Explore the real-world places that appear in A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include The Roxbury Neighborhood, Dorchester Avenue, Boston Harbor, The Irish Pubs of South Boston, The Flats and 9 more.
Malcolm X Boulevard & Blue Hill Avenue — Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro's turf
Roxbury is the working-class Boston neighborhood where private investigators Patrick 'Paddy' Kenzie and Angela 'Angie' Gennaro grew up together and now operate their detective agency. The neighborhood is their home base, where they navigate the complex racial and class tensions of Boston in the early 1990s. Kenzie reflects on how the neighborhood has changed, wrestling with gentrification and his own complicated relationship to his roots. This is where they first take the case involving Jenna Angeline, a young Black girl from a crack-addicted mother.
Roxbury became a predominantly African American neighborhood in the mid-20th century, though it was previously an Irish enclave where Kenzie and Gennaro grew up. By the 1990s, it faced significant urban decay, poverty, and gang violence, making it one of Boston's most dangerous areas.
Roxbury remains a predominantly Black neighborhood in Boston, though significant gentrification has occurred since the 1990s. It has become a cultural center with historic sites, community organizations, and ongoing revitalization efforts.
Visit: Roxbury Heritage State Park (historic site)
Dorchester — Kenzie and Gennaro's detective office location
Kenzie and Gennaro's small detective office is located on Dorchester Avenue in their old neighborhood. This modest office is where they receive clients, stake out cases, and plan their investigations. The office represents their commitment to serving their community despite the dangers and moral ambiguities they encounter. It's from here they take on the case that will pull them into the violent criminal underworld of Boston.
Dorchester Avenue has been a major thoroughfare in Boston since the colonial era, serving as a primary route through the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods. It became a commercial and residential spine for working-class Irish and later Black communities.
Dorchester Avenue remains a busy commercial street with shops, restaurants, and services. Many of the original buildings still stand, though the neighborhood continues to evolve with ongoing urban development.
Harbor waterfront — Sites of violence and the novel's climactic scenes
Boston Harbor and its waterfront are central to the novel's most violent and consequential moments. Kenzie and Gennaro find themselves pursued through the industrial harbor areas as criminals and corrupt power brokers close in on them. The harbor represents the city's underbelly and the noir landscape where morality becomes murky. Several key confrontations and revelations occur along the water, including encounters with the Farrelly Coldheart gang and moments where Kenzie's past catches up with him.
Boston Harbor was crucial to colonial America's history and the American Revolution. By the 1990s, it had become heavily industrialized with shipping, warehousing, and some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods surrounding it.
Boston Harbor has undergone significant revitalization as a waterfront destination with parks, restaurants, and public access. The Harbor Walk provides scenic access to much of the waterfront, though industrial areas remain.
Visit: Boston Harbor Walk (park)
Southie — The Irish enclave where Kenzie's family history runs deep
South Boston's Irish pubs serve as gathering places where Kenzie encounters old friends, enemies, and the shadow of his murdered friend Jimmy Coyle. The bars represent the insular Irish community, its codes of loyalty and vengeance, and the weight of Kenzie's past. Conversations in these establishments reveal crucial information about the case and the interconnected web of crime, corruption, and family ties that bind Boston's underworld.
South Boston became Boston's primary Irish immigrant neighborhood in the late 19th century, developing a distinct culture of tight-knit communities and strong Catholic traditions. By the 1990s, it was known for its insular Irish culture and complex relationship with crime and law enforcement.
South Boston remains a predominantly Irish American neighborhood, though gentrification and demographic changes have transformed it significantly since the 1990s. Many historic Irish pubs and restaurants remain as cultural anchors.
Visit: Various bars and restaurants in South Boston (restaurant)
Lower Roxbury — The neighborhood's most dangerous projects
The Flats represent the worst of Boston's public housing crisis and urban poverty. This is where Jenna Angeline's mother Cherise lives in a crack house, struggling with addiction. Kenzie and Gennaro venture into the Flats multiple times, navigating gang territories, violence, and desperation. The Flats embody the human cost of the crack epidemic and the systemic abandonment of Boston's poorest communities.
Boston's public housing projects, including those in lower Roxbury, were built mid-20th century as solutions to housing shortages but became concentrations of poverty, crime, and social dysfunction by the 1980s-90s.
Many of Boston's most notorious projects have been demolished or radically redeveloped. Housing policy in Boston continues to grapple with affordable housing and community stability.
Cambridge side — A boundary between worlds
The Charles River serves as a literal and metaphorical boundary in the novel, separating different neighborhoods and social worlds. Characters cross the river pursuing leads and fleeing danger. The river represents the geographical and social divisions within Boston that the novel explores. Several chase scenes and investigations take Kenzie and Gennaro across bridges and along the river.
The Charles River has been central to Boston's geography since colonial times, serving as a natural barrier and transportation route. By the 1990s, it had become increasingly polluted but was undergoing environmental restoration efforts.
The Charles River is now largely clean and accessible through the Charles River Esplanade, a major recreational area with parks, paths, and public access points throughout Boston and Cambridge.
Visit: Charles River Esplanade (park)
Government Center & Downtown Crossing — Sites of surveillance and pursuit
Downtown Boston is where Kenzie and Gennaro navigate the formal institutions of power—police precincts, government offices, and corrupt politicians' domains. They are pursued through downtown streets and must confront the reality that the law itself is compromised. The downtown area represents the official face of Boston that masks the corruption and violence underneath. Key meetings occur in downtown locations as the detectives try to understand the scope of the conspiracy they've uncovered.
Boston's downtown has been the commercial and governmental heart of the city since colonial times. By the 1990s, it had undergone significant redevelopment with modern office buildings and the Big Dig highway project beginning.
