Copley Square Revamp | Back Bay

[MjolnirMan]

As for benches, that's why I think people aren't using the grass - there's a ton more programmed seating than there used to be.

And yet, not as much seating as back in the '70s! I wonder why the Ancestors ever decided to remove this hardscape plaza with ample seating...

 

[as02155]

On the old lawn, you could walk over, plop down, and feel like you've got some buffer in an oasis.

Not that StreetView is the best at saying what happens all the time - but - there's very little apparent "plopping down" that has gone on in that old lawn - more people clustering around the shade of the trees in the heat and avoiding the area during the breezy fall/winter/springs.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/UzFXCs5wjL9rrLWS6

 

[ritchiew]

Not that StreetView is the best at saying what happens all the time - but - there's very little apparent "plopping down" that has gone on in that old lawn - more people clustering around the shade of the trees in the heat and avoiding the area during the breezy fall/winter/springs.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/UzFXCs5wjL9rrLWS6

Yeah, this is what I keep thinking. For all the nostalgia for the grass, I really don't remember people using it much. If I ever sat down in that grass, I don't remember it. I poked through Street View and they seemed to favor taking pictures on sunny, busy days, but I couldn't find more than single-digit number of people on the grass. There's the one photo that keeps getting posted to show how busy the grass used to be. That's more people than I remember regularly being there, and even that is like a dozen people (with a telephoto lens that makes people look more packed together). And that's ignoring the ~6 months a year when it'd be too cold or muddy to even consider lounging in the grass. I think anyone who wanted to hang out on grass would go the Public Garden or Esplanade. Copley was never really that kind of place.

That's how I remember it, anyways. If anyone regularly used that grass, I'd love to hear what you did there.

The grass always seemed more ornamental. That is also a good thing, but then I also don't care as much if the grassy area is now smaller/moved/split up/whatever. It can be ornamental in a new corner of the plaza, and still serve the single-digit number of people who want to sit there.

 

[chrisbrat]

Yeah, this is what I keep thinking. For all the nostalgia for the grass, I really don't remember people using it much. If I ever sat down in that grass, I don't remember it. I poked through Street View and they seemed to favor taking pictures on sunny, busy days, but I couldn't find more than single-digit number of people on the grass. There's the one photo that keeps getting posted to show how busy the grass used to be. That's more people than I remember regularly being there, and even that is like a dozen people (with a telephoto lens that makes people look more packed together). And that's ignoring the ~6 months a year when it'd be too cold or muddy to even consider lounging in the grass. I think anyone who wanted to hang out on grass would go the Public Garden or Esplanade. Copley was never really that kind of place.

That's how I remember it, anyways. If anyone regularly used that grass, I'd love to hear what you did there.

The grass always seemed more ornamental. That is also a good thing, but then I also don't care as much if the grassy area is now smaller/moved/split up/whatever. It can be ornamental in a new corner of the plaza, and still serve the single-digit number of people who want to sit there.

A (non-cranky, "everything was better before!") voice of sanity. Bless you, sir.

 

[PercyL]

From an urban dweller's perspective: a relatively small patch of grass in an area without much other places with grass is really . . . an unposted dog relief park. So, sensible people don't bother sitting there. It's not rocket science.

 

[as02155]

From an urban dweller's perspective: a relatively small patch of grass in an area without much other places with grass is really . . . an unposted dog relief park. So, sensible people don't bother sitting there. It's not rocket science.

Yeah - that's the 'unspoken rule' that I quickly learned after moving into the city - every grassy expanse is not actually a field for humans.

That being said - the mounded things in Cambridge - at City Hall and at Cambridge Crossing really do seem to work well as places for people to sit/lounge. More than I expect, every time.

 

[Kinopio]

From an urban dweller's perspective: a relatively small patch of grass in an area without much other places with grass is really . . . an unposted dog relief park. So, sensible people don't bother sitting there. It's not rocket science.

Awful dog owners and their annoying animals have ruined parks, airports and now they are coming for our grocery stores.

 

[PercyL]

Yeah - that's the 'unspoken rule' that I quickly learned after moving into the city - every grassy expanse is not actually a field for humans.

That being said - the mounded things in Cambridge - at City Hall and at Cambridge Crossing really do seem to work well as places for people to sit/lounge. More than I expect, every time.

Mounds involve more effort than most people taking dogs out to relieve are willing to do; much more importantly, their grade/pitch means that rain will rinse them much more effectively than small flat patches of grass...