Boston

The other day I was up in Boston, and except for the soon-to-open Mandarin and the hot new just-opened Apple Store (photo below), the city felt as if it hadn't changed a bit. Here's a basic rundown of how my morning there went:

7:53 a.m. - Land a Logan. A breeze getting downtown.

8:50 a.m. - Ramming around Back Bay. "Wow," I think to myself. "I've been here an hour and haven't seen anyone smiling."

8:56 a.m. - Ran into my old neighbor outside the Pru. My friend John was making bets on how long it would be before I ran into someone who said, "Hey, haven't seen you in a few weeks. Where ya been?" Only took an hour.

9:01 a.m. - On Columbus Ave., across the street from my old apartment, the same woman is STILL loitering outside her building with her baby-in-a-baby-carriage. Still seems sinister. Some things never change.

9:15 a.m. - Finally a smile! Does it matter that it's in a cafe where they're paid to smile at you? (I shouldn't be so quick to judge. Even I revert to an insta-scowl here!)

9:30 a.m. - Outside the South End Buttery, a recent arrival to the neighborhood comments, "Are there a lot of dogs here?" as two pups lunge at each other in a minor spat. (Oh honey, just check out The South End is Over for your answer!).

9:34 a.m. - I give up writing down my thoughts since this could go on all day...

Posted by Sebastian / Boston / May 20, 2008 /
 

Spotted in Boston

I love passive-aggressive signs!

Posted by Sebastian / Boston / May 18, 2008 /
 

Tremont 647

Having spent the better part of my income for many years at Sister Sorel/Tremont 647 in Boston, I feel well qualified to complain about the quality of the food. (Full disclosure: once coming to this realization, I did mostly stick to the hefeweizen.) 647 is one of those places no gourmand can stop raving about, and that every food magazine has to gush about, at least once per issue. Boston magazine is the latest to fall victim to this trend, calling it, "the kind of place where one could easily imagine becoming a regular." Am I the only one who can't stand the food? It seems like everything tastes smoky -- and not in a good way. But I suppose that with the amount of booze flowing at the bar, no one really notices how awful the food is. Just as well.

Posted by Sebastian / March 2, 2008 /
 

"If you lived here, you’d be pretentious by now”

One of the best and most controversial blogs in a long time is The South End is Over, a scathing but I think fairly accurate assessment of the evolution of Boston's hippest neighborhood -- and my home for three years -- from gritty to gayborhood to yuppieville.

The blog has attracted not only the ire of those it criticizes, but the interest of Boston Magazine, which recently ran an article inspired by it, The South End is So Over.

"You wouldn’t know it from the thriving businesses or the still-hot real estate market, but there is a growing chorus of Bostonians who believe this has been the year the South End as they knew and loved it died, became hopelessly passé, jumped the shark. These critics—disaffected current or former residents, mostly—contend that the neighborhood has rapidly declined from an über-hip, multicultural melting pot into rich, white-bread uniformity, a shift that proves our city deserves its reputation as an unstylish, provincial burg irredeemably stratified by race and class...If the South End was Boston’s last great chance to put a star on the national coolness map, the argument goes, then we blew it, quickly overdeveloping everything wonderful about it into oblivion."

As one resident told the magazine, “It’s lost all the things that made it Boston’s coolest place to live...Now it’s where rich people go to buy the experience of being hip, without actually being hip.”

When I was attending Boston University, long after the first wave of gentrification had hit the South End, the neighborhood felt decidedly "authentic" (whatever that means) -- vast blocks of public housing coexisted with rehabbed brownstones, dark alleys still played host to plentiful sketchiness, and gay men by far outnumbered married couples and yuppies. By the time I moved to Columbus Ave. in 2003, the area had been spruced up further, but still retained a bit of grit -- who hadn't been mugged at one time or another while living in the South End? When I finally moved out in 2006, the chic shops had begun to hit Tremont Street, and the too-trendy restaurants far outnumbered the neighborhood's crappy cheap-eats options. It felt almost like Disneyfication was happening. The latest wave of gentrification has only accelerated the changes, and visiting Boston today depresses me a bit -- parts of the South End feel way too polished. As the author wonders, "Is this progress?"

Posted by Sebastian / December 1, 2007 /
 

Boys of Boston

One thing I miss terribly about Boston is Sister Sorel. I've not found any bar like it in New York, so last night my posse and I headed there and spent hours and hours holding court. (Before I get emails asking me what on earth I'm wearing below, I'll just say it was on sale -- 70% off + 20% off at the register! -- at Holt Renfrew last weekend. It's allegedly a very fashionable zip-up in certain circles. And as for the hair, don't ask.)

Posted by Sebastian / August 1, 2007 /

Back to Boston

I came back to Boston for a quick trip to see some of my hottest friends and had a blast. I took the water taxi from Logan (the only way to arrive), then wandered through the Public Garden, past the swan boats and into Back Bay where the city was as clean and prim and proper as ever. There was even a string quartet playing on Newbury Street; how civilized ye olde Boston remains!

The more things stay the same, the more they stay the same: Why is Francesca's on Tremont Street still unable to create a Rice Krispy square that is actually crispy? (This battle of man vs. crisped rice has been going on in the South End for at least eight years, and I'd like to see some resolution.)

Over at Jae's on Columbus, next door to my old apartment, they remembered me as soon as I walked in and the takeout guy asked where I'd been (as he should; I ate there 3-4 times a week for at least three years!). Earlier in the day, darting across Boylston by the soon-to-be Mandarin Oriental, I ran into two long lost friends.

I suppose this is where Boston excels, if not always in its friendliness then in its small community feel. You immediately feel reconnected when you're back. That said, I lived in Boston long enough to know that I needed to leave it, partially because that small town feel can come to feel stifling. But as I wandered around my old neighborhood, I admit I felt a certain sense of longing for my old apartment and my old roof deck and my old bar.

Posted by Sebastian / August 1, 2007 /

Greetings from Paradise! Can I come home now?

I'm a sap for a sentimental article about life in Boston. And I can always tell a good one when I save it to my hard drive for safekeeping. In this month's Boston magazine, there's one such piece about a Bostonian who left the hub and moved to Dubai, returned, then left again, yet found himself musing about life in Boston the entire time: "It took moving to an unabashedly modern wonderland halfway around the world to make me realize how much I love Boston."

"In Dubai there was no this-is-where-we-used-to-live or here-is-where-we-said-goodbye. The city is built on sand, a skyline where before there was none, and I liked that. A guy in a BMW, just passing through. As the man said, No yesterdays on the road. This is how it was for all of us there. You don’t so much go to Dubai as leave somewhere else. New buildings pop up, the surrounding dunes never the same shape twice, every day a fresh start."

