Swamp Travel Guide: Boston

[DaveInSeattle]

I'm going to go with my daughter when she goes to Boston to start her gig, and looking for some tips. I've only been there a few times, and not in about 20 years.

- Is there some kind of regulations/taxes on AirBnB's? There doesn't seem to be a lot of options....at least way less than I would have expected.
- The WayFair office is in Copley Place, so I'm guessing we'll try to stay somewhere close to there. Any suggestions on hotels?
- How easy is it to get into the city from the Airport? Can we do the T? Or Uber?
- Anything we should definitely check out?

[Rush2112]

Take the T. There's a weird thing with uber and it's a pain to find your driver and phones don't work, etc. If you're staying around Copley it's easy enough to take the silver/blue line from Logan and then the green line to Copely.

I'd check out the MFA/Gardner Museums (further down the green line) and the North End (if you're into Italian), the Seaport area has built up since I've moved but there are lots of bars, restaurants, etc. but they may be more hip than good.

[mister d]

You can stay at the Copley Marriott which is where Philip Markoff (the Craigslist Killer) killed his victim. Its attached to a big mall. I'm not sure about AirBNB but I do know hotel prices in Boston are always pretty insane but also probably worth it versus trying to stay outside the city. Its a difference of walkable everything versus extreme pain in the ass driving.

Airport by public trans is easy once someone tells you the silver line is called a line like all the subways, but its really a bus. You take that out of Logan.

I'm partial to Cambridge/Somerville because that's where we lived and there's an invisible line where people who lived where I did rarely went to the western parts (Allston/Brighton) and vice versa. Copley is kinda/sorta in the middle of the two and part of Boston proper. Boston Common and the public garden are next to each other and worth walking through. Unless things have changed a lot in a decade, I'd avoid eating in downtown Boston in the same way you wouldn't pick midtown manhattan. There are some really good places, but for each one of those there are 10 where you basically pay to eat food in Boston. I can give recs if you do plan on going up to our old area.

[Johnnie]

On the final two questions:

'Airport' is a blue line T stop. Logan is in East Boston. Two stops and you're in downtown. Depends where you end up going from there. (Copley is on the green line. Government Center is the blue/green changeover.

The North End and the food there you should definitely check out.

Follow IG influencers for Boston for all of the great food. Chopstick Murphy's is awesome. As is Sacha.eats.

Pauli's has an excellent lobster roll. And Modern, Mike's, and Bova's has the awesome pastries.

[mister d]

... but they may be more hip than good.

This holds for our experience around there except for Yankee Lobster, which predates the expansion, and Trillium's restaurant. Another weird thing is you'd expect a lot of good seafood there but there really isn't and the tourist traps are the good ones. Like Neptune Oyster in the North End was excellent but always a long tourist wait and was cramped as hell.

[Nonlinear FC]

We stayed at Sonders that was reasonable on one of our many trips to Boston. It was near one of the Trillium Brewery joints. I can't remember exactly where.

We went out in Copley for a few meals. Nice area.

We typically had pretty good luck with VRBOs in and around Fenway, but mostly we used our Marriott connections to get Friends and Family rates at whatever was the cheapest option.

And while I've never really been in a city where I mind driving (especially in the post-direction app era), I would wholeheartedly agree with Delaware that you want to find a spot in the city. It's just a better experience.

[rass]

We stayed at the Wyndham Beacon Hill last spring. Room was fine. Near the T, bars and restaurants in the area, can walk to Little Italy and Boston Common and various other spots.

[A_B]

No moving trucks on storrow drive.

(I’m getting the scoop from my kid and will update soon)

[mister d]

The Mister D Cambridge/Somerville Top 5 (T stop):
1. Highland Kitchen (taxi/Lyft only)
2. Waypoint (Harvard)
3. Puritan & Co (Central + a walk)
4. Lamplighter Brewery (Central + a walk (could stop here heading to #3) or Kendall + a longer walk)
5. Bagelsaurus (Porter)

You’d make your life easier “studying” the T lines for like 10 minutes because they nicely map out the city. Red line runs kinda diagonal north/south from the top of Cambridge/Somerville, all the way through, then through Boston and out to the southeast. Green line runs more east/west intersecting with red at Park. There are several Green lines with letters if you’re going west. It’s very important to know which one you want because you’re either backtracking and starting over or getting a ride. It now extends beyond the edge of Cambridge going east and Union square is supposedly the new spot for anything dining but I can’t give recs there. You don’t need to know the blue or orange.

[DaveInSeattle]

We stayed at Sonders that was reasonable on one of our many trips to Boston. It was near one of the Trillium Brewery joints. I can't remember exactly where.

Thanks for the heads up. Got a reservation at the Arcadia at a pretty reasonable price.

