola]: It was a beautiful building. You know, terracotta roof and it looked very much like the police station. When you look the two of them together, it was beautiful. Yeah, but you know.

[Lou Spagnola]: How big was it? 5,000? Yeah, wool bathing suits. Imagine getting a wool bathing suit. I don't want to think about that. Wearing it into salt water on a 95 degree day, coming out and baking in the sand. You want to talk about the most uncomfortable thing there probably ever was. Dried baking salt water all over your wool suit.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Oh, gee. Do you have another image? I don't know if we finished them. Let's see. Oh, okay. Tell me about this one.

[Lou Spagnola]: This right here was down the other end. This is the Pines Hotel or the Hotel Pines. It was also called the Point of Pines, but that was there until 1913. I think they tore it down in 14, but that was It's a beautiful, big, old hotel that, you know, when you think about, like, the Mount Washington, there was the Ocean House over in Swampskate, those big, beautiful, old, beautiful hotels.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: They used to have a lot of those old, old hotels, the big ones. There's one that we went to in, I think it was New Hampshire someplace.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, that really, that's what people used to do, though, right, to these big hotels.

[Lou Spagnola]: But they're so charming though. When you walk on a wooden floor and you hear it creaking, and it almost has like a certain smell of the past. Like I just love that, I really do. So I'll tell you a funny story. I have a friend, I get a Facebook message and she goes, let me ask you a question. She goes, when I was a kid, my father had two lines for me whenever I said I want a pool. He'd say, A, you got the world's biggest swimming pool 20 feet away, Riviera Beach. And second, we can't, because the hotel foundation's in the yard. And I said, oh my god, I said, I never thought of that. So first thing I did, I go right on to Google Maps. I go right, because I know where she lives. I look. I drag it into Photoshop. I take an old image, an old map of, you know, 1886. Put that over it. I'm lining them up. This is literally taking me a half an hour. I get it exact. I call her and I said, your father was not lying. I said, the foundation of the Hotel Pines went right through your backyard.

And then I said, your mother still has that house, right? And she goes, yeah. And I said, can I come there and dig? I go, I'd love to get like a brick or something, a piece of.

[Lou Spagnola]: She goes, my mother would kill you if you were up there with a shovel in the yard. But you know how I said, if you ever sell that house, I'm going to be there in the darkness of the night with black under my eyes and a. the sharpest spade I can get into the ground to be like digging in. I'll have like a hammer, a jackhammer, and I'll be like foundation of the hotel pines.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Foundation, and so if that happens, the guy out there, that'll be you, Lou, right?

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Okay, all right. Do we have another image? I'll make sure we don't miss any. Oh yeah, here.

[Lou Spagnola]: So that right there is, it's funny because the, there was the pavilion hotel that was right where, approximately where the bandstand now is. And it became a couple of other names and it finished, it was called the Strathmore. And so the Strathmore burned down by Asin. Some kid decided to see what would happen if he lit the building on fire. And so, you know. So they put up those bench seats right there that all the people are sitting on. That's actually on the sand. And if you follow along, you could see those other buildings that are on the sand. And so that was what Charles Elliott wanted to get rid of, which was basically, he wanted a long uninterrupted sweep of nothing but sand.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: real sand, not just cloud cluttered up with that kind of stuff.

[Lou Spagnola]: Because if you think about it, if you look at Lynn Beach, I mean nothing against Lynn Beach or Nahant. Nahant is smaller and Lynn is smaller and Lynn has Red Rock Park and it has a couple of other pieces. It's not a long continued sweep like Revere Beach is. And that's the beautiful part about it. And he saw that, and he said, we need to get rid of anything that's going to take away from the beauty of this long sweep of land. And so I'm glad he did.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: He was a visionary. He could look there and see the possibilities. If you get rid of all this, nothing, it would be, how beautiful that would be. And I think people like to see big open spaces. I think it's good for you, psychologically.

[Lou Spagnola]: A little chihuahua running after seagulls. You have a chihuahua? I do. Yeah, a little crazy dog.

[Lou Spagnola]: That's a closer up. This one's 1892. And you could see all of like that. That's literally standing. That isn't high tide exactly. And yet all those people that are standing on the sand and all those buildings that are right there. So The wall where it is today would be on the other side of those buildings. On the other side.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: But look at the people, they're all dressed up heavily.