"Ending a relationship and leaving home provoke similar sensations. The absence that follows you around. The need to demonstrate that you’re doing much better than okay. When I talked to friends in Boston, I’d be sure to mention the fancy car, the cocktails at the Shangri-La. Come the winter months, I’d call to ask them how the weather was, usually while I was sitting by the pool. It didn’t help. People would tell me about the stuff they were doing, the same stuff they’d done when I was there, nothing amazing. And that’s what bothered me. It bothered me that the Number 1 bus still rolled up and down Mass. Ave., that people went in and out of restaurants and bars. It was an unsettling feeling, things just going on without you. Somewhere between losing your keys and worrying about death."

I could keep quoting just about every line in the piece, but you should really read it for yourself.

Related: Boston, love it or leave it

Posted by Sebastian / May 14, 2007 /
 

Phoebe Dog!

My friend Mike sent me this fabulous shot of his personality-filled dog, whom he incorrectly spells Pheobie, at the finish line of today's rainy Boston Marathon. She looks cuter than my friend John probably did when he crossed the finish line after a speedy four-hour run today. Congrats, John, for doing something I would never dare to do. (Because I am sane.)

Posted by Sebastian / Sports / April 16, 2007 /
 

Boston

I just got back from Boston, where the city is looking more chic than ever. Boylston Street is seeing much of the action, like the new facade on the ugly mass of Lord & Taylor, and next door, the huge new Mandarin Oriental which is quickly rising in what has always been just a vacant lot. Across the street from the Mandarin will be the new Apple Store. Yay!



And my old neighborhood, where just seven years ago I feared to tread, is increasingly posh. Even in the ten months since I moved away, the changes in the South End have been very visible, with lots of new shops and restaurants and new construction popping up everywhere. But luckily, the beauty of the hot neighborhood's side streets and the Victorian brownstones that line them remains unchanged.

Posted by Sebastian / November 25, 2006 /

Back to Boston

"I have just returned from Boston. It is the only sane thing to do if you find yourself up there," Fred Allen once famously quipped. Indeed I just returned from four days in Boston but I didn't really want to leave -- everything was perfect! I've been away from the city for a few months now, and changes in that short span are evident everywhere. Building is proceeding at a frenetic pace and new restaurants and shops are popping up everywhere. I thought to myself, 'Boston is becoming a real city.' Yay! More photos here.

Posted by Sebastian / July 29, 2006 /
 

In reversal, P'town says straight-bashing taking place

The Globe reports today that out in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod, "leaders are holding a public meeting today to air concerns about slurs and bigoted behavior. And this time, they say, it's gay people who are displaying intolerance."

"Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called 'breeders' by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said."

That said, one police sergeant told the paper, "I don't necessarily view this as a big problem, but it's certainly a blip on our radar screen."

Story: "A New Intolerance Visits Provincetown"

Posted by Sebastian / July 14, 2006 /
 

Inevitable?

Last night's collapse of part of the Big Dig in Boston does not look pretty. I used to drive through the new tunnels twice a day, and every time, when I saw the dripping of water from the ceilings and walls I wondered how long the massive tunnel would stay put. Concrete slabs that make up the ceiling fell and crushed a car, killing the driver. This could be a turning point for the over-budget and corruption-plagued Central Artery/Tunnel project. The former head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority said today, "I will not go into the tunnels with my family. I’d go in alone." The Herald has a great blog on the subject.

Posted by Sebastian / July 11, 2006 /
 

36 Hours: Boston's South End

The New York Times today has featured my old neighborhood in their 36 Hours travel section. Everyone seems to have a South End connection. In fact, two weeks ago at a party in Vancouver, I met a former South End who recently exiled himself to British Columbia.



"Boston, while still not quite an avatar of cool, is showing plenty of new signs, for better or worse, of hipness. A Barneys New York opened at Copley Place this past spring, and the conductor of the Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart, has introduced "Pops on the Edge," a series that features musicians like Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann and the alternative country-rockers My Morning Jacket. A lot of the cultural heat is smoldering in the city's South End. This vital neighborhood has been "emerging" for more than 10 years, but has now officially emerged. Engaging new restaurants, bars, shops and condominiums are found among the brownstones on Tremont Street, and are tucked into the side streets, too. Spending 36 hours in the South End proves that Boston has a happening, maybe glamorous, scene -- even if some Bostonians still believe in eating supper at 5 o'clock."

Posted by Sebastian / June 30, 2006 /
 

Lawyers back down from anti-gay adoption suit

Amidst pressure from Harvard Law School students, the prominent Boston law firm of Ropes & Gray has suspended working with Catholic Charities in the organization's efforts to ban adoption by gay and lesbian couples in Massachusetts.

Posted by Sebastian / Boston / March 15, 2006 /
 

Boston Apple Store delayed

What a shocker -- Apple's plan to build a four-story flagship on Boylston Street in Boston has been thrown into question after the Back Bay Architectural Commission said that the new building "is quite inappropriate in this location."

John over at the Boston Real Estate Blog isn't happy. He says he doesn't care one way or the other about this Apple Store, but is "concerned with the ability of a company to build something they like and that people presumably want, without their plans being totally ruined by a bunch of NIMBY-loving, pantywaisted, out of touch snobs."

Posted by Sebastian / Boston / March 12, 2006 /
 

'I don't want another dog cookie store'
 
It's official. The out-of-place Waltham Tavern, described in one online review as "the shadiest dive I've ever been in," has been ordered closed by the Boston Licensing Board amid allegations of drug sales on the premises. The Globe described it as "one of the last low-rent joints in Boston's gentrifying South End," and it's anybody's guess what will happen with the space. But as one resident who has lived across the street from the gritty bar for 35 years told the Weekly Dig, “I don’t want to see any more yuppification. I don’t want another dog cookie store.”  

Another person added, “The place was a shithole. There would always be drunks hanging around at three in the afternoon. The neighborhood is yuppie hell now, and the Waltham’s left over from the old crack days.”

 

Posted by Sebastian / January 18, 2006 /
 

Why I love Boston
 
Some people think it's the clam chowder, the brownstones, or the swan boats that distinguish Boston. But I think it's the funny undercurrent of society life that pervades so much of life. If you just read the latest edition of the new super-glossy Boston Common magazine like I just did, you might feel the same way. In a hilarious piece, socialite Maud Cabot describes a perfect day winter day in Boston. A couple choice lines that reflect its funny tone:

After lunch at the swank Louis Boston with her sister, "I have a few minutes before I pick my kids up at school. We dash across the street to Alan Bilzerian. Dolly shows us their private-label stretch-leather pants. In either slate gray or black, these pants would keep me warm all winter. And they fit like a glove!"

