David Kruh is a former New Yorker who was born just a few years before Scollay Square was torn down in the early 1960s. He become interested in the Square in 1981 after hearing a story from his uncle, a former sailor and doctor who served during World War II, and who had found himself with "liberty time" in Boston and subsequently sampled the wares in the Square. Research and writing on the book began in the 1980s (while completing his Masters degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University) and then took off after his graduation in 1987.
His latest work is titled INSEPARABLE, a novel based on the 1962 escape of three men from Alcatraz in a homemade raft. It is being published by DX Varos in June, 2022, the sixtieth anniversary of the escape.
Always Something Doing was published by Faber and Faber in 1990 and within a month sold out its first printing. In 1999, with stock on the third and final printing running out, Northeastern University Press picked up ASD and reprinted a second edition, which featured a new chapter on the efforts to redevelop City Hall Plaza. In 2004 Arcadia Publishing released Scollay Square, a book filled with 180 images - many never before published views in the Old Howard, Casino, and other places in the Square. Both are out of print, but plenty are available used from Amazon, eBay, and other sources.
Media Appearances
Even before the publication of ASD in 1990 (see pictures of the radio tour here) David, as the resident expert on Scollay Square, was called on by media outlets to provide commentary on the Square and its personalities. TV interviews include Matt Lauer on Channel 7, several appearances on Channel 5's Chronicle, and on New England Cable News. His radio appearances include "The Jerry Williams Show" on WRKO, "The David Brudnoy Show" on WBZ, and "Here and Now" on WBUR (the complete 1999 interview can he heard HERE.) A number of documentary film makers have called upon David to be a "talking head" and he has also been heard on, of all things, a cell phone tour of Boston.
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David being interviewed by Ted Reinstein for the Channel 5 program Good Day in 1990.Having fallen in love with Boston, it was inevitable that David fall in love with a Bostonian. His wife Mauzy grew up in Dorchester, and her father and mother come from Charlestown and the West End, respectively. David and Mauzy have a daughter named Jennifer.