Each First Thursday of the month businesses along Centre and South Streets are transformed into galleries featuring works from local artists. Open receptions, at each location, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, offer a chance to meet the artists, enjoy refreshments, and experience Jamaica Plain’s fabulous businesses in an entirely new light. Artworks usually remain on display for the remainder of the month.

Viejo’s portraits show an intimate relationship with her subjects, real or imagined, with often surreal effects. The paintings investigate the division of the painting surface and the relationship of the figure to pulsating color and geometric environments. In addition to the amazing artwork on display at the reception, DJ Just Joan (Casey Williams of Bella Luna’s Cash For Gold fame) will be spinning an eclectic sound to set the mod. Come share a glass of wine

Anclados (Anchored)

Fantastic apartment near Stony Brook T

Our team sold this home to the current landlord just a short time ago. A woman and her aunt had lived here for 40 years and it was in absolutely perfect condition. The garden has been lovingly maintained and the grounds are perfect. Locationally, this rental 2BD rental unit is fantastic. It is only a five minute walk to Stony Brook T, there are shops and restaurants at the end of the street and The Brewery is maybe 6-7 minutes walking. There you’ll find Ula Cafe (coffee/baked goods/sandwiches), Bella Luna & Milky Way (bar/restaurant/dancing) and Jamaica Plain’s only gym, Mike’s Fitness.

The owner is asking $1400/mth. The unit has a three season porch, hardwood floors and washer dryer in-unit! Don’t miss this opportunity to live in one of the best neighborhoods in Boston.

Call Christine Li at 617-828-7725 if you have any questions.

I am currently sitting on the couch at 65 Brookside in the Brewery District of Jamaica Plain. I’m giving Home of the Week to this condo for the 2nd time because it’s that cool. I think it’s a perfect dwelling in many ways:

1. It’s incredibly efficient. The highest energy bill of the year is less than $100, and most are a fraction of that. It is heated by compact Rinnai heaters on each floor.

2. The location is perfect. Situated right in the middle of Jamaica Plain’s Brewery District – walking distance to Mikes Fitness, Bella Luna, Ula Cafe and both Green Street and Stoney Brook stations. It’s also a few blocks from Franklin Park and Centre Street with all it’s shops and restaurants.

3. This is a one-of-kind property. There is nothing like it. Designed from the humble beginnings of a shoe factory – now one of three market rate units in an artist live/work community. From the historic architecture and smokestack to the old boardwalk that runs the length of the building allowing the community to chat and engage each other.

4. Really good space. The plan is incredibly flexible – use it how you see fit, but currently the entire first floor is set up as a wicked studio space.

Check it out at www.65brookside.com. I’m happy to show it to you anytime. Just call me at 617-828-7956.

Story by Joseph Porcelli

After fifteen years as an award-winning restaurant, entertainment complex and neighborhood institution in the Boston area, (raising some $500,000.00+ during their tenure for local charities and non-profits), Bella Luna Restaurant and The Milky Way Lounge officially bid farewell to its current location of 403-405 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain on March 21, 2009.

Bella Luna Parade Video by Joe Porcelli

While March 21, 2009 will be the official last show at Centre Street, March 22, 2009 will mark the official “transfer of love” to their new location in style. The public is invited to join in the process which will include a New Orleans Style parade from the old location to the new. Guests of all ages are invited to gather at the current location of 403-405 Centre Street at 1:00pm for a farewell ceremony with the parade slated to begin at 2:00pm. The parade will include stilt walkers, performers of all kinds and marching bands including: Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band and Bloco Afro Brazil! Guests are asked to bring their own musical instruments if they’d like to help make some noise, as well as, umbrellas, signs and anything else they’d like to add to the festive nature of the 7-block long march. The parade will conclude with cupcakes and hot chocolate at the new location.”We’re looking forward to all our friends and regulars joining us for this fun event rain or shine,” said Carol Downs,” Co-Owner,” and we welcome any new friends to join in as well in this historic celebration and parade.”

By now everyone knows that Bella Luna has been working on a new space in Building D of the Brewery complex owned by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC). The new restaurant consists of over 100 seats, a more substantial bar than the current location, a small area for live entertainment and a great outdoor seating area under the historic Haffenreffer smokestack.

Proposed rendering for new Bella Luna location

As a neighbor of the Brewery complex I’m really excited about Bella Luna coming to our neighborhood. We’ve always been big fans of Bella Luna & the Milky Way. I’ve probably eaten my weight in pizza there. I’ll miss the old basement watering hole, but the new space looks great and appears to have a lot of potential. The idea of having a real bona fide bar to belly up to sounds great. I hope they get some good draft beers from local breweries.

At a community meeting on Dec. 2^nd, Kathy Mainzer unveiled some of the interior design and materials for the new restaurant. It appears to be a very eclectic mix of materials and textures befitting of Bella Luna’s neo-hippy style. Mainzer seemed a tad bit miffed at The JPNDCs construction/project manager, Andy Waxman. It seems that maybe the size of the restaurant has been widdled down a bit by the girth of the foundations that hold up the massive structure. Mainzer quipped, “we’ll still be paying the same rents, though”. Mainzer just received a variance from the city to stay open and serve liquor till 1 am seven nights a week. A few residents in the Brewery District, especially those on Merriam Street sounded some displeasure with this. They are not only concerned about the noise from the business itself, but the “bwerp-bwurp” from car alarms as folks come and go, and the slamming of the dumpster very early in the morning. They are justified in their concerns, I think. However, Mainzer and her crew have a pretty good track record of working with the neighborhood to satisfactory resolve issues.

Mainzer outlined a plan that included (nightly?) jazz trios and such as well as dare-I-say, bluegrass and country brunch? Country music and eggs – my favorite!

The big questions for me as a neighbor, a Brookside Neighborhood Association board member, and a nosy environmentalist all have to do with the parking/traffic/landscaping related issues revolving around the Brewery renovations in general. None of these issues are the responsibility of Bella Luna or Mainzer other than being a party to the process and a local business and home owner.

Proposed site plan for the JPNDC Brewery complex

The current plan [shown here - click image for larger view] calls for the main pedestrian and vehicular traffic to utilize the Amory Street entrance. The plan shows some 99 parking spaces between the combined parking lots. My concerns are with the impact of traffic and parking outside of the Brewery property in addition to the environmental impacts of that much asphalt.

In a meeting with Andy Waxman and many of the JPNDC folk early on, long before this restaurant was even a twinkle in someone’s eye – it was pitched to the neighbors that many of the people who use the Brewery would be coming from the train and on foot from other parts of JP. It turns out this was at least partially true. The main foot traffic comes from the diagonal Southwest Corridor path that leads from Stony Brook T station to Amory Street. The problem is that this area has been neglected for so long that none of the sidewalks are compliant in any way. They are cracked and falling apart including the light poles. The bases are literally falling apart and have crumbled away. There has been a conversation taking place for about two years now to have a crosswalk here. The traffic uses this stretch of Amory as a racetrack. My dog actually got hit by a car here and the guy didn’t even stop. My wife had to recoil in order to avoid being hit.

Secondly, the JPNDC has given us the gift of asphalt. I’m no surveyor, but I’d say they’ve probably added a good solid acre of asphalt. Not to mention they have almost no foliage in their plan. For the sake of a visual barrier for the lot on Merriam and for heat island effect mitigation, there needs to be a lot more thought involved with the landscape architecture for this project. It seems to me that the JPNDC, and all contemporary developers, need to spend more time thinking about the less obvious ramifications of 6 acres of asphalt on the environment.