Washington Street

Ed Hatfield came upon this scene downtown.

Copyright Ed Hatfield. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Downtown Crossing store taped off. Photo by Kim Janey.

Large numbers of Boston cops , state troopers and Secret Service agents swarmed Time Products, 449 Washington St. this afternoon as they arrested the alleged mastermind of a ring dealing in stolen phones and fake cash, credit cards and identities.

The raid came after State Police arrested Shahab "David" Yousheei, 36, of Brighton, on the Common after he allegedly purchased counterfeit money from an undercover trooper, the state Attorney General's office reports:

The Boston Licensing Board today rejected a request from the owners of the troubled Felt nightclub to restore its liquor license so they can sell it to the proposed operator of a supper club in the Washington Street location.

The owners of Felt, closed for the past 18 months due to licensing, tax and business issues, today asked the Boston Licensing Board to reinstate its liquor license.

Attorney Mark Zuroff, who represents the last known group of owners, said the sole reason would be so that they could sell the license to a new operator who wants to convert the Washington Street space into a fancy supper club called the Adams House - an homage to a restaurant that once operated there. "None of the prior management or ownership will be involved," he pledged. "We're not trying to resurrect the current operation."

Residents, neighboring businesses, Suffolk University and Boston Police, however, were having none of it, saying the neighborhood is changing, that they have enjoyed 18 months of violence- and noise-free weekend nights, rather than being awakened at 2 a.m. by hundreds of people exiting the club and that they did not buy Zuroff's promises of a troublefree new restaurant.

Kelly reports from Downtown Crossing this morning:

Line of shrieking teens all down Washington St in DTX for So You Think You Can Dance auditions.

MBTA and Boston police are investigating whether a woman struck by some sort of pellet around 1:45 p.m. today on Washington Street near Arboretum Road was shot by the same people who shot at an inbound 35 bus in the same area last night.

MBTA Transit Police report the driver of the bus last night "observed two individuals standing in a driveway who appeared to be holding a firearm," as the bus passed Archdale Road on its way to Forest Hills.

Police say two of the buses windows were "intact but completely fractured" after apparently being shot at with "an air powered BB gun."

The BPL has put up a ton of Leslie Jones winter photos, including this one of the Jordan Marsh nativity scene in 1950. Also see the Christmas displays at other long gone downtown stores, including Gilchrist's, R.H. White, Houghton and Dutton and Jordan Marsh in 1957.

Photo posted under this Creative Commons license.

Boston Police reports the theft of 10 to 15 Christmas trees, stereo equipment and CDs from AJT Supplies, 4945 Washington St. in West Roxbury, sometime late Friday or early Saturday.

The landscaping trees sells Christmas trees to benefit Childrens' Hospital.

If you know anybody who suddenly came into possession of a dozen Christmas trees and CDs of Christmas music, let Cindy Lou Who E-5 detectives know at 617-343-4566 or contact the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

Why can't we have things like this now?

From a discussion of the Washington Street trolley and the car barns that sat where the Domino's by the parkway is now.

Updated 6:30 p.m. with additional info from Boston Police.

Stanley Staco reports somebody in a white Jaguar fired some rounds at another car outside 274 Tremont St. around 3 a.m. Around 4:30 a.m., somebody caught up with the car on Washington Street in Roxbury, right in front of the B-2 police station, and opened fire, hitting its three occupants.

Only since there aren't any overpasses there, the tractor-trailer took out a couple of telephone poles and wires near the Beethoven School around 2:15 p.m. Police blocked southbound traffic at West Boundary Road and northbound traffic at Grove Street until the situation could be cleared.

Earlier:
In Hyde Park, trucks get jammed between buildings, not under bridges.

The owners of a Washington Street building that has been home to a restaurant or nightclub for decades say they have at least five serious potential operators who want to replace Felt, shut by state authorities earlier this year when they discovered the people running the club were not the same people listed as its owners.

Can the City that Always Sleeps deal with burgers at 4 a.m.?

The owners of the Burger King at 4594 Washington St. in Roslindale go before the Boston Licensing Board next week with a request to stay open 24 hours a day.