Downtown Boston remains the financial and governmental center of the city, with modern office buildings, shopping areas like Downtown Crossing, and Government Center serving as major hubs.
Visit: Government Center (landmark)
Boston Harbor Islands — Isolated locations for dangerous meetings
The isolated harbor islands serve as locations for clandestine meetings and violence. Kenzie and Gennaro are drawn to the islands as various parties use them to conduct business away from witnesses and law enforcement. These locations represent the ultimate isolation and vulnerability, where trust becomes meaningless and violence is always a possibility. Critical confrontations occur on the islands as the case's true nature is revealed.
The Boston Harbor Islands have a long history as quarantine stations, prisons, forts, and refuges. By the 1990s, some were public parks while others remained largely inaccessible to the general public.
The Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area now provides public access to much of the islands for recreation and historical tourism. Several islands have museums and historic structures.
Visit: Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area (historic site)
Police headquarters — Corrupt authority and institutional betrayal
Boston Police Department serves as both potential ally and enemy. Kenzie has history with cops—some he trusts, others he knows are corrupt. The police institution appears compromised by the very criminals Kenzie is trying to expose. Visits to the police station reveal the moral ambiguity of law enforcement and the reality that institutional power cannot be relied upon. Detective Poole represents the honest cop caught in a corrupt system.
The Boston Police Department was established in 1846 and became one of America's first full-time professional police forces. By the 1990s, it had faced multiple corruption scandals and was undergoing reform.
Boston Police Department headquarters remains at One Schroeder Plaza in Boston. The department continues to serve the city and has undergone various reform initiatives.
Beacon Hill — The wealthy enclave hiding power and corruption
Beacon Hill represents the old money and political power that controls Boston from behind the scenes. This is where the politicians, judges, and wealthy criminals live, maintaining their respectability while orchestrating violence and corruption in neighborhoods like Roxbury. Kenzie and Gennaro eventually find connections linking the crime they're investigating to this bastion of privilege and power. The contrast between Beacon Hill and Roxbury drives much of the novel's examination of class and inequality.
Beacon Hill has been Boston's most prestigious and expensive neighborhood since the 18th century, home to merchants, politicians, and the city's intellectual elite. Its narrow streets and Federal architecture have been meticulously preserved.
Beacon Hill remains one of Boston's most desirable and expensive neighborhoods, famous for its brick townhouses, gas lights, and tree-lined streets. It's a major tourist destination and home to wealthy Bostonians.
Visit: Beacon Hill neighborhood (historic site)
Industrial Boston — Sites of confrontation and betrayal
Abandoned warehouses throughout industrial Boston serve as locations for violent confrontations, black market dealings, and the final revelations of the novel. These desolate industrial spaces represent the forgotten infrastructure of the city where organized crime operates outside the sight of polite society. Multiple critical scenes occur in or near these warehouses as the case spirals into violence. The warehouses symbolize the decay of Boston's industrial past.
Boston's industrial areas, particularly along the waterfront and in neighborhoods like South Boston and Dorchester, were central to the city's economy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. By the 1990s, many warehouses stood abandoned as manufacturing declined.
Many of Boston's historic warehouses have been converted to lofts, offices, and restaurants as part of urban renewal. Some industrial areas remain, particularly in the Seaport District which is undergoing massive redevelopment.
Somerville — A working-class dive where information flows
The Blue Moon serves as a working-class bar where Kenzie and Gennaro gather information, encounter witnesses, and navigate the criminal underworld's social networks. This is the type of establishment where street-level criminals, addicts, and hustlers congregate, making it both a source of intelligence and a dangerous place. Conversations in the bar reveal crucial details about the disappearance of Jenna Angeline and the broader criminal conspiracy.
Somerville and its numerous bars have long been part of Boston's working-class culture, serving as gathering places for blue-collar workers and neighborhood residents throughout the 20th century.
Somerville has undergone significant gentrification and is now home to many restaurants, bars, and young professionals. Many historic neighborhood bars remain, though the character of the area has changed.
Visit: Various bars in Somerville (restaurant)
MBTA Subway system — Urban arteries of pursuit and escape
The MBTA subway system, particularly the Red Line, provides the urban circulatory system through which characters move across Boston. Kenzie and Gennaro navigate the T to pursue leads, conduct surveillance, and evade those chasing them. The subway represents the connections between neighborhoods and the ways that working-class Bostonians move through their city. Several tense moments occur on subway cars and platforms as the investigation intensifies.
The MBTA Red Line opened in 1912 as the Elevated Railway and was reconstructed underground in sections by the 1990s. It remains Boston's primary transit spine connecting north and south.
The MBTA Red Line continues to serve as Boston's major north-south transit corridor, though the system has faced ongoing funding and maintenance challenges. It remains essential to Boston's public transportation.
Visit: MBTA Red Line (landmark)
South Boston — Personal refuge and sanctuary
Angie Gennaro's apartment serves as a refuge where she and Kenzie plan their moves and attempt to process the moral weight of their investigation. The apartment is a private space within their neighborhood, representing their roots and the personal stakes they have in their community. Angie's past and her relationship with Kenzie are explored within these intimate domestic spaces. The apartment becomes less safe as the investigation progresses.
South Boston apartments and residential spaces have housed Irish American families for generations, serving as anchors to community and family identity.
South Boston continues to have residential apartment buildings, though rising costs have changed the demographics significantly. Many original buildings from the 1980s-90s remain.
More by Dennis Lehane: Mystic River locations map · All Dennis Lehane books
More novels set in Boston: Browse all Boston books on Map A Story
Other nearby maps: Happy Place by Emily Henry locations map · How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell locations map · Finders Keepers by Stephen King locations map · The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson locations map