Washington Street

Holey moley: Developer that actually builds things downtown to take lead on Filene's project

adamg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:37:10 +0000

The lights were on but nobody was home the other night, CKP reports.

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.

Downtown Crossing probably won't be this busy today

adamg — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:45:22 +0000

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.

Citizen complaint of the day: The sleeping driver on the idling school bus

adamg — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:04:49 +0000

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.

Rainy night in Chinatown

adamg — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:26:58 +0000

Photographynatalia walked around Chinatown last night.

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

The safe sitting on the sidewalk at 2 a.m. attracted officers' attention

adamg — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:17:19 +0000

9/19/11 - 2:00 am

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.

Dominican restaurant in Roslindale seeks to expand

adamg — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:54:03 +0000

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-profits take crack at reusing Roslindale Square's decaying brick behemoth

lex.galloway — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:13:47 +0000

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.

City shuts Forest Hills auto wholesaler for environmental violation

adamg — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:50:07 +0000

Acting on complaints from neighboring residents about unregistered cars on their streets, city inspectors and Boston Police last week swarmed Boston Best Auto, 3575 Washington St., Capt. John Greland at District E-13 reports.

Greland said that when inspectors arrived last Wednesday, they found numerous unregistered cars being advertised for sale to the public. And one, he wrote, was leaking oil into a catch basin:

A test conducted by the Boston Fire Department’s Hazmat Team showed oil in the catch basin. As a result, the business was ordered closed until the damage could be addressed and remedied.

The Inspectional Services Department will set up a hearing for the owner of the business where violations found on the property will be further discussed and addressed.

Is state getting ready to put Rte. 1 back where it used to be?

adamg — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:21:43 +0000

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.

Shooting in Egleston Square sends man to hospital

adamg — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:08:33 +0000

1/29/11 - 9:30 pm

Boston Police report finding a 20-year-old with a gunshot wound at 3106 Washington St. around 9:30 p.m., on Saturday.

He was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital and is expected to recover, police say.

City seeks help from motorists to identify ice-encrusted traffic lights

adamg — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:15:06 +0000

BTD is seeking the public's help in finding traffic lights obscured by ice, such as these puppies on Washington Street at the West Roxbury Parkway, where southbound motorists, being Bostonians, are just barreling through the intersection rather than stopping to see if maybe motorists on the parkway (or the opposite direction on Washington) have the light. Call 617-635-4500 to request a deicing crew.

A stroll down memory lane on Newspaper Row

adamg — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:29:14 +0000

The article by David Boeri and Andrea Shea is ostensibly about how the three revived theaters on Washington Street could lead a revival of the Hole-infested street, but is really an interesting walk back into the time when it was home to the city's large number of daily newspapers:

The printing presses for the Post were buried like a coal mine seven stories below ground level. They worked next to the subway tunnel, and at street level you could feel both of them.

"The presses and the subway train would vie to make the building vibrate," Wysocki laughs.

Renovated Modern Theatre opens today on Washington Street

adamg — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:23:40 +0000

WBUR gives us a peek at the renovated theatre, next to the also renovated Paramount.

Downtown Crossing might get late-night Italian food - if a liquor license becomes available

adamg — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:01:33 +0000

Proposed location next to Paramount Theatre.

The Boston Licensing Board this week deferred action on a license request for a proposed Italian restaurant at 550 Washington St. that would stay open until 2 a.m. because the city currently has no liquor licenses left to give out.

The proposed Salvatore's would feature a 34-seat bar designed for people who are alone but want to get a bite to eat, such as people whose spouses work a different schedule, owner Sal Lupoli told the board at a hearing on Tuesday. In addition to students - a new Suffolk dorm is opening atop the old Modern Theatre next month - downtown has a growing number of professional residents.

Lupoli's proposed closing time had the support of both the Midtown Park Plaza Neighborhood Association and Emerson Colllege - which would be Salvatore's landlord.

The restaurant's menu would be similar to that at the first Salvatore's, on Northern Avenue.

State law limits the number of liquor licenses Boston can give out.

Why does the MBTA Web site hate Forest Hills?

adamg — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:58:19 +0000

To try to help somebody out, I wanted to see which bus lines go from Forest Hills to the Dedham Mall and when (yeah, I know, the 34 and 34E go there, but when?). So on the handy little form right on the MBTA home page, I typed in "forest hills" as my starting point and "dedham mall" as my destination, and got back this:

Really, MBTA Trip Planner? Come on.