I made a short notice decision to visit Boston. I'm here now. I have/had no idea what the place is known for.
Is there anything I shouldn't miss in the area?
I'm in Boston. Anything I shouldn't miss?
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evolutionmovement
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- Location: Beverly, MA
Some people might suggest the tourist places: Faneuil Hall, Swan boats in Mattapan (a shitty place), Boston Common/state house, Museum of Fine Arts on Huntington Ave., Bull & Finch/Cheers bar, Fenway Park, Esplanade (although this is a nice walk on a nice day), etc.
I won't.
North End is nice if you like Italian food as it dates back to when immigrants were divided within cities by race. It's still full of Italians and has that ethnic flavor as well as culinary.
Cambridge is nice if you want to see Harvard, MIT, and a bunch of rich liberals - just heading down Massachusetts Ave will bring you to the "squares" including Harvard Square. Manray, the fetish club behind the Middle East at Central Square is unfortunately gone. Good interesting restaurants - from Ethiopian (apparently they have food) to Afghani
If you want to see where the Irish were kept, Southie from any criminal movie set around there, and the center of bad Boston accents isn't terrible, but not the most interesting or walkable. Travel into random small bars if you want the heavily cussed atmosphere. Going to Southie isn't necessary for Irishness, though, as nearly every damn bar (and club by Faneuil Hall) is Irish.
If you want to get shot at, there's Dorchester and Roxbury.
And if you love filth, Chinatown is the place for you.
The city proper is pretty small, like San Francisco, where you can see a good chunk of the city in a day. Unfortunately, today is not a good day to walk around.
One thing to remember: Red Sox is religion. So don't say nothin' bad about the fahkin' sahks, and especially nothing good about the Yankees.
I won't.
North End is nice if you like Italian food as it dates back to when immigrants were divided within cities by race. It's still full of Italians and has that ethnic flavor as well as culinary.
Cambridge is nice if you want to see Harvard, MIT, and a bunch of rich liberals - just heading down Massachusetts Ave will bring you to the "squares" including Harvard Square. Manray, the fetish club behind the Middle East at Central Square is unfortunately gone. Good interesting restaurants - from Ethiopian (apparently they have food) to Afghani
If you want to see where the Irish were kept, Southie from any criminal movie set around there, and the center of bad Boston accents isn't terrible, but not the most interesting or walkable. Travel into random small bars if you want the heavily cussed atmosphere. Going to Southie isn't necessary for Irishness, though, as nearly every damn bar (and club by Faneuil Hall) is Irish.
If you want to get shot at, there's Dorchester and Roxbury.
And if you love filth, Chinatown is the place for you.
The city proper is pretty small, like San Francisco, where you can see a good chunk of the city in a day. Unfortunately, today is not a good day to walk around.
One thing to remember: Red Sox is religion. So don't say nothin' bad about the fahkin' sahks, and especially nothing good about the Yankees.
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
I've walked more in the past few days than I have in the last 6 months! My days have been action packed so I'll leave out the gory details
Started on a paid tour of the freedom trail. Pricey but in the end it was cool to hear the stories. This resulted in a visit to Quincy market and eventually the arena where the Lakers lost
Walked all through North End and ate at the Oyster House which is supposedly the oldest restaurant in the country.
Spent a good chunk of time in Cambridge. Two days in fact. I especially like the area near Harvard. I met a very nice girl in a very hard to find cafe I might try to find her again tomorrow. I even convinced her to give me free food. She's 20 
I plan to take the Sam Adams tour on Fri/Sat
Chinatown is for tomorrow. Tonight may be the night for bar crawling. Any advice on an area?
Started on a paid tour of the freedom trail. Pricey but in the end it was cool to hear the stories. This resulted in a visit to Quincy market and eventually the arena where the Lakers lost
Walked all through North End and ate at the Oyster House which is supposedly the oldest restaurant in the country. Spent a good chunk of time in Cambridge. Two days in fact. I especially like the area near Harvard. I met a very nice girl in a very hard to find cafe
I might try to find her again tomorrow. I even convinced her to give me free food. She's 20 I plan to take the Sam Adams tour on Fri/Sat
Chinatown is for tomorrow. Tonight may be the night for bar crawling. Any advice on an area?
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evolutionmovement
- Knowledgeable
- Posts: 9809
- Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:20 pm
- Location: Beverly, MA
I prefer the Cambridge, Harvard to Central Square route, but the closest and largest number of bar to bar action is near Faneuil Hall (short walk from North Station, and there's a few bars along the way as well). The thing is that they're all Irish, so very similar, loud, and full of the dudes from the nearby financial district and normal (not very interesting) humans.
There's a few on the Boylston and Newbury St area (a short walk from Lansdowne St that has most of the clubs and is adjacent to Fenway Park) which are a little calmer, but still fill up with humans. Bars are a little more varied. Decent food there as well.
As you seem to have found, Cambridge is great for meeting women, at least in my experience and they're mostly under 25. Well under 25 (which I know you love) and half-way intelligent enough to converse with for however long you have to. I guess I appeal to the type (like I said before, it's also too bad Manray's now condos). The bars are fewer and further apart, but more varied, a little quieter (not night-club loud). Unfortunately, New York City definitely has it up on Boston for unique bars. There's no comparison at all. I'm not much of a drinker - I only like to have a few when my ulcer lets me and I don't like jam-packed places or noise that you can't think over unless I'm dancing, so take my opinion with that knowledge.
I'd offer to meet up with you somewhere but with work and selling this book, I'm just too busy for anything right now.
There's a few on the Boylston and Newbury St area (a short walk from Lansdowne St that has most of the clubs and is adjacent to Fenway Park) which are a little calmer, but still fill up with humans. Bars are a little more varied. Decent food there as well.
As you seem to have found, Cambridge is great for meeting women, at least in my experience and they're mostly under 25. Well under 25 (which I know you love) and half-way intelligent enough to converse with for however long you have to. I guess I appeal to the type (like I said before, it's also too bad Manray's now condos). The bars are fewer and further apart, but more varied, a little quieter (not night-club loud). Unfortunately, New York City definitely has it up on Boston for unique bars. There's no comparison at all. I'm not much of a drinker - I only like to have a few when my ulcer lets me and I don't like jam-packed places or noise that you can't think over unless I'm dancing, so take my opinion with that knowledge.
I'd offer to meet up with you somewhere but with work and selling this book, I'm just too busy for anything right now.
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.