"Later, my husband, Andrew, and I meet our friends Gita and Mark for dinner at Union Bar & Grille, where the hostess shows us to a comfortable booth. Over a hearty dinner of salmon, lamb, venison, and braised short ribs, we chat a little about work and a lot about vacation plans -- specifically ones involving skiing. While Gita and I vote for Aspen, Andrew defends skiing in New England. Mark is happy with either choice. Whether or not any of us actually goes skiing this winter remains to be seen!"

Perhaps you need to live here to find this funny. I certainly laughed out loud reading the article [not available online].

Posted by Sebastian / January 17, 2006 /
 

Boston bar was 'nothing more than an illegal drug store'
 
The seediest dive in Boston is expected to be ordered to close this week following an investigation into alleged mob ties and drug sales on the premises.

The Waltham Tavern, on Shawmut Avenue in the South End, is one of the few pre-gay-ghetto remnants left in the neighbourhood. Maybe I'm being judgmental, calling it seedy without ever happening set foot in the place, but something about the declaration on the sign outside the one-window bar -- "Pool Table, Ladies Invited" -- freaks me out.  

"This is the most outrageous violation I've seen as far as allowing illegality in a licensed premises in many, many years," said Boston Licensing Board chairman Daniel Pokaski. ''The testimony that certain undercover agents walked in and illegal drugs were readily available to them tells this board that this was nothing more than an illegal drug store."

Posted by Sebastian / January 13, 2006 /
 

Boston neighbors object to plan for handicap access in Copley Sq
 
It's said that Mayor Thomas Menino may run Boston, but the real power is held by members of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, the group that, as a rule, opposes any and all building projects in the tony and historic section of town (unofficial motto: "You propose, we oppose"). Their latest target: plans for two new headhouses that will provide elevator access to subway stops in Copley Square (similar to the new Aquarium Station, pictured).

They claim the structures will "violate the architectural symmetry" of the Boston Public Library and obstruct sightlines to Copley Square. But as Brian McGrory at the Globe points out, "The head houses, I should note, are to be made of glass." So the group went to court to stop the building, but their request for an injunction was denied. And the legal battle continues: then Neighborhood Association has filed an appeal in federal court to halt the project.

McGrory writes: "They've lost a sense of perspective, and, in short, seem more concerned with the buildings of the Back Bay than the people who live and work inside them. What they fail to understand is that cities are vital and dynamic places. Copley Square is filled with trucks, restaurants, and stores, mobbed with people of all colors and shapes. It is blessed with three historic landmarks in the form of a stately library and two gorgeous churches, but buildings exist to encourage life, not to stymie it. Every day that people with disabilities lack easier access to the Back Bay is another day of embarrassment for this city -- and another day of shame for NABB."

"Nothing's easy in this town, is it?"

Posted by Sebastian / January 10, 2006 /
 

More rich getting richer
 
In Boston, one in 20 households are millionaries. Over the next five years, the number of millionaires here is expected to grow by 50%, continuing to set Boston apart from other big American cities.

Recently I was walking down Boylston Street with a first-time visitor to the city who, out of the blue, remarked, "there's so much money here." I've lived in Boston for almost four years and have faced the peculiar feeling of being both desensitized to the environment and deeply aware of it.

Posted by Sebastian / January 2, 2006 /
 

Portrait of crime
 
Today the Globe offers up an end of the year tribute to the 75 people murdered this year in Boston. Crime news has taken centre stage in Boston and Toronto this year, with surging levels of violence in both cities. CNN said a major "crime press is underway" in Toronto. And it is, but let's look at this in perspective: Toronto has had 78 murders this year, and Boston has had 75. Taking into account the huge population difference between the cities, Boston actually has a murder rate that is more than four times worse than Toronto's.    

• Beware Toronto, CNN tells viewers

• Pro-gun lobby scraps Toronto ad campaign in wake of deadly shooting

Posted by Sebastian / December 30, 2005 /
 

Not hell fire, but close

After the hellishness of the first winter storm to wallop Boston came this beautiful sunset. You know what they say: red sky at night, sailor's delight.



Posted by Sebastian / December 11, 2005 /

Political correctness gone wrong

Political correctness has gone a bit overboard in Provincetown, down on the tip of Cape Cod, where the town council has approved the removal of a painting depicting Pilgrims voting on the Mayflower Compact from its chambers. Globe columnist Brian McGrory says it appears as though winter's onset and its "isolation must lead to a total divorce from reality."

"Selectwoman Sarah Peake spun her chair around near the end of the Nov. 14 meeting, gazed up at an oversized oil painting depicting the Pilgrims voting on the Mayflower Compact when they first landed in Provincetown, and declared that she wanted it removed...What Peake didn't like was that the painting didn't include any women. That and the fact that the painting's only Indian -- Native American, I'd better call him -- wasn't holding a ballot like everyone else."

Cheryl Andrews, the chair of the board and the only one to vote to keep the painting, described the scene: "There's this lovely oil painting, and Sarah Peake turns around and faces it, and it's government. They're voting. She says, 'I'd like to talk about this painting. I find this painting disturbing.' That's a quote. She said it's disturbing to her because there are no women in the painting and the only one not holding a ballot is the Native American Indian. And I thought, 'Here we go.' "

Posted by Sebastian / December 1, 2005 /

'Taking the good with the bad'

Over at the Boston Real Estate Blog, John Keith unearthed a gem of a quote about Monday's shooting in the South End:

"The South End is still a diverse neighborhood," Barbara Spears, an agent at South End Realty told the Boston Herald. " You have to take the good with the bad."

Wow! I'm really left wondering -- what exactly does she mean?

Posted by Sebastian / November 23, 2005 /

Whole Foods ordered to close in Boston

The upmarket chain Whole Paycheck Foods has been ordered by the Massachusetts Attorney General to remain closed on Thanksgiving Day in accordance with the state's infamous blue laws after a competitor learned of its plans to open for a few hours to help out last-minute shoppers.

Whole Foods had offered double pay to employees willing to work on the holiday, but after Shaw's heard about the move, they complained to the AG, calling the Whole Foods move anti-consumer and anti-competitive. It's hard not to think that maybe Shaw's just doesn't want to have to provide incentives for its workers, who already get few benefits, let alone double play.

"We believe that allowing Whole Foods to open on Thanksgiving Day will create an unlevel playing field for all other retail grocers," the Shaw's complaint said. "Besides disadvantaging competitors, a Whole Foods opening would harm consumers, due to lack of choice in the marketplace for consumers to shop and compare prices for the best deal." OK, sure.

