South Boston

The owner of a South Boston Chinese restaurant that has had issues with its legal closing time in the past told the Boston Licensing Board today he had no choice last fall but to stay open late into the night: He needed the extra money because his son was dying of cancer.

At a hearing today, Boston Licensing Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer said she was sorry for the situation Golden House owner Xian Wan found himself in. But, she continued, if he wants to keep his West Broadway restaurant open later than his current 2 a.m. closing time, he needs to formally request longer hours - a process that would include notifying nearby residents and meeting with a neighborhood association before the board would take action.

Starts at 2 p.m. opposite the Moakley Courthouse, where Swartz was scheduled to go on trial in a month for downloading documents from an online database.

There is a community meeting tonight regarding the proposed demolition and new construction of both the St. Augustine's Church and School in South Boston. Please attend the meeting to voice your opinion: 6:30 pm, Boys and Girls Club of South Boston, 230 W. 6th Street. Please see Caught in Southie for more information.

The Herald reports Yet Another Steakhouse is planned for the South Boston waterfront.

Nancy, who works there, writes that what the area really needs is a drugstore:

The closest one is Downtown Crossing. It's a PITA for people who work down there.

What could they have been throwin' into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Summer Street Bridge before speeding off into South Boston? Massport and Boston Police are investigatin.' No word if Bobbie Gentry has been questioned.

A man who started drinking at one Dorchester Avenue bar, continued across the street, then returned to the first wound up getting both hauled before the Boston Licensing Board today for serving an intoxicated patron.

The lawyer for one of the bars, the Aces, 551 Dorchester Ave., tried to sidestep the police citation by citing Andrew Square's problem with drug addicts and methadone clinics. He argued his client is operating under tremendous strains because of that - the druggies keep trying to get in - but acting board Chairman Milton Wright, a retired judge, cut him off as he was reading from a Herald article about the scourge of drugs in Andrew Square.

UPDATE: Victim identified as Jonathan Reyes, 18, of South Boston.

Boston Police report a man was shot repeatedly outside the the Trolley House building at 335 W. 2 St. around 2:50 a.m. He was taken to Tufts Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Apparently, some group in Chicago thinks the Irish parliament has nothing better to do than consider a petition to make it the Official Headquarters for St. Patrick's Day.

Compare this screen grab from WHDH's report on the annual L Street plunge with this photo of the same swimmer.

Alexis Laboy, 24, was arrested last night after police found a Calico M-100 "mini-rifle" with its shoulder stock removed on him - inside a bag that contained 48 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition - the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports, adding he didn't have a license for either.

South Boston District Court Judge Michael Bolden set bail today at $20,000.

According to the DA's office, somebody dropped a dime on Laboy around 8:20 p.m., telling police he was driving around Southie with another guy in a black Durango - after they'd gotten out of a Lexis. Police couldn't find the Durango, so they staked out the Lexis, parked at Father Songin Way and Kemp Street, the DA's office says:

Dead train at Broadway and those residual delays just killed the last part of the morning commute. Erika Gordon reports on how she and some fellow commuters put their left foot in, they put their left foot out, they put their left foot in and they shook it all about:

And now we're playing musical trains. "Everyone get off of the train, there's a problem." "Alright, everyone back on, we fixed it."

At Davis, Adam Schmucker tweets:

Announcement at Davis "delays due to disabled train at Broadway." Performer on platform is singing "On Broadway."

Scott Eisen watched the L Street Brownies' traditional New Year's run into the bay this morning. Some people got in and out as fast as possible, but this guy showed the whippersnappers how it's done.

The Dorchester Reporter has the cold hard facts on a charity plunge into the bay at Tenean Beach.

Photo copyright Scott Eisen.

The Globe reports on the commendation for Officer Edward T. Norton for his action in saving a woman who wound up in Fort Point Channel on Friday.

Brian D'Amico reports a woman fell into the water from the Summer Street Bridge around 12:45 p.m. A passing Boston police officer jumped in to help the screaming woman and managed to get her a raft - to which they clung until shortly after 1 p.m., when a State Police boat arrived and fished them out - for transport to the Tea Party Museum next to the Congress Street Bridge. Two Boston firefighters also jumped into the water to help.

Boston EMS reports both woman and police officer suffered only minor injuries and possible hypothermia. Police say they firefighters also suffered hypothermia.

The Boston City Archives posted this photo of 110-116 Dorchester Avenue, taken on Dec. 11, 1914. The area looks a bit different today.

Boston Police report Joe Fisher, 17, was one of the three teens who held up the D Street Deli at gunpoint Friday night, then plowed into an MBTA bus in Andrew Square, leaving him to be arrested while his accomplices jumped on the T for a ride to JFK/UMass.

Keryn Egan reports the T had to take a train out of service at Broadway around 5:30 p.m. when a pack of 12-year-olds kicked out a window. She adds one of the doltlings almost followed the window out of the train. All together now: Awww.

Jimmy Scornerston captured the scene at Executive Cleaners on L Street this morning. The Globe reports the driver was taken to the hospital.

Yesterday, David Parsons photographed the sailboat that's been sitting on Carson Beach since Sandy blew it there.

Earlier:
The sailboat during the storm.

Copyright David Parsons. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

The Boston Licensing Board yesterday approved requests from a high-end deli and an art studio to sell beer and wine.

American Provisions on East Broadway won the right to sell "artisan" wine and craft beers, although it could face further opposition fron a liquor store across the street, whose owner has hired a lawyer to fight the deli's alcohol bid.

Urban Art Bar on Old Colony Avenue won the right to serve beer, wine and cordials to people taking its evening art classes.

A new high-end deli and a longtime Broadway package store squared off today over the deli's request to offer specialty craft beers and artisan wines along with its fancy produce and meats, in a hearing that neatly wrapped up almost every oldtimer-vs.-newcomer fissure in South Boston, as well as highlighting a battle over the number of liquor licenses in the neighborhood.

Both American Provisions, 613 E. Broadway, and the Hub, across the street, came to the Boston Licensing Board hearing with lawyers and with petitions signed by hundreds of people for and against American Provision's request for a beer-and-wine license.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let Urban Art Bar, 163 Old Colony Ave., buy a Dorchester bar's liquor license so it can offer customers a glass of wine or a beer to sip as they work on canvases.

At a hearing today, Urban Art Bar attorney Andrew Upton painted a picture of art and alcohol mixing to enhance the social atmosphere" among patrons who find brushstrokes a good way to relax. Beer and wine would be available to people taking classes at a bar; the studio also wants to offer liqueurs for people who hire the facility for birthday and other parties.

Gary Murad of the St. Vincent Lower End Neighborhood Association noted that Newton already has a studio that offers these more potent potables. And if Newton can allow such an establishment, surely the city of Boston can as well, he said.

If approved, the studio would purchase the liquor license of the Avenue Grille on Dorchester Avenue.

City Councilor Bill Linehan says some of his constituents stood in line for three or even four hours on Election Day, and he's not having it.

On Wednesday, the council considers his request for a hearing to figure out how to prevent the long lines he said became common in his district. In his request, Linehan says five precincts have 4,000 voters each - double the citywide average and nine times the size of the city's smallest precinct.

Linehan says he heard from one voter who got in line to vote at 6 p.m. and didn't finally cast his ballot until 10 p.m.

Both are examples of sawtooth design, which, at least in the case of Millennium Place, allows for more profit-maximizing "corner" units. Utile explains.

Northern Avenue Bridge in 1930, from the BPL Leslie Jones collection.

The Globe reports on plans to outfit the hulky old bridge into something more aesthetically pleasing.

Photo posted under this Creative Commons license.