The Other Red Line is literally the connecting point between Scollay
Square and the Combat Zone, the two preeminent adult entertainment
districts in Boston. With burlesque houses such as the Old Howard and
the Crawford House, movie palaces began to open, showing silent films
accompanied by a pianist, news reels and comedy acts. The New Palace
Theatre, the Star Theatre, the Theatre Comique and the Scollay Square
Olympia offered vaudeville as well as silent films, which were a novelty
at the time. With so many people seeking entertainment in Scollay
Square, restaurants, bars and sandwich shops offered an entertaining
evening out, and it became a destination.
Burlesque was King, and the anointed Queens of Burlesque danced at both
the Crawford House and the Old Howard, as well as smaller clubs, which
were renowned not just in Boston, but incredibly even around the world,
and had well-known performers who were beloved by their audience.
However, so too was the Combat Zone, a vibrant area that beckoned
Bostonians and service men for lurid entertainment. As Scollay Square's
allure waned in the late 1950s, that of the Combat Zone took on a new
shine in the 1960s, albeit a tawdry and garish shine that tried to
emulate the other, but quickly devolved into a seedy, gritty place that
offered vulgar and graphic entertainment. With bars, strip clubs and
theaters beginning to show adult X-rated movies, the area increasingly
became a place that one either went out of his way to avoid or found so
alluring that the inevitability of joining in the irreverent fun of it
quickly overcame one's reservations.
The Other Red Line is a fascinating glimpse into the adult
entertainment districts of twentieth-century Boston.