[Lou Spagnola]: I actually made this statement the other day that in 1897 or 1891 or whatever, you wore the same thing to a funeral that you wore to a beach. And that was a top hat and a suit. And the woman wore long dresses. And now today that's still true. People show up at weddings, they wear jeans and they wear a polo.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Once in a while, not all the time. I know you guys don't like to dress up. My husband says, do I have to wear a tie or something? Yeah, those days are over. Okay, do we have another image? I don't know if we finished all of them.

[Lou Spagnola]: Oh, this little one, you can't really see, but what I did is I lined the whole landscape of the names of everything that was there. And actually, you can see right in the middle of the lightning roller coaster, and you can see Crescent Gardens, and you'll get a chance to see it afterwards. But that is the late 1920s, if I had a guess, probably say around 1930. Yeah, there was a lot happening on the beach at that point between hotels, amusements, restaurants, things like that. And ultimately what happened was the Revere Beach that I would say most people in your age group would remember was It just kind of went to crap. It became very honky-tonk.

[Lou Spagnola]: There is an image of one place that everybody will remember. I know it's going to come up and I'll talk about it. It's the one image I have from the 1960s. kind of what happened is it just fell into disrepair and then it became political, which is they did urban renewal, they took over a sanction and raised it completely, you know, cost the mayor his job, you know, that whole thing. And yeah, and that's where, you know, Revere Beach kind of, there is one thing that most people think that the blizzard of 78 took down Revere Beach, and that isn't what happened, actually. It's another, almost like an urban legend. You want to talk about coincidences. The state took ownership of between Shirley Ave and up to the police station, that piece of land between Ocean Ave and the boulevard. It's a big rectangular, obviously it's a multi-million dollar piece of land where it's beachfront,

[Lou Spagnola]: So the state took it by eminent domain. And what ultimately happened was That was February 3rd, 1978. And if you remember, three days later was the blizzard of 78. And it came in and it ruined a lot of things. But what people don't know is you can find articles in the newspaper where a lot of these people, they had one, they were planning to reopen their amusements. They wanted to put money into it. But then they were told, no, the land's not, the state took it, so you're out of business.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So the state sort of interfered with that renewal possible? Yeah.

[Lou Spagnola]: They just took it and that was the end. And now that land has sat dormant since 1978. It's still empty to this day.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah. Trees have popped up and they put like a little pavilion in one spot.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: But all the way, it's all... So it's owned by the state and they're just letting it sit there.

[Lou Spagnola]: This one right here is the late 1930s. It's a big building off to the back. It's the Ocean Pier bathhouse, very similar to the nautical. It had a big, enormous indoor swimming pool. Interestingly, I was down there recently and a friend of mine pointed it out and it was a great fact-finding thing. The right wall is still standing, and it separates the two houses that are now standing there.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah. My friend showed me, and I said, look at that. I said, that hole in the bottom of the wall. I said, and there's another one there. I said, that was where the water got out. I said, probably when they were cleaning it, the water would just drip out of there.

[Lou Spagnola]: So, you know, you find these things, and we historians, we get excited.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: It's very exciting when you find something like that. I always feel like when you're researching something as a historian, it's like you're on a treasure hunt. Doesn't it have that kind of feel?

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, like I said, I was going to dig up my friend's yard. I mean, this is what we do.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Absolutely. I know. When I discover something. OK, let's see the next picture.

[Lou Spagnola]: And that's the same different look. Those are the kids. Oh, is that the Perkins school kid? Yes. Yeah. It shows you kind of a better look that you can kind of see the bathhouse behind. Yes. And that tunnel, though, it is very interesting. I mean, to not have to cross the street is a great idea on somebody's part to be able for safety, you know?

[Lou Spagnola]: The police station to the right. But the those pavilions are still standing. Those are the That and the police station and the bandstand are pretty much all that's left from 1897.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So that would bring people in there, you know, it would be easy to get to.

[Lou Spagnola]: That was the train, so they had, they also had four ferries that would take you from Long Wharf to East Boston, and then East Boston would take you to Revere Beach.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Do you think these kind of places, local resort places, existed because it was harder for people to travel and easier to go to something local?

