CAPTION: The new entrance to Tangierino Restaurant at 73 Main St.

On the evening of the American League Division Series opener that pitted the Boston Red Sox against the Los Angeles Angels, more than 100 people turned out to oppose the expansion of Tangierino Restaurant on Main Street in what was the largest Charlestown Neighborhood Council Basic Services Committee meeting in its 22-year history.
“[Tangierino owner Samad Naamad’s] proposal is certainly good for him, but I don’t think it’s good for anyone in Charlestown,” a direct abutter to the restaurant from Warren Street said at the Oct. 1 meeting at the Mary Colbert Apartments conference room. “I don’t think it fits Charlestown at all.”
Tangierino, which recently added 3,000 square feet including an underground smoking lounge, has come under fire from direct abutters and neighbors concerning its request to increase its occupancy to 423 from 99 and because of valet parking issues. Of those in attendance at the meeting, 89 residents opposed the establishment expanding its operations, while eight others, who were not direct abutters to the restaurant, supported the move.
Last month, the Licensing Board for the City of Boston issued a new wine, beer and cordials license for the expansion at 73 Main St., according to Tangierino attorney Carolyn Conway, who is no relation to CNC representative Jim Conway. (The establishment already held a city alcohol license for its original 83 Main St. location, the entrance of which will become an emergency exit, Carolyn Conway said). The city’s Inspectional Services Department has yet to approve the new occupancy, as well as a proposal to move the main entrance of the restaurant from 83 Main St. to 73 Main St. at the corner of Monument Avenue.
Those at the meeting, meanwhile, said they had been caught off guard by the scope of the expansion.
“I didn’t expect such a large increase in volume. It almost seemed like a stealth attack,” Carol Bratley of Pleasant Street Court said. “It didn’t seem like as open of a process as it should have been.”
Neighborhood Council Chairman Tom Cunha said he wasn’t aware of the new occupancy rate until after the Licensing Board hearing, since Naamad did not disclose the number when he appeared at the Sept. 2 CNC meeting to address residents’ concerns with the expansion.
“The problem is the [occupancy] number is way too much,” Cunha said, “and you have to solve the parking problems, whatever it takes.”
Attorney Conway said Tangierino would have 130 available valet parking spaces on Union Street and in a lot adjacent to the Marriott Residence Inn near the Navy Yard after the expansion was completed. This little did to comfort residents who complained of the restaurant’s present parking conditions, however.
“It’s horrendous because [valets] use my driveway to park their cars,” Beverly Gibbons of Union Street said.
Naamad also said restaurant patrons never used more than 20 valet spaces on any given night, leading neighbors to speculate that many Tangierino customers opted to park on the street instead.
Janet Cox, who lives with her family at the nearby Courtyard Condominiums on Harvard Street, questioned whether the nature of the business, and its clientele, would change after the expansion.
“Is the use really changing from a high-end restaurant to a nightclub?’ Cox asked. “These people can’t control the patrons as it is now.”
Naamad countered that Tangierino would remain a restaurant and hookah lounge. “I don’t have a license for a nightclub. It’s what it has been for the past four years,” he said.
CNC at-large representative Mark Rosenshein emphasized that the Neighborhood Council supported Tangierino as a business, despite concerns with its operation.
“The idea of restaurants and businesses is something that this community is very supportive of,” said Rosenshein, who also serves as co-chair of the Charlestown Business Climate Improvement Committee. “Nobody wants to push you out of town. I’m hoping you can come back to the Neighborhood Council with ideas about how you can resolve [these issues].”
The Neighborhood Council unanimously voted (7-0) in favor of Cunha’s motion that its Basic Services Committee facilitate another meeting between Tangierino, elected officials, representatives from the city agencies overseeing the restaurant’s expansion and the community to address the aforementioned concerns before ISD issues the occupancy permit.

CAPTION: The future home of Max & Dylans Kitchen Bar at 100 City Square.

The owners of Tavern on the Water will open a new restaurant next month in the space previously occupied by Copia.
“It’s a local neighborhood bar with casual American comfort food.” Brad Delback said of his new venture at 100 City Square, Max & Dylans Kitchen Bar, which is set to open by Nov. 15.
As the principals of the Legendary Restaurant Group, Delback and his business partner, Chris Damian own and operate Tavern on the Water and Scollay Square at 21 Beacon St., as well as the original Max & Dylans, which opened Sept. 9 at 15 West St. in the Theatre District. (Max & Dylans takes its name from Delback and Damian’s two sons).
Delback said the menu at the City Square restaurant will include comfort food staples, including sliders, macaroni and cheese, and meatloaf. The restaurant’s interior will remain similar to Meze, except for a different table setup. As for the décor, the restaurant will be adorned with more TVs and pictures of Fenway Park, the USS Constitution and other Boston landmarks.
When asked what would set Max & Dylans apart from Copia and Meze, the two ill-fated restaurants previously at 100 City Square, Delback responded that his restaurant would offer “low-priced American comfort food” in contrast to the other establishments’ “high-priced ethnic food.” (Copia, the last tenant at the location, closed on July 22, 2007, after operating for less than a year).
Delback added that he expects that tourists on the Freedom Field and TD Banknorth Garden patrons will make up much of his clientele, but he also hoped to attract professionals between the ages of 25 and 40.
For more information about Max & Dylans, visit www.maxanddylans.com.

CAPTION: Erik Anderson and Fred Blair are seen outside the Nathaniel Austin House on Harvard Street.

Erik Anderson was walking down Harvard Street last week when he spotted NStar workers digging up the street in front of the Nathaniel Austin House to reach underground wires. Peering through a crack in the asphalt, Anderson spotted what appeared to be two underground tunnels and was immediately sure of their significance. Anderson, a member of the Charlestown Historical Society and the Charlestown Preservation Society, had heard legends of tunnels beneath the church that once stood approximately 60 feet away on the present site of the John Harvard Mall since he moved to the neighborhood in 1971.
After speaking with the residents of the Austin House, Rick Churchill and Fred Blair, Anderson learned of the existence of something resembling an arched doorway in their basement facing toward the sidewalk. Since the doorway was approximately 5 feet tall, roughly the same height of the tunnels themselves, Anderson deduced that they once connected the house, built in 1799, to the old church. Anderson’s theory was further supported by the fact that the tunnels were made of a rare variety of slate from a quarry on Outer Brewster Island, which was also used to build the Austin House.
The purpose of the tunnels wasn’t so apparent, however.
Considering that it would have taken the duration of the Civil War to build them, any connection to the Underground Railroad was out. One possibility was that the tunnels were part of an underground reservoir used by firefighters prior to the Great Boston Fire of 1872, but the closest reservoir would have been a long distance from the tunnels. Another is that the tunnels were once connected to a coalbunker, which Anderson said is likely because coal was also found on the basement floor of the Austin House.
The mystery deepened when a small, hand-blown glass bottle adorned with the numeral “8” was found at the entrance to the tunnels. But, unfortunately, the tunnels are now walled up, preventing any further exploration.
“Basically, it’s a mystery as to what they were or what they were used for,” Anderson said.

On Sept. 15, the Charlestown Lacrosse and Learning Center opened a Teen Room for adolescents in grades seven through 12 at its Green Street location.
According to Charlestown Lacrosse Executive Director Bob Cutler, the room was previously used for storage by Charlestown Lacrosse and Memorial Hall, the veterans club that shares the building. With a grant from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Small Changes program and Memorial Hall providing free labor and additional financial support, the transformation took approximately two weeks to complete.
Cutler said the room is now used for one-on-one tutoring, drop-in homework help and standardized test preparation, as well as weekly Spanish, French, Latin and Italian study groups.
“The Teen Room gives me a quiet place to work with my tutor on SAT preparation and any homework issues, ” said Jesse O’Neil, a junior at Boston Latin School.
The room also features a large-screen plasma TV and, courtesy of the Red Sox Foundation, a framed jersey signed by 2007 rookie of the year Dustin Pedroia.
In mid October, Cutler said the teen room would be home to evening and weekend programs for Charlestown Lacrosse’s 15U and varsity players. Other activities planned at the room include movie nights, get-togethers for New England Patriots games and a Guitar Hero tournament.

PHOTO 1 CAPTION: A pile of cobblestone in Union Square.

PHOTO 2 CAPTION: The original St. Mary’s Church on Rutherford Avenue.

The picture (s) shows a heap of cobblestones and other piles on a piece of land that was only used as a parking area. The land is a “nothing area” unless you look at its history.
After the American Revolution, Rutherford Avenue, Washington Street, Union Street and other area streets were laid out. Like the other area streets, Rutherford Avenue was a narrow street, which ran between City (Charlestown) Square to what was picturesque Sullivan Square. In those days, Rutherford Avenue was known as Richmond Street, but that changed around the time of the Civil War because the name of the capital of the Confederacy was also Richmond.
In the early days, this area of Rutherford Avenue was an area of sizable homes and the location of the first St. Mary’s Church. The first threat to that peace and quite was talk in the 1890s about building an elevated train (the “el”) down Rutherford Avenue, but the el was built on Main Street instead.
In the 1940s, because of increased traffic from the Somerville and Everett area, it was decided that Rutherford Avenue should be widened. All the houses and businesses on the even side of Rutherford Avenue were torn down. Even with a wider Rutherford Avenue, morning traffic from just before St. John’s Church to City Square was stop and go.
Urban renewal came to the area in the late’60s, and positive change also brought a relocated Rutherford Avenue highway on the south side of Washington Street, with new elderly housing, new sidewalks, street trees and a new state-owned staking rink on cleared land. In addition, the new Bunker Hill Mall made the now old Rutherford Avenue a partial roadway from Austin Street to an area near City Square.
A city designed parking area took over a part of Old Rutherford Avenue, and today, part of that parking lot is becoming a children’s playground. As for the old cobblestones in the old street, who knows where they will end up?