On Sunday, I'm heading down to New Hampshire with some of the other silveroranges to meet with a prospective client. We're considering stopping in Boston on the way back (yup, we're driving), a city I haven't visited since I was about fourteen. I'm soliciting advice. If you had one day to do with what you wished in Boston, what would you do? (and where would you eat?)
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Who am I?
Daniel Burka
I'm the creative director at Digg and I'm a partner at silverorange. I've also helped found Pownce where I design the UI.
I'm a newish San Franciscan and I play a little disc golf, fall off rock climbing walls, and kick soccer balls over the net.
Comments
ben - November 21, 2003 5:47 pm
hey, i know nothing about boston, just wanted to say that i am really enjoying the feel of your site.
i think i would have gone with a fixed width but judging from the rest of the silverOrange sites it seems to be a choice you've put some thought into.
oh and the title graphics are wonderful.
nathan - November 21, 2003 7:46 pm
If you're like me and are fascinated by civil engineering projects both modern and historical, then the thing to visit in Boston is the Big Dig Project, or a least drive the completed parts.
Alan - November 21, 2003 9:56 pm
Ross says the public aquarium is amazing.
Cyn - November 22, 2003 9:55 am
Nice blog Daniel! Nice change from all the white backgrounders out there. Have a great trip to Boston. The only recommendation I have is to go where everybody knows your name, buy the t-shirt and sit where Norm sat.
BTW, that bike I was telling you about...arrived yesterday. Oh joy oh bliss.
Mandy - November 22, 2003 3:51 pm
If it were I that was going on through, I'd take the extra time and cash to see something on broadway. I know that's a bit extravagant, but that's what I think would be fun and good times.
Peter Rukavina - November 26, 2003 4:08 pm
This is too late, but it sounds like you'll be back. Here are my top 13 things to do in Boston:
1. Go to the chapel at MIT. It's an amazing building that struck me, the most irreligious of the irreligious, in a very profound way.
2. Eat at the House of Blues in Cambridge. If not for the blues, then for the food and the service. Fantastic.
3. Go to a movie at the Wollaston Cinema. It's about 30 minutes south of the city on the 'T'. "The south shore's biggest screen." A wonderful old cinema, with amazingly low concession prices.
4. Go to a movie at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. I saw <I>The Third Man</I> there; their schedule is full of old films that deserve to be seen on a big screen with strangers.
5. Go to a movie at the Loews Boston Common. This in truly the state of the art in cinemas: all seats are good, all projectors are good, all screens are huge. I've seen movies like <I>Black Hawk Down</I>, <I>Star Wars: Attack of the Clones</I> and <I>Open Range</I> there that I wouldn't have seen anywhere else: the size of the screen and quality of the sound made them epic.
6. Go to the Globe Corner Bookstore in Cambridge. It's the best store for travel books I've found yet, and I've been to travel bookstores on three continents.
7. Spend time in and around the Harvard Square 'T' stop: go to the Out of Town News and buy a magazine; shop for books at Wordsworth and the Harvard Coop; go to Crate and Barrel; get a burger at that place that sells excellent burgers that I can't ever remember the name of; go the excellent stationer on Church St.; go to a play at the ART; go to a concert at Club Passim.
8. If you're not all movied out yet, make your way to the Kendall Square Cinemas, which is kind of out of the way (there is, in theory, a free shuttle from the Kendall Square 'T' stop, but I've only found it worked once). They always have an excellent selection of art house films showing, and it's possible to see two or three films in a row and go away completely happy. Good ice cream bars.
9. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, near the MFA, is one of the nicest art galleries I've ever been to, and I'm not an "art gallery guy."
10. Filene's Basement: not as good as it used to be, but still pretty darned good. At the Downtown Crossing 'T' -- think Winners, but with better selection, better prices, more interesting fellow shoppers.
11. Eat at Ida's in North Boston. It's just off Mechanic St. Amazing, home-cooked Italian food.
12. Wander down Newbury Street. Things get more interesting, and more affordable, the further you go from Boston Common, but visits to FAO Schwartz, Bang & Olufsen and the Nike Store are interesting for their design as much as anything else. The Wrap, down towards Mass Ave., has free WiFi. There are a couple of interesting bookstores, and the Virgin Megastore, right at the end.
13. Visit Porter Square. Stay on the 'T' past Harvard Square one stop. There's a great Japanese grocery in the old Sears store, as well as an interesting collection of Japanese and Korean food stalls. There's a good paper store across the street, a good kids bookstore, and a wonderful retro/modern design store further up the street. Good for an afternoon of wandering.