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By adamg - 3/28/15 - 11:58 am
Proposed new Quaker Lane in downtown Boston

Architect's rendering of proposed new Quaker Lane.

Related Beal has filed plans for its Congress Square project downtown, which would combine and reuse existing downtown office buildings with new structures clustered around a Quaker Lane rebuilt as "an intimately scaled pedestrian way finished with catenary lighting, sculptural seating and landscaping."

In a filing with the BRA, the company detailed what it hopes to do with the buildings it now owns at 40 Water St., 15, 19 and 33-35 Congress St. and 54, 68 and 82 Devonshire St. - and the spaces in between them:

By adamg - 3/25/15 - 3:20 pm
Shuttle bus on Red Line at Park Street

A lone shuttle bus at Park Street.

UPDATE: Transit Police report the man was taken out alive from under the train.

A man jumped in front of a train around 2:20 p.m. on the outbound side of the Red Line.

One witness on the platform said he heard a "boom" then screeching as the train driver hit the brakes.

The MBTA substituted bus service between JFK/UMass and Kendall as firefighters and paramedics worked to extract the man and get him to a hospital.

Firefighter with Jaws of Life going down to platform:

By adamg - 3/24/15 - 3:33 pm

Adam Castiglioni reports the Melting Pot, which had been serving up fondue at the Park Plaza in 2008, has shut down for good.

Boston Restaurant Talk has more.

By adamg - 3/24/15 - 7:24 am

Pub "Max Pacioretty et McDonald's" à Boston (Max 67)

How far we've fallen: Not only do a bunch of Bruins fans in a bar go into foodgasms over a McDonald's hamburger, they don't realize who's feeding it to them. Also, McDonald's is too cheap to get the rights to show the Bruins logo.

By adamg - 3/23/15 - 8:53 am

Seems a trolley breathed its last around 8:30 a.m. near Park Street and gummed everything up. Caitlin Drown reports:

It's taken almost 20 mins going from Hynes to just past Arlington.

By adamg - 3/21/15 - 1:38 pm
Snow sculptures on Boston Common, including Olaf

Katherine Larson spotted this pair on the Common today.

By adamg - 3/21/15 - 1:31 pm
Dead Green Line trolleys at Park Street

Pining for the fjords at Park Street. Photo by Colin Steele.

Shortly before noon at Arlington, now riders between Kenmore and Haymarket get to enjoy above-ground scenery in shuttle buses.

By adamg - 3/19/15 - 7:21 pm

24 Hours At The South Street Diner | Documentary Short by Long Haul Films

Melissa and Tom Dowler spent 24 hours shooting a documentary about the South Street Diner (they even cover some of the Blue Diner history).

Via Boston Reddit.

By adamg - 3/19/15 - 1:29 pm

Last May, the MBTA released a video showing a Transit Police detective rescuing a man from jumping in front of a train at Park Street. WCVB reports the man now has a lawyer - who had to sue to get the complete video, which shows the two struggled on the platform and the detective punching the man to subdue him.

By adamg - 3/19/15 - 11:13 am

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a Boston Municipal Court judge erred when he dismissed drug-dealing charges after a prosecutor couldn't say when a backlogged state lab would have results back on the pills allegedly found on her.

The ruling means that Laura Butler will once again have to face charges of dealing prescription drugs in the Haymarket area in 2012.

By adamg - 3/19/15 - 10:01 am

The Boston Licensing Board recently voted to issue a warning to TD Garden for overcrowding in between two Garth Brooks concerts on Jan. 24.

The warning has no immediate effect on anything, but the board could use it as justification for more severe action should the Garden be charged with a similar offense in the future.

By adamg - 3/19/15 - 8:38 am
Black-clad dancers in Boston's South Station

There are some things you just shouldn't be seeing first thing in the morning at South Station, and Serena Tang reports this group of black-clad symbolic cats is one of them. And she reports they could sense her get-away-from-me-ness:

They started meowing at me.

By adamg - 3/18/15 - 10:56 am

The operators of the Tavern in the Square outpost in South Station want to add a second food and drink outlet: A Mexican restaurant.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let Tavern in the Square's three owners buy the liquor license from the soon to be demolished Brighton Beer Garden so they can open Tavitas inside the station. The new restaurant would have 47 seats inside with another 21 seats in the station concourse.

By adamg - 3/18/15 - 7:29 am

Kelso asks:

Best bars in the downtown Boston area for March Madness for Thurs and Fri? More TVs the better!

By adamg - 3/16/15 - 5:45 pm

John Glynn, 21, of North Attleboro was arraigned today on charges he stabbed a man in the face on a commuter-rail platform at South Station last night and then stabbed the man's friend in the eye, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Glynn and the first man got into a fight around 6:45 p.m.; the friend came to the initial victim's aid.

By adamg - 3/15/15 - 11:30 pm

WHDH reports a suspect was arrested for the double stabbing shortly before 7 p.m. on a commuter-rail platform.

By adamg - 3/15/15 - 2:34 pm
Frieze on the Samuel Appleton Building

On the Samuel Appleton Building. See it larger.

In the late 1800s, the merchant princes of Boston adorned their buildings with classical Greek and Roman symbols of successful seafaring commerce, such as Neptune's tridents and Mercury's caduceuses (Mercury being the god of trade and all).

And then, it stopped. Maybe it was the decline of Boston as a seaport, but whatever the reason, in the 20th century, financial firms took over from trading companies and turned to an even older culture - the Assyrians - for symbolism on their new buildings.

By adamg - 3/14/15 - 11:21 am
Wedding proposal at Pi Alley

Joe Cabrera wasn't the only person to head to Pi Alley in Downtown Crossing around 9:26 on this fine 3/14/15. He reports watching a man get down on one knee and propose to his inamorata at exactly that time:

Bride says groom does geeky stuff.

H/t Ginnette for the headline.

By adamg - 3/13/15 - 8:53 am
Screaming gargoyles in Downtown Crossing

That would, of course, be the intersection of Washington Street with Winter and Summer in Downtown Crossing, where, if you look up, way up, at the top of the building with the Corner entrance, you'll see a series of screaming mad gargoyles.

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