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?