Back Bay

A concerned citizen is vexed on Boylston Street:

A very frustrated tourist asked me "where is map?" over and over: the just-installed "City Map" device at Boyslton and Dalton Streets does not have a map in any of the three panes—just advertisements.

It's that time of year, when the Metro teams up with Boston Costume and dresses up its hawkers. Nikki caught up with Luigi this morning at Hynes on the Green Line, reports he played a giant banana last year and that he much prefers being a video-game character:

Said people were really mean to him as a banana but Luigi gets smiles.

MBTA photo.Forty years ago, artist Dennis Kowal loaned the MBTA his "Constellations" statue for installation at the Hynes Green Line station.

The T installed it along the walkway to the Boylston Street entrance, where it's gone largely unnoticed in recent years, since the T's locked that entrance up. T spokesman Joe Pesaturo reports:

Therefore, the artist contacted the MBTA in his efforts to locate a new venue. When the artist found the new location at Wentworth, the MBTA agreed that this was in the best interest of the artist and the artwork. T personnel helped to ensure the sculpture was safely moved.

There's an official dedication at Wentworth on Saturday.

Iseut reports on a couple of apples she picked from a tree at the corner of Comm. Ave. and Mass. Ave. Yes, our Comm. Ave. and Mass. Ave.

We ate these in a yummy compote with local garden plums and quince.

Grub Street, a Boston-based creative writing non-profit, yesterday sued a California company with a similar name that promotes "indie authors," through paid endorsements.

Boston Police report they are doing everything they can to reunite a California girl with her stuffed dog, Rocco, which went missing in a cab on Sept. 10.

Addison Ocker, 13, was in Boston with her brother, Aiden, a brain-cancer patient flown here for a Red Sox/Yankees game by the Make a Wish Foundation because he really wanted to see a game at Fenway. Unfortunately, Aiden's condition worsened on his arrival in Boston and he spent the night in Children's Hospital instead of at the ballgame - and then he was airlifted back to California, where he died two days later.

Somewhere between the hours of 10:00pm and midnight, Aiden’s mom and 13 year-old sister Addison took a cab (possibly Metro Cab) from the Back Bay Hotel to Children’s Hospital. Upon exiting the cab, Aiden’s sister, Addison, inadvertently left behind her stuffed dog, Rocco. To say the least, Rocco has tremendous sentimental value to Addison and, as anyone who has ever loved a favorite toy or stuffed animal can imagine, Rocco means the world to Addison. In fact, according to family friends, Rocco and Addison have been all but inseparable for the past 10 years and we at the Boston Police Department are seeking your help in reuniting Addison with her stuffed friend – Rocco.

If you know where Rocco is, contact the BPD Hackney Unit at 617-343-4475 or the BPD Office of Public Information at 617-343-4520.

Kate snapped this shot of Bill Clinton coming out of the Mandarin Oriental late this afternoon. Naturally, Boylston Street was shut down while Clinton sauntered from hotel to wherever it was he was going (he was at Berklee earlier in the day).

Relive the moment.

The Daily Free Press interviews the guy who plays a hurdy gurdy in the Public Garden.

A driver with impaired reading skills plowed his truck into the ceiling of the Storrow tunnel eastbound this morning. The ceiling refused to yield, forcing the top of his truck to peel back like a sardine can and backing up Storrow Drive onto Soldiers Field Road way back by the Harvard Business School in Allston and causing similar delays on Memorial Drive when Storrow refugees flooded that road, lord!

Michael Nichols tweeted shortly after 9 a.m.:

Just drove past it. Box truck stuck with most of its metal roof bent back from colliding with underside of tunnel.

Can you help?

Occupy Apple Store.

The iPhone <LatestVersion> goes on sale today, no doubt bringing orgasmic joy to these people, whom Photographynatalia captured waiting outside the First Church of Apple on Boylston Street yesterday.

Ed. question: Who's the Giant Head?

