Boylston Street
Banker & Tradesman reports developers submitted a letter of intent with the BRA yesterday to plow the Fenway Howard Johnson's (and the Hong Kong) under so they can build two 12-story buildings with residential, hotel and retail space.
The Globe reports "a very low speed rear-end collision" between two trolleys at Boylston this morning. Nobody hurt, but the driver of the bumper car was reported to be shook up.
I assume that's what the error message on the pay toilet outside the BPL main branch in Copley Square means. But then, I'm a Web geek, so I would think that. Fortunately, both toilets and WiFi await inside the building.
Jed H. shows just how windy it was in Copley Square today (photo posted with permission).
Channel 4 reports a door, possibly unhinged by the wind, fell five stories and hit a man in Chinatown.
David Inniss tweets he wound up in a dust storm behind the Ritz Carlton and had to take refuge in Macy's:
I ended up with grit in my eyes and mouth, yuck.
Riggsm tweets shortly after 4 p.m. No immediate word on the bicyclist's condition, but traffic is a mess, he says.
Photo of the car after the accident after 10 p.m. today. Boston Police tweet injuries were involved, but that they were not likely fatal.
Photo via BostonTweet.
Mike Mennonno updates us on why the Poe memorial transformer box suddenly disappeared: It wasn't that the spirit of the Boston-hating writer suddenly struck it down but that the artist painted the wrong box.
He exchanged e-mail with her and reports she painted over the box by the Common herself and plans to re-create the wrapped mural on another circuit box near the Boloco across from Common.
No word on why she couldn't just leave the four-sided mural where it was, but no doubt some vitally important city regulation was involved.
What a pigeon flying high over the Public Garden would see.
Developer Ron Druker has hired a new architect, who's made changes to the exterior design of his proposed nine-story, $120-million building at Boylston and Arlington streets, but the structure still has the same basic dimensions and doesn't really look all that much different, so it doesn't need to go through a new city review process, members of the Boston Civic Design Commission told nearby residents and preservationists tonight. Read more
OK, Albanian restaurants of any kind are hard to find. Anali explains why she loves Vlora on Boylston Street. It's not just the food.
A curious onlooker e-mailed around 4:45 p.m.:
Some VIP was just visiting the Citizen's Bank on Boylston Street at Dartmouth. With a police escort of several cars and motorcycles, and wired Secret Service guys in a couple of Chevy Tahoes. A big crowd was watching for at least 20 minutes, and no one had any idea who it was, although rumors of everyone from Ben Affleck to General Petraeus were flying. Customers were going in and out of the bank and even they couldn't tell what was going on.
And you don't want to risk the undertow out past the curb.
Earlier:
No swimming at Kenmore, either.
Scooterdude (the guy you see sailing around Copley Square on the wind-powered scooter) reports yesterday was a great day for sailing - aside from the two spills caused by a collapsing sail:
... The gusts were sustained but also in the correct direction. For long rides and skillful maneuvers there’s nothing that can beat a strong westerly flow from the Tower, across the front of the church and then down Boylston St. ...
A group of volunteers trying to show you the importance of clean drinking water will be painting a three-mile-long blue line down Boylston and Newbury streets today. They're promoting the Tap Project, which attempts to bring clean water to folks around the world not fortunate enough to be served by the MWRA, by getting restaurant goers to donate money for UNICEF water projects.
Organizers say the paint is actually based on a chalk compound that will disappear by month's end.
The Berkeley Beacon reports the Boston Fire Department and the city hazmat team responded to a report of a gas odor at 120 Boylston St. on Feb. 22:
The source of the smell appeared to come from the women's bathroom at Remington's. Remington's was closed and the area was vented. The source of the smell was not found, but did diminish.
No, not James Hook, they've been re-open for awhile now, albeit in trailers. Sam Baltrusis dishes on the Atlantic Fish Co., the Boylston Street restaurant gutted in a three-alarm fire in November.
Jeffrey Marsh tweets:
Boylston Apple Store still closed. Apparently there was a underground fire/manhole cover explosion, knocked the power out on most the block
People who like the existing old Shreve building at Boylston and Arlington and don't want it torn down for a new structure will protest at 10 a.m. on Weds., Dec. 10.
Alecia Batson reports on a crack that starts at the foundation, goes at least 30 feet up and is large enough at some points to put your hand in. And it's on the Dartmouth Street side, right where the MBTA is doing its never-ending Copley work, which is why she's written an open letter to the T (speaking for herself, not the church) asking what it's going to do about it:
... The organ should not be played, now, as it could prompt large portions of the plaster to fall. This directly affects the Boston Secession concert that will take place there tomorrow evening, Friday, 5 December 2008, as the concert makes use of the organ. Will my friends' concert take place? We do not yet know. Tomorrow, structural engineers will determine if the sanctuary is even safe for habitation. Will church services take place this coming Sunday? Only time will tell. ...
The Berkeley Beacon reports the Gypsy Bar on Boylston Street bar is complaining about chain-smoking, loitering Emerson students clogging up the sidewalk in front of its doors:
... Though no official report was filed, Emerson Police Chief George Noonan said he would like to see Emersonians respect the wishes of the college's neighbors. Officers have begun asking students to move out from the storefront.
The problem, said day manager Tanya Cavazza, is when students don't move even after she and the delivery people ask. ...
The paper quotes students who basically say, tough, the bar sucks:
... Students interviewed said they didn't care if the managers were complaining about them smoking in front of their door, since the people who go to the bar are equally disruptive to the Emerson community.
"Well, we're complaining about assholes blocking the street, getting drunk and [getting] in fights," said junior theatre studies major Brian Tweedy as he stood in front of the Gypsy Bar's doorway. "[Emerson] should give us somewhere that's convenient to smoke." ...
Via MassCops.
The Globe reports on the fire at 761 Boylston St. (Atlantic Fish Co.) that broke out around 6:30 a.m. Channel 4 has video.
An eastbound Green Line trolley rear-ended another one between Arlington and Boylston stations around 8:50 this morning, injuring three or four seven people.
Boston.com story
Railroad.net discussion
LiveJournal discussion, reporting that passengers on the colliding trains had to walk in the subway tunnel to get to Boylston station
Mike Mennonno recounts a recent encounter outside the Boylston Street Filene's Basement with some youngish dude who demanded to know where the Apple Store was and, when he didn't like Mennonno's answer, turned into a complete asshole.
Take a ride from downtown to Copley Square on a 1903 trolley, courtesy Thomas Edison's film company:
Via Somerville STEP by way of Sam Baltrusis.
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