Hey Channel 4 - you are in ALLSTON not Brighton!

Watching the news on Channel 4 Saturday morning the weather person just mentioned in passing that it was snowing at their BRIGHTON studio.

News flash Channel 4....1170 Soldiers Field Road is in ALLSTON ( I think )

Boston neighborhoods have always been a little fuzzy on the borders. Take the example of Faulkner Hospital which depending on who you talk to could be in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale or West Roxbury. The hospital has chosen not to offend anyone and gives their address as Boston MA 02130 which the post office says is Jamaica Plain.

For decades I have had spirited debates with life long residents of Allston at where exactly the border with Brighton is and if you talk to 100 people you will get 100 different answers. Everybody agrees that Allston begins on Commonwealth Ave at the BU Bridge going west but then it gets murky. Harvard Avenue is Allston as is Union Square but as you head west on either Cambridge St or North Beacon it really gets fuzzy. Some think the border is Everett St which runs from North Beacon St to Soldiers Field Road


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Then others claim that along the river any part of Boston that is directly across from Cambridge is part of Allston. However the KMart on Western Avenue just west of Everett St is listed as Brighton.

Most agree that the post office and not the city made the boundary when years ago they set up mail zones numbered 34 and 35.

Getting back to what set me off on this is Channel 4 saying their Brighton studio. Channel 68 is right next door to them and they consider themselves Allston and the Harvard athletic complex is also considered Allston though if Harvard thought they could get away with it, they would move the river and make it all Cambridge.

Now it is also murky on the eastern end between Packard's Corner and the BU Bridge as those addresses along Commonwealth are in the zip code 02215 and they calls themselves Boston. However most historical accounts of Braves Field ( now Nickerson ) always referred to it as the ballpark located in Allston.

Then the most famous use of the 02134 zip code was the song happily sung for years on ZOOM but WGBH would never admit they were in Allston and it was always Boston 02134. ( and with their move to Brighton they have kept the 02134 mailing address even though they are now in 02135. )

The debate continues......