Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.
This Friday the Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub opens Sonia, a new rock club in the space formerly occupied by T.T. The Bear’s Place. To celebrate the occasion, the Central Square Business Association is placing a spotlight on the Middle East via its Twitter and Instagram accounts (#CSBAMiddleEastWeek), detailing the venue’s storied history of arts and culture.
This afternoon, the CSBA tweeted out and posted a pretty cool photo of the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Brookline Street, taken a few years before the Middle East officially opened for business.
“@mideastclub was originally founded in 1968 at 4 Brookline St. At the time, it only seated about 24 people,” reads the caption of CSBA’s Instagram post, seen below. “In 1974, current owner Nabil Sater and his family purchased the restaurant and two neighboring spaces and began expanding. The next year, a supper club was formed, where traditional Middle Eastern jazz musicians would play live at the restaurant.”
Long before Billy Ruane came along, there was your typical neighborhood packie, and long before there was ZuZu, there was Santoro’s deli. And though a lot on that corner has changed, some things haven’t, as the Middle East still carries plenty of Bud and ‘Gansett.