The Hub on Causeway (née TD Garden Towers) | 80 Causeway Street | West End

Wow ! We already have an "Uptown"......on the outer reaches of the
Back Bay......Uptown Theatre, etc.
 
Lrfox said:
I'm 33 and have actually only lived inside of 128 for the past 2.5 years. I'm an "old timer" I guess?

We'll see how this goes. It's going to be hard to "brand" this area as "Uptown" when it's pretty deeply rooted as the Bulfinch Triangle and also happens to be on the periphery of the North End, West End, and Government Center. Too many names to just toss another into the hat.

I will say this though - the tidbit about the Leather District being "created" in the 90s was interesting to me. I use the term to describe the area and sort of thought it had a long-standing tradition. Apparently not. Don't see this happening with Uptown though.
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Dunno - I always have called/known that area as the Leather District, although, I guess it was just as common to call some of it Chinatown (although that was a pretty small part).
 
Additionally, we already have an "Uptown"......in the outer reaches of the Back Bay...remember the Uptown Theatre, etc. ...and "Leather District" has been in use at least as far back as the Fifties.
 
Brian Koop said:
“Old-timers call it the Bulfinch Triangle. We don’t like that name,” Koop said. “We’re trying Uptown.”
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I read this and had to check my calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st.

What an asswipe...
 
FitchburgLine said:
Whatever your personal opinion of the piece is, your claim that statler's rebuttal is "obvious to anyone" is just false. Here's an NBER paper making a convincing argument that for colleges, nearly all press is good press, with a mechanism of action (increased media coverage) that is identical to the effect you dismissed: https://www.nber.org/papers/w24852
Personal attack away, but don't do it with data you don't have.
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I think this applies here too. Regardless of the tone of the story, you have people associating "Uptown" with this area of the city. Many of the people who are discussing this and making the association wouldn't have even heard about the "Uptown" branding if the press hadn't picked it up (again, regardless of the tone of the article). If you asked me yesterday where "Uptown" in Boston is, I wouldn't be able to give you an answer. I'd say "wtf are you talking about?". If you ask me today, I'll say "Oh, that's the name some developer is trying to give to the Bullfinch Triangle and the area around N. Station." I've made the association even though I don't like it. I'd imagine that apart from neighborhood residents and neighbors and people, like us, who are deeply interested in the city and its history won't have nearly the same problem with it as we do.

I'm not saying it'll be successful or that it'll stick, but it's out there and that article is a big reason why.
 
But are people more likely to purchase property there due to that association (which is the entire purpose of marketing)? I've been reading lots of articles about Sears lately and how their stores are unkempt, Craftsman tools suck now, not enough employees, etc. Tons of buzz (look, I'm talking about them right now!), but I'm not going near one unless I start reading stories about a 'miraculous turnaround' or 'impossible comeback'.

That said, there are probably just enough techbros in this city who honestly think that Uptown sounds swanky. Nobody ever went broke underestimating, etc.
 
TomOfBoston said:
The developer doesn't like "Bulfinch Triangle". Tough shit!
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Something like The 'Uptown Club in the Bulfinch District' for the (roof terrace) might sound good to visitors to Boston, while still gaining acceptance with locals. But they already named it the Hub on Causeway.

Or, possibly get a T Stop named Uptown.
 
statler said:
See also: DTX. I was shocked to learn that was a branding effort. Always thought it was organic.
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I think you need to be more specific with your nomenclature.

"Downtown Crossing" was absolutely a top-down imposition/marketing innovation by the Mayor White Administration ca. 1978-79, part of the creation of the (much-maligned) pedestrian zone. Hard to find citations to it from a quick Googling, but the proof--which I've seen first-hand--is the very rare Red Line subway car that has a Red Line corridor map showing "Washington Street" as the name for the stop now called "Downtown Crossing."

But, you're saying "DTX" didn't emerge organically from street slang? That the BPDA and/or an urban placemaking firm actually coined it and was paid/worked professionally to get it traction? Hard to believe but I suppose it's plausible...
 
Justin7 said:
“Old-timers call it the Bulfinch Triangle. We don’t like that name,” Koop said. “We’re trying Uptown.”

lol

That's what you get paid for, Koop!
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Speaking as an "olde tymer", I have never called it the "Bulfinch Triangle", which I believe was branding by some marketer in the 80's. In my circle of acquaintance its always been:
"North Station"
"Over By North Station"
"Where I Puked On A Girl Outside Chet's Last Call"
 
DBM said:
I think you need to be more specific with your nomenclature.

"Downtown Crossing" was absolutely a top-down imposition/marketing innovation by the Mayor White Administration ca. 1978-79, part of the creation of the (much-maligned) pedestrian zone. Hard to find citations to it from a quick Googling, but the proof--which I've seen first-hand--is the very rare Red Line subway car that has a Red Line corridor map showing "Washington Street" as the name for the stop now called "Downtown Crossing."

But, you're saying "DTX" didn't emerge organically from street slang? That the BPDA and/or an urban placemaking firm actually coined it and was paid/worked professionally to get it traction? Hard to believe but I suppose it's plausible...
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Fair.

I was using Downtown Crossing and DTX interchangeably, but an argument could be made they are, in fact, distinct and that DTX is an organic offshoot of the original branding effort.
 
statler said:
Fair.

I was using Downtown Crossing and DTX interchangeably, but an argument could be made they are, in fact, distinct and that DTX is an organic offshoot of the original branding effort.
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Exactly my suspicion! Just a hunch though...
 
Some of you may recall that when Atlantic Wharf was launched, Boston Properties christened the neighborhood "The Waterfront District" because "The Financial District" is a bad brand for a mixed-use development.

This same conversation that we're having right now played itself out back then too. The purists and curmudgeons were outraged! A few tragically hip people thought it was cool. Most sensible people didn't pay it any attention at all. Yet the brokers and marketers believed that it was a good way to tell the story to prospective businesses, residents and retailers... and it likely was.

Eight years later, there's no "Waterfront District" and eight years from now there will be no "Uptown" either. But why would BP care? They are one of the smartest and most successful developers this city has ever known. They know exactly what they are doing.


PS: "The Waterfront District" lives on! At least in two places:
https://www.atlanticwharflofts.com/locale/
https://www.atlanticwharfboston.com/location/
 
Regardless, I'm going to keep calling it
what I have since I was a kid. Bonerland.
 
Mike02125 said:
Some of you may recall that when Atlantic Wharf was launched, Boston Properties christened the neighborhood "The Waterfront District" because "The Financial District" is a bad brand for a mixed-use development.

This same conversation that we're having right now played itself out back then too. The purists and curmudgeons were outraged! A few tragically hip people thought it was cool. Most sensible people didn't pay it any attention at all. Yet the brokers and marketers believed that it was a good way to tell the story to prospective businesses, residents and retailers... and it likely was.

Eight years later, there's no "Waterfront District" and eight years from now there will be no "Uptown" either. But why would BP care? They are one of the smartest and most successful developers this city has ever known. They know exactly what they are doing.


PS: "The Waterfront District" lives on! At least in two places:
https://www.atlanticwharflofts.com/locale/
https://www.atlanticwharfboston.com/location/
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Interesting, I remember that. They also really pushed Atlantic Wharf (it was originally Russia Wharf), and that's definitely stuck. There were/are a few people on this forum that weren't thrilled about that.
 
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