The burger place is currently licensed for operation between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. It sits in the council district represented by Rob Consalvo, who has long resisted attempts to make his part of Boston less sleepy.

The licensing-board hearing begins at 10 a.m. in the board's eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.

NOTE: Wicked Local Roslindale reports an owner told resident he would not seek to open 24 hours a day based on their objections. It's possible he could show up next week and withdraw the request for 24-hour service.

Workers this morning were busy bluewashing over the old murals showing the fabled One Franklin project that was supposed to rise like a phoenix from the giant hole its developers dug where Filene's used to be.

Note the red-and-white placard above the painter. It's a warning to firefighters of possible dangers inside the building.

The people who built the Ritz down Washington Street recently signed a deal with the hole's main owner to try to actually build something there.

Dave Atkins was at the Burger King on Washington Street in Roslindale around 6:30 this evening when a car outside started burning. Firefighters arrived a couple of moments after he took this photo to extinguish the flames.

No, don't worry, the Casey Overpass still stands. Late yesterday, Christian Scott forwarded this report about the old Tollgate bridge:

In the early hours of this morning the MBTA or AMTRAK or somebody removed the pedestrian bridge you posted about last month. I saw it being craned onto a flatbed this morning inside the lumber yard.

Earlier:
The phantom Tollgate.

Ed Grzyb, who took this photo (along with this one showing skid marks). Channel 5 reports the collision may have started when a tire on the police cruiser blew out.

Take the 34 bus up Washington Street to Forest Hills and it always announces Tollgate Way. Nobody ever gets off there, though. Except maybe the ghosts.

Across the train tracks, on Hyde Park Avenue, a street sign also announces Tollgate Way:

But there's nothing there, except a small, dilapidated cemetery. Look up, across the cemetery, and you'll see an abandoned pedestrian bridge across the Amtrak and commuter-rail tracks: A bridge to nowhere - there are no longer any stairs leading up to the span.

The Globe reports Millennium Partners has struck a deal with the owner of the Hole to actually build a tower on the negative space on Washington Street.

Millennium Partners built the Ritz and is currently building a new residential tower on the other side of Washington Street. Vornado Realty Trust of New York tore down most of Filene's - it will remain a "passive" partner in the new project.

Details of the plan - such as the exact specs of the tower and whether the city sweetened the deal with promises of Liberty Mutual-style tax breaks - remain unknown. The Globe says Millennium Partners expects to file its proposal within two months.

Back in 1921, Leslie Jones captured the scene at Washington and Winter streets - before Easter, not Christmas. If you look at the larger version, you can see where E.B. Horn was and still is.

From the Boston Public Library's street views collection. Posted under this Creative Commons license.

An annoyed resident reports from Washington Street in Roslindale:

Bus driver of HS102 sleeping in idling bus in front of my house yet again. Stays for an hour. He is also very rude.

No indication if that's before or after his route, the operation of which has become a matter of some urgency for city officials of late.

Photographynatalia walked around Chinatown last night.

Copyright Photographynatalia. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Boston Police report arresting a Dedham man on charges he broken into a Roslindale jewelry store and tried to make off with its safe early Monday.

Police say officers on routine patrol on Washington Street around 2 a.m. spotted a safe sitting next to the trunk of James McCart's car outside CTC Elite Jewelry, 4429 Washington St. - less than a block away from Roslindale's little drug bazaar. As they turned their cruiser around to get a closer look, police say, McCart, 46, took off.

The officers were able to pull him over several blocks away, in front of 40 Hillock St., where they noticed blood smeared along the rear and side of the car - and on McCart's hands, police say. McCart denied the large gash on his leg came from smashing into the store, but instead from a work injury the day before. Officers expressed skepticism and arrested him on charges of breaking and entering in the nighttime and possession of burglarious tools.

Innocent, etc.

La Guira y Tambora, 4014 Washington St., goes before the Zoning Board of Appeals on May 24 for permission to add an extension in the rear that will let it expand from 49 to 93 seats. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the board's hearing room on the eighth floor of City Hall.

Two non-profit groups are the latest to take a whack at finding uses for the long dormant, increasingly decaying Roslindale Square substation, which lost its purpose decades ago when trolleys stopped running down Washington Street.