"People look at the outside and they have towonder about the inside, but it's not about that,"Redding said. "It's about the spirit of theplace."

Loyalty to the club runs high. One long-timefan wrote a postcard to Connolly's from his homein Florida, asking the management to "save him abrick."

The bar opened as Murray's Cafe in 1935,following the end of Prohibition, and acted as asocial center in what was a mostly Irish-Germanneighborhood.

James M. Connolly acquired the establishment in1955 and introduced Lower Roxbury's jazz craze tohis bar.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood underwent adramatic demographic shift, as a largely blackpopulation moved in, which patrons said aided thejazz movement.

All political efforts to save Connolly's appearto have failed. Crayton, who lobbied forConnolly's before the Landmark Commission,expressed disappointment with the proceedings.

He said the decision was made with neither henor Connolly's owners present.

According to Crayton, the eviction will goforward despite the fact that the BRA does nothave an actual proposal for the replacementshopping mall