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, absolutely. That was the thing. Revere Beach, if you think about it, commercial flight being available to people. And by available, I mean they can afford it. Sure. You know, suddenly being able to fly to Disney World. That's why, if you remember, it was before my time, but Pleasure Island and Wakefield. And then you had Revere Beach, you had Salisbury Beach. All those places kind of started to take a nosedive because people could fly to warmer climates.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: They could go further, they wanted to go to something more exotic, thinking further away. So the local places kind of lost out.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, and I think that when you really think about it, especially with the weather around here, we get spring. Spring means like winter hanging on, spring is here but it's really not, fall, spring, maybe spring, hopefully spring, then holy crap, it's actually summer.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Well, maybe that's part, yeah, that's the other thing.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, the seasons are very short, so you can go down to Disney World anytime you want.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: True, that's true enough. Next picture. Oh, we're, oh yeah, that was it. Those are great. I thought I had one more, I guess I. Oh, he said, oh, so, now Lou, you must have a big collection of pictures too, I think you've fooled upon, you know?

[Lou Spagnola]: So what ended up happening from the passion of it is, Being a historian means you are now a researcher, and being a researcher means you now become psychotic about finding whatever you can. To the point where, I remember laying in bed, and I woke up one morning, and a thought occurred to me, how to search for something. and I went and did a search, and I came across something, and I found a photo that I had never seen before. And this is because I woke up at 5.30 in the morning, and instead of running to the bathroom, I ran to my computer. But that's what researchers do, and that's what we crazy kind of, when you're really into it, and you really, really, really wanna find something, you do. You can all, we put it out into the universe.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I know, and it's so much fun to discover new things about. I mean, my whole thing about the statue, you know, I've been on is that I was researching North Medford, because I live in the area, and there was a potential to do an exhibit or something. And I stumbled upon a lady named Sarah Bradley Fulton, who was called the mother of the Boston Tea Party. And I said, wait a minute. How did a Medford woman become the mother of the Boston Tea Party? And so from there, I had to go find an answer to that. And then I discovered more and more about her, and it became an obsession. You're right. Now we have a stature going up. So you're right.

[Lou Spagnola]: You see how that goes? Isn't that great, though, when you can see something come out of it? Yes. You know, my whole thing is, I don't necessarily need a light shined on me. I just want to know that if I'm going to put the work into something, I want to know that what I put the work into, people will look at the work. You know, just like for instance, they're going to see the statue, and it's great that you put your work into it and made it happen. It's going to be there long after we're gone. And she'll be remembered long after.

[Lou Spagnola]: And that's what preserving history is about. You know, setting a baseline so that it'll always be there, so that it won't be questioned anymore. And it's hard to do that because, you know, I think people just for sport, people like to disagree.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Oh for sure, they do, they do indeed. So going back to Revere Beach, what food concessions did they have in Revere Beach that were famous for?

[Lou Spagnola]: The best and the worst. The best and the worst? Well you know Kelly's, Kelly's roast beef is famous. I had that down, yes. You know, I mean Bianchi's pizza. but even like Rudolph's Pepper Steak, Danny's Long Dogs had not just the foot-long hot dogs.

[Lou Spagnola]: But they also had, you know, steak and cheese and, you know, things like that.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: How did that compare with the Philly steak and cheese?

[Lou Spagnola]: Well, I mean, you know, I'm from... Was it better? From around here, of course it was better.

[Lou Spagnola]: Well, it's like, you know, when I grew up and my friend was like, where are you from? Meffa.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, I know. I'm not from here, so I'm always being corrected.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Medford, okay. Thank you for that little lesson so I could do it properly.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I think so, and sort of similar attitude in a way. Do you know anything about the dance marathons I was reading that were held at Revere Beach?

[Lou Spagnola]: Oh yeah, the dance marathons, they'd be crazy. They'd go for like 28 days. I don't know how they... You know, I thought that a marathon was you danced until you fell over. Apparently, they danced until it was time to go home and then they picked it up the next time.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Because I know I was reading this in the 30s, it said couples would dance 45 minutes every hour from June to October. That would be 1,800 hours. I didn't know it went on that far.

[Lou Spagnola]: Who am I to argue it, you know, a hundred years ago? That was about the 1930s, I think. That was actually the other thing. Ravid Beach did have a bunch of dance halls.

[Lou Spagnola]: So Condit's at the beginning of the beach was a dance hall. There was the Casino Dance Hall, I think was the largest in the world at one time. And that was actually right where Bill Asher's Lounge is. And then There were a few others, but the Point of Pines had a dance hall. The actually Oak Island Grove now is just a neighborhood, but back then it was actually Picnic Grove where people took their horse and buggy and came to spend the week. So, you know.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Well, you know, there don't seem to be many places to go for dancing these days, which I find, I love, my husband and I love to dance. So it's like, wedding, maybe you go, you dance there. Or on some of these boat cruises you can do, you can dance there.

