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Bromfield Street
That area was at one time filled with quirky small businesses. It's now pretty much deserted. Sad to see the place close. I like stopping in there when I visit my wife's place of employment nearby. I guess it's the Beantown Pub now.
Sherman's etc
Can't stop progress.
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." — Lao Tzu
Excellent Name - Pure Culchie. I Love It.
Shermans, and the buildings where AT&T and Wendy's were along with the corner building with One Gig was are set to be redeveloped with a tower.
It may happen someday, then again, Filene's sat empty for a long time.
The Barnes and Noble building is completely vacant and up for sale.
The upper floors of the buildings above DSW are empty as well.
Winter Street, other than you needing a scratch ticket is essentially devoid of retail. With Sherman's going, Bromfield Street is nearly as well. You have a few coin / card shops, the frame place, two lunch places, and a nail place.
Face facts, if you let things go to seed, you are going to get weeds. DTX, owing that junkies have been allowed to shoot up without penalty, has scared away a lot of people. I know, I work down there. Women in my office will not go through DTX unless it is to get to Roche Bros or the T.
Heck of a job City Hall. DTX - despite the good efforts of the workers from the BID there is a failed mall and the responsibility is at the Mayor's office.
"and the responsibility is at
"and the responsibility is at the Mayor's office."
Which Mayor? Surely, one can't lay the blame of the decline of DTX on Wu. The decline started long before she took office. I've been working in that area since the mid 80s. While DTX has always had a sketchy or "rough around the edges" vibe to it, i.e., there were always rowdy teens and homeless, it was quite vibrant in those days.
I would say the decline began to accelerate some time in the late 90s/early 2000s. That is when Amazon and online retailing really took off. Why go to Strawberries for the latest album or Barnes and Noble for the latest Novel when you can conveniently order them from Amazon. And of course it got worse post pandemic with more office workers WFH.
So the decline of DTX is the result of a changing retail landscape and not the fault of any particular politician.
Why go to Strawberries or B&N?
Because I'm not too lazy to go to a store, and I want things now instead of waiting for delivery.
Clearly, much of the populace feels otherwise. As with democracy, free markets mean accepting the result when it's not in your favor.
I do not see
junkies shooting up there. It doesn’t happen. Why lie?
Perkins School Grad?
I've seen shooting up in vacant door fronts on Bromfield Street and in the alley between Winter and Temple.
It does happen. Thanks for playing.
I’m not going
to argue with your anecdote. I saw a team of dancing horses juggle bowling pins, tap-dancing down Storrow yesterday, so anything can happen.
And even so, what’s your point? Dtx has been rough for thirty years at this point, is there some insight you’d like to share?
So...
You tacitly admit to being a Perkins School grad and appear to be under the influence of psychedelics.
DTX has been bad since 2007-2008.
30 Years ago, it was fine.
Empty storefronts are the result of disinterest.
Storefronts on Newbury and most of Boylston are filled.
DTX - not so much. This is despite the area being pedestrianized and on top of two subway lines.
Crime, or at least the perception that you are going to get hurt / mugged, stabbed, is what is keeping people out. It is far from the reality, but it is how people feel.
Yes, we get photo ops from time to time of people coming in for some kind of city sponsored "PLEASE JESUS WILL PEOPLE PLEASE SHOP HERE" fests and some people are there, but day to day, even I am like, I can't believe how shitty Winter Street has become.
Yesterday you tried blaring a false anti-trans flag...
Today you're mocking the visually-impaired ... is there no end to your turdiness?
Anti-Trans?
Nope.
I just said I think that Althea, being one of the first trans politicians to be elected around here is shunned by many who would normally be supportive of trans politicians.
I think it is funny.
Nothing anti-trans on this end. Give the girl credit for trying to get into office.
You suck the way you twist my statement into your own false prism. You are such an insufferable self-righteous turd.
Facts
So ironic you wrote this - I was looking at this picture yesterday:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/s/KqTLZPeWUB
I will miss the Silvertone. I went to eat in the area about once a week, often Sunday nights for years. Marliave was another restaurant in the rotation. In the winter, I wind down the weekend with dinner and a movie at the AMC.
Way out of my league. Suits?
Way out of my league. Suits? Not for me.
Classy, yes
But it was also down to earth in a lot of ways. Sad to see it go poof.
What is wrong with you?
Silvertone was an everyman’s bar. Home style food and great drinks at reasonable prices. Do yourself a favor and get out of your neighborhood for a change.
Suits?
Hardly anyone wears 'em anymore. This person is obviously out to lunch. Or not!
I'll admit I was never a
I'll admit I was never a patron but that's the vibe I got just looking at the entrance. When I think Downton Crossing workers I think suits. I'm not much of a bar guy honestly.
Silvertone was one of the
Silvertone was one of the most reasonably priced places around. I went fairly regularly until the end and I’ll miss it.
Plenty of people who actually
Plenty of people who actually work for a living have to wear a suit at work. Bank tellers, for instance, or security guards in certain buildings.
This was the best bar in DTX.
This was the best bar in DTX. Ugh.
oh no
oh no :(
This was my go to place. Meat loaf that would make you slap your mama.
No establishment has good
No establishment has good meatloaf. They probably paid that Chef to much. Meatloaf ain't easy.
Yup
For a long time, Silvertone and the Navy Yard Bistro had the beat meatloaf besides my mum’s. Navy Yard only had it on Sunday and Monday nights.
Last time I was in there,
Last time I was in there, which must be 10 years ago, I got a large cocktail and immediately spilled it all over myself, the bar, and the bartender. She was a very good sport about it. Best of luck to the former staff there.
Sidebar
Sidebar lives.
Best bar downtown
or in the two-mile radius, though maybe changed a little since Oscar ran it, don’t know much from the new owners.
Maybe it will become a chill new Chase Bank, it’s important to keep the parasites I mean developers and their cronies happy.
No story to tell
I tried to go there on my birthday about 8-10 years ago. The place was just a sea of people on a Thursday at 6:30. We couldn't get in and went to a Mexican place in Faneuil Hall. Sad to see them go before I even got a chance to try it.
I had many great lunches and many more late
evenings at the Silvertone: RIP. I think it lost a step with a transition in ownership a few years back. In its heyday, it served terrific comfort food, awesome cocktails and surprisingly good wines. Wildly mixed crowd and an industry favorite. First place I ever got asked where I tended bar (I haven't in decades) merely because I ordered a Fernet-Branca: they were the first place in Boston to pour buckets of it outside of a few North End caffes.
There's a lot of reasons for the decline of DTX. Downtowns in cities and smaller towns all over the country have been slowly hollowed out for years. Lots of culprits: Wal-Mart and Amazon gutted central-district, department-store driven retail. More recently, the covid-driven turn to remote work is laying waste to centralized offices and the small businesses that rely on them. Fentanyl sure ain't helping.
Trying to lay all that at Wu's feet is comically disingenuous.