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  #1  
Old Posted Mar 2, 2013, 9:29 PM
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simms3_redux simms3_redux is offline
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I Can't Stand How Much I Love Boston

Photos taken in either August or September of 2012 during a random trip, plus 2 taken in the first snow of the year during that Nor'Easter that was never that big of a deal (though being on the last plane into Logan meant a lot of sweaty sick passengers and a rough landing!).

I seriously love this city...total epitome of a great city with great people and tons of culture and stunning architecture.


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1. Alleyway on Newbury at night.



2. Newbury St - 1.25 miles of shopping ranging from frozen yogurt and coffee to Marmot/North Face/Barbour to G-Star/Rag & Bone to Gant/Jack Spade/Jack Wills/Ball & Buck to Forever 21/Nike/H&M to Valentino/Gucci/Prada/Chanel. Union Square in SF might command much higher rents, but the Back Bay in Boston has a seemingly larger selection of shops (Newbury + Huntington + Boylston + Prudential Center + Copley Place).




3. View from the hotel room (Taj Boston)




4. Views from Prudential Center...~700 ft up.




5. Hills in NH in the background?



6.



7.




8. Seaport in the background...everyone's interested in Seaport these days!




9. Vertex construction/infrastructure work?



10.



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13. South End!




14. Telegraph Hill...totally not as cool as Telegraph Hill by my house




15. Liberty Mutual Tower (22 floors) UC in the foreground...exterior was basically complete last time I was in town.



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20. Streets present from right to left: Boylston (with Copley Plaza), Newbury (non-descript high shopping street), Commonwealth (with the trees)



21.




22. The Rotunda at MIT




23. Cambridge (commercial/Tech area)



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25. The Apple Store is on Boylston across from Prudential Center.



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27.




28. Look closely, someone was playing with a toy powered boat in the pool. The smaller little church is the original First Church of Christ, Scientist (1894), while the larger domed church is the Domed Mother Extension (1906).




29. I believe this area contains much of Harvard Medical (likely the newer MOB/research looking buildings). I believe, while you can’t see it, Northeastern is in this area, too.




30. Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (1878, towers added 1910). 215 ft tall and 215 ft long. This was Ted Kennedy’s church, where his funeral was.




31. Columbus, South End and Lower Roxbury?




32. Former Christian Science Administration Building (26 floors), designed by I.M. Pei for the church in the 70s. The church just sold it subject to a ground lease to Beacon Capital Partners in 2012, and HFF is blasting emails out to all equity groups/developers who may be interested in developing an additional 950,000 SF of multifamily/office space around the plaza. All buildings/future buildings around the Plaza are on land owned by the church.



33.




34. 111 Huntington Ave, possibly my favorite post-modern skyscraper in Boston. I’ve been in the building and it is even better inside than its exterior gives away. According to the Globe, Linde, chief executive of Boston Properties Inc., learned as much when he proposed building a 36-story tower in the Back Bay. Menino took one look at the design and shook his head.
“I said, ‘Guys, flat roofs don’t make it,’ ’’ Menino said.
Linde and his architect returned to City Hall, armed with the miniature tops. When Menino came into the Eagle Room, a wood-paneled hall near his office, they placed each top on the model, until they reached the regal crown.





35. As in many large cities across the country that traditionally don’t go through “booms”, (SF also comes to mind), there is a lot of construction happening, most of it multifamily.




36. First Baptist Church, Boston. You thought the South had a Baptist tradition? This is one of the first Baptist churches in the country, founded in 1665. Current structure built in 1872 and designed by H.H. Richardson!




37. Old South Church (1874), located catty corner to the famous Trinity Church on Copley Square.




38. Iconic Trinity Church right on Copley Square (where the McKim Mead & White designed Boston Public Library sits opposite the church and where the famous Copley Plaza Hotel sits next door). Constructed 1877 and also designed by H.H. Richardson.



39. This is the “First Church in Boston” steeple (structure built in 1860s). After it burned in the 1960s, the Second Church in Boston merged with the First and added a weird structure to the steeple. So that is what you see.




40. Is this the original Liberty Mutual building? This is that large building on Newbury where so many new retailers are going (the 2nd block in from the Commons). Maybe it’s the original Globe building? It once served as HQ for something large.




41. Church of the Covenant (First Presbyterian) built 1867.




42. Park Street Church (1810) and the Nine Zero Hotel in background (I recommend this…Kimpton).



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48. The Historic Taj Boston (old + new tower) with JHC in the background.



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51. MA State House (1798) designed by Charles Bulfinch and Charles Brigham.




52. I love Boston for these views of dead-end streets. I think this is One Federal Street, which went up for sale last year (not sure who picked it up).




53. Custom House Tower (1915) now part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection…points to stay in that building!



54.



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58. Longfellow Bridge (~30,000 cars, ~90,000 MBTA passengers cross daily). I’ve heard stories from MIT/Harvard alum about walking across the bridges in the winter…I can only imagine! This one opened in 1906.



59. There’s your MBTA Red Line crossing it right now!




60. I LOVE smokestacks…if your city has them, I automatically give your city a 5/10 and it can only go up from there I like older stacks better than new ones, but these new ones are cool as they are a sign of the modern industrialism that defines the area.



61.




62. BU



63.




64. It’s been so long since I took this pic, but isn’t this student housing for MIT? I love all the new student housing around MIT…




65. East Cambridge.



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67. I thought this home was cute…very atypical for the area architecture.




68. Views from an office on Newbury Street.



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70.




