What I love about Boston

statler

statler

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OK, let's get this out in the open. This is the booster thread.
We know you love this city or else you wouldn't be here.
Spill your guts, but try to be creative about it. No "The history!' or "The Red Sox!" posts.
I'll post mine later but here is an awesome little story from this month's Boston Magazine about the Blizzard of '78 to illustrate what I am looking for:

Christina Robb: After maybe four or five days, Dukakis said that essential stores could open. In Harvard Square, that meant bookstores and ice cream stores. People were walking around licking ice cream cones among these piles of snow, and browsing. I remember just feeling this sense of love for where I lived when I saw that these were the essential stores.
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Oh yea, and how it used to be even more unique. Especially when it comes to retail. Caldors, Bradlees, Lechmere, Filene's, Filene's Basement, Tweeter, Stop and Shop, Shaws, Purity Supreme, Brooks, etc etc etc.... I hate it now how you can travel anywhere in the country and its the same stores everywhere. drives me crazy. nothing to explore.
 
I love walking down Comm Ave. Is there a prettier street in America?
I love the fact that people like Keith Lockheart and John Williams are local celebrities.
I love that Boston is a two newspaper town. (Yes, the Herald sucks, but it's no worse than the Post)
I love the fact that the Brattle Book Shop is always busy.
I love the fact that you can be riding the Red Line and see people reading a Noam Chomsky book. And then realize that Chomsky himself might hop on at the next stop.
I love that the Brattle Theater is able to survive as a non-profit entity.
I love the fact(?) that the Smoot is an accepted unit of measurement at MIT (myth?).
I love Post Office Square on the first warm sunny weekday in Spring.
I love the fact that there is a statue of Arthur Fiedler and most Bostonians know who he is.
I love riding the Red Line over the Longfellow Bridge.
I love the face we have a bridge named after Longfellow.
I love the Longfellow Bridge.
I love the fact that the city had the will undertake the Big Dig (see corollary in the hate thread)
I love standing on the bridge in the Esplanade lagoon on a warm day watching the sail boats.
I love that fact that they always schedule a home Red Sox game Patriots Day and try to schedule it so the end of the game will coincide with the end of the Marathon. Just a great time to be in the city.
I love the fact that the Pops and the BSO are cherished institutions and still remain popular in 2008.

More to add later...
 
I love that there is a pub and a coffee shop on almost every street corner. Actually, I think that's a zoning regulation.
 
Chomsky himself might hop on at the next stop
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Is he known to do this? I like the fact that Dukakis still commutes by Green Line every day from Coolidge Corner. And the fact that you can get the best Lebanese shawarma down the street from that neighborhood's massive synagogues.
 
Santarpio's, Crossroads, TC's, Wally's, The Tam, The Midway Cafe.
 
I love how easy it is to walk Boston. I could never walk and see all of NYC or San Fran, but Boston allows it.
 
I love that Boston is such a dense city. And I also agree with Beton Brut, I LOVE SANTARPIO'S!
I love Boston harbor and how there are countless amounts of islands everywhere in the harbor.
I love the Boston Aquarium and Boston Museum of Science.
I love Charlestown and Cambridge and Somerville and Newton, they are all amazing places around Boston.
I love that there is (at least 1) some sort of church/synagogue/temple/etc on almost every street in Boston.
I love East Boston (before it got taken over by Hispanics, when it was Italian)
I love Logan Airport and how it is on it's own peninsula.
I love sailboats on the Charles River.
I love laying down in the grass in the common on a warm summer day and just watching life in the city.
 
I love East Boston (before it got taken over by Hispanics, when it was Italian)
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What's wrong with the Hispanics?
 
If Wikipedia is correct, San Francisco actually has a slightly smaller land area than Boston (46.7 square miles vs. Boston's 48.4)
 
czsz said:
Is he known to do this?
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To be honest, I have no idea. But it is possible (as he works at MIT.)
Plus he is a progressive type, so I'd like to think he would choose mass transit over personal transit, but that's obviously not a given.
 
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I love Boston because it has a big city feel but also its tranquil at the same time. I also love the not so hot summer days here.
 
I know we're not supposed to say, "Red Sox!" but I love Fenway Park. From the feeling you get while walking over the Pike from Kenmore and you see the light towers, to the scene on Yawkey (it was better before the gates were there), to the butterflies you get when you walk out of the tunnel and get the first glimpse of the Green Monster (it's something that happens every time, it doesn't get old). There's nothing else like it in all of baseball.

*Edit* If that's too cliche, then I have another: I love that Boston maintains it's individuality without building a tacky landmark like the Gateway Arch, Space Needle, or CN tower (I know it serves a purpose, but there are cheaper alternatives for TV antennas than an 1800 foot concrete tower). It's very easy for a city to cave and building something tacky to boost interest (See: Dubai).
 
^^ I should clarify.
What you wrote about Fenway Park was just what I was hoping for. I was looking to avoid one or two word answers. Thanks.
 
I love that Boston maintains it's individuality without building a tacky landmark like the Gateway Arch, Space Needle, or CN tower (I know it serves a purpose, but there are cheaper alternatives for TV antennas than an 1800 foot concrete tower). It's very easy for a city to cave and building something tacky to boost interest (See: Dubai).
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The Space Needle and (I think) the St. Louis Arch were built as attractions during temporary exhibitions, much in the same way the Eiffel Tower was. Only later did they become landmarks of their respective cities. I think the CN Tower was actually built to advertise the Canadian National Railway more than Toronto itself, though it's certainly done a far better job serving the latter purpose.

So I think Boston's lack of a "tacky" landmark has more to do with its history of having never hosted a major exhibition, and its corporations' lack of boastful audaciousness (with the possible exception of the Hancock towers, though the latter is praised for being muted more than its height). This latter quality might point toward a conservative civic culture inimical to "tackiness," but we could have easily wound up with some sort of wild structure given an alternative history in which Boston competed more aggressively for Olympics, World's Fairs, etc.
 
I love Castle Island in the summer...laying in the grass and watching the planes come in.... I love fishing off that pier.
I love Boston Bowl
I love the rivalries inside the city
Dot vs Southie.... North Shore vs South Shore. (South's way better, I can't decide between dot and southie, too many good friends from both)
I love golfing at Granite Links/ Presidents and seeing the incredible views of the city so close and golfing in nature at the same time, its amazing.
I love Daisy Buchanons... everyone knows it and loves it... I say I go there and five uncles just smile and say "another has made the passage"
I loved the old Gahden. Place was magical.
Love the fact that I can watch the Departed and say I fish there all the time! and watch Good Will Hunting and say I smoked weed at that field all the time in high school! and also say during those movies... Matt Damon aint going to Southie, he's passing Savin Hill. and say Umass isn't in Southie, its in DOT! (both amazing movies IMO)
Love being hating the yankees. im sure I have more...
 
I love the fact that I can take the boat home from the airport( I called a friend from school to tell her I landed safe and she thought it was the coolest thing that I was taking a boat home and 5 other people did too)
I love the Middle East
I love Kelly's Hot Dogs at Castle Island
I love Day Blvd., Dot Ave., Storrow Drive (as dangerous as it is), Boylston
I love Boston Common and Public Garden and the amazing memories I have there.
I love the Barking Crab in the summer
I love the way people drive here
 
czsz said:
What's wrong with the Hispanics?
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Nothing is wrong with the Hispanics, I just mean there aren't a lot of Italians there anymore, so it has lost some of the feel it used to have when I was younger.
 
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