Macaroni & more…

A Portland Macaroni factory, 1924

Combing through old tax photographs of Portland?s Old Port from 1924, I happened upon this gem, which emphasizes Portland?s strong tradition of Italian-American food, one of my top recommendations, depending upon where visitors are from. Check out the kid smiling at the bottom too, he?d be 107 or so today.

The location is the corner of Fore and Hampshire streets, which was nearby the Italian-American ethnic enclave on India Street, centered around St. Peter?s Church on Federal Street. Though Portland still has many historic buildings, a lot of them have been lost, including this one. Portland used to be a lot denser, there were very few parking lots in the 1920s. Pretty much every surface parking lot in town was formerly the site of multiple buildings businesses and family homes.