Advertisement
Boston's Morning Newsletter
More than 50 events to 'wake up the night' in Boston, from beer gardens to a kung-fu film fest
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
With Gov. Maura Healey in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll will be acting as governor today — until the afternoon, when she’ll also head off to the Windy City. (In case you were wondering, that leaves Secretary of State Bill Galvin in charge until Friday, when Healey returns.)
Now that we’re all on the same page about who’s presiding over the commonwealth, let’s get to the news:
Some have nicknamed Boston the “city that sleeps early,” but a slew of new nightlife events may start to rewrite that narrative. Earlier this month, the Boston mayor’s office announced the 42 recipients of the city’s “Wake Up the Night” grant, a pilot program that gave locals up to $10,000 to help fund programming to add richness to their neighborhoods’ nightlife.
- When does the party start? “We’ve got over 50 events that will happen throughout the city in the next few months,” said Corean Reynolds, Boston’s director of nightlife economy, in an interview yesterday with Radio Boston. “And we’re really excited because it’s not just traditional nightlife… like bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.”
- So, what kind of events are we talking? They range from comedy nights, beer gardens and jazz concerts to trivia, late-night cafes, teen socials and a pop-up opera. A few of them even start as soon as this week, like this nighttime kayaking event at Piers Park on Aug. 22 and a kung-fu film festival at the Chinatown Gate kicking off Aug. 23. The full list of awardees — and, more importantly, the events they’re planning to host — can be viewed here.
- The burning question: Some say a lack of liquor licenses in the city is one of Boston’s biggest roadblocks to a robust nightlife. Although a bill that would have added more than 200 liquor licenses was recently put on ice in the state legislature, Reynolds said she has “full faith that some resolution will come from that particular situation. We’re encouraging people to apply for a liquor license.” Check out Radio Boston’s full conversation Reynolds, our very own “night czar,” here.
Advertisement
Pour one out for Cambridge Brewing Company. The storied establishment announced it will close up shop in December after 35 years of serving local craft beer to customers in Kendall Square. Owner and original brewer Phil Bannatyne, 68, told The Boston Globe he’s looking to retire. The brewery, which first opened in 1989, is best known for serving up brews with unmistakably Cantabrigian names like “Charles River Porter,” “Regatta Golden Ale” and “Cambridge Amber Ale.” Over the next four months, head over to grab one and test out the brewery’s fall menu before they close their doors for good.
- In other restaurant news: After less than a year of operation in Boston’s Fenway, Chef Douglass Williams’ French brasserie D.W. French has closed. In its place, Williams is opening up his fourth location of Italian restaurant chain, MIDA. It’s set to open in October.
Goodbye, Pink House: The Plum Island Pink House, a landmark in Newbury, is scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year, after receiving no bids at a public auction.
- The Pink House, built in 1925, was purchased by US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011. While some locals are rallying to save the the aging building, US Fish and Wildlife says the house contains too many contaminants to be safely used or inhabited. The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island plans to restore the salt marsh it sits on after razing the building.
We’re giving some celebratory quacks to the Duck Boat that became a rescue boat yesterday. A toddler got past the safety railing along the Cambridge-side riverfront near the Museum of Science and Royal Sonesta Hotel, and fell into the water. His father dove in after him and the two were stuck in the river. A duck boat staffed by two captains doing safety drills spotted the pair clinging to a rock and brought them aboard. “We were happy to be in the right place at the right time,” said Tom Vigna, director of marketing for Boston Duck Tours.
P.S.— L.L. Bean’s Bootmobile received a glamorous closeup in The New York Times during its trip down to Revere Beach this summer. Apparently, driving a boot going 65 mph from Maine to Massachusetts isn’t always easy. “If we need to decompress, we will hide in the Bootmobile,” Mandee Flanders, one of the boot’s nine drivers, told the Times.
