Back Bay

BFD response to mystery boom. Photo by Victoria Bedford.

Around 8:50 p.m., Boston firefighters and Transit Police rushed to the area of Arlington and Boylston streets after several people reported hearing a loud explosion. Cara Terez, sitting on the Rattlesnake roof deck, tweeted:

Loud LOUD explosion.

As a precaution, the T shut Green Line service as firefighters looked around on the street and in the station for the source of the boom, but they found nothing, an inbound Green Line driver reported the tunnel between Copley and Arlington was fine and service started up about 10 minutes later.

Brian D'Amico tweets police speculate a tour bus may have had an engine backfire or two.

Proper Bostonian reports on the wild turtle (tortoise?) she spotted ambling down Beacon Street near Charlesgate, all by himself:

There were a lot of runners passing by; it was likely he'd get squashed on or run over if he wasn't relocated. Bringing him home to meet the cats flashed through my mind for maybe a second; they have never mentioned any interest in amphibians reptiles, although the kittens have more scientific curiosity than Possum or Wendy. But I didn't see that scenarios ending well.

Finally, I picked him up and carried him to some green weeds under a rosebush, not far from the Muddy River.

Cherie L. King spotted this crochet memorial in Copley Square today. Meanwhile, the memorial itself continues to grow.

The annual Make Way for Ducklings parade wound its way around the Common and the Public Garden today (yeah, I don't know why it went that way instead of up and down Beacon Hill, either), ending, of course, by the ducklings statues.

Ducks in a row:

See it larger.

Phillip McCarthy forwarded a link to this ad for a condo in the Long Island City section of Queens. Apparently, on a clear day in Queens, you can see forever.

Earlier:
When they moved the Pru to Dubai.

In advance of this week's rains, the Boston City Archives began collecting mementos left at the Marathon memorial in Copley Square. The archivists took them to the archives in West Roxbury, where they've begun cataloging them. More photos.

Ars Technica explains the current state of the technology:

Despite advances in the technology, systems are only as good as the data they're given to work with. Real life isn't like anything you may have seen on NCIS or Hawaii Five-0. Simply put, facial recognition isn't an instantaneous, magical process. Video from a gas station surveillance camera or a police CCTV camera on some lamppost cannot suddenly be turned into a high-resolution image of a suspect's face that can then be thrown against a drivers' license photo database to spit out an instant match.

Not yet.

Via Howard Castro.

Amy Wong was strolling through the Back Bay today when she spotted a lady walking her tortoise. Slowly. Very slowly.

Also see:
The tortoise in the South End.

A hearing is scheduled for the "Anti-Shadow Bill," Bill H.826, as submitted by Marty Walz and Byron Rushing. Set for Thursday, May 9, the public hearing for comments and input will be at 10:00am in State House Room A-1.

The bill has been criticized for its potential harm to development in the city through the addition of restrictions on new developments. Bill H.286 proposes that new buildings which are seeking a variance from local zoning codes will not be allowed to be constructed in a manner which casts a shadow on several public spaces. These spaces include Copley Square, Commonwealth Ave Mall, and Magazine Beach, among others.

A group of grateful Bostonians are throwing a party to thank local reporters who covered the Marathon bombings:

While CNN and Fox News were fumbling the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, Boston's print, radio, and television reporters gave us accurate, up to date reports. National news rushed to be first, but Boston's locals beat them to the facts, reflected our collective strength and, most importantly, showed resolve in the face of stress, exhaustion, and overwhelming emotion. While we were stuck in our apartments, they eschewed rest and made us proud of our city.

It's Thursday at 6 p.m. at Lir, with the $10 cover going to the One Fund. Working local press get in for free.

Boston Restaurant Talk forwards the news from Forum, scene of one of the Marathon bombings.

Meet like-minded progressives at Connecting for Justice on May 23 from 6-8:30PM at Lir Irish Pub and get connected to great social justice organizations in Boston. Have you been lurking on SoJust? It’s time to meet the friendly faces of the group that’s grown to almost 2250 members, hosted 150+ events and fostered hundreds of connections since our founding almost 7 years ago.
SoJust is all about building a cross-issue progressive community and network in Boston. We're doing it by putting the SOCIAL back in SOCIAL JUSTICE. We focus on creating welcoming spaces that foster relationship-building across issue silos. Join us if you are ready to go BEYOND ALLIES and build a CROSS-ISSUE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT.
RSVP at http://www.sojust.org (our main website) and view Member Profiles, Message Board and Calendar of Progressive Events.
Cost: $5-$20 collected at the door. Newcomers always welcomed! 
(every $10 includes raffle ticket for a $25 Trader Joe's gift card)
Complimentary appetizers will be provided.
This is not a meeting - it's a fun networking social!
No Program. No Speaker. Just Us. For Justice.

Mister Jon spotted this note on a car parked in the Back Bay this morning.

Meanwhile, Penny Cherubino ran across a car that was only parked one way in the Back Bay.

Homegrown Karmaloop and some California woman who leads an organization for "professional groupies" are battling over the right to sell things with the word "Plastics" on them.

In a pre-emptive strike, Karmaloop this week sued Yvonne Nicoletti, a.k.a. Lexxa Vonn, for the right to continue producing trucker hats that say "PLASTICS" on the front and "She's fabulous but she's evil" on the lower brim.

Nicoletti runs the Plastics Professional Groupies, and had sic'ed her lawyer on Karmaloop to get it to stop selling the caps, claiming she owns the trademark on the word "Plastics."

They're charged with taking stuff out of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room or lying to federal investigators, not anything directly related to the bombing itself, the Globe reports.

Two were those Kazakh nationals already being held on immigration charges.

Boston Police report: "Tthere is no threat to public safety."

Popehat has copies of the criminal complaints along with some quick analysis.

The owner of the shuttered Ciao Bello on Newbury Street at Fairfield yesterday asked the Boston Licensing Board to let him hold onto the liquor license he holds but isn't using, saying he is close to getting an SBA loan that will, he promises, finally let him finish what turned into a multi-year renovation project.

Joseph Cimino's attorney, Stephen Miller, told the board that "multiple national chefs" have expressed interest in leasing the marquee space, but only after Cimino finishes the work. Cimino himself added that he might still want to run the restaurant on his own rather than leasing it out - he says he'll decide that after the place is actually ready for still more work to turn it into a high-class restaurant.

Around 11 p.m., L. Stephens reported workers were repainting the Marathon finish line - something they normally do right after the race ends.

Justin reports he was in the Pru mall today and got curious when the courtyard would re-open. He says he took out his camera to take a photo of the "Closed" sign on one of the doors leading out when a security guard swooped down and told him that not only couldn't he take that photo, but he'd have to delete it.

She waited for me to delete. Huh?

SupperGuppy was on Boylston Street today when she noticed that while Chicken Man may be enigmatic, he's not unaware of current events.

It's hard to imagine how many miles of train tracks used to exist within Boston city limits (let alone how few will be left once Harvard gets around to ripping out the Allston yard). Here we see the train yard in front of Commonwealth Pier in South Boston, sometime shortly after World War I. Today, the pier is better known as the World Trade Center and the tracks have mostly been replaced by highway ramps, parking lots and surface roads. Nearby is Fan Pier, named for the way the train tracks there fanned out toward the water.

The Back Bay used to have its own large train yard - since replaced by the Prudential Center and the Massachusetts Turnpike:

A flood of complaints poured in late this afternoon from downtown, the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, where a large contingent of people on dirt bikes, motorcycles and ATVs briefly took over the streets.

At 5:26, Gabe tweeted:

A legit gang of a couple dozen 4wheelers and dirtbikes just ran the red light at Washington & Essex street...confused.

At 5:47, Caitlin tweeted:

What's up with the gang of dirt bikes, ATV's and motorcycles on Newbury St? Weaving in and out of cars with no helmets?

Bill Ilott reports counting 30 riders tonight and says this is the third Sunday in a row for the activity.

Helmetless dirt-bike and ATV riders have long been the scourge of streets such as Blue Hill Avenue.

He's now in a federal facility in Devens, the Herald reports.

A.P. Blake spotted what might be an American eel swimming up the Charles yesterday.

Meet the eels of the Charles River.

Michael Ratty snagged one of the bills.

Around 1 p.m. a man in the building above Max Brenner, 745 Boylston St., began tossing $2 bills out the window, Christopher reports.

Money from heaven. Photo by Michael Ratty.

Matthew Ireland snapped the traffic on Boylston Street last night.

Also visiting Copley Square last night: Rhea Becker, who reports on the impromptu memorials that sprung up around the bombing sites:

[G]roups of people quietly huddled around one of the bombing sites; a woman painting an inspirational ‘Boston Strong’ message in a store window; and a large memorial (bouquets of flowers, stuffed animals, hand-drawn posters) that was taken off the street and placed on Copley Square for the public to view.

Copyright Matthew Ireland. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.