Combat Zone, Boston

The Combat Zone was the name given in the 1960s to the adult entertainment district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Centered on Washington Street between Boylston Street and Kneeland Street, the area was once the site of many strip clubs, peep shows, X-rated movie theaters, and adult bookstores. It also had a reputation for crime, including prostitution.

In 1974, in an attempt to contain the spread of adult businesses, the Boston Redevelopment Authority officially designated the Combat Zone as the city's adult entertainment district. For a variety of reasons, such as rising property values and the introduction of home video technology, most of the adult businesses in the area have since closed, and the "Combat Zone" moniker has become obsolete.

Today, the area is part of Chinatown and features extensive recent redevelopment. Between Boylston Street and Lagrange Street are several 2000s-era residential highrise buildings, while south of Lagrange Street are a wide variety of Asian cuisine restaurants (including Malay, Vietnamese, and Chinese) and other small shops occupy historic storefronts.

The name "Combat Zone" was popularized through a series of exposé articles on the area written by Jean Cole in the 1960s for the Boston Daily Record. The name had a double meaning: not only was the area known for crime and violence, but many soldiers and sailors on shore leave from the Charlestown (Boston) Navy Yard would frequent the many strip clubs and brothels in uniform, giving the streets the appearance of a war zone.

The Combat Zone began to form in the early 1960s, when city officials razed the West End and former red light district at Scollay Square, near Faneuil Hall, to build the Government Center urban renewal project. Displaced Scollay Square denizens relocated to the lower Washington Street area because it was only half a mile away, the rents were low, and the residents of nearby Chinatown lacked the political power to keep them out. Originally, there was an attempt to name the area Liberty Tree Neighborhood after the Liberty Tree that once stood in the area, but the name did not catch on.

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