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Welcome to the neighborhood
An impressionistic guide to Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville


WHETHER YOU’RE NEW to your apartment or a long-time resident, chances are your neighborhood has some surprises. Where’s the best slice of pizza? Which is the hippest bar, or the biggest dive? Where should you go for used CDs, new books, or a simple cup of coffee? And who, exactly, are your neighbors? We’ve put together a handy reference guide to almost 30 neighborhoods in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville with answers to these and many other crucial questions. Greater Boston is a sprawling and diverse place, so we don’t claim this list as the final word. Rather, it’s a series of snapshots presented by Phoenix writers, editors, and contributors. For the most up-to-date guide to what’s going on where, pick up the weekly Phoenix, or go to our daily Web site at www.bostonphoenix.com. Now if only you could find a parking space ...

BOSTON/BROOKLINE

Allston/Brighton

Sure, you can’t walk down the sidewalk without bumping into masses of college students; the T service (B Line) is impossibly slow; and parking can be an utter nightmare. That doesn’t mean that the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton should be avoided. For starters (and most important), dining and nightlife opportunities abound. In a single stretch of Allston’s Brighton Avenue, you can play a game of pool at Big City, stand in line for a table at the wildly popular Carlo’s Cucina Italiana, dance to Top 40 at the Kells, catch a live band at Harpers Ferry, and slurp a bowl of traditional noodle soup at Pho Pasteur. Not to be outdone, Brighton Center offers the new Devlin’s Bistro, Porter Belly’s, and the Green Briar Pub. Even Brighton’s Oak Square gets into the action, with its red-fronted watering hole the Last Drop. For scenesters, Allston’s Wonder Bar rivals many Newbury Street haunts in its black-clothing quotient; for a more low-key night out, the Silhouette Lounge and Model Café are popular dives. On the shopping front, Urban Renewals is a good bet for cheap threads; Flyrabbit offers a bit of the offbeat and macabre; and Maverick is the place to go for unfinished furniture, either off the shelf or made to order.

Kenmore Square

Things change. The Rat is now a pile of rubble, and the local IHOP is no more; hell, even Cornwall’s pub has moved to spacious new digs across the street. But for all its recent alterations, Kenmore Square keeps a good balance between gritty city life (its center) and urbane tree-lined avenues (further down Comm Ave). And it offers a host of diversions for its denizens. Foodies will love the generous portions of Brazilian fare at Café Belo, the trattoria atmosphere of Il Bico, and the late-night delights of Deli-Haus. Music snobs can paw through the rare vinyl sides on offer at Nuggets. Bookworms will get lost in the many-storied Barnes & Noble. Of course, a little baseball diamond known as Fenway stands nearby, its Green Monster shadowing the nightly parade of glitz and glamour that takes place in the clubs of Lansdowne Street below (Bill’s, Avalon, and Axis among them). And, lest we forget, the Citgo sign stands sentry as always, a gaudy orange beacon looming large above the square. Nice to know that some things never change.

The Fenway

Even many people who grew up going to Fenway Park never discover this eponymous neighborhood until a real-estate agent steers them there, dangling the euphemism " Back Bay area. " And the Fenway’s initial charm does indeed lie in its proximity to other places: Symphony Hall, the Huntington Theatre, and the Museum of Fine Arts, not to mention BU, Northeastern, and Berklee College of Music.

But though the residential streets may rarely be destinations in their own right, this low-attitude neighborhood offers plenty to turn indifferent renters into loyal Fenwickians long before that first lease is up. Frederick Law Olmsted’s sprawling Back Bay Fens divide the neighborhood in two, providing a dog-walking paradise and, in the summertime, a mellow frisbee-and-sunbathing spot. On the park’s west side, relatively quiet streets are dotted with small, inexpensive places to eat, including one of the city’s best Thai restaurants (Brown Sugar), a friendly café/newsstand/gallery/hangout (Designs for Living), and, for those who don’t like it quite so quiet, a barbecue-joint-cum-rock-club (the Linwood). Most of these spots set up outdoor tables during the warmer months, making the neighborhood a perfect place to see and be seen by people who have no interest in where you got your hair cut.

South End

If you like stately row houses, it’s a great place to live. And if you don’t, it’s a great place to eat. Think breakfast at Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe (turkey hash), lunch at Jae’s (Korean delights), dinner at Hamersley’s Bistro (try the mushroom appetizer). If you don’t get the drift, this is foodie heaven. Try Addis Red Sea (Ethiopian), Anchovies (a joint that defines the neighborhood), Aquitaine (French country), Truc (French bistro), Club Café (an enduring institution), Bob the Chef’s (soul food with soul), the Claremont Café (casual), the Delux Café (arty), the Franklin Café (efforts to keep this a neighborhood secret have failed), Icarus (elegant), Mistral (still cool after all these years), and the Eagle (for some, an acquired taste). The neighborhood’s also home to the Boston Ballet headquarters and the Boston Center for the Arts, a multiplex of sorts that used to be the city’s flower exchange. Today the BCA houses theater companies and a variety of exhibition spaces. It’s smack in the middle of the restaurant district. As in all of the South End, parking is a bitch. Valet it, take a cab, or use the T (the Orange Line’s Back Bay station and the Green Line’s Symphony, Copley, Arlington, and Prudential stations are all nearby).

Beacon Hill

TV’s fictional Ally McBeal lives here, and so does the real US Senator John Kerry, and so did Oliver Wendell Holmes, the 19th-century wit who minted the phrase " Boston Brahmin. " Welcome to the city’s most historic and high-priced neighborhood. Charles Street is the commercial thoroughfare. It has the look and feel of a small New England town, albeit a rich one. It’s dotted with antique stores, boutiques, coffee shops, and one of the city’s best and priciest butchers, Savenor’s. Any walking tour should include Louisburg Square and Acorn, Chestnut, and Mount Vernon Streets. (Henry James called Mount Vernon the only civilized street in America. How’s that for attitude?) The historic Bulfinch-designed State House (now undergoing extensive renovations) crowns the hill’s summit and looks down over the equally historic Boston Common, where cows once grazed, hippies once hung out, and Vietnam War protesters once gathered. These days, hemp-heads stage their pro-pot rallies here, much to the consternation of the stiffs at City Hall. If you’re a visitor and all that walking and gawking has worked up an appetite, there are plenty of places to eat. Yuppie pizza at Figs. Quality comfort food with quality cocktails at Harvard Gardens. Bohemian ambiance and Middle Eastern flavors at the Istanbul Café. For those with refined palates and a corpulent wad of cash, there’s No. 9 Park (according to one Phoenix food critic, " chef Barbara Lynch grew up in Southie but cooks like a New Yorker " ) and the Federalist (super-expensive, but it delivers). And if you’re feeling under the weather, you can always check in to Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the world’s finest. It’s located right next to the abandoned Charles Street Jail, an impressive granite structure built on what was once swamp land owned by a now-dead mayor’s family. Very Boston.

The Back Bay

Strictly speaking, this neighborhood is Beacon Hill’s first cousin. Residentially speaking, we’re talking ultra-posh. Let’s take our cue from several lines by Robert Lowell: " I hog a whole house on Boston’s/‘hardly passionate Marlborough Street,’ where even the man/scavenging filth in the back alley trash cans,/has two children, a beach wagon, a helpmate,/and is a ‘young Republican.’  " These are the people who recently banned news boxes from their streets and have tried — thank God, unsuccessfully — to ban rock concerts from the Hatch Shell, home of the famous July Fourth Pops concerts. But never mind. The residential streets (Beacon, Marlborough, and Comm Ave) are stunning, and the commercial thoroughfares (Newbury and Boylston) are teeming. Back in the 1950s, residents objected when a European-style café sought permission to open. The air, residents complained, might be tainted by the smell of roasting coffee beans. Once that battle was lost, Newbury Street slowly but surely came to life. Boston isn’t New York, but it wouldn’t be out of place to suggest that Newbury is our Madison Avenue of sorts. It’s hip, commercial, continental, and artsy. At either end, a bistro (Sonsie) and a café (29 Newbury) flourish like two tips of a mustache. The food and drink are good at both, and the people-watching is hard to top. In between are the city’s best hair salons, its most established art galleries, some of its highest-profile retailers, a great florist (Winston), a discerning liquor store (Bauer Wine and Spirits), one of the city’s two great used bookstores (Avenue Victor Hugo is one; the Brattle, near Downtown Crossing, is the other), the flagship of one locally owned music chain (Newbury Comics), and a soon-to-open mega-music store (Virgin). The urban malls at Copley Place and the Prudential Center make any trip to the suburbs superfluous. And then there’s Copley Square itself, the hub of local architectural distinction. There sits I.M. Pei’s spectacularly spare John Hancock Tower (on a clear day you can see 100 miles from the observatory), H.H. Richardson’s neo-Romanesque Trinity Church (the weight of the relatively new Hancock once threatened to collapse the church), and McKim, Mead & White’s Boston Public Library (the nation’s oldest, now nearing completion of a remarkable renovation). PS to all this: the finish line to the Boston Marathon is right outside Philip Johnson’s addition to the library. Come April, when the marathon takes place, be there or be square.

Theater District

Boston’s Theater District may not rival the Great White Way in size, but it’s a compact, cozy area anchored by the Wang Theatre, which is home to Boston Ballet and many of the larger Broadway touring shows. Next to that is the Wilbur Theatre, and across the street there’s the Shubert, where Boston Lyric Opera performs. The Emerson Majestic, less than a block away, hosts an eclectic program of theater, opera, and dance, and a little farther along Stuart Street there’s the Stuart Street Playhouse.

You can’t have a Theater District without restaurants; most of them spread along Stuart Street, from Montien (Thai) to Brew Moon (American), Pho Pasteur (an upscale version of the Vietnamese favorite), and the California Pizza Kitchen. The dining area in the Transportation Center offers mall-like speed and convenience; it opens onto the Alley, where numerous nightclubs provide a rowdy, festive atmosphere.

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Issue Date: August 23 - 30, 2001