[Lou Spagnola]: But I mean, you see these kids dance nowadays, they jump straight up and down. I mean, it's like, how much worse can it get? It just is not even going to be, they have a prom. I actually asked my students, I said, do you even know what the word promenade means? I said, you guys just kind of walk in. You go, where's the food? You know, where's my friends? And then, you know, we all go to the middle of the dance floor, and the whole pack jumps up and down at the same time. That's what happens. Yeah, so I chaperone a few prompts here and there. I went out there, and I started jumping up and down. And I said, look at me. I'm dancing.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Well, we used to, when I was at school, we actually would dance, I would think.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, we could do something like that, too. But I guess some people are still interested in that, but I would like to see more places where you could actually dance. But mostly, my husband and I would like to be the first on the dance floor. Fortunately, he'll get up and dance, and somebody has to break the ice.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So, we're the icebreakers. I don't know if you knew that about my husband and I. Nice. We are definitely doing that.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: We'll be out. We'll be definitely out there. Now, Wonderland is known. How did that start out? I know it still has the dog track, right?

[Lou Spagnola]: No, no. That's gone? Dog track. It's kind of funny. There's a little symbiosis there. The dog track opened in 1935, closed in 2010 when the state banned dog racing. Oh, okay. Wonderland Amusement Park, on the same site, closed in 1910. It opened in 1906. I shouldn't say that, because it's been talked about that it closed in 1911, but there's no evidence it ever reopened. The last season was 1910. 1910 there's a guy I know Stephen Wilk wrote a fabulous book on Wonderland the amusement park. I mean he would He is the rabbit hole. I mean he came up with everything you could come up with You know, there's nothing I'm gonna say about just buy his book. That's all it's fabulous. It's got photos. It's got everything you want to know about

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Was the scene in Good Will Hunting, was that at Wonderland? No, where was that take? Because there's a scene where he takes, they go to dog races, remember that, in Good Will Hunting, Matt Day?

[Lou Spagnola]: No, was that, did they go to Wonderland? I didn't realize that, so they must have went to the dog track.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: I'm wondering if that was filmed at the Wonderland area.

[Lou Spagnola]: It must have been, because where else would it have been, I guess, unless they went out of state.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, and that would have been in the area, that would have made sense. I used to love going there.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Now, you had mentioned earlier about the Battle of Chelsea Creek, yeah, the first battle. My research said it was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. It was actually the second, okay.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, it says May 27, 1775. okay i'll have to check this out then um chelsea creek now separates revere and um chelsea right that's and that and colonel stark oh we love him you know he's he's he said he sent out to stop the brits from grabbing uh cattle hay and other supplies so he was out there he was also very very um important for the Battle of Bunker Hill, because when he came up, they had the defense there, but on the left side, it was like open, and the Brits, if they had flanked, they could have overtaken them much sooner. And he came in and he saw that, oh my God, he planted a whole bunch of his men there, and that's why they were more successful. Wow, good to know that. Yeah, he's quite an interesting man, Colonel Stark, as you read about him.

[Lou Spagnola]: You know something, when I was 21, I went to Northeast Vocational in Wakefield. My old shop teacher asked me if I wanted a substitute. And so I was like, yeah, okay. And so I did, I went there, I started summing here and there. And the department head, he said to me, you should think about doing this, you know. He goes, all you gotta do is, he says, you already have your five years, right? He goes, how old are you? I said, what did I say, 21? He goes, yeah, next year will be your fifth year. He says, all you need is five years in the trade, that's equal to a bachelor's degree, then all you have to do is go get your license. You just take a written test and a performance test, and then there's a few classes. I go, oh, it's that easy? So I sent in, I filled out the application, sent it in, and it came back, I did something wrong. So I filled it out again, and they sent it back to me, it was wrong. So I called up, I read it to her over the phone, and the woman goes, No, that's right. I said, well, why did they send it back to me? So I sent it back again and they sent it back to me and said it was wrong. And so I said, you know what? I give up.

And so then in 2009, I decided to start teaching again. So here I am. I was at Northeast Vogue and now I'm here teaching graphics. And so I love it. It's the best job I ever had.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: And you're wonderful, because I've come into the classroom to meet your students as we're working on the memorial booklet for the dedication of the statue.

