- AROUND C-TOWN (25)
- CHINATOWN CALENDAR (38)
- LIFE AND STORIES OF ASIAN AMERICANS (8)
- THE CHINATOWN BEAT (5)
- The PU PU CHATTER (1)
- WORD ON THE STREET (78)
- August 19, 2008: Forum on 2nd Suffolk Senate Race
- August 18, 2008: Pictures of August Moon Festival, 2008
- August 13, 2008: Boston Globe: Voter registration drive takes multilingual feel
- August 13, 2008: 2008 August Moon Festival, Aug 17th
- August 12, 2008: Olympics in Beijing, China
- August 7, 2008: Bilingual Ballots, Sample Ballots NOT Ratified
- August 6, 2008: Reader Feedback and Site Update
- August 5, 2008: Chinatown Voter Registration Drive - Aug. 9
- July 29, 2008: Chinatown's Early Pioneers: A Visit to Mount Hope Cemetery
- July 28, 2008: Boston Globe Travel Section: A Sense of Chinatown
Vacant Commercial Spaces
Every now and then, the Chinatown Blogger likes to walk around Chinatown to check what’s happening. Today while taking a tour, a few vacant commercial spaces were noticed. The vacancies may be due to many different reasons: high rents, bad location/proximity to Combat Zone, declining sales, or the business relocated. The examples below are only a snapshot of what’s happening and the vacancies represents only a fraction of all the businesses that continue to operate in Chinatown. Some of these place may even find a new lease on life when some business or entity decides to move in. In the meantime, as long as these commercial vacancies exist, economic activity in the community is reduced and the spaces are prone to vandalism and graffiti.
Washington Street/Essex Street:
Washington Street
Washington/LaGrange Street
Washington/Stuart Street
Edinboro Street
Kneeland/Tyler Street
Tyler Street
Harrison Avenue
Harrison Avenue
June 4, 2008 at 10:19 am
This probably isn’t the response you’re looking for, but none of those storefronts were vacant 30 years ago when there really was a Combat Zone.
June 4, 2008 at 12:10 pm
You missed all the vacant storefronts at the Ritz
Did you know that all of the floors above the empty store at Washington & LaGrange are also vacant, and can’t even be used due to lack of egress? That is an architecturally important building by H H Richardson, the guy who did Trinity Church.
Who owns all this vacant stuff and how can they afford to keep it empty?
June 4, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Dynasty always kinda creeps me out.
June 4, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Terner: Your point is valid. But 30 years ago Downtown was also more vibrant. In regards to Chinatown specifically, the trend has been that the growth of the Asian communities in Malden and Quincy will continue to put pressure on Chinatown businesses.
osric: Thank you for pointing out the empty storefronts above Washington/LaGrange. I’m sure there are other vacant places I have missed.
June 12, 2008 at 12:34 pm
More frightening than Dynasty is the Golden Leaf at Kneeland and Hudson, which was open briefly about two years ago, with expensive furnishings, and has been locked up tight since (except for “private parties”). It’s the one with the gazebo on the top.