Posted by Sebastian / November 21, 2005 /

Look ma, New York noticed us

Was anyone else as shocked as I was that the New York Times "Vows" column, typically reserved for the upper-crust of New York society not only featured a (gasp!) Boston couple this weekend but (get the paper bag out) a gay one. I know. I'm still hyperventilating. John Finley IV and Stan McGee were married last weekend in Chestnut Hill by Sen. Jarret Barrios.



"My parents were far more upset that Stan was a Hilary Clinton-supporting Democrat than they were about us," Finley told the paper. "I remember them asking Stan a lot of 'coming out' type questions: 'Maybe you didn't have a good Republican experience? Have you told your parents how you feel?'"

Posted by Sebastian / November 21, 2005 /

Busted in Boston

It's not every day that the Globe fronts with a juicy scoop. But reports of a meth lab in the city's Fort Point section, and "the discovery of the body of an admired local artist who apparently moved in a world of clandestine sex and drugs," is a delicious story for Boston's Boring Broadsheet.

Police found Kevin McCormack, 29, "clad in fetish gear, dead of a heart attack, surrounded by chains, wetsuits, and masks, as well as illicit drugs," in his apartment, where there was a "large room filled with tables, Bunsen burners, beakers, and vials marked flammable." Police say his is one of the biggest meth labs they've ever seen in Massachusetts, and drug enforcement officials are now charged with the delicate task of dismantling the lab and removing the highly volatile chemicals used to create meth.

Posted by Sebastian / November 17, 2005 /

Ikea comes to Boston

Bostonians can finally get that screw-together sofa they've always wanted now that cheap chic IKEA has made its long-anticipated debut in the Hub. Today the Swedish retail giant's mammoth store opens in Stoughton, where excited shoppers have been lined up for days hoping to be the first ones through the door.

Police are bracing for a crush of shoppers that could bring traffic in the town to a complete standstill, as has happened worldwide when the warehouse-sized stores open. In Saudi Arabia, three people were killed in a stampede at a new store last year. In San Francisco a few years back, police were forced to manually direct traffic every day for three months when traffic lights were deemed useless in dealing with all the store-inspired congestion.

On balance, IKEA's opening is great news for the region's retail landscape. You see,  previously, people who wanted to buy $3 six-packs of wine glasses that break after a single use had to travel to Montreal or New Jersey (New Haven also opened recently) to get them. I personally still prefer to go to the Etobicoke IKEA (if only for the snob appeal) where I grew fond of buying mass quantities of $.50 votive holders and $1 paper-thin flower vases during college. As my BFF Julie can attest, no trip to Toronto is complete without a quick peek into the gargantuan store.    

Posted by Sebastian / November 9, 2005 /

New Boston, with a touch of the old

Thirty-six percent of voters turned out Tuesday and reelected Thomas "Mumbles" Menino as mayor of Boston by a landslide. The inarticulate but popular Menino unsurprisingly defeated arch rival Maura Hennigan 68 percent to 32 percent. Voters also elected Sam Yoon to the Boston City Council, the first Asian American to lead the city, a transition which many hope will signal a new era for Boston -- one where people with names like Connoly, Flynn, O'Malley, and White (all of which happen to be names of the four losing candidates) don't dominate the landscape. Yoon's victory was made even more impressive by the fact that he received the second-highest vote tally of the eight council candidates (four citywide seats were up for grabs).

I can't help but point out that two of the four candidates endorsed by the GLBT newspaper Bay Windows (Patricia White and Matt O'Malley) lost, as did the South End district candidate, Susan Passoni, who was also endorsed by the paper.

Posted by Sebastian / November 9, 2005 /

Boston media gossip

This is quite a story. One of my friends was recently laid off from the Boston Globe, and in the ensuing days, he fired off a long email about the experience to many of his friends, including yours truly.

As the competing Boston Herald's Inside Track gossip column reports, "Suffice it to say, the lad did not take it all that well and he sent a whiny e-mail out to some pals, who forwarded it to some pals, who forwarded it to some more pals - who added snarky little remarks - and, as these things have a way of doing, it landed in the Track’s inbox." The paper published excerpts of the email, as well as comments that forwarders had written in the email chain ("Oh my . . . god i just want to reach through the screen of this laptop and punch that kid," one person said.).

The moral of this story is, of course, that whenever you write an email, expect that it could be made public. While my friend wasn't terribly crushed by his email's appearance in the paper, we area all left wondering through whom it ended up at the Herald.

Posted by Sebastian / November 7, 2005 /

Oh, how quickly things change

Boston got its first snowfall of the season today. I hung my head in agony until I looked at the Weather Channel, which informs me it will be 65 degrees and sunny tomorrow.



Posted by Sebastian / Boston / October 29, 2005 /

Signs of the times

The young founders of Arm Advertising, a small ad shop in Boston, are providing homeless people in the city with Kenneth Cole-esque signs intended to make passersby stop and think. The pro-bono campaign includes signs with such lines as "Give $$$ because I'm money," and "I breathe. That deserves a tip." 

''This isn't meant to be self-serving," one of the ad gurus said. ''We're trying to use the signs to get people to see these people as individuals rather than as just another homeless person. Good advertising is always about the unexpected. That's what we're trying to do with this. Just because we're an ad agency doesn't mean we can't do something that's nonprofit."



Posted by Sebastian / Boston / October 28, 2005 /

Luring the gays

Boston is spending $100,000 to attract gay travelers to the Hub, joining cities like Philadelphia and even Bloomington, Ind., that are attempting to capitalize on the spending power of gay men and lesbians by marketing themselves as uber-gay places.

Posted by Sebastian / October 27, 2005 /

H & M heading to Back Bay

All sorts of changes and additions are on Boston's retail horizon. Club Monaco opened their first location a few months ago, Zara is thinking of moving in, and now H & M has announced plans to occupy 20,000 square feet in the Newbry building (aka New England Mutual) at Boylston, Clarendon, and Newbury.

While Back Bay may have an upscale image, some people are sniffing at the prospect of a cheap chic retailer moving in. But as one woman told the Globe, ''Everybody stuck their noses up at Marshalls, which was far more pedestrian than H&M," referring to the discount retailer which sits across Boylston Street from the new H & M, "and the first people at Marshalls' door were the people who didn't want it."

Posted by Sebastian / October 26, 2005 /

Election monitors

The U.S. Dept. of Justice is among the organizations monitoring elections today in Boston after allegations surfaced last month that Hub voters have been denied access to the polls in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

According to the Globe, "The Justice Department filed suit against Boston in July, accusing the city of improperly influencing and coercing Hispanic and Asian-American voters who have limited English skills. It also charged that Boston election workers had disrespected those voters at the polls and failed to provide adequate translation services. After angrily denying the charges and vowing to fight the action in court, city officials announced the settlement 11 days ago." As part of a settlement, beginning next year, ballots will be available in Chinese or Vietnamese. 

Posted by Sebastian / September 27, 2005 /



Holocaust Memorial turns 10

I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed with last night's rededication and 10th anniversary of the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston. The event was a bit top-heavy with necessary thank-you's for donors, and a little light on Holocaust remembrances.

The sombre memorial near Government Center is little known, but deserves a good look if you're in Boston. It features six towers of glass, each representing one of the Nazi death camps, and plate glass walls etched with the identification numbers of the six-million Jews, gays and lesbians, trade unionists, gypsies, and others who died during the Holocaust. From beneath the floors of the six towers rises warm air, visible in the shot on the left, which the memorial's designer described as "like human breath as it passes through the glass chimneys to heaven."

Barbara Grossman, the well-known Democratic fundraiser in Boston who spearheaded the commemoration said, "'Sadly, as the death toll widens in Sudan, we know that the evil of racial hatred did not end with the Holocaust. When will this unending chronicle of human suffering come to an end?"



Posted by Sebastian / September 19, 2005 /



Feels like...

...Vancouver today in Boston as previous commenter "j" points out. We haven't had weather like this in a while. It is comforting and fairly romantic after the dog days of summer.



Posted by Sebastian / September 17, 2005 /

WTF

Last night I walked down a quieting Boylston Street and thought I was in San Francisco. We've been having the most bizarre weather for days in Boston: it's been West-Coast foggy and drizzly all week. And today I came across this very dark painting at South End Open Studios, which so reminded me of the dank, colorlessness of this week.



Posted by Sebastian / September 17, 2005 /

Boston, the nation's most expensive city

This week the priciest big city in America is Boston. I say "this week" because constant and contradictory reports are always coming out declaring Boston, New York, or San Francisco the most expensive city in the country. According to the report by the Boston Foundation and the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association, a family of four in Boston needed a whopping $65,000 to cover "basic needs." In New York families require $6,000 less than they do in Boston and in San Francisco they need $7,000 less. Washington was actually the second-most expensive city, but the truth is, no one here really thinks about the District ... so they didn't get much mention in the paper, which instead skipped right to our city's main competition: New York and San Francisco.



Posted by Sebastian / September 12, 2005 /

Hub pedestrians rule the streets

In the eternal battle between cars and pedestrians, there is Boston, there is Montreal, and there is every place else. These two cities know something about pedestrian crossing scofflaws, especially because the law essentially gives walkers the right top dart into traffic, almost always, and without any real threat of being ticketed for jaywalking. Time Out once called Bostonians people "who jaywalk like suicidal goats in Third World countries."

Yesterday's Globe "Observer" column by Sam Allis takes the position that Boston's notoriously awful pedestrians are actually hindering the proper functioning of the city: "There's an attitude in Boston today that dismisses the very idea of drivers's rights as an obscene notion. To many hardcore walking activists, drivers are pond scum only a mother could love. To drive a car in the city -- to the movies or the emergency room with a sick child, auto haters can't tell the difference -- is to wallow in evil. The inherent righteousness of Walking Nation is self-evident."

While getting a ticket for jaywalking in Boston is about as difficult to do as finding a Prada sale at Neiman Marcus, the city has launched a massive crackdown on drivers who don't stop for pedestrians, most visibly on Tremont Street in the South End. Be warned: if you're cruising down the main drag in the after-work hours: the police are hiding and waiting for you!

Posted by Sebastian / September 12, 2005 /

Boston's bad attitude

The head of Gillette, the Boston-based firm that was recently sold to Procter & Gamble, yesterday declared that the city has a "negative attitude" and said his many critics who are displeased by the merger are simply "cynical and self-serving."

The Globe and Herald have both been paying close attention to the sell-off of Gillette, and have been sharply critical in its op-ed pages of a deal that will net James "King" Kilts a whopping $180 million and lead to Boston being a mere branch office city for yet another company.  He said the papers have vilified him and other top management as "a gaggle of greedy ghouls." 

In his speech yesterday, Kilts implied that Boston's bad attitude may keep P & G from expanding or keeping jobs in the Hub. And in an op-ed in yesterday's Globe, he also took a not-so-subtle jab at the secretary of state, who has been investigating the Gillette sale, saying, "how could some local politicians and media try to lead people to believe this is the worst deal for shareholders since AOL and Time Warner? A deal like this one should be considered on its merits, not on the personalities involved, not on the aspirations of local politicians." He told the crowd he considers himself "Boston's pinata."

I've noticed a lot of talk about Boston's civic personality lately. In a piece on Boston I wrote last year, I said, "I'm not sure I've met a single optimist in nearly three years of living here," and boy did I get some nasty comments. But where does that undeniable sense of negativity come from? As one of my friends wrote this morning, "It's something to discuss. Is the bad attitude what keeps us from being better? People are sour - or is it just the press? Is it our Puritan ancestry?"

Posted by Sebastian / September 9, 2005 /



Wal-Mart for downtown Boston

The best half hour I spent last night was reading a Boston.com forum on the potential siting of a Wal-Mart in Boston's sorta-seedy Downtown Crossing shopping district. Mayor Thomas Menino hopes to spur a revitalization of the area after Federated Department Stores (owners of Macy's) shutters one of its two department stores in the area later this year as part of its buyout of the Filene's chain.

When Macy's or Filene's closes its doors and leaves a hulking store behind, chances are it will be a Target, Wal-Mart or another mass-market retailer that fills the void. But judging by public reaction to the Wal-Mart idea, and the Arkansas-based chain's failure to win approval in many big cities (Vancouver nixed the idea most recently), I don't think the chain will find itself ensconced on Washington Street, steps from Boston's chic new Ritz-Carlton, anytime soon.

Below are the six best excerpts I could find from the message boards. They lean anti-Wal-Mart for the simple reason that posters were about 99% opposed to the store coming to Boston.

"These stores belong in the south, not in New England.  Downtown Crossing needs an upscale department store like Nordstrom's or Bloomingdale's in order to attract the type of clientele the area desperately needs.  Am I a snob?  You bet your 6 figure income I am."

"We need Wal-Mart because Downtown Crossing isn't quite trashy enough yet."

"We definitely do NOT need a Wal-Mart. This is Downtown Crossing in BOSTON, not Fort Smith, Arkansas. Even Target is arguably too low-profile and low rent for a space of that importance and magnitude. No other major city would even consider such a prominent spot for a freakin' Wal-Mart. Why should we?"

"Why is it ok for 6 figure income folks to shop at TJ Maxx and H&M and such (which helps them stretch their dollars) but when those of lesser means want to stretch their dollar the upper middle class screams? I don't think Boston is a racist city but I do think it is very very classist!"