[Lou Spagnola]: Wonderful's not an adjective I think most people would use with me, but OK. I take that.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Well, I'm a former teacher. Listen, I'm a former teacher. And I watched your rapport and how you dealt with the students.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: You know, first of all, you're very confident, you know, and you've been down the road a few times with students, and that shows, and so, you're confident, and you know how to handle students, and they have confidence in you, I mean, I can see it, and you're entertaining, you know? I do like to entertain, I mean... I think you should have an element of that, because, as a teacher, to hold the attention, but you seem, you've really developed a style that works for you and works for the students. I mean, it was very obvious to me it was all working.

[Lou Spagnola]: Thank you. Tell that to everybody. Tell that to the school department.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Okay. I hope they're watching this. Give this guy a raise. All right. Yeah. Anyway, so that's interesting. And then I did want to mention, too, that you have this other background where you... Oh, the other background.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Is that something you can share with us? Are you moonlighting somehow with bands? You're a rock star somewhere?

[Lou Spagnola]: No. You know something? I mean, there's... The biggest thing is there's reality and then there's, you know, what people think it means. I am a professional musician. I've played on people's albums. I've played big gigs. I've been on TV. I've done all that stuff. It doesn't mean anything. It means it made me happy. Maybe I made people happy, but I'm not any kind of a star whatsoever. I'm the most anonymous person you could be.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Everybody raise your hand if you think Lou is a star. If anybody notices me. My staff is all raising their hand.

[Lou Spagnola]: No, but here's the thing though. If anybody recognizes me, right? If anybody recognizes me, they probably think that I fixed their car. Or they probably say, they go, hey, I know you. Didn't you mow my lawn last week? So that, no, but the thing is, I'm just, you know, you're anonymous, kind of hardworking musician that I try to take whatever gigs come up, I do fill-in shows if people need me, I do a couple of... Studio things where someone wants to record and they need bass.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, I have a good ear I can hear I have really good relative pitch so I can learn songs fast Okay, doesn't mean I'm a good player. It just means I'm a fast learner.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: So therefore that's handy I think if you go into a gig quickly you get up to steam really fast and

[Lou Spagnola]: Yeah, you fake your way in and that really makes people think that you're better than you are. So I do my best with what I have and, you know, I kind of just, you know, shovel it all out there and it's great. And, you know, but I love doing it. I mean, I book the bands that I'm in and I work hard to get the best gigs I can get because I really want to play large rooms.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, sure, I'm sure, yes. Well now, for being on the show, do you know you'll get a gift?

[Lou Spagnola]: Wow, how about this, alright? I haven't been this excited since the Happy Meal came out. I may spontaneously combust with joy. Now we're talking. Here's looking at you, kid, when we look back on Medford. That's really nice of you. Thank you so much.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Well, to remember us and to thank you for coming on the show. It's been really interesting.

[Lou Spagnola]: So are we done? You're kicking me off now. Well, we got somebody else who's going to come in and really talk about some history. You're like, all right, get him out of there. He warmed up the seat enough.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: No, I think you really let a lot of people know the background about Revere Beach. I didn't know much about it at all until you started talking about what it was. I don't know how we got into the subject, but we did.

[Lou Spagnola]: The main thing about Revere Beach, though, is it's the first public beach in America bought for the public. Like people think, okay, first public beach in America. I think it's a misnomer that people think it was the first beach opened. People were swimming in Lynn, people were swimming in Nantasket. But the thing about some other beaches, for instance, anybody could have come in at any time and bought the land and put up a fence and said, all right, you gotta go. You know, like for instance, the Point of Pines was a private, it still is a private beach actually, because the state wasn't able to buy that. And so they pay taxes and that's their beach. But Revere Beach, all the way down, nobody can own that except the state and it's for public, it's in the deed and that's it.

[Lou Spagnola]: Yes, and that was the first time somebody did that with a body of water, namely the Atlantic Ocean. So we have Charles Elliott to thank for that.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Thank you, Charles Elliott, you know, for having the foresight to think about the needs of the public, you know, not just the upper echelon that has the money and all that stuff. And we're still fighting that battle, I think, in places to preserve public beaches, right?

[Lou Spagnola]: That's right, the regular slobs. We need to place those women, too. The regular slobs.

[SxgiOOMwDHY_SPEAKER_23]: Anyway, so now it's time to say goodbye. This is Laura Duggan, your hostess, hoping to see you again on Looking Back at Medford History.

[Unidentified]: Don't be quiet here. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the white and drifted snow. Over the river and through the wood, oh, how the wind does blow. It stings the toes and bites the nose and over the ground.