Mama Mia! Is that a Delivery Truck Stuck in that Alley?

It is no wonder I love shooting in the North End of Boston so much; shop windows filled with Sopressata, Cacciatore, and Salame; ricotta cheese stuffed cannolis at Mike’s Pastry; waiters named Vinny and Manny setting tables for the Saturday night dinner crowd, and Boston cops hanging out on street corners. These are all sights I’ve come to appreciate and, in some ways, even expect when I visit the North End.

Sometimes, however, the best moments in life come when the unexpected happens. They are like scenes out of a Spielberg movie, ones that only an experienced movie director could re-create. What I couldn’t anticipate while strolling along Hanover Street that lazy summer afternoon was catching a glimpse of a delivery truck stuck in an alleyway out the corner of my eye. The drivers clearly thought they could continue through the narrow space, but a lamp post and a street that looked about 10 times too small for the large white box truck were obstacles that proved too big for even the most experienced truck driver.

If the delivery truck stuck in alley photo opp weren’t enough, an elderly Italian woman hunched over her cane approached the scene just as I did. With determined curiosity, she shuffled down the street in her house slippers and poked her head around the corner. When she saw the truck, her eyes widened. Mama Mia! Mama Mia!, she repeated. She gestured to me for some confirmation. I raised my hands in disbelief and repeated back to her wide-eyed, Mama Mia!

Along with my quintessential nonna italiana, a couple of true blue Boston Cops showed up to assess the situation. Behind the scenes, a sullen truck driver sat on the curb awaiting the verdict. (He told me later he was worried he was going to get fired when he got back to dispatch).

The entire scene was Boston at its finest. One tough Italian grandmother, a few tough Boston cops, and two not-so-tough delivery truck drivers.

I went to the North End expecting one thing and left with something quite different; something quite wonderfully different.