71. So what’s interesting about the area is the demographics…a mixture of establishment and young prof/students and very gay friendly, too (not like South End though!). So you can rent apartments on Newbury and actually find some deals (though you’ll still be paying $1600 for a 300 SF studio with a tiny kitchenette and of course no AC), or you can buy a brownstone for $5MM. I really like the area for its demographics and its vibe.

Even in this pic, you can see that the buildings are very old and a bit neglected. You’ll have top market retail below, and either office or apartments above…totally class B/C office for dentists and real estate companies, etc, and apartments are a real mix of crap and renovated. Of course who care’s how crappy when you’re 25 years old…this is where you want to be!



72.



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A few more to come later!

Last edited by simms3_redux; Mar 10, 2013 at 6:43 PM. Reason: Added #s to pics
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  #2  
Old Posted Mar 2, 2013, 9:55 PM
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great photos. I share your love of Boston.
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  #3  
Old Posted Mar 2, 2013, 10:46 PM
the urban politician the urban politician is offline
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I also love Boston
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  #4  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 12:07 AM
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Boston is looking mighty fine.
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  #5  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 12:16 AM
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Hed Kandi Hed Kandi is offline
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MGMT? Hipster much?
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  #6  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 2:10 AM
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atlantaguy atlantaguy is offline
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Great pics of one of my favorite cities.

As to your reference of a major franchisee of Waffle House buying the Ritz, wouldn't you say that speaks to Atlanta ingenuity? He built it into a worldwide brand that was sold to Marriott eventually.
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Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 5:39 PM
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simms3_redux simms3_redux is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hed Kandi View Post
MGMT? Hipster much?
Hipsters listen to MGMT? It's the opening song to 21 as they pan over the Charles River with the skyline in the background...and I like the song/band


Quote:
Originally Posted by atlantaguy View Post
As to your reference of a major franchisee of Waffle House buying the Ritz, wouldn't you say that speaks to Atlanta ingenuity? He built it into a worldwide brand that was sold to Marriott eventually.
I'm removing the reference so you Atl homers don't sidetrack this thread too.



More pictures!

75. These are views from hotel rooms at the Nine Zero (Kimpton)...I highly recommend.



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83.


Last edited by simms3_redux; Mar 10, 2013 at 6:44 PM. Reason: Added #s to pics
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Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 6:09 PM
toyota74 toyota74 is offline
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The city has a nice colour to it with all the brick and the trees...great views you had overall.
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  #9  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 10:16 PM
ShooFlyPie ShooFlyPie is offline
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I too love Boston. Incredible thread!
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  #10  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2013, 10:21 PM
blade_bltz blade_bltz is offline
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Brilliant thread! So much color!
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  #11  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2013, 1:03 AM
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I love your photos and I loved living in Boston for 15 years.

In fact, I can see my old condo (South End) in 4 of your photos.

That said, the city is quickly becoming a 2-class city of very rich and very poor. The South End changed so much during my years there, and not always for the better. Even on Newbury, the prices have pushed out the majority of the independent stores only to be replaced by int'l/nat'l chains that you can find anywhere (albeit, not in that type of setting).
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  #12  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2013, 7:08 PM
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Some answers...

Nice photos!

To your question about the view of Columbus, South End, and Lower Roxbury; not Roxbury in that view; it's South Boston in the distance on the left and Dorchester in the distance on the right.

Is the big building on Newbury St the original Liberty Mutual? No. This is the New England Mutual Life Insurance building, designed about 1940 by Ralph Adams Cram (who also did the central group at Boston University and a great deal of church work) and enlarged into the present ungainly box about 20 years later. You also thought it might be the old Globe building: The old Globe offices were on Washington Street near Water; also the Post, Transcript, and Herald offices were there. All gone now (Herald survives but as a different paper). The Transcript building still stands at Washington and Milk.

The "dead end" view is of One Beacon St, originally HQ for the New England Merchants National Bank, which disappeared a long time ago now.
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Old Posted Mar 5, 2013, 9:55 PM
sterlippo1 sterlippo1 is offline
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glad you enjoy yourself when you're here and share our love for this city. In many respects it is very similar to your city.......
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  #14  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2013, 10:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by simms3_redux View Post
I'm removing the reference so you Atl homers don't sidetrack this thread too.
lol. sweet pics anyway. i've been there twice, once to audition at new england conservatory, the other on a layover to london. next time i go back i will have to spend a bit of time there, but i've already fallen in love just looking at it in pictures.
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Old Posted Mar 6, 2013, 12:10 AM
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I had dinner a couple of years ago in Hong Kong with a bunch of British people I didn't know and they were talking about all the places they had visited in the U.S. so to make conversation I asked them if there was anywhere they would choose to live if they had to move to the states and all of them said without hesitation Boston.
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Old Posted Mar 6, 2013, 12:36 AM
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Great collections of photos! I'm a big fan of Boston as well, although I barely make it through San Diego winters.
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  #17  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2013, 5:45 AM
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Great set!
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  #18  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2013, 1:25 AM
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some lovely views of boston!
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Old Posted Mar 7, 2013, 7:17 PM
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Wonderful photo tour!
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  #20  
Old Posted Mar 10, 2013, 10:37 PM
CastleScott CastleScott is offline
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Great pics I wish I could have gone up to that observation deck when my wife and I were there during our cruise in Sept of 2010. Boston sure reminds me of a European city for some reason, maybe with all those streets of rowhomes.

Btw I also wish I could have seen B.B. King that up-comming weekend at the House of Blues across from Fenway...
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