[The Sybian]

I'm partial to Cambridge/Somerville because that's where we lived and there's an invisible line where people who lived where I did rarely went to the western parts (Allston/Brighton) and vice versa. Copley is kinda/sorta in the middle of the two and part of Boston proper. Boston Common and the public garden are next to each other and worth walking through. Unless things have changed a lot in a decade, I'd avoid eating in downtown Boston in the same way you wouldn't pick midtown manhattan. There are some really good places, but for each one of those there are 10 where you basically pay to eat food in Boston. I can give recs if you do plan on going up to our old area.

Ha, as a guy who lived in Brighton/Allston, I agree. I went to Somerville once to friend's apartment, don't think I ever went back. While I loved living in Allston, really no reason to visit if you didn't live there. Mostly college housing, dive bars and casual restaurants. Copley is a great central spot to hit all the sites. Boston is a tiny city, you can easily walk everywhere you want to go. Definitely want to hit up the Trillium brewery. Beyond that, my knowledge is dated. Moved out 23 years ago (fuck I'm old!).

[MaxWebster]

moved 10+ years ago after having been there for ...fk...25ish years and it already feels like a different lifetime. Funny that Somerville/Allston divide - truth. Needed a car (which i didn't have for a while / college) to traverse that boundary.

Seeing the Green-E line go past Lechmere does not compute.

Otherwise it's been a trip to read this thread from said past life - misterd's note about the silver line being a bus is simple yet one of the more important things to file away. Driving in Boston is definitely an "experience-required" task and you'll have a good time being centrally located and walking everywhere.

And late to the party but Dave big congrats on your daughter's job offer.

[A_B]

We stayed at Sonders that was reasonable on one of our many trips to Boston. It was near one of the Trillium Brewery joints. I can't remember exactly where.

Thanks for the heads up. Got a reservation at the Arcadia at a pretty reasonable price.

IN Brookline? If so, that's about 1000 feet from where my kid lived the last 2+ years.

The Fugakyu sushi place is super close and I loved it, but you may be much more used to good sushi that it doesn't hit the same for you.

Kid says Boston Public Library is worht checking out, but if you aren't in Copley it's kind of just in a commercial district and not really anything historical to see, but it’s on the green line which makes it easy to get to. Coolidge corner if you are indeed in Brookline has a lot of good food spots. They also prefer Chinatown to the typical North End which is where a lot of the Italian joints are. They love Chinatown.

[Rush2112]

They also prefer Chinatown to the typical North End which is where a lot of the Italian joints are. They love Chinatown.

I loved Chinatown, but I always felt way out of place, finally found a restaurant near the DMV where I at least had an inkling of what I was ordering.

[DaveInSeattle]

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone! And for all the good wishes on Elly's job offer.

I was reading through her offer paperwork last night, and there was a section about "Advice from people who moved to Boston"...the number one thing was "The coat you own is not warm enough".

[mister d]

Then they've never hired someone from the midwest. Boston cold had absolutely nothing on Chicago cold.

[The Sybian]

Then they've never hired someone from the midwest. Boston cold had absolutely nothing on Chicago cold.

Yeah, Boston is no worse than anywhere else in the Northeast. It can get windy in the Winter, but Buffalo was way worse.

[sancarlos]

But the point should still be well taken, considering Dave’s daughter is from the West Coast.

[Nonlinear FC]

Exactly to all of you. Buffalo is on another plane, Chicago, is the 3rd coldest winter I've ever experienced.* It's all kind of the same level of Holy FUCKING SHIT when you come from the South or West.

* We skied in Stowe in the air temp was in the negative teens. I was at a buddy's lake house in the 80s (and we snowmobiled on the lake) the same weekend as infamous playoff game in Cincy.

[DaveInSeattle]

Exactly to all of you. Buffalo is on another plane, Chicago, is the 3rd coldest winter I've ever experienced.* It's all kind of the same level of Holy FUCKING SHIT when you come from the South or West.

The first winter I lived in Chicago, there were more than a few times when I left my apartment and thought "I'm gonna die" before I got to my car.

Looks like things are coming together for her...she's been looking at sub-leases, and thinks she's found the one she wants to do. With another woman who works at a Pharma in Cambridge. Its on Beacon street, and is about a 20 minute walk from her office. She's face-timed a couple of times with the woman, and Elly said she seems cool (she's Jewish, and a sailor).

[DaveInSeattle]

My daughter got her sub-lease, and it looks like its in a great neighborhood.

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Only a 15-20 minute walk to her office, so she won't have to navigate the T every day.

[mister d]

Oh yeah, that's a great location and being on Mass Ave means she can get up into Cambridge really easily too if she wants.

[mister d]

Not sure about food in the immediate area since that was always more of a path between spots, but over by Fenway is Eventide, Eastern Standard and Sweet Cheeks (Top Chef alum Tiffani Faison).

(Sadly, the hot dog + tater tots + craft beer dive spot in that direction shut down a few years ago.)

[govmentchedda]

Yeah, that's a fantastic location.

[Nonlinear FC]

Oh shit! I didn't know Eventide had a location by Fenway.

In some other thread, we were talking about Portland, ME and that's one of the restaurants that absolutely blew us away. To the point that we bought their cookbook. (Which was kind of silly because I'm not going to go around making 90 percent of what's in there... With the exception of salmon and very occasionally a tuna steak, seafood is something I will seek at a restaurant rather than cook at home.)