"Just what Downtown Crossing needs ... another low-end discount store.  Dallas has Neiman Marcus, New York has Bloomingdales, London has Harrods, Providence has Nordstrom and Boston has Wal-Mart! 

"Who wants to live in a city the size of Boston proper, pay ungodly amounts for a mortgage or rent and then shop at a downtown crossing southern discount crap store!"

Posted by Sebastian / September 1, 2005 /

But is it art?

The three stories were not connected, but they were deeply related. In the first, the Boston Globe reported that Bostonians are uneasy about the sight of 125-foot sailboat masts dominating the Huntington Avenue lawn in front of the Museum of Fine Arts as part of its latest ego-exhibit "Things I Love: The Many Collections of William I. Koch." One passerby looked up at the soaring sailboats and told the paper, "They're beautiful, but I'm still trying to figure out why they're at the museum."

In the second piece, a columnist for the Toronto Star said we've got it all wrong: "We persist in the belief that beauty is the exclusive domain of the rich and powerful and the institutional. We go to museums and art galleries to search for beauty, and all the while, it can be seen at every turn ... [we] have to learn to look closer, to trust our eyes more, not wait to be told what's beautiful and what's not."

In the third, Heather Mallick wrote that "the distinction between 'high' art and 'low' art is so maddening that it makes people's hair bleed. You cannot win ... The snobbishness of the art world makes it almost impossible for a sane person, educated or not, to enjoy painting, music and books openly. The art world despises the arts of the masses — makeup, fashion, etc. and what Prof. Carey says is arguably the greatest art we practise, gardening — and yet museums are begging for tax money from the masses. They cannot bring themselves to find a middle ground."

I think Malcolm Rogers, the controversial head of the MFA, despite all his flaws (and there are many, if you believe the op-ed page of the Globe), probably has the right perspective on the matter: ''Is the whole of museum culture going to come crashing down as a result of this? Give me a break. One of the things I want to do is humanize the arts." 

Posted by Sebastian / August 30, 2005 /

Doggie bag that wine

I'm not sure who is incapable of finishing their bottle of wine out at dinner, but Massachusetts lawmakers are looking to repeal the state's restriction on doggy-bagging wine. Thirty states allow diners to bring home their unfinished bottle of booze, but not the Puritan Commonwealth.

This one really perplexes me. I mean, don't people generally end up wanting more wine at dinner, but don't always want to fork over for the inflated prices? Who has wine leftover? The Globe seems to agree. "Not everybody can relate," their report said. "One luncher on Newbury Street yesterday looked a little bewildered at the thought of carting home a bottle of wine. 'Once it's open, it's gone,' said Alan Parker, a retired chief executive from Naples, Fla., who summers in Edgartown."

Posted by Sebastian / August 29, 2005 /

A camera in Boston's South End: deterring or exacerbating crime?

Perhaps you've heard about Carlos French, the Boston man so fed up with crime on his block that he put cameras up on his building in order to monitor the activity. After his car's headlights were stolen earlier this year, the South End resident decided to fight back with his camera installation idea -- a move that ended up catching various illegal activities on tape but that has also placed him on the neighbourhood's most wanted list. He's had bricks thrown in his condo's windows, and a bullet recently pierced his air conditioner. This situation is a toughie: crime is certainly not welcome in the neighbourhood, but there is a question of just how far French's surveillance techniques can go before they make matters worse.

French's blog gives a juicy rundown on the problems he has faced on his block, as well as the fears he has about his rather zealous pursuit of the criminals who have caused such problems on his block. It's definitely a good read:

"I found out this afternoon from a resident who lives in Boston Housing on West Newton Street that there is talk about me being targeted, or taken care of. This of course has me extremely worried, and we are seriously considering leaving for a few months until things die down. The officer that took the report this evening had no real advice for me, so I'm at a loss as what to do. I of course will not walk down West Newton, and I'll need to try and disguise myself with caps or other clothing so I'm not easily spotted."

Posted by Sebastian / August 24, 2005 /

Fung Wah on fire again

The rock-bottom $15 Fung Wah bus line that operates between Chinatowns in New York and Boston yesterday faced its second disastrous bus fire of the year on a highway in Connecticut yesterday afternoon. The scene was a "charred mess" according to reports in today's Globe. The line has come under fire by authorities recently for refusing to drug and alcohol tests on its drivers and for allowing at least one driver to work more than  70 hours in eight days. It is also being sued by the Massachusetts Attorney General for denying boarding to a disabled woman and her service dog. In May, another Fung Wah bus burst into flames on the Massachusetts Turnpike as it neared Boston. I've never used the bus service and do not plan to start anytime soon!



Posted by Sebastian / August 17, 2005 /

Are you for real?

I think we have one new person to add to an already-full pool of insufferable wannabe-politicians in Boston. Kevin McCrea, who is running for City Council, gave a most uninspiring (read: fairly obnoxious) interview to the Globe this week. McCrea's campaign has attracted attention for its hefty bank account; the candidate, who said, "Frankly I abhor money in politics," just contributed $200,000 of his own money to winning a seat on the Council.

McCrea told the paper that he ponied up his own money because, "It's a time issue. It's easier for me to make $200,000 than for me to go around and collect $200,000."

''I'm spending my own money," he said. "I have $200,000 I can put in the campaign and I didn't have to take a mortgage out on my house to do it. I'm committed to winning this race."

Among his planned projects, rolling back Boston's puritan-era bar closing hours and shifting the bar exodus to 4 a.m. (an admirable goal, I will admit).

(I'm not sure if the rest of him has been Photoshopped out of this photo that ran in the Herald -- check out his web site and you'll know what I mean.)

Posted by Sebastian / August 11, 2005 /



Boston's Booty Call Hotline

Stuff at Night, the Boston entertainment sorta-newspaper, sorta-magazine, has launched a fun new service: the Booty Call Hotline. The publication encourages readers who are out and about in Boston during the wee hours to call and leave messages on their hotline, at (617) 859-3260, telling of their exploits. They publish a selection of the best calls in every edition.

"Hi, Booty Call. Iím hanging out in my bathroom because the guy Iíve been cheating on my boyfriend with just decided to show up at my apartment, and evidently he knows my boyfriend and theyíre hanging out and watching the Red Sox game. Iím really not sure what to do, but I think Iím just going to hang out here for a while."

"My boyfriend and I came home drunk and fell into bed and we got kind of crazy, and the neighbor heard us and said, ëI would die if anyone heard me like that,í but Iím sorry, whoís home alone commenting on it and whoís getting some? So I donít feel so bad. Have a great night. Bye."

"Our night was crazy, because we just had sex in an alley."

