THE LITTLE LANES OF BOSTON

               © WalkBoston, Inc. 2004

Charming pedestrian passageways of old Boston are still very much in use as modern shortcuts.

Begin at Downtown Crossing (Washington at Winter Street)

Walk up Winter Street, turn L into Winter Place, the location of Locke-Ober’s Restaurant ¹ , which glows with dark wood and a notorious painting of a maiden with goblet over the bar. At the end of Winter Place is a narrow pedestrian passage under the Perkins House, residence of a noted 19^th c. financier and railroad builder. R on Temple Pl., R at Tremont, R on Bosworth. At Chapman Pl., notice the arch high above. Descend stairs, turn L on Province. City Hall Ave. is wide enough for two horses to pass with a little room to spare, and far too narrow for use by autos. The façade of Boston Public Library’s Kirstein branch at the corner of Pi Alley is a replica of the Bulfinch-designed first library. The central 1^st-floor window represents the arch that gave Arch Street its name. Pi Alley is named either for pies baked along its route or for loose printing type called “pi.” Turn R, cross Washington. The orange and green 1893 Winthrop Building  looms over Spring Lane, site of the Great Spring that induced Winthrop to settle here in 1630. At Devonshire turn L to Congress Sq., once called “Half-Square Court.” On State L on Merchant’s Row, R on Chatham Row, and L to the  narrow passages through Quincy Market. At Clinton, L to North, cross to Creek Lane in the Blackstone Block, a series of unchanged 17^th c. lanes including Salt Lane, Marsh Lane and Marshall St. End at MBTA Haymarket Orange/Green Line Station.

^{1 Locke-Ober’s Restaurant is replaced with Yvonne’s.}