VFW Parkway

McDonald's fire. Photo by BFD.

Firefighters are on the southbound side of the VFW Parkway, near the Dedham line, where a long closed McDonald's is on fire (it's across from the still open McDonald's). Around 11:30, firefighters were ordered out of the building.

No doubt the driver of this $40,000 Lexus, spotted on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury the other day, had some old shmatte on.

Meira Levinson of the Arborway explains the ice problem she and other parkway residents have.

MBTA officials told a City Council committee today they will commit resources this winter to shovel out bus stops in Boston - and the connections to the sidewalks behind them.

At a hearing called by City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain), a T official said the authority will have at least 72 people dedicated to keeping bus stops clear during and after storms - with some additional help from more than 200 subway-station workers. The T is not technically responsible for bus-stop clearing, but pitched in this past winter as storm after storm left stops inaccessible to riders.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation says it is considering snowplows that push to the left instead of the right for the populated parkways that pass through Boston, such as the Arborway, the Jamaicaway and the VFW Parkway.

State Police are investigating a collision that killed a 17-year-old West Roxbury resident as he crossed the VFW Parkway with five friends last night, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Francis McInerney was hit around 10 p.m. near Gardner Street by a black Acura. He was transported to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 1 a.m., the DA's office says, adding the driver stopped immediately and cooperated with troopers:

The preliminary investigation does not suggest that the driver was impaired or negligent in his operation of the vehicle. A determination of the vehicle's speed will be made by crash reconstruction experts. The driver has not been charged.

West Roxbury Patch reports on a one-alarm fire early this morning at the Dunkin' Donuts at 1630 VFW Parkway (the one near where Savers used to be, not the one by Spring Street).

Boston Police tweet the roof gave way at the Bubbles laundry, 1230 VFW Parkway, before 9 a.m. today and that one person was injured.

The coin-operated facility is attached to an old Stop & Shop being renovated into a Savers used-stuff store.

Boston Police report arresting a West Roxbury teen on charges he tried to hold up the McDonald's behind his house at gunpoint Saturday morning. Police say they were aided in their search by footprints in fresh snow leading from the restaurant to his house.

In 2008, the state erected a sign on Centre St. just before the VFW Parkway that sure seemed to indicate Rte. 1 was just around the bend. Now a brand-new "Rte. 1 Jct" sign has gone up on Washington Street southbound in Dedham, just by the mall and just before the rotary with what was once Rte. 1, before the state decided it was very important that Rte. 1 smush with Rte. 128 instead of ambling along the Riverway, Jamaicaway and VFW Parkway.

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The long derelict 5C's liquor store on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury (next to Al Wadi) is finally being replaced. Any bets on when something will go in on the even more derelict old IHOP parking lot next door?

Thanks to Brendan for the tip.

The Boston Licensing Board yesterday voted to grant a beer-and-wine license to Wee Angel, a Scottish bistro proposed for the site of the old Zon's in Hyde Square. The pub is also seeking a license from a separate city board for acoustic music. More on Wee Angel.

Also yesterday, the board granted a beer and wine license to 660 Al-Wadi, a Lebanese restaurant under construction at the site of the old Spring Blossom on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury. The board set a closing time of midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Owner Ghassan Samaha originally proposed a 2 a.m. closing time on weekends, but the three residents who live right next to the location objected at a hearing on Wednesday.

Boston Police tweet the Shell station at 510 VFW Parkway was stuck up tonight.

The 5C's on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury (next to the equally derelict Spring Blossom Chinese restaurant) remains shut despite a new owner because liquor distributors won't send their trucks there due to the $100,000+ in bills the previous owner ran up, the West Roxbury Bulletin explains.

The Bulletin reports the owner of a VFW Parkway building that houses an Albanian social club is evicting the club, partly because their effort to obtain a permanent liquor license doesn't sit at all well with parents of kids at a daycare center in the same building. Also, club members had earlier promised not to serve booze.

ParkwayBoston reports two drag racers crashed into a snowbank around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, forcing authorities to close the parkway near Vincent Road while EMTs hauled away people and tow trucks hauled away what was left of their cars.

Wicked Local Roslindale reports six teens were taken away with minor injuries.

ParkwayBoston reports on a two-vehicle smashup that left one car on its back and the southbound side of the parkway shut between the skating rink and Spring Street during this morning's rush hour.

Spring Blossom never really seemed to recover from the loss of business during the extended VFW Parkway sewer project. And now it's gone, forcing Westie types to drive into Dedham or South Brookline if they want more than just takeout.

Scott Wachtler interviews the neon-sign collector who bought the sign and who now mostly keeps it in a Lynn warehouse as he tries to find a place to put it. Last Halloween, he trucked it down to Government Center and cranked it up.

... "There's something pretty cool about a nine-foot-tall neon chicken wearing an apron waving to people to come on in and eat chicken," Waller said explaining the sign's lasting allure. ...

The chicken in its heyday:

Last week was not a good one for the US Petroleum station at 1465 VFW Parkway. First, the place was held up by a nervous blond woman with a gun who'd failed to hold up two other local businesses. Then, the very next night, the station was held up again, this time by a less nervous blond man with a gun, "a lazy right eye" and a limp, Wicked Local Roslindale reports.

Wicked Local West Roxbury reports the BRA has approved a developer's plan to turn the old Stop & Shop on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury into an LA/Fitness Club. Good news for spin-cycle fans: The laundromat next door will not only stay, but will get a new facade.

Trees cut down, bench sawed in half at Hynes Field playground.

For the past several weeks, there's been this amazing brain-like fungus growing on the side of a tree on the VFW Parkway southbound, just past LaGrange. Every time I drove past, I thought it would make a great photo and vowed to stop next time. This morning, around 9:30, I saw the brain and vowed to stop on my way back (from Millennium Park). Around 10:30, I did - only to discover that in the interim, a vegetarian zombie (what else could it be?) had ripped the brain to shreds:

That'll teach me to put things off, right?

The Transcript reports on a spat at the Burger King on VFW Parkway in West Roxbury: A patron told police that when he asked employees to put on clean gloves, the manager came around the counter:

[T]hrew the victim's money back at him, grabbed a soda cup from his hand and grabbed his wrist.

The manager told police he refunded the man's money and asked him to leave but never laid a hand on him.

Toddler found wandering on VFW Parkway. 2 years old, this morning, hopefully in the median strip or on a sidewalk here.

The Transcript reports that state Sen. Marian Walsh managed to deep-six a measure by state Rep. Mike Rush to spend $1.5 million to do something with Havey Beach, that inviting looking area off the VFW Parkway that hasn't actually been useful to anybody except kids having drunken campfires for the past 50 years or so. Walsh claims it's a great idea, but says there needs to be more public input before anything's done.

Every time there's a heavy rain, this woman, who lives on the southbound side of the VFW Parkway, just past the West Roxbury Parkway, dons her boots and raincoat and goes out with a rake to try to keep the storm drain and "dry" catchbasin outside her house clear, to minimize the damage from flooding. She's been doing that a lot lately.