Wages never totally make up for increased housing costs in high cost living areas.My initial reactions after visiting Boston (and Salem):
Rent seems silly high. My friend has a small 1 BR apartment to himself and he's paying twice what my mortgage is in FL for a 3/2 stand alone house (not a big house though).
Do the wages in Boston really make up for the increased housing costs?
Not many fat people in Boston. I think this is from all the walking people do, both willingly and unwillingly.
Very diverse population. People seemed nice and fairly clean. Our Russian uber driver said that Boston's rats are smaller and cleaner than the ones in NYC due the NYC ones getting fat from eating trash.
Haven't heard too much of that accent (park da kar!!!). Most people speak normal.
Traffic is insane. I can understand why some people don't bother having cars.
We took two different trains to Salem and it was smooth.
Between the Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox, and Patriots....Boston is very blessed.
Very cold in Boston. Low 40s in mid October....pass.
Closest casino to Boston?
I would watch a Netflix series based on your lifeTime for one of my favorite ol' timey Boston stories, because it's relevant to today:
I worked for a Boston radio station, WCOZ, from 1975-7, first producing commercials, then writing blackouts for DJs who heard the 'alternative' commercials i'd produce making fun of the ones i canned for my lameass clients, then reading the news. I asked my boss if i could expand the news a little, do stories & he said i could do one on spec and if he liked it, he'd solicit more (as it is now, there's no money in radio except at the very top). i did a series on a bunch of old vaudevillians from the legendary Howard Theater who, long after Scollay Sq was torn down to build Govt Center, still got together one Thursday a month at the Oriental Tea Company (it's the Staaahbucks with the giant tea kettle in front of it now, for you noobs) to tell stories. My boss liked the stories (they actually ended up being nominated for an award) but was not forthcoming with dough or a full-time news job, so i hadda do more to impress.
A buddy of mine who was very political tells me he's started volunteering for a guy trying to run for President the next year by, months ahead of everyone else that fall (it was bad manners then to begin one's campaign before the actual election year, if you can believe it) going to coffee klatches all around New Hampshire trying to get the housewives to chat him up to their hubbies. He was actually starting to make headway in the polls, so i ask my pal if he can get me an interview. So, somewhere in a vault @ WHDH - if it made it thru all the relocations - is a 45-minute tape of me interviewing President Jimmy Carter with all the respect of any other goofball wannabe.
This gets my boss excited (i had a really good editor) so we're negotiating a real job for me when, one night, i get a call that one of the 13 candidates for the Democratic nomination, Gov Terry Sanford, had a heart attack on the campaign trail in Salem, where i lived, and ABC (i didn't even know we were an affiliate) wanted someone out there to send in a report. Salem Hosp's like four blocks away, so i am the first electronic media representative out there. I scramble for info, call in a report and vroomp, my voice is ringing out on ABC radio stations throughout the country with this breaking news.
Well, now the boss has gotta hire me and he calls me to tell me and says the network called to say thx and 'anything we can do for you?'. I tell him i would love (and could do a better job for him with) a national press credential. Boom, it arrives a few days later. Boy, did i have a blast widdat thang. '76 was a fabulous year to have one - presidential campaigns, bicentennial stuff all over the northeast, the Olympics in Montreal, i went to cover Princess Margaret qualifying for the Olympics equestrian events at Myopia Hunt Club and met a coupla BBC reporters my age who taught me how to get into anything and got me into some aristocratic soirees that were pervier than anything i'd seen on tour with rock bands.
The great thing about this story? I ain't even told it yet - that was just the set up. So, i'm on the press train in NH now, with a buncha McLaughlin Report type guys, even cut my hair to look more legit cuz now i got an "in" with the Georgia gov who just might turn over the apple cart when the party's guy, Sen Scoop Jackson, was as huge a frontrunner as Hillary was before she took Obama on. And boom he does it, and the rest is history. Allow me to mention that the famous segregationist, George Wallace, got barely 1% of the vote in NH, cuz he's the star of the story.
Unlike now, The Mass primary was only a coupla wks later and Boston was beginning to earn its rep as the most racist city in the North because of their reaction to the newly-imposed forced bussing within city limits. Wallace had showed up in Southie the month before and the whole place went nuts for him, so he decided to raise his profile by working some northern votes there. Now, Boston's liberal cuz it's a big labor town and Scoop Jackson was a labor candidate (he won the primary) but Wallace's advance people noticed that the whistlestop in Southie was peopled by lotsa guys in haahdhats (no doubt, the fathers of today's red-faced, skin-headed, long-chinwhiskered, black-on-black-w-wallet-chain-wearing, heavy metal bigots so pwapulah around Beantown now), so they rented the Orpheum Theater in Boston for a rally and issued cheapo hardhats at the door.
Now one thing Southerners are great at is excluding strangers & potential enemies and a LOT of reporters (including the guy who had turned me on to Carter) who even began to look like leftists were turned away at the door. But ol' Communist Party USA member me, with the national press credential and the fresh haircut so i could talk to Jack Germond & RWApple on the press train, got right on thru.
