Boston shops?

I will be spending a week in Boston in late June. Have several times
passed through town, but never got to stay in. So now is my
non-business chance, using some airline and hotel credits.

So, Her Orangeness told me that Scribes Delight has a booth in
Faneuil Hall No, I won't pay a buck a sheet for Amalfi wedding paper,
but I might have them custom-make my official seal. Does anyone have
any favorite pen shops, new or "vintage," or related spots I might
should check out?

The rest of my trip will be spent as a typical tourist and restaurant
patron. Oh yes, I'll be staying in the theater district, which looks
like is right near the South End amd China Town. Any recommendations
of places, pens, or better, food, will be most welcome.

On 5 Jun 2004 15:15:08 -0700, (JimL) wrote:

I will be spending a week in Boston in late June.

My favourite US city

I'll be staying in the theater district, which looks
like is right near the South End amd China Town.

Not the nicest place, but not bad. I've taken to staying on Chandler
St, which is nearby and rather more pleasant. However staying at the
Chandler Inn the first time was a mistake that taught me to not always
trust the casual hotel recommendations of my gayer friends. It's a
nice hotel, the staff are lovely, but it's very "scene" and a bit of a
surprise when I'd booked (straight) work colleagues into it on our
first trip.

From the railway station near Chandler St, make sure you walk along
the old railway line towards Back Bay. It's now a pedestrian path.
Usually around here I go through my regular "I want to come and live
in Boston" spiel.

Any recommendations
of places, pens, or better, food, will be most welcome.

Every trip, I usually blow a few hundred at the MIT Press bookstore -
mainly on rarities, remainders and such of their own printings. Techie
non-fiction mainly.

To get there, use the subway. Make sure you play with the musical
instruments on the platform - strange sculptures built by MIT
students.

MIT museum has a few geeky exhibits, and also Arthur Ganson's
sculpture gallery. They're worth travelling to Boston, just to see
them. www.ArthurGanson.com
OTOH, in Belfast you can view Arthur Ganson's toothpaste tube
collection!


Food comes from the North End, the Italian quarter. Oh yes.

There's good Indian food (yes, a Brit recommends a US Indian
restaurant !) to be had on the corner of Gloucester and Newbury (Back
Bay, not far to walk from South End). Decent Japanese noodles nearby
too, by the old firehouse - mainly a student fill-up, rather than posh
nosh. Across the road is Bukowski's bar, which is one of my favoured
holes.

Newbury Street is either the bohemian heart of Boston /
over-commercialised and nothing like it used to be. Make up your own
mind.

DUKW tours of the harbour (WW2 amphibious trucks) are a blatant
tourist trap, but still worth doing.

Museum of Fine Art is a definite for the visit list (I try to allow a
day / half-day each trip). American furniture, Japanese and Chinese
art and the modern furniture collection are highlights. The benches
the weary visitor can rest on are made by the likes of George
Nakashima, Sam Maloof and Tage Frid.

Aquarium is good, but the Science Museum is always a disappointment to
me 8-( Some good exhibits, but dreadful organisation of them and the
overall "storyboard" is incoherent (yes, this is my day job).

When in Boston, I make a point of going to Durgan Park Restaurant. Their
motto is "...in business since before your grandfather was born." large
portions, simple fare, a fun experience.

Sorry, no info on pen shops. I buy mine from Fountain Pen Hospital in NYC,
paradise Pen in White Plains, or online.

George


"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 5 Jun 2004 15:15:08 -0700, (JimL) wrote:

I will be spending a week in Boston in late June.

My favourite US city

I'll be staying in the theater district, which looks
like is right near the South End amd China Town.

Not the nicest place, but not bad. I've taken to staying on Chandler
St, which is nearby and rather more pleasant. However staying at the
Chandler Inn the first time was a mistake that taught me to not always
trust the casual hotel recommendations of my gayer friends. It's a
nice hotel, the staff are lovely, but it's very "scene" and a bit of a
surprise when I'd booked (straight) work colleagues into it on our
first trip.

From the railway station near Chandler St, make sure you walk along
the old railway line towards Back Bay. It's now a pedestrian path.
Usually around here I go through my regular "I want to come and live
in Boston" spiel.

Any recommendations
of places, pens, or better, food, will be most welcome.

Every trip, I usually blow a few hundred at the MIT Press bookstore -
mainly on rarities, remainders and such of their own printings. Techie
non-fiction mainly.

To get there, use the subway. Make sure you play with the musical
instruments on the platform - strange sculptures built by MIT
students.

MIT museum has a few geeky exhibits, and also Arthur Ganson's
sculpture gallery. They're worth travelling to Boston, just to see
them. www.ArthurGanson.com
OTOH, in Belfast you can view Arthur Ganson's toothpaste tube
collection!


Food comes from the North End, the Italian quarter. Oh yes.

There's good Indian food (yes, a Brit recommends a US Indian
restaurant !) to be had on the corner of Gloucester and Newbury (Back
Bay, not far to walk from South End). Decent Japanese noodles nearby
too, by the old firehouse - mainly a student fill-up, rather than posh
nosh. Across the road is Bukowski's bar, which is one of my favoured
holes.

Newbury Street is either the bohemian heart of Boston /
over-commercialised and nothing like it used to be. Make up your own
mind.

