Browse Items (79 total)
Sort by:
Branden Ray Garcia
I love Chelsea very much, but I'm a realistic person. I will say I had a pretty bad experience growing up in Chelsea. I was a little darker than most kids here, especially when I was little. My mom's side is Afro-Puerto Rican. My dad's side is an…
Sonny Lepore, barber
I was born and raised in Chelsea and lived in the house I’m in now for 65 years, on Webster. My mother Louise was born here and was Sicilian. She lived on Winnisemmet St. My father Melinto lived in the back of the barbershop on Broadway. It's still…
Helen-Anne Keith, centenarian
I came to Chelsea after my husband died in 1994. I was 75. I took walks every day. I was feeling very down. My husband and I were very close. I said I have to get out of here, you have to pull yourself up. So I went down to the Senior Center.…
X Bonnie Woods, artist
I started using the "X" professionally in 1978 as an artist. At the time I was working on folded paper with ink. They were maps, treasure maps, realistic maps of specific places, certain cities. This was pre-Chelsea. For instance, if I was making a…
Ron Silverstein and Carl Iraola, owners Jack's Men's Shop
RON: I've been here for 35 years. It's a 100-year-old family business, not in Chelsea but as a family business in the Boston area. We started as a haberdashery, then to Army-Navy, to dress gear, dress shoes, dress suits, and then started my own store…
Olivia Anne Walsh, Attorney
I'm a Mattapan girl from Blue Hill Ave. I worked with the Soldiers Home for many years. Twenty-five years ago I thought it was time to come over here with Commandant Mike Resca whom I had known through being the Director of Veterans Services. Chelsea…
Richard Katz, owner Katz Bagel Bakery
My name is Richard Katz, k-a-t-z. We prefer to say Kates, rather than Katz. I was asked once when they were doing a Chronicle show here, do you mind me calling you Kates or Katz, and I said to them I really don't give a S@#$ what you call me as long…
Jose Becerra
Jose is mute. He is originally from Honduras, has been in Chelsea for 25 years, and has worked as a handyman. He rides his bike all over town. When we ran into him shortly after the photo shoot, we just put our hands on our hearts and nodded hello.…
Josh Resnek, journalist
I moved to Chelsea in 1977 as a reporter for the Chelsea Record, to the city where my great-grandfather came in 1885 from Russia. I have always enjoyed everything the city had to offer, from its poverty, its decadence and its quinessentially American…