69 Boston is an architectural photography and history book that documents 69 addresses throughout the greater Boston area. There is a front and back half, with each page spread in the front half having a mundane yet sincere photograph and a blurb that zooms in on the specific history of each of the addresses. The back half has matching page spreads per address with visual citations, links, and newspaper clippings. We all learn about Paul Revere and the Tea Party in school, but through learning about the hyper-specific history of each of these addresses you tangentially learn about the overall history of Boston.
The original idea for 69 Boston was a gallery show and may still be. I was fixated with those walls of books we all know, at the airport bookstore, or the department store, the shelves at the library that we walk by without a passing thought. For each of those titles there was a person that poured their effort and care into it.
I wondered how I could showcase this process, the chachkaization of someone's long and hard work.
Maybe I could make a book, go through the efforts of publishing, and get it onto those walls of books we walk by. Then I could create a physical display showing a timeline, all the paperwork, and a whole book to exhibit.
In 2020, I was living in Boston and put into motion a simple idea for a photography book. 69 addresses, addressed 69. It could have been that simple, but as I went around the city collecting the photos of each address, neighborhood by neighborhood, I found that almost every address had a story. I found myself beginning to care about the book beyond my original mission statement, fulfilling what the project sought out to study in the first place. And here we are, a pictorial documentary capturing a mundane, yet sincere, snapshot of homes and businesses throughout the Greater Boston area.
Looking forward, I do hope to hold an exposition of this process. And I hope to make 69's of other cities around the world.
In conclusion, I would suggest thou follow through on your ideas, and when ye find yourself in doubt, just remember that even Leonardo da Vinci took more than 10 years to paint the Mona Lisa.
There will always be time, but it only flows one way.
You can work on more than one goal at a time. In fact, multitasking may be one of the most essential skills to sharpen.
It is good and fine to think about the impression you will leave on this earth. There's nothing wrong with caring.
It is important to think about the impression you leave on people. Let's give them something to talk about.
Take 10 minutes to take action now. Today is your day, and you can do 10 minutes of anything once a day for the rest of your life. That would be an impressive accumulation, even if you're already old.
John Gervasi is a lover and a dreamer, a maker and a shaker. Born in Albany, New York, in 1992, he moved to Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1998. His father taught him math and how to hunt. His mother taught him business and how to sew.
At 18-years-old, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, to attend Pratt Institute, graduating in 2014 with an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design.
At the beginning of 2017, he met and fell in love with his wife in Santa Monica, California. They moved to Boston, Massachusetts, at the end of 2018, and then to Atlanta, Georgia, in 2021, where they live at the time of this publishing.
In the Summer of 2024, his partnership turned into a family, with the birth of his first son.
He hopes to lead a good life and die happy.