"Hi, my name is Bob, and I had the best sex ever in a garage somewhere with this girl named Polly. It was hot."

Posted by Sebastian / August 9, 2005 /

At the MFA

I went to the Museum of Fine Arts today to check out my brother's handiwork hoisting Bill Koch's America's Cup racer into place on the museum's front lawn on Huntington Avenue. An engineer (in the red t-shirt), he's responsible for balancing the boat and making sure it doesn't fall over during the MFA's latest vanity exhibition, "Things I Love: The Many Collections of William I. Koch", which comes hot on the heels of the controversial show of Ralph Lauren's cars.

The lawn may be torn up right now as engineers work to steady the huge boat, which won the America's Cup in 1992, but as MFA Director Malcolm Rogers told the Herald recently, "We like to have a little razmataz on the front lawn."

Posted by Sebastian / August 6, 2005 /

Valets in for a fall

Our culture loves to see people in positions of power or celebrity fall from grace, and our media thrives on such controversy. In a way, I've felt that same sort of bizarre satisfaction this week after reading numerous accounts about Boston's recently-exposed problem with its often-reviled parking valets.

It seems valets are jamming parking meters at such an astounding rate that some have required repairs as many as 29 times a month. Valets then park customers' cars in those spots, allowing them to bypass expensive lots and pocket the exorbitant parking fees restaurants and hotels charge. And now they're on watch. The mayor has pledged a crackdown after a bellman at the Park Plaza Hotel was caught in the act, stuffing a meter (and not with coins). Others caught will be arrested, the mayor, King Menino, has vowed.

Meters around the Park Plaza and in front of numerous restaurants including the Capital Grille and Ciao Bella require repairs an average of 10 times a month, compared to the city average of four times. One meter in front of Vox Populi on Boylston Street required those 29 jaw-dropping repairs.

The people at Ultimate Valet, the city's biggest parking service, sure have some good PR people, and they'll need it because this fight could turn ugly. The owner of Ciao Bella called Ultimate yesterday and "put them on notice." I felt a chill when I read that, as anyone who understands the stranglehold Ultimate has on Boston parking spots understands. Could they be in for a fall?

The head of the valet company told the Globe "If any employee is found parking vehicles where they are not supposed to, they will be disciplined appropriately. We consider it a privilege to be doing business in the city, and we are very responsive to complaints."

Posted by Sebastian / August 6, 2005 /

Boston: second best city for singles

Apparently Forbes thinks being single in one of America's chilliest cities is a romantic notion (I know people who might disagree). The magazine placed Boston #2 on its list of top cities for singles, behind Denver/Boulder but ahead of San Francisco. Boston was #1 for culture, but even Detroit and Cleveland beat #8 Boston on nightlife. Luckily, Boston was in the top five for coolness, along with Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington. Among the magazine's complex methodology was the average cost of rent, a Pizza Hut pizza, a movie ticket, and a six-pack of Heineken (Pizza Hut???).

But as one person quoted in the feature said, "Getting to know people in Boston is a little challenging. You've got to break through that crusty exterior, that kind of clannishness that has descended from the Irish ancestors here."

As for San Francisco's top-notch rating, the web portal SF Social points out, "What? How in the world did we even make the top 10? First off, being a single guy in SF basically means you need an $800,000 starter crib in order to get any love. But even if you have that, your larger problem is you are probably rolling in a used GEO Metro to get your date into one of SF's three fine Pizza Hut's . And unless she's a lay-up, you still have to get those Heineken's in her so you can pull off the whole 'yeah I'm an investment banker' act."

Posted by Sebastian / August 3, 2005 /

Club Monaco opens in Boston

I'll admit I have a secret love affair with stretch t-shirts from Club Monaco. Thankfully I won't have to buy an Air Canada plane ticket if I get a hankering for them when I'm in Boston. The Canadian chain, which is a subsidiary of Polo Ralph Lauren, opens its first Boston store Saturday at the Prudential Center in space vacated by the moribund Levi's brand, and I couldn't be more pleased. My only worry now, being somewhat of a clothes whore, is that everyone in the Hub will soon be wearing my fav shirts. The outlet will also offer up Club Monaco's line of home goods, sure to be a hit considering Boston's high yuppie/guppie quotient.

For those who have a sense of deja vu (me included), in 2000, Club Monaco wrapped a storefront at 93 Newbury Street with their corporate logo in anticipation of opening a shop there. The project was eventually scrapped and replaced instead with the gargantuan Ralph Lauren store that dominates the block today.   

Posted by Sebastian / July 28, 2005 /

In sanctum Santorum: Boston's "sexual license" led to priest scandal

The Senate's number three and the man who once declared that gay marriage "absolutely" threatens his own marriage, Rick Santorum is now blaming the entire city of Boston and its liberal leanings for the Catholic Church's priest molestation scandal. Is he nutters?

On the web site Catholic Online, the senator from Pennsylvania wrote, "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political, and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

Brian McGrory of the Globe wrote that if Santorum were to make his way to Boston, he'd find a staunchly Catholic city, and "academic institutions that are the intellectual engine of the nation, schools, by the way, that have churned out plenty of Republican leaders, George W. Bush among them."

• In a newsier piece in the Globe, Santorum said he would not retract his comments about Boston, saying the city's ''sexual license" and ''sexual freedom" contributed to the molestation scandal.  ''The basic liberal attitude in that area...has an impact on people's behavior," he said yesterday. 

Posted by Sebastian / July 13, 2005 /

Woman stopped at airport with $50,000 in her bra
  
 I'm not quite sure how a woman in Boston thought she could breeze through Logan Airport unnoticed with $46,950 in her bra. I just hope it wasn't all in small bills or I might have to really question this woman's IQ. In any case, the passenger told drug enforcement agents -- who stopped her at the security checkpoint, believing the cash was drug money, not the proceeds from real estate sales, as she claimed -- that she was taking the money to Texas to get a boob-and-butt job. Now she's suing the Drug Enforcement Agency claiming a male agent told her she had a "nice body" and didn't need plastic surgery.
 
 Her lawyer said, "How can you make a determination that people don't need cosmetic surgery? I can't tell Michael Jackson he doesn't need more plastic surgery, even though I don't think he does." The woman claims she had withdrawn all her money from the bank to make sure it wasn't seized by creditors going after her assets. But her lawyer conceded, "I don't know why she was carrying it in her bra," guessing that she probably felt the cash was safer on her body.   
 
Posted by Sebastian / June 24, 2005 /


 
Boston likes its pot

The tabloid Boston Herald fronts today with a story about Bostonians and their love of pot. "Boston may be at sea level on the maps," the paper says, "but its residents are the highest in the country." A new drug abuse report says 12% of Boston residents admitted to using marijuana during the past year. And five of the 15 highest cities were all in Massachusetts. The articulate speculates that Boston's 200,000+ college student population may be driving up the pot-usage numbers.

