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Say the word “Harvard Avenue,” and something different pops up in the mind of anyone who has passed through Allston. The savory taste of cheese bread from a Brazilian bakery. The bubble tea shop that you and your friends burst into moments before it closes. The old man that you practice your Spanish with as he tells you about his daughters and his home country of Guatemala. Electric nights dancing at a bar.
Say the word “Harvard Avenue,” and an image of life appears painted with different colors, forms, and characters on a canvas that takes the form of a street.
“It’s a destination area. It’s an area people know about. It’s a place that people have come to for the restaurants, for the businesses, for the atmosphere. You kind of know what you’re gonna get. Allston is very distinct,” says Allston-Brighton resident Lisa Weber, who has been coming to the area for almost twenty years.
Seven months ago, Weber began taking lessons at the Boston Martial Arts Center. Before her first sample lesson, she walked into Regeneration Tattoo and got a tattoo. On the same day, she also stopped by Ritual Arts where she has shopped for candles for over 15 years. All of this took place in the same building on 149-175 Harvard Avenue — better known as the Gordon Building.
A recent change in ownership of the building has led to increases in rent and introduced parking costs of $300 per spot for the tenants. Subsequently, over the past month, all three businesses that Weber frequents and many more in the building have announced that they are either closing or moving out.
As these storefronts shut their doors, we spent the day learning about the businesses in the Gordon Building and the people that brought it to life.
Within almost every business we enter, we find fingerprints of another. A sticker of the vintage store on the first floor in the nail tech upstairs. A grey parrot from the pet shop perched behind the counter of a store that sells crystal balls, scented candles, and tarot readings. Plants in the insurance agency from the business from next door. Stickers that read “We are One” on many storefronts given to them from a passerby.
And the camaraderie isn’t just limited to the business owners themselves. Everyone spoke fondly of their relationship with the building’s previous owner, Gerald “Gerry” Gordon, who has owned the building for decades.
Gordon kept their rents at an affordable rate and made parking free. When the COVID-19 pandemic, he sent a memo telling businesses not to worry about rent when they were forced to shut down.
Beyond that, he also brought them into his life. He would leave clowns, which his dad would collect, for Jenny Johnson, who owns Wild Tiger Nails, because he knew she also loved clowns. Some of the business owners also attended his late wife’s funeral.
Two years ago, to express their appreciation, many of the owners chipped in to invite Gordon to dinner at a country club. Along with the dinner, they gifted him a cake decorated with an image of the building along with a model and watercolor painting of it.
And while the change in ownership has not been easy for many of the businesses, the owners we talked to told us that there are no hard feelings between them and Gordon. They understood that it must have been a difficult decision for him to sell the building.
As the future of the building remains uncertain, Scott Matalon, president of the non-profit Allston Village Main Streets, which is also located in that building, likens being a building owner to owning a garden.
“What’s important to you? Are you extracting as much on the bills as possible, or are you helping the kind of businesses that are going to be destination businesses?,” he says.
“People don’t drive all the way to Allston to eat at the pizza shop on the corner. They come here for these unique destination businesses, so if you see yourself as a gardener, you would want to cultivate at least some of these.”
Pets, metaphysical supplies, nail art, tattoos, and insurance — all of those were being exchanged under one roof at the Gordon Building. Below are four narratives that recount the histories, stories, friendships, and personalities of shop owners who have spent their years loving Harvard Avenue and each other.
“Lifers” — Jim Gentile, The Pet Shop (165 Harvard Ave)
When we enter The Pet Shop, an Oreo-patterned cat is perched from her cardboard throne at the front of the store. Next to her, two Newfoundland dogs, who span as the store aisle’s width, greet us. Behind the counter stands their owner, Jim Gentile. Local pet shops, he explains, harbor a special sort of knowledge that is harder to come by at larger chains, such as Petco.
You’ve got a friend in me — Toni Fanning, Ritual Arts (153 Harvard Ave), and Jenny Johnson, Wild Tiger Studios (161 Harvard Ave Suite 12)
Toni Fanning, owner of Ritual Arts simply needs to walk out of her store and go up one flight of stairs for her appointment with nail artist Jenny Johnson. These appointments between Fanning and Johnson, who owns Wild Tiger Studios, have become a ritual for the two friends. We meet the pair for Fanning’s latest appointment, where she is getting her nails painted to resemble pufferfish.
“What I do lasts forever” — Danny Kingphilavanh, Regeneration Tattoo (155 Harvard Ave)
An old brush painting of a tiger on one side, a printed photo of a man with the phrase “It’s always darkest before the dawn” written in marker on the other, and, in between, an abundance of tattoo designs fill the walls at Regeneration Tattoo. 2Pac’s “All Eyez on Me” plays, while a trio of friends lollygag at the waiting area, excited to get a tattoo together. We spoke with Danny Kingphilavanh, co-owner of Regeneration Tattoo, which is closing after the day ends on July 26.
Family ties — Tatyana Shtein, Best Choice Insurance Agency (163 Harvard Avenue)
The insurance agency owner says with conviction, “Now I’m leaving again. Not for long, Allston. You wait until I come back bigger and stronger.”
Family, to Shtein, is not defined simply by blood: family extends to the customers of Best Choice Insurance Agency, to her coworkers and to her neighbors in the Gordon Building, many of whom are insured by her: “It’s a building full of the most friendliest, nicest, hardworking people here.”
