This was a very common sight around the city with a fire alarm call box light fixture which denoted a neighborhood callbox location. These red-lens lights are still used by the city and quite a few like the one you see are still in service. Boston's fire alarm telegraph systems remains fully intact, like those in other major northeastern US cities including New York.

Above the call box fixture is an incandescent street light with a Westinghouse OV-18 "bathroom sink" style porcelain-enamel reflector. Boston's fire alarm crossarms almost exclusively were painted white.

Boston Edison's lines are on top. As you can see all of the insulators are glass. The company always used glass insulators for their openwire low-voltage distribution. All are of the double petticoat, deep groove design, notably CD 164, 165.1 and 167. Manufacturers mostly were Star, Brookfield, Hemingray, Whitall Tatum and Armstrong. There are many poles within the former Boston Edison system very similarly outfitted with such glass insulators. To this day they are typically transferred to new poles during changeovers.

A police telephone call box stancion with a heavy cast iron enclosure, also identified by a red light on it, stands to the right of the pole.