DUKW tours of the harbour (WW2 amphibious trucks) are a blatant
tourist trap, but still worth doing.

Museum of Fine Art is a definite for the visit list (I try to allow a
day / half-day each trip). American furniture, Japanese and Chinese
art and the modern furniture collection are highlights. The benches
the weary visitor can rest on are made by the likes of George
Nakashima, Sam Maloof and Tage Frid.

Aquarium is good, but the Science Museum is always a disappointment to
me 8-( Some good exhibits, but dreadful organisation of them and the
overall "storyboard" is incoherent (yes, this is my day job).

JimL wrote:

I will be spending a week in Boston in late June. ... Does anyone
have any favorite pen shops, new or "vintage," or related spots I
might should check out?

Bromfield Pen Shop is nice. Here's a map...

http://bromfieldpenshop.com/about/directions/

Mostly new pens and accessories, but the place is packed with good
stuff. --- Bernadette

"BLandolf" wrote in message ...
JimL wrote:

I will be spending a week in Boston in late June. ... Does anyone
have any favorite pen shops, new or "vintage," or related spots I
might should check out?

Bromfield Pen Shop is nice. Here's a map...

http://bromfieldpenshop.com/about/directions/

Mostly new pens and accessories, but the place is packed with good
stuff. --- Bernadette

Thanks everyone, much! I'm printing it all out.

Oops, or should I say, "I'm carefully writing it all down in cursive
in this year's leather bound trip journal?"

Nah.

Although I do know I am beyond the bend when, in planning trips, I
have clothes laid out to pack a week in advance, but the carry-on with
pens and journals (and maps and travel guides) takes three weeks to
pack. sigh

No, no, only two books: One for advance lists, and one for recording
after the fact. Only two pens .... and a pencil (now which one!?),
and maybe a highlighter, and maybe a .... Oh, stop it!

Last trip I had just the oh-so-right pens, and not a single tie for
the restaurants that required one.

Hi, Jim,

Boston was, pretty much, my home town until last summer. You've got
some good recommendations do far. Scribes Delight is one place to stop
in at Fanuiel Hall (North Market Building) and not far from Durgin
Park (correct spelling) that's already been recommended. Durgin Park
is 1 of 4 restaurants that have been in operation in Boston for over
100 years. Just a couple blocks away is the Union Oyster House where
Daniel Webster went for ale and oyster and where Emerson took Charles
Dickens to dine on one of his trips to America. The other 2 100+ year
old restaurants are Locke-Ober on Winter Place and Jacob Wirth's on
Kneeland Street. Wirth's is a part of the theatre district on the edge
of Chinatown and, thus, near your hotel. The saurbraten is great.

In Chinatown, Chau Chow City on Essex Street has my favorite Dim Sum
from about 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. If you have never had dim sum it is
a wonderful adventure. Carts come around with varieties of dumplings
and other delights. You pick what looks good to you and find that it's
all wonderful. Crab claws, lobster, shrimp dumplings, shumai, steamed
pork buns and the sticky rice buns, filled with chicken, tiny shrimp,
Chinese sausage and vegetables then wrapped in lotus leaves and
steamed are wonderful. For a first timer, you will need to be a little
adventurous. If you know dim sum already, this is one of the best in
Boston's Chinatown. The other favorite of mine is China Pearl about 3
blocks away. The Pho Pasteur at the corner of Beach and Washington
Streets can't be beat for price and excellence in Vietnamese food in
Chinatown.

You might want to contact Pier Gustafson at to see if
you can visit his sanctum sanctorum on Fitchburg Street in Somerville.
Pier isn't always available, however.

When you get to Bromfield Pen you will be entering the last retail
location of the A.A. Waterman Pen Co. in Boston. Half a block up
Bromfield, cross Province St. and then turn right to the corner of
Province and School Streets. The building next to you on that corner
was the Waterman Pen Corner in Boston. It's now a hairdressing salon
that took pains to restore the interior so that it looks much like it
did when it was second only to Waterman's New York Headquarters.

For excellent, reasonably priced Italian Food in the North End try La
Piccola Venezia on Hanover Street. Then, if you can still waddle, you
can pick up some cannoli at Mike's Pastry to take with you to your
hotel or just visit one of the pastry/gelato/espresso shops on the
other (North) side of Hanover on your way to the Paul Revere Mall and
the Old North Church.

If you want seafood AND historic atmosphere, the Union Oyster House is
the place for you. If you want seafood that's going to dig less deeply
into your wallet, head out to the South Boston waterfront along
Northern Avenue and find The No-Name Restaurant. Two years ago I had a
wonderful meal there with Jerry Trafford and Bernadette Landolf. It's
a fine restaurant without the inflated prices of Anthony's Pier 4 and
Jimmy's Harborside.

The list of excellent restaurants is nearly endless as is the list of
ethnic cuisines.

If you have a rental car, you'll want to use it to get to South
Boston, Somerville and, possibly, to Old Ironsides at the Charlestown
Navy Yard. For traveling in town, I recommend the subways. You can buy
visitor passes that will make public transportation - buses, subways
and trains - very economical.

Anyway, feel free to ask about any other specifics.

Take care,

Rob Astyk