Allston-Brighton Neighborhood - Boston, Massachusetts - Historic Neighborhood Where Helen Keller Went to School

Allston is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located in the western part of the city. The area includes land covered by postcode 02134. For the most part, Boston is administered jointly with the adjacent neighborhood of Brighton. The two are often referred to together as "Allston-Brighton."

Housing stock varies but largely consists of brick apartment buildings, especially on the Avenue and out of the streets directly, while areas further down Brighton Avenue near Brighton, are largely studded wooden Deckers. Lower Allston, across the Massachusetts Turnpike from the rest of Allston, consists mainly of single family and multifamily 1890-1920 Victorian homes.

The neighborhood of Allston is almost completely isolated from the main body of the city of Boston in the town of Brookline. Allston is bordered by the Charles River, which separates it from the city of Cambridge to the north, and is bisected by the Massachusetts Turnpike. The area north of the turnpike near the river is often referred to as "Lower Allston" or "North Allston." The western edge of Allston is more or less defined, but is mostly east of the western edge of Cambridge.

The busiest section of the neighborhood lies immediately south of the toll road and focuses on the stretch of Harvard Avenue between Commonwealth Avenue and Cambridge Street, which houses many shops, bars and restaurants.

Recent business promotion initiatives have dubbed this area "Allston Village", although the prevalence of musicians and music venues, such as Harpers Ferry, has led to the popular nickname "Allston Rock City."

The center of the neighborhood is sometimes referred to as the "Allston Shuffle". Lower Allston has been given the nickname "LA"; Common Ground, a club / bar near Harvard Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, sells T-shirts and other items with the slogan "This is LA, not in Boston," a play on the title of an influential collection of hardcore punk, This is Boston, not LA published in 1982.

Allston lies near two major universities. A substantial part of the campus of Harvard University is in lower Allston, including Harvard Business School and Harvard Stadium. Harvard also owns large tracts of land in lower Allston other, much of which will develop as an academic campus, particularly at a site assistant at Harvard Medical School and health care related programs. Boston University is located along Commonwealth Avenue to the east. Berklee College of Music also has a practice test and the creation of near Commonwealth Avenue in Fordham Road, which lies between Commonwealth Avenue and Brighton Avenue.

Public schools in Allston, are part of District School of Boston Public Schools. Gardner Pilot Academy, (also called the Thomas Gardner School), located in Athol Street, serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. In April 2008, a science teacher at the Gardner Pilot Academy won the "Ultimate Science Classroom", a raffle prize furnished annually by the National Science Teachers Association. The school received approximately $40,000 in materials for science education and appliances.

Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, located in Armington Street, is the oldest public school for the deaf in the United States. The school was attended by Helen Keller.