Forlorn Forties

I went for a quick walk in the Waltham section of Auburndale Park earlier this week. I was hoping to snap some pictures of a small, shuttered building that housed bathrooms and storage and perhaps more at some point. I planned to post them on my other blog, The Backside of America.

I hadn't been to this area in a while, and discovered that the building was gone.

I wandered around the park, along the Swamp Trail and the path out to what's called The Knob, a small raised area that overlooks an inlet of the Charles River.

As often happens on my hikes, I found something to take pictures of, something totally different than what I thought I was going to be doing.

I call them the Forlorn Forties:

Waltham Empire

I'm a big fan of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," which stars Steve Buscemi. I also liked him in HBO's "The Sopranos," and movies including "Ghost World," "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski."

So I was excited when on a recent drive through the neighboring town of Waltham I spied this:

In "Boardwalk Empire," Buscemi is the king of Atlantic City and its illegal casinos, speakeasies, theaters, cat houses and more. Here are a few shots of the empire that Waltham's S. Buscemi lords over....

(A Christian bookstore. "Jesus Mi Pastor" translates to "Jesus My Shepherd.")

(The French American Victory Club)

(Woolly Mammoth recording studio, located above a furniture restoration shop.)

(A bad TV hanging outside a book bindery.)