Boston
By "JC Chasez"
If you say you live in Boston, odds are you don't live exactly in Boston.
Boston is usually inclusive of a bigger area known as Greater Boston, which
includes towns like Cambridge, Brookline, Winthrop, Allston, Revere, Newton,
Needham, Quincy, Braintree, Dorchester, Malden, or Medford, not name a few.
The city of Boston itself is divided into areas: Beacon Hill (this is
probably where the celebrities would tend to congregate), West End, Back Bay,
Chinatown, and the North End.
The first thing you're going to notice about Boston, especially if you're
traveling on the highway (I-93) is the Big Dig, the never-ending construction
project to move the Central Artery underground. Feel free to bitch about
this, because they keep changing streets and highway exits around on you and
you'll inevitably end up late for work. Another important fact to note about
Boston is that Boston drivers cannot drive. Left turn signals are generally
ignored, people jaywalk constantly, and trying to one-way streets are the
rule, not the exception. Be prepared to go in lots of circles.
Boston is also a college town in the worst way. From September through May,
expect the place to be overrun by twentysomethings. Some of the more
prominent colleges/universities located here are Harvard University, Tufts
University, Boston University, Boston College, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, and the Berklee College of Music.
Some of the bigger clubs in Boston include The Roxy, Paradise, Avalon, and
Axis. They tend to book the national acts, though there are many smaller
clubs (http://www.dreams.org/Boston/Music/clubs/).
If you wanna shop, head for Downtown Crossing. If you wanna shop and you have
money, head for Fanueil Hall. Quincy Market is also another good shopping
place, as is the Prudential Center. Boylston Street and Newbury Street will
also have the designer stores celebrities tend to gravitate towards.
Boston doesn't have the advantage of being one of the more diverse cities in
the United States. There's a large contingency of Irish Catholics (can you
say Kennedys?) and a good handful of Chinese and Vietnanamese people, but the
racial lines are very clearly divided, especially between the wealthier
sections of Boston (Brookline, Newton) and the poorer sections (Mattapan,
Roxbury).
If you're flying into Boston, you're going to arrive at Logan International
Airport. The subway system is called the T and is the oldest one in the
country. You can get pretty much anywhere you need to in the city via the T.
If you're a musician, odds are you're going to play at the FleetCenter. If
you want a stadium tour, you're going to have to go south to Foxboro and
Gillette Stadium (which was Foxboro Stadium up until last year). Smaller acts
may play places such as the Harborlights Pavilion or the Orpheum. If you're
an actor in a production here, you'll probably be at the Wang Center for
Performing Arts (which also can host musical acts, but it's rare. Whitney
Houston was here recently), the Shubert Theatre, the Wilbur Theatre, or the
Orpheum Theatre.
What's Boston good for? Seafood and clam chowder. (You'll be pronouncing that
'chowdah', mind you). The North End has great Italian food. There's history
coming out of pretty much every inch of the city, which is great if that's
what floats your boat.
The city (and state) is strongly democratic, even though we have a Republican
governor right now. Jane Swift is governor at the moment but it looks like
Mitt Romney's gonna win in November. There's a mob, but mostly they just tend
to go missing. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry are the senators from
Massachusetts.
The Red Sox will never, ever win a World Series. You hate the Yankees with a
passion. You don't know what the hell happened to the Patriots ever since
they won the Super Bowl last year, cause now they suck. The Celtics are good,
but they'll never live up to the golden age of the '70s and '80s. If you want
to visit places that were in "Good Will Hunting", you'll have to check out
MIT and Bunker Hill Community College. The letter "R" does not exist in the
alphabet of a Bostonian. It's usually replaced with an "H". "Pahk your cah"
anyone? And sadly, no, it's not common to spot Ben Affleck or Matt Damon
around here.
Notable Boston celebrities: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Aerosmith, Jay Leno,
Conan O'Brien, Mark Wahlberg, Eliza Dushku, and the members of New Kids on
the Block.
