Allston, Brighton, or Allston-Brighton?
I have lived in Brighton for the last 10 years, and I still don’t know where I am. Is it Allston? Is it Brighton? Or is it Allston-Brighton?
I went to the City of Boston neighborhoods page in hopes of finally settling the matter. First, I noticed that the city does distinctly separate the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods. Allston was described as a “radiant” neighborhood best known for its student population. (I already knew that.) The nexus of Allston was described as Harvard Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue and Brighton Avenue — otherwise known as Allston Village. I kinda knew that already, too. So that basically makes Allston east Brighton. Then I checked out what the City of Boston had to say about Brighton. They described it as a place of “multi-family homes and condominiums.” They mentioned Washington Street, Brighton Center and Oak Square as the center of what you would call “Brighton.” So that basically makes Brighton the western half of Allston.
I would like to posit, however, that the difference between Allston and Brighton may not consist so much of physical boundaries as simply a state of mind. If you’re tossing beer cans into the bushes on Saturday night, you live in Allston. If you’re sweeping up the beer cans the next day, you live in Brighton.
Other interesting facts about Allston, according to epodunk.com:
Over the years, Allston has been known as Brighton, Cambridge and Little Cambridge.
Allston was actually part of Cambridge until the 19th century. Then Cambridge decided it didn’t want it anymore. 
Prior to the American Revolution, Little Cambridge was a small agricultural community of only about 300 people.
At the beginning of the 19th century Cambridge wasn’t much into providing infrastructure for Little Cambridge’s booming cattle business. (That’s where the Stockyard restaurant got its name from, by the way). So Allston and Brighton seceded from Cambridge and became the town of Brighton.
In 1874, Brighton was annexed by Boston.
Today, 47 percent of Brighton residents drive alone to work and 36 percent use mass transit, compared with 71 percent and 15 percent respectively for the U.S. as a whole. (Hey, Allston-Brighton is a progressive place!)
If you live in Allston-Brighton, you may still not know exactly where you live (there are a lot of fuzzy boundaries) but at least you’ve learned a little history.
Here are three places on the market that are DEFINITELY in Allston:
54 Gordon Street, $670K
10 Parkvale Ave, No.4, $349,700