Couple guys come onstage and work the crowd up and they almost lost the hype cuz they took so long putting up ramps & security apparatus for the wheelchair-bound segregationist, but i watched John Bonham do a bare-handed drum solo in front of 20,000 people and i aint never heard a crowd so loud as when Governor George Wallace hit the stage that day. He worked the bussing thang like a $2 whore screwing the ghost of Jeff Davis and they went nuts but, after a while, he motioned for everyone to settle down and it got real quiet and he got as intimate with the crowd as someone encased in plexiglass bullet deflectors could and said (i'll try to remember from my notes best i can):
"Y'all ain't votin' for me cuz i'm the smartest man in the room, like summa these fellas. Y'all are gonna vote for me cuz i know the truth and speak the truth. Let them smahtypants do all their fussing and fidgeting and let us do the stupid work of running this country right. (Raising his volume with that of the crowd). All them Hahvid boys will do what they will and call you stupid & ignorant but, as your President, i will do what's right because i am precisely as STOOPIT AND IGNORANT AS YOU!!!! Wallace finished 3rd, beating Jimmy Carter, in the Massachusetts primary.
Tape wasn't allowed and, even showing my notes (my writing does get bad when i write that fast) i could not get a single one of my leftist cohorts to believe Wallace said it and the thundering Hitler rally vehemence of the reaction. Jack Germond did not report it, RWApple did not report it but, if i'm lyin' i'm dyin, George Wallace rallied the stupid & angry to take over and skeered the livin' #### out of me doing so. I reported what i thought wouldn't get me fired and quit news soon after to do a comedy show for them @ 11pm Saturdays (people were staying home to watch SNL and we wanted to be part of the party), but i'll never forget that afternoon.
There being over 30 years til i saw its like in this country again, the memory had faded significantly. When i saw the first Sarah Palin rally, however, your humble servant gulped in recognition. And this weren't no couple thousand hard-hatted Irish bigots - this was 'Mer'ca with the most-watched public affairs network on television putting its entire weight behind it. And if the stock market hadn't crashed & McCain hadn't handled that so badly, President Palin would be stumping candidates for her second mid-term election as we speak. Trump is just the next best thing. nufced
You couldn’t get there in 15 minutes from Everett city hall. That whole area is always gridlockedWages never totally make up for increased housing costs in high cost living areas.
They are building a huge casino just outside of Boston, not exactly sure when it is slated to open but it will be no more than 15 minutes from most areas of the city.
TLTime for one of my favorite ol' timey Boston stories, because it's relevant to today:
I worked for a Boston radio station, WCOZ, from 1975-7, first producing commercials, then writing blackouts for DJs who heard the 'alternative' commercials i'd produce making fun of the ones i canned for my lameass clients, then reading the news. I asked my boss if i could expand the news a little, do stories & he said i could do one on spec and if he liked it, he'd solicit more (as it is now, there's no money in radio except at the very top). i did a series on a bunch of old vaudevillians from the legendary Howard Theater who, long after Scollay Sq was torn down to build Govt Center, still got together one Thursday a month at the Oriental Tea Company (it's the Staaahbucks with the giant tea kettle in front of it now, for you noobs) to tell stories. My boss liked the stories (they actually ended up being nominated for an award) but was not forthcoming with dough or a full-time news job, so i hadda do more to impress.
A buddy of mine who was very political tells me he's started volunteering for a guy trying to run for President the next year by, months ahead of everyone else that fall (it was bad manners then to begin one's campaign before the actual election year, if you can believe it) going to coffee klatches all around New Hampshire trying to get the housewives to chat him up to their hubbies. He was actually starting to make headway in the polls, so i ask my pal if he can get me an interview. So, somewhere in a vault @ WHDH - if it made it thru all the relocations - is a 45-minute tape of me interviewing President Jimmy Carter with all the respect of any other goofball wannabe.
I feel like one of the older guys on here and I was still in early elementary school in 75 (second grade I think).worked for a Boston radio station, WCOZ, from 1975-7, first producing commercials
Me too, I started first grade in 1976, just moving to Boston from Chicago.I feel like one of the older guys on here and I was still in early elementary school in 75 (second grade I think).worked for a Boston radio station, WCOZ, from 1975-7, first producing commercials
I always tell people that I love Boston and all the other places I've been in New England. Then I also tell them that I've only been there during Summer.Very cold in Boston. Low 40s in mid October....pass.
COZ's Laquidara was Naked Bobby Desiderio, who i believe joined WBCN after i left town. Pretty sure Robert wouldn't appreciate the Naked Bobby moniker (and he did not do his late-night show naked as Laquidara often did his) but he was caught in sartorial disrepair with fine young ladies in his booth waaaay too often to not be called that. The hook on this is that Desiderio became Gary of Olde Towne Tavern in the "bar wars" episodes of CheersTLR - I just caught the bits with the call letters. Grew up in Boston suburbs in late 70s - 80s. WCOZ was a great station, but WBCN was my favorite. Loved listening to Charles Laquidara and "The Big Mattress" morning show.