Copyright Photographynatalia. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Hillary tweets a big rig sardine-canned on Storrow Drive westbound tonight, spilling crap everywhere.

Andy Ihnatko reports a data-recovery business managed to liberate the photos on a muck-encrusted digital camera he found in the Public Garden Lagoon this past spring, when it was more of a mud field being readied for its annual cleaning:

In addition to the recovered photos and videos, they were also able to find a evidence of a batch of documents that had been on the card but long-deleted. They had the documents' filenames, though the files themselves were unrecoverable.

The biggest surprise of the report? The camera's time of death. I'd discovered the camera face-up in the mud, in plain sight. I had assumed that it hit the water sometime during the 2011 season. But the most recent photo on the card had been taken on the afternoon of June 24, 2010.

With copies of some of the photos, for anybody who might recognize them.

The Boston Licensing Board voted yesterday to give lawyers for Morton's of Chicago and its Boylston Street landlord three months to resolve a lawsuit over back rent, a move that could result in a new restaurant moving into the prominent space.

The landlord formally evicted Morton's in January for failing to pay its rent - and then sued to ensure that if Morton's tried to sell its liquor license, the landlord would get its share.

The Boston Business Journal reports the welcome news that the former FAO Schwarz space is going to become a Bank of America branch, bringing relief to long suffering residents and workers on the South Endish side of Boylston who will no longer have to go an entire block down and across the street to bank with Bank of America.

Aardvark Jazz Orchestra: 40th Season Opener and CD Release Party, with vocalists Jerry Edwards and Grace Hughes. Wednesday, October 3, 2012, at 8:00 pm. Scullers Jazz Club, Doubletree Guest Suites, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA 02134. Admission: $20. Reservations and information: 617-562-4111 or www.scullersjazz.com.

Aardvark Jazz Orchestra: 40th Season Opener and CD Release Party, with Vocalists Jerry Edwards and Grace Hughes. Wednesday, October 3, 2012, at 8:00 pm. Scullers Jazz Club, Doubletree Guest Suites, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA 02134. Admission: $20. Reservations and information: 617-562-4111 or www.scullersjazz.com.

A concerned citizen reports:

Unaccompanied trash and luggage next to Boston Public Library Copley. If this were just a backpack police would swarm it.

At least, for foodies, Zagat says.

Via Boston Restaurant Talk.

UPDATE: I've been informed in no uncertain terms it doesn't count for the pool unless the truck is actually stuck (preferably with its top ripped off).

At 11:25 a.m, Hillary tweeted:

Moving truck stopped on Storrow WB near Copley.

In 1995, the House of Compassion opened its doors taking in people living with HIV and AIDS to live in a welcoming home environment. The House now faces closure, with a looming 30,000 in debt threatening the homes of their ten residents. Find out more about the House of Compassion!

J Goodell reports:

What appears to be cookie dough has been smeared on all the parking meters on Hereford between Beacon and Marlborough.

Press Pass TV is a non-profit organization that focuses on telling the stories of the community. For years, Press Pass TV has been covering the ongoing fight for more youth jobs funding. Here, we take a look at how young people across Massachusetts are using their shared battle to unite around a larger youth movement for justice.Click this link to find out more about Jobs for Justice: Building a Youth Movement

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today a former executive at an Amazon subsidiary owes the state more than $320,000 - and interest - on Amazon stock he bought and then sold while living in the Back Bay.

Kenneth Dotson, originally a Florida resident, had argued he didn't owe the money on the $5.3 million he made selling the stock because he never intended to stay in Massachusetts and was in the process of moving to Florida.

The court, noting that Dotson had bought a condo in the Back Bay, had his mail delivered there, got a landline phone there, joined a local gym and obtained a subscription to an unnamed Boston newspaper, said he was most definitely a Massachusetts resident when he executed the options and sold the stock. Even though he was in the process of fleeing the state, he had not yet actually taken up residence again in Florida, the court said.