A brief bio
After earning his Bachelor degree in History from the University of Maryland in 1978, David eschewed law school (his LSATs weren't that good, anyway) and found his dream job as a radio disc-jockey. In 1981, after travelling to towns "up and down the dial" he took a broadcast engineering job in Boston, falling in love with the city and his future wife, Mauzy, who was a jock on the FM side. While working full time he attended Boston University part-time, earning his Master’s Degree in Engineering in 1987. David was hired by a small high-tech startup, first as an engineer. Then, leveraging his technical background with his writing and speaking skills, the company moved him to a Product Marketing role. (That was it for engineering.) A few years later, he accepted an offer as project spokesperson for Boston's Big Dig highway project. (He still talks about meeting Ted Williams and Curt Gowdy in 1995, when the tunnel bearing Ted's name was opened.) In 1997 he moved back to the dreaded private sector as a Marketing Manager at Analog Devices.
In 1987, with grad school in the rearview, he began work on a long-held goal to write a book about Scollay Square, which was published in 1990 by Faber and Faber. Writing continued part-time until his "retirement" in 2020. David, now writing fulltime, is juggling two projects. One is a novel set in pre-war Detroit. The other is a real-life Boston mystery about a baby abandoned in Boston on VJ Day, and the decades-long search by his daughter (co-author Tina Drzal) for the mother. (Spoiler alert: we found her. We also found out abandoning her baby was not the most shocking thing about her life.)
David and Mauzy, (who retired from radio and now narrates audiobooks) have a daughter, Jennifer, who runs a video production company specializing in music videos.
Published and produced work (some with links to a website)
David is best-known for his two published books on Scollay Square, Boston's erstwhile entertainment district. He is often called on by media outlets to talk about the era of urban renewal and the loss of old Boston.
The companion Scollay Square website, is chock-filled with photos, movies, music, and other memorabilia.
Written with developer Yanni Tsipis, this book is a vivid document of the history of the road we love to hate. It includes many previously unpublished images from the Massachusetts Highway Department and over two dozen towns and cities through which the highway passes. Visit the Building Route 128 website for content not available before publication - including movies of opening day!
Something of a passion project, David wrote this book with his father Louis in 1992. They had taken many trips to historical sites on their native Long Island, their favorite being the Sagamore Hill home of Teddy Roosevelt on Long Island. The book was published by Hippocrene in 1992.
In 2001 the Lyric Stage of Boston presented this musical tribute to Red Sox fans (Book and Lyrics by David, music and lyrics by composer Steven Bergman.) It remains today one of this equity theater's biggest hits. Producers and fans are encouraged to visit the COTB website.
Based on the audacious 1962 escape by three inmates from Alcatraz, David's debut novel (website here) is an adventure about a thirteen year-old Sausalito boy who discovers two of the escapees. The adventure begins when he decides to help them to freedom. Available on Kindle or in paperback here.
Book a talk
Since 1985 David has been presenting slide shows (now in PowerPoint) to hundreds of historical societies, libraries, civic groups, and other organizations, including The Boston Athanaeum, Boston Public Library, Concord Historical Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Old South Meeting House in Boston, the Society of Colonial Wars in Boston.
SCOLLAY SQUARE
Based on David's two books on Scollay Square (Always Something Doing and Scollay Square) this rollicking slide show takes the audience to the part of Boston where everyone went - but few admitted it! From John Winthrop, (who settled here in 1630) to Sally Keith (who entertained here in the 1940s and 1950s) to Government Center today, this show will surprise you with tales of Revolutionary War heroism, scientific breakthroughs, and Civil War courage - all in the same place where a hot dog stand and a burlesque theater made truants of all New England.
LAW AND ORDER: BOSTON
In this slide show, David brings Law & Order to Boston by presenting three high-profile cases from three eras of the city's history: The Boston Massacre, The Parkman Murder, and the Boston Strangler. Together, we'll look at the crime (or crimes), follow the investigation, and finish in court, where we will argue the case and hear the verdict.
GREAT BOSTON FIRES
A look at the history of fires in Boston, from the many "great" fires in the city's early years to the truly Great Fire of 1872,, the Cocoanut Grove tragedy of 1942, and the Hotel Vendome fire of 1972 which resulted in the deaths of nine brave fire fighters. How did these fires happen? What was learned to try prevent similar catastrophes?
NO MORE CURSE!
Based on his research for his musical, David takes us to the roots of Boston baseball, when, just like today, the team captured the hearts of the people of Boston. We will look back at the real story behind Harry Frazee and his sale of slugger Babe Ruth. Relive the (sometimes frustrating) saga of the Boston Red Sox and their ultimately successful struggle for a World Series championship.
BUILDING ROUTE 128
It's the road we love to hate. This talk, based on David's 2003 book, Building Route 128 (co-written with Yanni Tsipis) tells how one man’s vision became the catalyst for the fantastic growth around the highway - which led, inexorably, to the hate we all have for the highway (but have no choice but to use.) Buckle up!
THE PONZI SCHEME
Long before Bernie Madoff a man named Charles Ponzi engineered the greatest pyramid scheme of them all, one so great that from his time forward it would bare his name. And he did it here in Boston, right under the noses of suspicious Yankees and normally inquisitive newspapermen. Relive the days of Boston's most outrageous rogue in this outrageous talk.
THE BIG DIG
David, a former Big Dig spokesperson, will tell the WHOLE story of of country's most expensive construction job. How Boston, straining for space to grow, cut down hills and filled in swamps and widened streets until the city was stalled in perpetual gridlock, Then we will journey deep inside the project's tunnels and soar high above the towers of Boston's stunning new bridge over the Charles River, and learn about the amazing technological advances used to build this monstrous project in a working city. And yes, and how the price climbed to a reported $22 billion. Whether you're interested in Boston history, a fan of technology, or just an angry taxpayer who wants to see the actual hole into which the government dumped your money, this is a must-see show.
WHO REALLY WROTE SHAKESPEARE?
The doubts have been around for over 300 years. How could William Shakespeare - a man who never sailed - have written with such accuracy about sailing in The Tempest? Or how - without studying law - could he have written with such insight about lawyers, courts and legal issues, in plays such as Henry IV? Or how - without ever serving in the military - written so splendidly of the rigors and technical aspects of war as he did in Hamlet? That he couldn't and didn't is a fascinating concept that has amused many, tantalized others, and consumed the lives of a few, including a Boston man who, in 1916, went to court to prove that someone other than Shakespeare wrote all those great works. Before you laugh… he won the case. Hear the story of one man's search for the "real" author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare and how - in a stunning piece of historical irony - that search played a role in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor!