Between April and August 2026, three storefronts on West Newton's stretch of Washington Street got new tenants. One became a Mexican cantina, one a boba and bun shop, and one a coffee bar where a wine bar used to be. In late July, the private garage behind an office building on Chestnut Street opened to the public for the first time as a pilot. Under the pilot's August terms, its weekday public hours started at 5:30 p.m. Taken together, the changes show a village center whose busiest stretch is now the evening. Those evening hours center on the West Newton Cinema at 1296 Washington Street.
Two doors at the west end, both built for dinner
The western pair sits side by side. Crunch & Boba opened at 1385 Washington Street in early May, in the space Shogun used to occupy, according to Boston Restaurant Talk. The menu pairs milk tea with what Fig City News called Asian comfort food: steamed buns, rice bowls, dumplings and crispy wings. Mochi sticks and sesame balls cover dessert. City licensing minutes from February 24, 2026 list Kings Restaurant Group, LLC as the applicant doing business as Crunch & Boba.
Next door, at 1391, Mexicana Grill & Cantina was open by April 8, per Boston Restaurant Talk. This address has turned over before. It was The Local, then Burke's Alewerks, and then Ninebark Kitchen + Drinks, which closed in early 2026 after a little more than a year. The latest change kept the same operators. Fig City News reports that Antonio de Trizio and Nicolas Ruiz owned Ninebark and earlier ran Latina Kitchen & Bar in Needham. They switched the concept and stayed in the building. The menu covers the full range of a cantina: taquitos, enchiladas, fajitas, tortas and flautas, with churros, flan and margaritas. When last checked, its online ordering page showed a 4:15 p.m. opening. That puts the first seating close to the start of a weekday evening.
Both owners chose concepts that fill a table before a 6:30 p.m. film and can still take a party that walks out at nine.
One door near the cinema, converted for the afternoon
The third change sits close to the cinema and runs on a different clock. Moments Cafe held its grand opening at 1284 Washington Street on August 7, a week after a soft opening. The room used to be Flora's Wine Bar. Co-owner Tai Huynh, who runs the cafe with his wife, Phuong Nguyen, told the Newton Beacon that the couple "found Flora's Wine Bar up for sale, and we thought this neighborhood was missing a coffee shop." According to the Beacon, the conversion took mostly paint and furniture.
The menu goes past a standard espresso list. It has several matcha lattes and a hojicha latte, which the Beacon describes as only mildly caffeinated next to matcha. It also has an Einspänner, a cortado, a tiramisu latte and croffles, which are croissant dough pressed in a waffle iron and topped sweet or savory. Huynh's own order, he told the paper, is "just a regular hot latte."
This conversion went the opposite direction from the west end. A space that used to pour wine at night now serves the hours before dinner. On a cinema night, that gives the strip a second stop to pair with a screening, and a hojicha works for a 6:30 show without costing anyone sleep.
The cinema's fall calendar sets the evening's schedule
The new tenants are spread along the street, but the screen at 1296 sets the timing. The cinema's posted schedule for the rest of the fall runs mostly on weeknights at 6:30, with Sunday matinees mixed in:
- Thursday, October 15, 6:30 p.m. Producer's Circle: The Dreamer's Daughter
- Sunday, October 25, 1:00 p.m. Behind the Screen: Friday Night Lights
- Sunday, November 1, 6:30 p.m. Peter Pan Syndrome
- Wednesday, November 4, 6:30 p.m. Your Attention Please
- Thursday, November 12, 6:00 p.m. Ty Burr's Film Club: Seven Samurai
- Sunday, November 15, 1:00 p.m. Behind the Screen: La Bola Negra
- Wednesday, November 18, 6:30 p.m. The Same River Twice + Riverdogs, with the filmmaker
- Thursday, November 19, 6:30 p.m. Behind the Screen: Once Upon a Time in Harlem
- Friday, November 20, 6:30 p.m. Riverdogs + The Bend in the River, with the filmmaker
The October 2 event pointed in the same direction. Fig City News reported that Newton native Bill Lichtenstein would bring his WBCN documentary, The Airwaves Belonged to the People, home for a screening with a director Q&A. Several nights on the list include a conversation after the film, which keeps people in the village past the closing credits. The Seven Samurai night starts at 6:00 because the film runs long, and that leaves little time for dinner beforehand.
Why the parking pilot started at 5:30
The cinema ties all of this together, and it also prompted the City's only concrete parking change so far. Fig City News reported in August that Lauren Berman, Newton's director of economic development, started looking for more spaces after West Newton businesses raised parking as a recurring concern in meetings held after Mayor Marc Laredo took office. Berman named the West Newton Cinema as one of the businesses that pressed the issue hardest.
"There's a need for parking in West Newton," Berman told Fig City News.
The City connected with the owner of a garage that was already built. The garage at 24 Chestnut Street, across from the Police Annex, belongs to 1230 West Newton LLC. That company also owns the adjacent office building where Commodore Builders is based. Commodore CEO Joe Albanese, one of the owners, told Fig City News that the building holds nearly 90,000 square feet of office space for several hundred workers. Its garage had always served tenants.
An office garage is fullest during business hours and has open spaces once the workday ends. The pilot's schedule followed that pattern. These were the terms as reported in August:
- Public spaces: 55
- Weekday hours: 5:30 p.m. to midnight
- Weekend hours: 8 a.m. to midnight
- Rate: $3 an hour, with a $20 daily maximum
- Operator: LAZ Parking, hired by the owner
Under those terms, the garage opened to the public on weekdays an hour before most 6:30 screenings and about an hour after Mexicana's posted opening. On weekends, when the office is closed, it opened in the morning in time for Sunday matinees. The weekday hours fit a cinema night closely.
According to Fig City News, public access required new access control, tracking and security systems plus insurance changes, and the owner expected the investment to total several hundred thousand dollars. Berman called the arrangement "a shining example of a business going above and beyond." To her knowledge, it is the only private garage in Newton being opened to the public this way.
What is still unsettled about the garage
The pilot started in late July and was scheduled to run about two months, ending around late September. The owner and LAZ planned to use that period to measure demand and decide whether public operation could pay for itself. Berman told Fig City News that a permanent decision belongs to 1230 West Newton LLC, not the City. As of mid-October we have found no public announcement saying whether the pilot was extended, made permanent or ended. Before a November screening, check signage at the Chestnut Street entrance rather than relying on the August terms.
The answer matters because of how the street now works. Crunch & Boba and Mexicana opened next door to each other in former dinner spaces at 1385 and 1391. Moments turned a wine bar into an afternoon stop near the screen. The cinema's fall calendar fills most weeknights at 6:30. The garage pilot was the first test of whether a daytime office building could also serve the village at night, and its weekday hours of 5:30 p.m. to midnight matched that evening schedule.
At The Agency Boston, we follow Newton's village centers block by block, from a wine bar becoming a cafe at 1284 Washington Street to an office garage opening after hours on Chestnut Street, and we bring that same street-level detail to every consultation. If you are thinking about West Newton, or what the evening on Washington Street could mean for your own address, request a complimentary consultation.
