Porter Square

Mind's Eye Yarns in Porter Square is up for sale; if nobody wants to buy it and keep it open, it'll shut down later this spring.

Earlier:
Another bit of old Boston gets ripped out: Windsor Button to shut down.

H/t Cara.

Is at Porter Square.

Amy Hansen tweets:

These extreme delays are making the Red Line resemble the Hunger Games--may the odds be ever in your favor to get off of this train.

The Orange Bird adds:

Porter Sq. platform more crowded than Market Basket during Thanksgiving week.

Brad Kelly reports on the Yume Wo Katare ramen bar, which replaced Zing Pizza:

This place is a foreign country. They have two items: A massive bowl of noodles with pork and a massive bowl of noodles with more pork.

See it larger for part of the window flow chart that helps you determine whether you need pork ramen or should just come back another time:

When your ramen is ready, the chef will ask "NINNIKU IREMASUKA?" This means "Do you want garlic?" This is when you can ask for extra garlic or extra pork fat (ahura).

Copyright Brad Kelly. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Cambridge Day reports, is not amused.

The MBTA reports a potential bioterror germ attack alert system starts getting tested after the last train of the night on Wednesday at Davis, Porter and Harvard stations on the Red Line.

The Department of Homeland Security has installed monitors in the stations designed to detect the release of certain types of potentially lethal bacteria. To test the monitors, researchers will spray B. subtilis bacteria into the air at the stations. The bacteria is normally considered harmless - you can buy mass quantities of it as a nutritional supplement - and researchers say they'll render it even less risky by killing it first with gamma rays, the T says:

Boston Restaurant Talk reports what's replacing the old Zing Pizza.

The Department of Homeland Security says the moves will ensure the tests, planned for this summer at Harvard, Porter and Davis on the Red Line, pose no risk to riders with immune problems, according to a DHS report - unlike fellow riders or snakes.

The release of B. subtilis spores will mimic a possible bioterror attack and test the efficiency of scanners to provide early warnings of possible biologic attacks - in as little as 20 minutes after the release of bacteria.

Amanda Wild forwarded this video from this morning's Red Line nonsense, adds:

Conductor reported train was having trouble making it up the hill to Porter; after several delays our car was unloaded to platform where an MBTA official was telling passengers it would be at least 20-25 minutes before the next train. Several passengers were offering to help push.

H_Boston captured the scene on Upland Road near Porter Square.

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

Our own Ron Newman reports the Pier One in Porter Square is being replaced by a Walgreens, right across the street from a CVS.

The Herald alerts us to a new place moving into Porter Exchange in Porter Square.

Views of the Northeast enjoyed the rushing waters of Porter station today.

Copyright Views of the Northeast. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Mare Freed noticed a new type of CVS in Porter Square the other night.

Photo reposted with permission.

Kristen Goodfriend notices an unusual item for sale at the little store inside the Porter Square T stop. Comes in five-day packs.

The Massachusetts Court of Appeals today upheld a judge's sentence against a man convicted of repeatedly punching and kicking a pregnant supermarket worker who tried to stop him from shoplifting - a longer sentence that was imposed after he refused to accept probation as a condition of his original, shorter term behind bars.

Gene A. Jackson was convicted for a 2009 incident at the Porter Square Shaw's, involving a loss-prevention officer who followed him out of the store:

Eggplanet Cabernet reports on the cause of the fire alarm going off this evening at Porter Square Galleria:

I went outside (not that long since we evacuated a building for an earthquake, after all) to my car in the small garage at the back, to find someone in a U-Haul trying desperately to back out of the low-height portion of the garage. They had hit the water main pipe that feeds the sprinkler system there. I might add also that the U-Haul was directly under a sign that said "7-foot clearance"

Via Francesca Hall, who wonders if that counts for the Storrow pool.

Brian D'Amico replies:

It should count for something, Cambridge FD had to call in mutual aid for that alarm.

Carly Marie was on the dead Red Line train between Harvard and Porter this morning and took this photo before stepping down to the tracks for a tunnel walk. She adds:

Made it through two episodes of @ThisAmerLife and today's @nytimes crossword, plus some Angry Birds and Tetris during today's MBTA fiasco.

Elizabeth Bond was also on the train:

Bond reports:

I was in the last car of the train so I had to wait for the 13 cars ahead of me to evacuate and didn't make it out until 12:30. When they decided to evacuate us they had to cut the power off so they could cut the third rail off. For the last hour, hour and a half, there was no AC but the firemen were passing out water bottles.

Wicked Local Cambridge interviewed some of the trapped passengers:

"There's some camaraderie," said Flynn, 34, who was headed to work in Harvard Square. The tunnel between Porter and Harvard squares is one of the deepest in the system and passengers marveled at the earthen walls and stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

Why people as far away as Watertown could smell it. Photo by Kris.

AlertNewEngland reports an old commercial building on Rte. 107 caught fire late morning and is sending up plumes of black smoke. Around 1 p.m., Prairie Rose Clayton reported the air in Porter Square was "thick, hazy, heavy with ozone/plastic scent."

Sometime after 9 p.m., Monday, AlertNewEngland reports. Passengers on one outbound train were put on a bus at Porter for a ride to Belmont while authorities investigated and cleaned up the scene.

Wheeling up from lower Hyde Park, I swung over to the Porter Square Bob Slates. I thought of Lily Tomlin - they don't care; they don't have to; they're closing.

A half dozen of us, all of whom had shopped the mini-chain for a long time were browsing. Everyone felt compelled to tell the two Bob Slate Stationer clerks how sorry they were the stores were closing. We didn't get any feel-good in return.

Oddly, the store had virtually nothing discounted. The calendars were 50% off, but hell, Borders did that the first week in January. Customer after customer would ask what the discounts were, only to hear that if it wasn't marked with a red slash, as nearly nothing was, it was full price.

Repeated word from the clerks was that the Church Street Harvard Square store had to clean up and get out before the end of the month, so its last day was Sunday. The bigger Mass Ave Harvard Square one would close a week later. Then all the remaining merchandise would move to Porter for the End of Paper Days.

Especially when they remove large numbers of ceiling tiles and you're suddenly reminded you're in the deepest cave in the Boston area.

Time was, people who didn't want their bags searched at one of the random checkpoints could just turn around and find another station - or even just another entrance to the same station.

Dan reports that when he arrived at Porter this morning and got pulled aside for screening, he declined to submit and walked out to look for a cab. Finding none, he started to board a T bus, but "two plainclothes MBTA police stopped me because I refused bag screening." He says he walked to Harvard Square, where he did find a cab.

A notice was taped in the window of the Mass. Ave. store in Harvard Square making the announcement about the store, which has two locations in Harvard Square and one in Porter Square, an alert correspondent reports.

In 2009, the two Slate brothers announced they would try to sell the store started by their father, Robert, more than 75 years ago. Apparently, they were unable to find a buyer, and now the leases on their Harvard Square stores are expiring soon.

Michael Hampson spotted this hydrant on Agassiz Street in Porter Square.

Copyright Michael Hampson. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Cambridge: World leader in production of giant snow dodecahedrons.

Vasant Marur captured these dodecahdrons in Porter Square, built by Dan Sternof Bayer.

More Jan. 12 photos.

Photo copyright Vasant Marur. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.