In the last few days, there have been some changes at 215 Hanover Street. Last week, Sophia Anderson created a stir by violating the sign conditions she accepted to get her Fortune Teller permit.
The neon signs she initially put up have been replaced by painted gold lettering on a purple oval board with lights shining down. The current signs are the ones she described at neighborhood meetings.
Visits by neighborhood representatives seemed to encourage the change.
The psychic business is up and running. I asked a woman coming out of the shop about her “reading.” She made a grimace and said she needed a drink.
Comment removed at author’s request.
I agree with everything you say about quality of life issues in the North End and Boston in general. Although I don’t live in Boston anymore I remember the North End as a wonderful place with the best food and shops anyone could wish for. Only one thing doesn’t ring true to me about this story. As I remember, people would leave all manner of lawn chairs, crates, cones and barrels in the street to save parking spaces after a snowstorm. At various points in the day the streets would look like a dumping ground for these items. I would much rather see a well designed sandwich board near the curb than a beat up garbage can in a parking space. Perhaps I’ve been away too long and this practice has been addressed. Is there a permit process for claiming public property in the street itself?
Did you see the Channel 4 news @ 11 PM about Sophia? Now she has hired a lawyer and is screaming discrimination because people have threatend to run her out of the neighborhood and Modern Pastry and other places that have been here for a hundred years have neon signs. Give me a break. She got her license, she took down the neon. She should focus on her business and not on pissing people off even more. I give her 4 months till she closes anyway.