South Street Saved

By CaraBayles on Wed, Jul 8, 2009 4:30 pm

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The South Street Diner, a night owl institution since 1947, almost saw closure this week, when two of its neighbors petitioned the Boston Licensing Board to force it to close shop at 1am. The board announced today that it would not force the diner to take on early hours. The two complaintants didn't show up to a hearing yesterday that filled a in City Hall chamber with supporters.

            Sol Sidell, who bought the diner in 1997 when he was 26 years old, told the Dig that had the board voted to roll back hours, South Street would've been forced to shut down. "Ninety percent of our business is done between 1 o'clock in the morning and 4 o'clock in the morning. That's the only time that there's parking in that neighborhood, that's only time we have captive crowd of customers. There's very little walk-by traffic in the daytime. We would be out of business if we weren't open all through the night."

            This is not the first time South Street has faced the ire of its neighbors. Sidell says that 2 1/2 years ago, the diner received complaints from four neighbors about noise, and complied by changing the time and location of its garbage pickup, and forcing waiting patrons to line up on Kneeland Street rather than congregate on South Street.

            On Marathon Monday this year, Sidell announced it would be open 24 hours again. The diner was open 24 hours from 1947 until 2006, when industries surrounding it started to crumble, and it closed during the day, serving from 5am to 5pm during the week and 24 hours on the weekend. "Three years ago, we lost almost 4,000 jobs down in the area, so I switched the hours … so we were not open during the day Monday through Friday," Sidell says. "The building across the street from me at 210 South Street converted from 2,500 jobs and businesses to residential units, the Mass Highway building at 179 Kneeland Street, went 2,500 jobs working for the Big Dig to 300 jobs. The building behind me sold modems, now everyone uses wireless, so they went down from 1,200 jobs to 120. So, with that loss of business I focused on what we did best, which was late-night business." In many ways the shifting neighborhood is what created antagonism with his neighbors."

            Complaints came from residents of 210 South Street, a loft complex that sprung up across the street from the diner in 2006. One resident, Peter Davos, began videotaping South Street's patrons from his apartment, and posted the riff-raff cam footage on YouTube. He told the Boston Herald, "The regular acts of violence I have witnessed there are just ridiculous: fights, fights with weapons, fights with cab drivers and their patrons, brawls of eight to 10 people.”

            The diner earned 1,300 iPetition signatures in four days, and a webmovement was started on its behalf. It will remain open 24 hours.