Residents and Selectmen Target South Norwood’s Bar Concentration-August 10, 1985

Efforts Underway to Revitalize Washington Street Commercial Strip While Officials Examine Legal Avenues to Revoke Inactive Liquor Licenses

The half-mile-long stretch of Washington Street in South Norwood lined with bars has become the focus of a concerted revitalization effort by local residents, merchants, and town selectmen who want to improve the area. Residents and business owners in the mixed ethnic neighborhood have been working together to breathe new life into the district known to old-timers as “The Flats.” However, stakeholders emphasize that the task is complicated by the presence of ten bars that have clustered along Washington Street from Tremont Street to Dean Street for over two decades. “As long as I remember we’ve been talking about this. The town has too many licenses for such a short distance,” said Olga Abdallah, owner of South End Hardware Co. and a former selectman serving on the local improvement committee. While noting that some establishments have upgraded into respectable restaurant businesses, fellow committee member John Howard added, “To a certain extent they keep the area down… There’s never going to be a bank, a drugstore or a sporting goods store around there” due to customer hesitations.

In response to community concerns, Board of Selectmen Chairman John Kinnaly asked Town Counsel Justin Barton during this week’s meeting to investigate the possibility of revoking liquor licenses tied to two inactive establishments: the Headquarters Cafe and Dundulis’ Lunch. “We keep trying to cut down on bars in the area,” Kinnaly said. “It’s been a problem and a real headache over the years, particularly for police after closing hours.” The Headquarters Cafe was destroyed by a fire in the spring, while Dundulis’ has remained shuttered since its owner, Walenty Gil, was sentenced to state prison in Walpole for the 1982 murders of his estranged wife and her boyfriend-bartender. Kinnaly argued that because the businesses have been closed for so long, their permits effectively serve as “pocket licenses” that should be rescinded.

Revoking liquor licenses, however, has historically proven legally complex. In 1982, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) overturned the board’s decision to revoke the Dundulis license following the double murder, a legal battle that remains under appeal in Superior Court. Donald Matrow, assistant to the ABCC, noted that while selectmen are “not impotent by any means,” they must provide “hard cold facts to back up their case” and would be on “tenuous grounds” trying to strip the Headquarters Cafe’s license without documented violations. To manage the overconcentration, Selectman William Butters suggested a policy of informing new license applicants that none are available while encouraging them to purchase and transfer one of the South Norwood licenses to another part of town.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger