In Roslindale Square, across from a small park that hosts the neighborhood’s weekly farmer’s market and summer senior yoga sessions, is the Substation. For 60 years, it was a power station for Boston’s electric trolleys. When those were replaced by buses and subways, the station stood empty for nearly half a century. Ask the locals and they’ll say they remember it as a dark empty building on the corner by the library, beautiful in a historical way, but neglected.
Now, after years of community discussion and a massive renovation, the Substation has become an entirely different kind of landmark. A short staircase leads into a massive open space that seems part greenhouse, part social hall, and part museum. Despite the ornate floor to ceiling windows, echoing acoustics, and 35-foot ceilings, one thing the space doesn’t resemble is a solemn old New England church. Instead, there’s a buzz in the air, as though the space is now powering relationships instead of trolleys. On any given weekend you’ll find couples on first dates, young professionals forging friendships, and families catching up after the daycare run while their kids play in the corners. The new and improved Substation began as a coworking office and has quickly expanded into a community hub that hosts yoga, book sales, local arts performances, club nights, and a variety of other events. There’s a home-y, community vibe now, in a space that used to be the neighborhood’s haunted relic. The centerpiece of it all is arguably good, local beer.
Substation owners Adam Rogoff and Laura Charles are both long-time Roslindale residents with a particular dedication to creating a healthy, holistic, diverse community. They’ve created a gathering space that is an excellent place for new businesses to gain professional footing, starting with the breweries who spend three to six months manning the bar installed in the main floor of the ‘Station. These are all locally owned, community-oriented beer crafters, carefully selected to match the ethos of the space and the community it serves.
In fact, the first brewer hosted by the Substation was Brockton Beer Co., the 6th Black-owned Brewery in all of Massachusetts. Adam points out that Brockton’s time at the Substation was a boon for Roslindale’s ethnically diverse population as well as a benefit for the brewers. Breweries, he says, are seen as traditionally white businesses, but the beer residency program has created ways to make the space open to broader communities beyond traditional stereotypes of brewers or even just beer. Not only were Brockton’s beers beloved, but according to Laura, “They were able to train staff and learn about running a space as they finished up construction on their own tap room”. Now, they run their own successful space in a nearby community, which the Substation played a very real role in helping them prepare for.
Other resident brewers include Turtle Swamp Brewing (not closed), Jack’s Abby, and Vitamin Sea Brewing , all of whom are headquartered in Massachusetts. Local food vendors like Black-owned sandwich shop Breakfast Ninjas pop up and serve fusion soul-food breakfasts for dinner. Local musicians, often connected to nearby Berklee College of Music, take advantage of the vaulted natural acoustics. The idea is that business is community, and the Substation creates opportunities for local businesses to grow together and form genuine connections to the people in Roslindale.
The genesis of all of this, Adam says, was a commitment “to honor the space” and its place in the community. Andrea Sheehey, community engagement manager for the current resident brewer, Vitamin Sea Brewing, reflects that in her thoughts as well. She notes that most of the people she talks to on the weekend say they live “next door or right down the street. They embrace us and we embrace them.”
If you ask Rozzie locals, the feeling is mutual. Eric, who moved to Boston from Florida 14 years ago, likes that the space is truly unique in its community feel and the variety it provides. He and his wife drop into the Substation every weekend to sample new beers, play cards with friends, or just read a book for a while. They’re not the only ones. People from the neighborhood hang out in pairs, in groups, and on their own.
The Substation has become Roslindale’s premier ‘third place.’ The term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in the 1980s describes a space where people can be together and connect to each other that isn’t work or home. Many of the patrons at the Substation’s beer residencies describe the concept perfectly without knowing it by name. It’s where they go to see friends, bump into other locals, and feel connected to the neighborhood. Glen and Mimi, a couple who live a few minutes walk away, say it’s the kind of place that you think of coming to more every time you visit. It’s an easy, low-key experience that gives more than it demands.
Caitlin, who comes every week to chat with her girlfriends, is gluten-free and can’t have beer. Despite that, she orders seltzer alongside her friends’ IPAs and stouts, and kicks back at one of the long wooden tables. Her friend Gwyneth points out that for those who’ve lived in the neighborhood for a long time, seeing the space transform from an abandoned relic to a lively, beautiful community hub has been really encouraging. People support it because they want to see more transformation in the neighborhood, energize their community, and give their relationships a charge.