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Regina replacement in Allston will also have pizza, along with American food and live music - but no dancing
By adamg on Wed, 09/27/2023 - 11:32am
Update: Approved.
Local restaurant operator Douglas Bacon today described his planned Hobson's Bar & Kitchen at 353 Cambridge St. in Allston as an American restaurant that will also serve pizza.
Actually, he told the Boston Licensing Board "there will be a lot of emphasis on pizza," - but also on the sort of food you'd expect to find in "contemporary American pubs and restaurants," including "some grilled fish" and vegetarian options.
The replacement for the long shuttered Regina Pizzeria will also feature live music, initially two or three times a week, but not the loud, raucous type that would send nearby residents to their phones to angrily punch in 311. Instead, he said, the selections will focus on acoustic music, maybe with a piano, but definitely not "three guys with electric guitars with the amps turned all the way up."
And he added, no dancing.
Bacon said the name was a good choice to honor Henry Hobson Richardson, who designed the building as a train station on the Boston and Albany main line.
The board votes tomorrow whether to grant Bacon permission to open under the new name - the board had earlier approved his plans to open under a placeholder name.
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Comments
because 1984 wasn't like 1984
because we're living in our Footloose dream.
Edit: and I completely missed this guys last name is Bacon. Shall we guess if he's one or two degrees away from Kevin..
Boston, or Elmore City?
I mean, dancing IS allowed in Boston, but you have to get a separate license from the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing (which is chaired by the same person as the Boston Licensing Board).
When I first started covering licensing, back when the governor still appointed the licensing board (and the mayor the consumer affairs and licensing commissioner), places would regularly get hauled up before MOCAL for, gasp, allowing dancing without a license (and their excuse was almost always something like "We tried, but those people just got up and danced anyway").
I know
I know. I just find the whole thing silly that we limit 'dancing' to a specific license.
It’s a code thing for places of assembly
Dancers are more densely packed than a performance space with passive listeners or a dining room. Code & permitting restrictions exist to ensure the fire alarm & smoke evacuation systems meet the stricter requirements & the FD are aware of the situation (reason why there’s signs for max capacity). You can have dancing - you just have to apply for the permit & meet the stricter code. I think his reassurance was more related to addressing abutters’ concerns about noise than anything conspiratorial. Sorry - just about saving lives.
It sounds stupid, but I guess there is a good reason
Let us not forget the Cocoanut Grove....
One of the things the BPD licensing unit is very good at ...
Is writing places up for doing things that would put patrons at risk in fire, both overcrowding and blocking or even locking fire exits. I don't tend to write up these violations because they tend to involve simple mistakes that are typically fixed immediately (like a room is cleared after closing for cleaning and somebody piles some chairs up in front of an exit), but they still have to show up before the licensing board to explain themselves.
https://www.wcvb.com/article
https://www.wcvb.com/article/intense-fire-destroys-bar-in-historic-mass-...
I thought this was a party?!
Leeeeets Daaaance!
for fuck's sake
That has to be one of the most NIMBY-friendly locations possible, and it's across the street from O'Briens, why should there need to be an emphasis on the music being low-key? We really need to modernize and radically simplify our licensing system. This is just so stupid.
but definitely not "three
*clutches pearls*.. Not live "ROCK" music in Allston!! I'm calling 311 ahead of time.
a long long time ago, someone
a long long time ago, someone with a guitar and cool hair hurt Mr. Bacon's feelings
Maybe ...
He had an unfortunate experience with Nigel Tufnel.
It's time to re-think Allston
That whole "rock city" transient Bohemia thing is so late 70s/early 80s punk era. I'm sorry if you missed it the first time around, I was there and it was way cool, but it is now irrelevant. Times have changed. Time to grow up a little.
Speaking of which
The board votes tomorrow on whether to allow a fancy Taco Bell (they'll have beer and wine!) open where Great Scott used to be (key issue: Whether they get to stay open until 3 or should only be allowed to stay open until 1, when they've agreed to stop serving alcohol.
Unusual scenerio
"three guys with electric guitars..." I guess a bass IS a guitar, but a band with 3 guitars, in Allston, wouldn't be the norm.
apparently you've never been
apparently you've never been subjected to a noise/drone act.
All the way up…
It’s ok if the amps are turned up to 10, but some go all the way to 11!
Welcome!
To Allston Vanilla! Way to add that bland, suburban, Applebees touch to Allston Rock City.
I can already hear the locals yawning.
Allston is dying
It sucks but it's true. Musicians can't afford to live there anymore, and establishments like this are making it clear that they would rather capitulate to the demands of the new residents in the luxury condo buildings. Y'know, the ones that they built all around the live music venues and are now edging them out of town. The owners of Regina's would rather have this snoozefest of an overdone restaurant concept (pizza??? and American bar? acoustic guitar music?!) than take a chance on what the longtime residents want.
I wish the people moving here would just stay in the 'burbs, but I guess that just lends authenticity to Boston being the City That Always Sleeps.
That intersection under development
Soon, there will be several new apartment buildings adjacent to that lot, filled with people paying rents high enough to expect uninterrupted sleep, regardless of other people’s ideas of what Allston means. Addressing noise concerns before people complain at public hearings about getting your license goes a long way in actually getting that license.
My City Was Gone
Cue Pretenders...
Noise in that location is a red herring
They are hard by the Mass Pike which is a noisy drone 24/7 (OK maybe 22/7.) Any housing across Cambridge St might hear drunks coming out at closing time. They wouldn't be able to hear the sound of 3 guitars, through two sets of walls AND across the street. This is simply not a quiet location and anything this place does will not alter that.
Long live Rock City!
When I was homeless recently,
When I was homeless recently, I spent one night sleeping at a Mass Pike rest stop (me a woman in a car, rest stops were the safest to sleep in your car) but the Pike was busy all night and that rest stop was hopping. There was also no shade at the rest stop. I preferred to sleep at a rest stop on 395, where it was quieter.
Yeah, no. Having a rock club
Yeah, no. Having a rock club across the street (or two streets and a highway, more likely) from the front of your apartment, where your bedroom is at the back, will not interrupt anybody's sleep. This is a bad faith argument made on behalf of people who don't even live there yet.
Final nail in the coffin for
Final nail in the coffin for Allston of yesterday year