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

[mister d]

Its an easy top 5, minimum, if you're playing the "what restaurants would you move into your town if you could" game and one of the few places I've eaten at on consecutive days. Specials aside, I imagine I've had 2/3 of the menu and I can't remember anything not being great. And also have the cookbook, aspirationally to mimic their version of the filet-o-fish, but I've still never tried it.



(That said, I've never been to the Boston location but I imagine its on par.)

[DaveInSeattle]

Oh shit! I didn't know Eventide had a location by Fenway.

In some other thread, we were talking about Portland, ME and that's one of the restaurants that absolutely blew us away. To the point that we bought their cookbook. (Which was kind of silly because I'm not going to go around making 90 percent of what's in there... With the exception of salmon and very occasionally a tuna steak, seafood is something I will seek at a restaurant rather than cook at home.)

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Damn...just looked at the menu, and now I'm really hungry for lunch. That looks fantastic. Going to have to check it out for sure.

[govmentchedda]

Not sure if she runs, but the trails along the river right there are fantastic for running.

Also, not sure I ever realized there was a Lower Allston. Not sure I understand why it's "Lower" either, given it is north of regular Allston. I don't recall there being a large slope down the hill towards the river or anything either.

[DaveInSeattle]

Not sure if she runs, but the trails along the river right there are fantastic for running.

She is a runner, and she's already talked about finding a running club to join when the weather gets better.

[mister d]

So June.

[A_B]

So June.

My first trip to Boston was in June. It was a beatiful 70 degrees and sunny during the day. And then night fell and it was in the 40s. I had to buy a sweatshirt before I went to the Red Sox game.

[mister d]

Yeah, there's not a lot that I didn't like about living there, but as a Cold Boy it was always rough having to prepare for two diff weathers if I was out of the house for 6+ hours.

[EdRomero]

Not sure if she runs, but the trails along the river right there are fantastic for running.

She is a runner, and she's already talked about finding a running club to join when the weather gets better.

The running clubs I know are mostly middle aged guys and out of the city. Notch Brewery promotes a running club pretty heavily; I don't know anything about them other than the Swamp likes Breweries and some of us like running. If she's into races, registration for the BAA Medley (5k, 10k, half) just opened; it's crowded and expensive but fun. I can let you know about other races if interested. As for my knowledge of Boston, especially for younger people, I've got nothing.

[govmentchedda]

Not sure if she runs, but the trails along the river right there are fantastic for running.

She is a runner, and she's already talked about finding a running club to join when the weather gets better.

The running clubs I know are mostly middle aged guys and out of the city. Notch Brewery promotes a running club pretty heavily; I don't know anything about them other than the Swamp likes Breweries and some of us like running. If she's into races, registration for the BAA Medley (5k, 10k, half) just opened; it's crowded and expensive but fun. I can let you know about other races if interested. As for my knowledge of Boston, especially for younger people, I've got nothing.

Isn't the Tracksmith flagship store on Newbury? I guarantee they do group runs out of there, and if her experience is similar to mine all you need to find is one group run, then you hear about a hundred other group runs.

https://www.tracksmith.com/pages/trackhouse

ETA - yes and yes. She's real close to their "track house" and it looks like they do three different hosted runs a week.

[Johnnie]

Yea, Back Bay is gorgeous. But that was the point. It was created to keep the wealthy in and the poor Irish out.

[sancarlos]

Romero, why don’t you go running with DiSdaughterinBoston? (Assuming she’ll hang out with an old dude?)

[mister d]

I can’t imagine anything more uncomfortable than “hello young person, I know your father from the men’s internet board”.

[govmentchedda]

Yea, Back Bay is gorgeous. But that was the point. It was created to keep the wealthy in and the poor Irish out.

That video was fascinating. Gonna go watch a few more.

[DaveInSeattle]

Not sure if she runs, but the trails along the river right there are fantastic for running.

She is a runner, and she's already talked about finding a running club to join when the weather gets better.

The running clubs I know are mostly middle aged guys and out of the city. Notch Brewery promotes a running club pretty heavily; I don't know anything about them other than the Swamp likes Breweries and some of us like running. If she's into races, registration for the BAA Medley (5k, 10k, half) just opened; it's crowded and expensive but fun. I can let you know about other races if interested. As for my knowledge of Boston, especially for younger people, I've got nothing.

Isn't the Tracksmith flagship store on Newbury? I guarantee they do group runs out of there, and if her experience is similar to mine all you need to find is one group run, then you hear about a hundred other group runs.

https://www.tracksmith.com/pages/trackhouse

ETA - yes and yes. She's real close to their "track house" and it looks like they do three different hosted runs a week.

Oh, that's perfect. Thanks!

[sancarlos]

I can’t imagine anything more uncomfortable than “hello young person, I know your father from the men’s internet board”.

Ha ha. Yeah. Scratch that.