Coming soon: An online guide to hidden Boston
By adamg - 1/26/10 - 8:57 pm
MySecretBoston officially launches next week, but this online guide to "hidden" cool stuff in Boston already has an impressive number of finds online. It's an attractive site and has some attitude (and, personally, as a Drupal geek, I'm fond of their choice in content management systems).
Ed. note: I originally filled this part of my post with some really sour comments about how this is just another guide that avoids large sections of the city (which you'll gather from some of the comments below). Turns out they were unfair. Third Decade, who's complained about such things along with me, says MySecretBoston's actually reached out to him in his job at Discover Roxbury, and that I missed a number of Roxbury-related posts on the site. So my apologies.
Comments
That's an odd insertion of
By anon (not verified) - 1/26/10 - 9:52 pm
That's an odd insertion of race. Also, I have never lived in the suburbs and am a life time resident of Boston, but I find the antipathy towards those that live outside Boston, Cambridge or Somerville equally bizarre. This site has a very elitist view of others.
Where I'm coming from
By adamg - 1/26/10 - 10:38 pm
Boston Magazine has an annual Best-of-Boston guide. And almost every listing is in the North End, the Back Bay, Newton, Brookline and Cambridge and Davis Square, with a couple of waves at Charlestown.
The Improper Bostonian has an annual Best-of-Boston guide. And almost every listing is in the North End, the Back Bay, Newton, Brookline and Cambridge and Davis Square, with a couple of waves at Charlestown.
The Phoenix has an annual best-of guide, too. You know what's coming next.
The Dig has an annual best-of guide, as well. Ditto (although to their credit the Dig does seem a bit more inclusive).
So after awhile, if you live in, oh, Roslindale, you start getting the feeling that all of these best-of guides are based on a map that shows dragons or serpents south of the Fens and Huntington Avenue. Hyde Park? West Roxbury? Mattpan? The parts of Dorchester where people don't frequent dBar or the Ashmont Grill? Pretty much don't exist, if you go by all these guides.
So along comes this new best-of guide, and guess what's missing?
The crack about white suburbanites was probably unfair, though - it should probably read "white kids who just got out of college and are living in Brighton," because white suburbanites would know the laser shows at the Hayden Planetarium (one of the "hidden" gems) are not new - they've been playing Pink Floyd there for like 30 years now.
As I said, it's not a bad looking site, and I like the attitude. And maybe post-launch, the folks who are obviously working hard on it will venture into terra incognita on the other side of the city (we don't bite down here, honest). Until then, though, it looks like the "hidden" part means they're hiding from, oh, three-quarters of the city of Boston.
i can dig it
By Anonymous - 1/26/10 - 11:02 pm
What places would you suggest they ad to their inventory... say in Roslindale or the abutting stomping grounds?
Good question
By adamg - 1/26/10 - 11:26 pm
Since it seems like a lot of these neighborhoods are hidden from the rest of the world :-).
But in Roslindale, Romano's or the Yucatan for Mexican food (the former also for Sicilian pizza), Bani for Dominican seafood, American Legion Highway for gardening stuff/flowers, Diane's for choclate/cinnamon sticks, Wallpaper City for, well, wallpaper, Fornax for bread and sandwiches, Cheerful Gardens for Taiwanese food, Peters Hill for the view, Stony Brook Reservation for the only forest inside the city limits (I used to think this was actually West Roxbury and Hyde Park, but the BRA actually considers it pretty much in Roslindale), the model railroad club that opens its doors to the public a couple times a year. Oh, and Geoffrey's and DelFino and, of course, the immortal Pleasant Cafe.
Hyde Park: Townsend's and the Hyde for the sort of meals you wouldn't tend to think you could get in Hyde Park, the theater on River Street (arrgh, what's its name?), the African Cuisine for Nigerian and Jamaican food (Konteki Kitchen is also good for Jamaican food), Readville station/Sprague Street for the best life-sized train set in the state, the BPL branch for being one of the best branch libraries in the city, Ron's Gourmet Ice Cream and its bowling alley, the road off Neponset Valley Parkway to the old Stop & Shop plant for the views of the Great Blue Hill and birds in the meadow.
West Roxbury: DeNo's for pizza, Boomerangs for used stuff, the Real Deal and Sugar for sandwiches and cupcakes, iScream for Brigham's ice cream, the West Roxbury Pub for the four-wall mural of the life of James Michael Curley, West Roxbury Parkway up by Weld Street on Monday evenings in the summer for croquet(hmm, do they still do that?), the Theodore Parker Church for its Tiffany stained-glass windows, Millennium Park for the views from the top and the paths along the Charles and into the woods, Bellevue Hill for the hike to the highest natural point in Boston and the amazing old water tank (along with the more boring modern one next to it).
It's a start, anyway :-).
Great start.
By Anonymous - 1/27/10 - 12:26 am
and there are places I haven't been to for a while.
Not For Tourists
By MadMax - 1/27/10 - 7:53 am
I distinctly recall the "Not For Tourists" Boston guide covering Roslindale and West Roxbury several years ago. Out of the blue.
Why would they want
By anon (not verified) - 1/27/10 - 10:13 am
Why would they want neighborhoods that have high crime rates? Whenever a newcomer to town asks where to go to eat or find an apartment, those are the places I steer them away from (West Roxbury is too far from the good stuff in the city though it may be safer)
Sending people to the city slums are the worst way to get people to want to stay here.
Before any of you liberals cry out about how great the food is in Rozzie or that the mayor lives in Hyde Park, ask these questions:
-When was the last time someone was shot in an area like this?
-When was the last time shots were fired without 3 blocks of your child's school?
-Would you really want your wife or mother or kid walking around after 8 pm in these places?
Wheeelll, there you go!
Welcome Herald readers!
By adamg - 1/27/10 - 10:52 am
West Roxbury and Roslindale (E-5) have the lowest crime rates in the city. And, yeah, my daughter and I have walked around Roslindale Square and Hyde Park at night. Never been shot yet.
What a mean-spirited posting.
By kev (not verified) - 1/26/10 - 9:57 pm
What a mean-spirited posting. And Mr. Whalehead isn't ashamed to admit that he doesn't know where Newton is, population about 85,000; although it abuts Brighton & Allston. Shows that all of the provincials don't live in the suburbs.
Try Facebook "Boston's Hidden Restaurants"
By swirlygrrl in NOLA exile (not verified) - 1/26/10 - 11:12 pm
Interesting how the "stock" comments has to do with "having to parallel park isn't family friendly" or "why can't anybody name a (ethnic) restaurant outside of boston so I don't have to go into the city?".
(apologies for any hurricane-induced incoherence here ...)
They're making more of an effort than most
By The Third Decade (not verified) - 1/26/10 - 11:39 pm
Adam,
I'm usually with you on these insider/best of guides, but this one seems like it's making more of an effort than the others. I did a search using "Roxbury" as the keyword (http://mysecretboston.com/search/location/roxbury) and came across more listings than just Discover Roxbury's. The site also mentions Haley House Bakery Cafe, the Museum of the NCAAA, and bars and eateries around the neighborhood. A search for Roslindale (http://mysecretboston.com/search/location/roslindale) only turned up 3 hits, but since they haven't launched yet, I think it's too soon to condemn them out of hand. You may even want to send them an email. I was contacted about some Roxbury "secrets" and they were very receptive to being pointed in the right direction.
http://third_decade.typepad.com/
Oh, that is most cool!
By adamg - 1/26/10 - 11:44 pm
I'll have to revisit the site then, since I obviously missed those Roxbury entries (so who knows what else I missed?).
At least it's not Yelp
By Neal - 1/27/10 - 1:34 am
Which seems to be overrun by legions of snotty know-it-alls who visit a place once, try one thing and then are instantly experts on how wonderful or terrible the place is.