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Leeds Empty Lot

Men playing Bocce amid houses with Stelco Mill 12-10 in the background.
An intimate shot of Brightsiders and their intense bocce play amid houses with Stelco Mill 12-10 in the background. (Courtesy of Joe Bartolacci and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook page).
A collage of Joe Bartolacci’s family photos created by Matt McInnes that reconstructs what the empty lot where Birmingham met Leeds might have looked like in the 1940s and 50s. (Courtesy of Joe Bartolacci and Drawings by and Courtesy of Matt McInnis, 2018)
Men playing Bocce amid houses with Stelco Mill 12-10 in the background.
An intimate shot of Brightsiders and their intense bocce play amid houses with Stelco Mill 12-10 in the background. (Courtesy of Joe Bartolacci and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook page).
Men playing Bocce amid houses with Rocco’s Garage in background.
A group of men study a configuration of bocce balls. Rocco’s Garage at 159 Birmingham Street is in the background, where cars got a superb wash. (Courtesy of Joe Bartolacci) For more on Rocco’s garage and Leeds empty lot, see Joe Bartolacci’s <em>Brightside Recollections</em>
Woman wearing a dress corner of Birmingham and Leeds Streets with Stelco’s new Mill 12-10 in the background.
Standing on the lawn at the corner of Birmingham and Leeds Streets with Stelco’s new Mill 12-10 (built in 1929) in the background, a young woman poses in a dress. (Courtesy of Tim Blackborow and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook Page)
Woman wearing pants corner of Birmingham and Leeds Streets with Stelco’s new Mill 12-10 in the background.
Standing on the lawn of a house at the corner of Birmingham and Leeds Streets with Stelco’s new 12-10 Mill (built in 1929) in the background, a young woman poses in pants. (Courtesy of Tim Blackborow and <em>Brightside Memories</em> FaceBook Page)

At the empty lot at Birmingham and Leeds Streets lay an open green space where men often played games of bocce (Italian lawn bowling).  Sometimes their bocce balls ended up on people’s front lawns while Stelco Mill 12-10 looms in the background.  

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