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statler said:
I love Kurt Vonnegut.
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Actually met him once around the time of that letter.

Went to a Globe Book Fair with a pal, Vonnegut was the featured speaker. Funny speech, he talked about Dresden (that wasn't the funny bit), answered some questions. When Vonnegut finished, my pal and I split and went to Jacob Wirths for a few pitchers of beer.

After a couple of pitchers, I notice this rumpled Columbo looking guy sitting by himself down at the piano end of the bar. Nudge my pal and say:

"Hey, its Vonnegut. What's he doin?"

"Drinking beer asshole, whadya think he's doin."

"Let's buy him a beer!"

"Hey KURT, KURT, KURTTTT...NICE SPEECH! WANNA BEER?"

"Sure kid. You Irish?"

"YA KURT!!! Half, anyway."

"Yeah, kid. But your ALL drunk."

"Hey THANKS Kurt!!! You know what? You're TALLER on a barstool than you look!"

"Thanks kid. Thanks for the beer too."

"NO PROBLEM KURT! Be seein ya!"

"Here's looking at you, kid!"

"THANKS KURT!!! Bye! Bye!"

Toby and pal return to finish many pitchers.

I can't say my recollection is word perfect, for reasons you may well appreciate. But in those days Jacob Wirths had no neon signs, the waiters wore tails and there was sawdust on the floor. Years later I read that it was one of Vonnegut's favorite bars, maybe a throwback to his German heritage, or maybe just because it was strange. In any event, I'm glad we didn't knock it off of his favorites list.
 
They should do it again. But not staged where every single person within a 10 block radius is on it.
 
datadyne007 said:
Wow, up in the ranks with Paris, London, and Vienna. Awesome.
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The ranking was probably largely based on student population. With Boston's closing times, lack of night bus service, and failure to provide late night dining or other options, it felt way harder and way less fun to be a student there than in NY. Whenever I brought Euro-visitors around they couldn't believe it was a "student city" because of the lack of posters, graffiti, nightlife, evidence of alt-lifestyle youth culture etc. compared even to much smaller university towns they were familiar with like Bologna or Krakow or student neighborhoods like the Latin Quarter of Paris or San Lorenzo in Rome. Only Central Square ever came close to fulfilling expectations, and barely at that.

Gentrification has probably played a huge role in this; 20 years ago, central Boston and Cambridge probably felt much more student-centered, and issues like transit weren't as big a deal with students able to live it up more in the center. Places in downtown Manhattan that used to be really fun for students are really losing their edge for the same reason now, and maybe the only place in North America that really feels comparable to a European "student city" is barely-gentrified Montreal.
 
The Houston Dynamo inaugurated their brand new stadium today. Waaaaa I want one in Allston!

20120512_dynamoopener_jan_03.jpg
 
I just bought Mapping Boston and can barely contain my excitement.
 
That magazine puts modern publications to shame. I found all the commentary on automobiles and the advertising of electric vehicles quite ironic.
 
This is not Henry Luce's famous LIFE magazine that many of us grew up with, but rather an earlier humor magazine with the same name.
 
Of all the car ads, who'd have guessed that FIAT would be the last one standing.
 
There's almost not a single ad that isn't hilariously dated. First generation electric cars, self-starting cars (!), corsets, garters, steam trains, fountain pens...tooth powder?

Another great quote:

Boston is an area of Dignity and Tradition entirely surrounded by conservatism
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I don't want to bump the Filene's thread when there isn't any news...

...but why isn't there any news?!

Surely there has to be some enterprising young reporter out there wondering what the hell is going on with the giant hole in the middle of the city.
 
czsz said:
There's almost not a single ad that isn't hilariously dated. First generation electric cars, self-starting cars (!), corsets, garters, steam trains, fountain pens...tooth powder?

Another great quote:
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I always love reading old architecture magazines because there are always a ton of advertisements for the one-and-only ultra-revolutionary... asbestos.
 
I'm in Toronto today. It's... um... hard to describe what's happening here in terms of development. Think Vancouver... think Dubai... Vancouverization at Dubai velocity...

Not sure what economics are driving it, but Boston's "building boom" - or any such boom that I've seen recently, including those of emerging markets - cannot hold a candle to this.

Glass and metallic-plate high rises sprouting everywhere - on the waterfront, but also inland... a concentric ring of Vancouver growing around the old high-rise downtown. Unbelievable. Pics to come later this week. It all seems a bit Seaportesque to be honest - although to a large extent the streetcars are already running to these areas making them feel less isolated.
 
I was just there two months ago and got the same impression. I stayed in a hotel with near-360 rooftop views and counted over two dozen cranes from that one vantage point. And almost all of them seemed to be going up on buildings over 20 stories tall. AND the Toronto metro has only 1 million people more than Boston's.
 
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