The Busy Bee Restaurant on the north side of Beacon Street near its intersection with Carlton Street is Brookline's oldest existing restaurant.* It opened in 1955 and was taken over by the current owners a dozen years later.
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| Advertisement announcing the grand opening of Busy Bee. Brookline Citizen, April 14, 1955, p7. |
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| Busy Bee Restaurant, 1046 Beacon Street, today (from Busy Bee website) |
The commercial building (1040-1054 Beacon) housing Busy Bee marked its 100th anniversary last year. Busy Bee's location in the middle of the block of storefronts was the site of a variety of businesses -- including one featuring miniature bowling! -- before the first of a series of short-lived restaurants opened there in 1949.
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| This article and advertisement for miniature bowling at 1046 Beacon Street ran in the Brookline Citizen on February 11 and February 18, 1938. (Click for larger view) |
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| Advertisements for restaurants that preceded Busy Bee at 1046 Beacon Street: Danny's (1949); Margo's (1950); and Fitzpatrick's (1952) (Click for larger view) |
But while Busy Bee is the oldest existing restaurant, there is one Brookline storefront that has been a restaurant location -- though not the same restaurant -- for even longer than has 1046 Beacon Street. In fact, this location will mark 100 years of continuous operation as one restaurant or another in 2023.
Can you guess where it is? (Hint: You may not think of this address as being in Brookline. See the comments below for some guesses, including the correct one.)