Well, thx. Who doesnt love to hear sum'n like that?! Dramatically or documentarily?I would watch a Netflix series based on your life![]()
Either...or how's 'bout even a fictionalized "based-on" buddy-comedy series with you and @Evilgrin 72?Well, thx. Who doesnt love to hear sum'n like that?! Dramatically or documentarily?
My wife worked in 111 Huntington (? - the tall round building right next to the Pru) at that same time. I remember working from home and freaking out on Sept 11, because everyone was sure those buildings would be hit.Lived there while working a project in the Pru from '99-'01. Rented an apt. on Comm Ave ($3K a month for an attic) right around the corner from Cheers (tourist trap!). It was a 10-block walk to work and every morning during the winter the wind would howl in my face the whole way. Perversely, going home at night the wind would shift off the ocean and hit me in the face again, just 'cause I talk with a hillbilly accent.
Good times, though. Loved the Back Bay area.
They were building that thing while I was in the Pru. Every now and then, we'd be in a conference room on the 34th floor, and suddenly a steelworker would go sailing by on a beam right outside the window.My wife worked in 111 Huntington (? - the tall round building right next to the Pru) at that same time. I remember working from home and freaking out on Sept 11, because everyone was sure those buildings would be hit.
Best line from Gigli, imo.Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll ####in' kill you. That's not a threat. Now, that's a fact. I'll ####in' kill you.
I liked when JLo answered all them smart alec history questions in the bar betterBest line from Gigli, imo.
Rain Man was a great movieLook, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll ####in' kill you. That's not a threat. Now, that's a fact. I'll ####in' kill you.
Best line from Gigli, imo.
Oh boyRain Man was a great movie
I'm almost positive that I still have a WCOZ pin.I worked for a Boston radio station, WCOZ,
Will do later tonight, work is a real mess right now , only check during the day for a minute or 2Hey @HellToupeeI can't remember you Boston? Providence? Mass? I love Boston, I used to go there for work, spent a spring and summer going up and down the Ma / RI coast and got in-state to Wooster at one point.
After all this bull#### is over I'm going to get back there.
What are your favorite churches and pubs? Let's start there. Hell I'll take ballparks and museums, whatever you got. Genuinely interested to kill some time in this bizarre epic we're going through.
FYI Wooster is in Ohio!Hey @HellToupeeI can't remember you Boston? Providence? Mass? I love Boston, I used to go there for work, spent a spring and summer going up and down the Ma / RI coast and got in-state to Wooster at one point.
After all this bull#### is over I'm going to get back there.
What are your favorite churches and pubs? Let's start there. Hell I'll take ballparks and museums, whatever you got. Genuinely interested to kill some time in this bizarre epic we're going through.
Thought Hingham was 9th oldest?FYI Wooster is in Ohio!Our town is spelled Worcester, and pronounced Wuss-tah!
Grew up just south of Boston in a town called Hingham, founded in 1635, (6th town after Plymouth) and there is a small church there called The Old Ship Church. One of the (if not the) oldest continuously used churches in the country, built in 1681. Once this all ends, you can have a tour, you justness to contact the church ahead of time for them to arrange a tour guide.
Let me know if you have other questions!!
Lol, I blew it.FYI Wooster is in Ohio!Our town is spelled Worcester, and pronounced Wuss-tah!
![]()
I really have to think about it or research but there was a famous church on the Freedom Trail that I went to and it absolutely amazed my Catholic mind that there were those boxes and the gallery where people sat. Very different, very sort of clean, rigid and right thinking just by the feel of it, remarkable.Grew up just south of Boston in a town called Hingham, founded in 1635, (6th town after Plymouth) and there is a small church there called The Old Ship Church. One of the (if not the) oldest continuously used churches in the country, built in 1681. Once this all ends, you can have a tour, you justness to contact the church ahead of time for them to arrange a tour guide.
Let me know if you have other questions!!
Sounds like King's Chapel. If you want to see a cool Catholic Church check out the Mission Church, then walk up the street to Penguin Pizza for a slice and a beer.I really have to think about it or research but there was a famous church on the Freedom Trail that I went to and it absolutely amazed my Catholic mind that there were those boxes and the gallery where people sat. Very different, very sort of clean, rigid and right thinking just by the feel of it, remarkable.
I hope I get to the Old Ship Church, I will give it a shot the next time I am up there.
Always was taught 6th. Fake Media back to 70s! Deeper conspiracy than we thought!Thought Hingham was 9th oldest?
I grew up in Northern Connecticut/Western Mass. I've never, ever heard of Boston pizza. New Haven, CT pizza, yes. New York pizza, yes. Boston pizza?Bunch of arrogant Patriot fans who work for me keep telling me how Boston bar pizza is the best in the world. I don’t buy it. But if so - how do you rank ‘em? Tried Town Spa but it didn’t ship well
Boston’s PizzaI grew up in Northern Connecticut/Western Mass. I've never, ever heard of Boston pizza. New Haven, CT pizza, yes. New York pizza, yes. Boston pizza?
Did they send you on a snipe hunt?