People of Chelsea: Brian Downing, Aka Brian the Mechanic (My Last Interview Before the COVID Shutdown. 3/28/2020)

By Darlene DeVita

The following is one in a series of sneak peeks at the upcoming People of Chelsea additions by Chelsea Photographer Darlene DeVita. The new work will ultimately appear on the fence of the Chelsea Public Library (CPL) Spring of 2022 a collaboration between the People of Chelsea project and the CPL.  Made possible by the Chelsea Cultural Grant.

I met Brian fall of 2019. He was hanging-out on his motorcycle, I was walking my dog. We immediately became friends.

Brian now lives in the house he grew up in, is a mechanic and lover of motorcycles.

“My mother and father lived on the 2nd-second floor. I built the deck above the garage. They practically lived out there in the summertime.

My father rode motorcycles his whole life. When He died, I had a service for him at Smith’s Funeral Home. We had 25 bikes and hotrods. I rode his bike in the funeral procession.

My father worked at Forbes Lithograph. He had a tough life. When he was 9, his father drowned in the creek. His father used to jump in down by the tanks and swim across to East Boston every day. Something happened, and he drowned. My father had to quit school and go to work. He had a brother who thought he was a gangster, always in trouble. You ever hear of Johnny Cornflakes? He was a bum. But people are talking about him on FB like he’s a saint!! He was my uncle. When he wasn’t drinking, he was a nice guy. My father never got a good education, but he was so talented. He built the kitchen upstairs. Everything was plumb and square. Now a-days they just slop up Home Depot cabinets. But he could do plumbing, anything. He couldn’t read or write very well, but he was a good provider. Then he used to install flooring on Saturdays. It would seem like he would just get ahead, and one of us would get sick or needed shoes. Poor bastard.

When I went to 1st grade, my mother started working at Green Brothers Oil Co., where the methadone clinic is now. After school, I used to go to her and wash her boss’s cars for a couple bucks a car. And then, when I was in the 9th grade, we had a big run of snow, so I was out of school for about a week, and I worked on the oil truck pulling the hose up to the house. I made enough money that week to buy my first motorcycle. It was made by Sears. I bought it from my neighbor Frank DeSalvo up the street, the Boston Stranglers brother.

I’m a giver. I’d rather give than take. All the years I’ve been here, I’ve never been to court, never had a fight. I just give a good deal and do a good job.

I went to St. Rose, that’s why I’m so polite.

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