Favorite restaurants that are no longer there (Boston, Lowell: headhunter, taxes)

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They were once stolen from the Route 1 location in Saugus Mass as a prank but were returned.

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There was a Lums in Braintree Mass but closed and became a Chinese Rest.

[495neighbor]

One of the last of the Friendly's, closed in Sudbury, as of last month

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Originally Posted by momoffive

hey, crazyworld, you are not talking about venetion gardens are you? i believe it was on mass ave where mass ave and columbia road meet... we used to go when we were (very) young i thing a friend of my mother's or possibly an aunt worked there.

I remember the Venetion, had a little bar in it as you entered the place. Ate there many times. Located near Edward Everett Square where I used to live on the Roxbury / Dorchester line.

The old meat market was down the street where I used to work.

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Originally Posted by Nubnlady

I sure miss the seafood and onion rings. Dudley Station was changed forever without everyone's place to grub.

I used to hang around Dudley and remember the aroma of Freddie Parkers filling Dudley Street Station. Around the corner on Dudley was a small sub shop called Spinellis, good subs at a cheap price.

I used to play B-ball at the Dudley Baptist Church, next to the Rivoli Theater.

Still think of those days as the best years of my life

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Originally Posted by anncat

Filenes Basement back in the late 60's was great. $5 dresses at lunch time and the $8 bathing suit Sales.
Do you remember Gilchrists? Had the best macaroon cookies and cream cheese on datenut bread on the menu - can you imagine it is actually forbidden food now. Somehow back then it was good for you.
Jordan's blueberry muffins were awesome, always brought some home after a
trip to Boston.

Oh my goodness can go on and on about all this and to think I was teen in the 60's. As someone said we are becoming are parents and grandparents
tripping down memory lane this time.

My mother used to work at the WT Grants luncheonette, we lived in Roxbury and once in awhile, especially at Christmas time would go to the Jordan Marsh toy department across the street and stare at the train set ups they would have.

After, I would go across the street to WT Grants and my mother would make me a Banana Split. After I would take the Orange Line Subway home from Summer Street to Northampton Street.

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Originally Posted by goyguy

Ground Round was a chain (regional?) that gradually went extinct but was mostly a thing of the past by the turn of the century. Well do I recall also the ones in Prudential Center, and in Cambridge between Harvard and Porter Squares. (Overpriced but popular "Changsho" took over the latter location.) The holdout until just a few years ago was at the northwest arc of the Fresh Pond Rotary.
The main claim to fame of the Ground Rounds wasn't their food but their happy hours, much the same as was the case with the defunct Aku-Aku's in Kenmore Square and by Alewife Station (site of the present-day Summer Shack.) When those went away so did many of their loyal customers.

There was one located in Braintree near 5 corners. When my 3 daughters were young, my wife and I would take them there from our Dorchester home and have dinner at least once a month, prices were reasonable but the best part was the free popcorn and peanuts in the shell.

Before our meal came we had peanut shells all over the floor which management didn't seem to care about.

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Originally Posted by goyguy

Discussed all of 4 days ago. But that's OK 'cause this thread goes WAY back and nobody with a life would be expected to read through the whole thing.
What really put Shrewsbury on the map was Spag's. Never mind that one of the few things they didn't sell was prepared food. "Home DeLowe's" and the other big-box stores which killed it just aren't the same.

Since this thread is intended to cover the entirety of the Bay State, I appreciate the westward diversion of its focus. Now it's time to take that ball and run with it all the way to the Pioneer Valley. Out there the places I remember (and now lament the loss of) include:

Taco Villa (Amherst & Northampton): I've found no other "Mexican-American" joint anywhere that serves crispy crunchy crinkle-cut fries along with burritos, enchiladas, or whatever.

Goten's (North Amherst & Hadley): A yummy and unique take on Japanese food. Because their free-standing restaurant was considered expensive - and wasn't near a PVTA bus route - I never got to it. But they had a take-out window at Hampshire Mall where I wolfed down many a snack or meal.

Carbur's (Hadley): A kinda fun place for college kids to play grown-up in (and hope their fake ID's worked ) with its "dressy casual" atmosphere and high-backed chairs. The menu was extensive but not too expensive, the food good but not memorably so.

Beardsley's (Amherst): The big, bright yellow, Victorian house just around the corner from the common on Main St still stands. But the slightly yet "accessibly" upscale place-to-take-your-parents inside is a thing of the past.

JB's Roast Beef (Amherst): This hole in the wall was toward the east end of the row of shops directly opposite the common, and BOY were the sandwiches and shoestring fries deelish there! It got lots of love, but was in existence for three years if that.

Paddington's (Northampton): It wasn't named for the English teddy bear, but for the Hampshire College graduate who had some money to throw around and decided to watch it disappear by opening a pizzeria. The product was served on little pedestals resembling those which bakeries use to display cakes, and even if you were alone and ordered a "large" there were rarely leftovers. The za's were that good. But Ms Paddington Matz's business acumen wasn't, and her eponymous restaurant was history before long.

Sze's (Northampton & Springfield): The "awesomest" fake Chinese food, anywhere, ever!

Went to Spags many a time, especially when I took the family to Sunset Beach near White City. We would stop for last minute supplies for our cookout at the lake. Had many family reunions once a year at Sunset, that got bigger and bigger as our young kids grew up and had their growing families.

An elderly couple owned the place but as years went by they passed on and left it to their daughters who didn't have the same passion to run it. I think it faded out or got sold as prime property on the lake.

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Originally Posted by goyguy

Affirmative, they called it quits last fall. Google the "Brockton Enterprise" or "Patriot Ledger" for the exact dates and accompanying articles. Last I heard the owners were going to hold onto the building and rent it out for private functions, for which they'll continue to offer what was said to be a famous salad.

Had a friend named Bob Norton whose sister was a waitress there, they sponsored a softball team that he played on. Yep, Christo's famous salad was their draw.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

One of the last of the Friendly's, closed in Sudbury, as of last month

That's a good thing, right? Their food was gross! The bad part is now we will have a vacant eyesore for the next year until a new tenant moves in. *sigh* So many shuttered storefronts on Rt-20 it's depressing. I just avoid that part of town now unless I need to buy groceries.