Owl Station
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In the 1960s, 28 West Broadway was the Transit Café, headquarters for the loansharking Killeen gang. But by the 1980s, the place had reopened as Triple O's, named for the three O'Neil brothers who ran it. This is where ex-boxer Kevin Weeks worked as a bouncer before joining the Bulger gang, and where Whitey Bulger held court. He liked the ambience of a second-floor room upstairs — its grit and darkness were good for shakedowns, murder plots, and meetings with the nascent IRA. Here, a bookie named Louis Litif was escorted to Bulger and killed. Despite all that, local old-timers remember the old Triple O's as the safest place in the 'hood. "If you messed with anyone, you were out on the street," they say. These days this spot is Owl Station, a slick sushi joint that serves up maki and sashimi until just before the 2 am closing time. The floor-to-ceiling windows look out on a soon-to-open Starbucks.
Owl Station, 28 West Broadway :: 617.269.1611
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, Southie, South Boston, Whitey Bulger