Posted by Sebastian / June 17, 2005 /



Gay Pride in Boston

It was a political dog and pony show at the 35th annual pride parade this weekend in Boston, on a steaming hot day with temperatures hovering around 90 degrees. Hunky city councilor Mike Ross (below, left) was among the parade's chief draws, while wannabe-mayor Maura Hennigan (below, right) didn't miss a beat shaking hands with potential voters in her bid to beat Thomas how-did-he-ever-get-elected Menino. As expected, there were a few anti-Bush protestors (below, center).



Gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick marched, but his arch rival, Attorney General Thomas Reilly, did not, telling the Globe he had prior committments in New York. The related article said, "his decision not to attend the parade exposed an early fault line between the two candidates, as both seek to court voters in the run-up to the Democratic primary next year." Both candidates support marriage for same-sex couples, but "Reilly angered some gay-rights supporters when he argued last year that a 1913 state law forbids out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts."

Among my picks for the most surprising parade entrants are Delta's modified Mini and the Kiehl's minivan, which drew cheers from the flawless-skinned masses.

 

Posted by Sebastian / June 12, 2005 /



Happy Queer Eye Day!

Mayor Thomas Menino has declared today "Queer Eye Day" in Boston, the city where the now-famous show was conceived.

It's been quite a queer few days in Boston -- it's Gay Pride Week, which might have something to do with it -- beginning with a few of the Fab Five throwing out the first pitch at Fenway on Sunday, and continuing with the protracted controversy over the decision by a handful of Red Sox players to be featured in a special episode of Queer Eye. 

Johnny Damon (pictured here, without his trademark facial hair) was among those players who so excitedly played along while being primped and preened at spring training. He even made it a point to mention, "I'm looking for a spotter to spot me on my naked pull-ups."

In addition, he recently made a splash in the world of gay sports by declaring in the locker room: "If there's a gay guy in baseball, we have to help him out." Just how does he plan to make a gay teammate comfortable? "I'd smack him on the butt, just like I do everybody else."  

 • Could the speculation that Jai from Queer Eye is straight, outed at Club Cafe in Boston this week, be true?

Posted by Sebastian / June 7, 2005 /



Summer Comes to Boston



Temperatures hovered around 80 degrees today as Boston was inundated with its first blast of summer heat. The esplanade was packed, and so was Newbury Street and the Christian Science Plaza. I kicked my flip-flops off and spent the day writing on my deck; I turned off my phone, computer, and BlackBerry and instead took in the spectacular day (and got some color while I was at it).

Today I also reread Anna Quindlen's petite book, "A Short Guide to a Happy Life," which I pull out once or twice a year to remind me not to take life too seriously. The book is timeless, succinct, and dead-on. In its final and most poignant page, Quindlen writes:

I found one of my best teachers on the boardwalk at Coney Island many years ago. It was December, and I was doing a story about how the homeless survive in the winter months. He and I sat on the edge of the wooden supports, dangling our feet over the side, and he told me about his schedule, panhandling the boulevard when the summer crowds were gone, sleeping in a church when the temperature went below freezing, hiding from the police amidst the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Cyclone and some of the other seasonal rides.

But he told me that most of the time he stayed on the boardwalk, facing the water, just the way we were sitting now, even when it got cold and he had to wear his newspapers after he read them. And I asked him why. Why didn’t he go to one of the shelters? Why didn’t he check himself into the hospital for detox? And he just stared out at the ocean and said, “Look at the view, young lady. Look at the view.”

Words of wisdom from a man with not a dime in his pocket and no place to go, nowhere to be. Look at the view. When I do as he said, I am never disappointed.

Posted by Sebastian / June 5, 2005 /

Boston, Vancouver Most Dog-Friendly Cities on Continent

A new list from DogFriendly.com ranks Vancouver the second best city for dogs in North America, followed by Boston and San Francisco. Chicago was first. 

Posted by Sebastian / May 27, 2005 /



Boston vs. San Francisco vs. New York  

A few months ago I upset a few people in Boston by suggesting in an article I wrote that Boston is an overly insecure place when compared to San Francisco and New York, the three cities I consider America's finest. People are always comparing Boston to New York, and they're often moving there, too, but the relentless contrasts and comparisons are tiresome.

A piece in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle suggests that though competition is fierce in the top duo of American cities (they omit Boston), there is really no need for comparisons: "Perhaps the best thing about these two cities is that just when you think you've defined them, they turn around and surprise you. What I think I now realize is this: It's not about constantly comparing. It's about finding what makes your heart soar right where you are." 

Posted by Sebastian / May 24, 2005 /



Mandarin Oriental To Luxurify Boylston Street

(OK, so "luxurify" may not be a real word, but I like it.)

Boylston Street in Boston's Back Bay will get a much-needed facelift when the sumptuous new Mandarin Oriental Boston opens in 2007. I love the Mandarin in San Francisco, and having been fortunate enough to stay there on a few occasions, I have no doubt this will be the most luxurious developments in Boston history.

The new hotel and residences (priced from $2 to $12 million and nearly sold out) will front on Boylston Street, next to the Prudential Center. As the Boston Globe wrote yesterday, "It is not yet built, will have no ocean view, and it will sit across the street from a Walgreen's and a Starbucks. But Boston's rich and famous can't wait to move in." It should go a long way toward beautifying what it is an eyesore of a lot on a street that sometimes seems a little bit schizophrenic (does it want to be upscale or does it want to be a little bit dirty and bar-strewn?).

"Maids will turn off the vacuum cleaner when penthouse owners walks by. Residents will be able to order raw steaks, prepped for grilling, and have them delivered to their private, rooftop terraces. Upon arriving home from out-of-town trips, they will be greeted with fresh orchids, crisp sheets, and Perrier on the nightstand."

Posted by Sebastian / May 19, 2005 /

Boston College Going Gay and...Probably Going to Hell

Boston College has finally moved one step closer to projecting an image of itself as a gay-friendly campus. After the Princeton Review placed it on their "Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative" list, and after protracted protests by students who object to the university's resistance to add sexual discrimination to its non-discrimination policy, administrators last week took a half-step forward and agreed to craft this affirming statement:

"[BC] commits itself to maintaining a welcoming environment for all people and extends its welcome in particular to those who may be vulnerable to discrimination on the basis of their race . . . religion, color, age . . . or sexual orientation"

Posted by Sebastian / May 10, 2005 /



Prep school pleads guilty to failing to report abuse among students

Trustees of the prestigious