Boston Bits ~ Insiders’ Tips -- our monthly journal of things Bostonian, to give Boston Your Way site visitors a sense of our city.

It is August, the height of Summer in Boston. It can…

Make a grown man cry!
Which would you rather do at Fenway Park? Pay less than $50 to see Johnny Damon soar around the bases on a grandslam home run or fork over up to $2,000 to watch guys in their 60’s strut to Honky Tonk Woman? From here, the answer would seem obvious. But these geezers are The Rolling Stones, and they still draw crowds and high prices after 40 years of rock and roll. Fenway Park hosts the Stones on Sunday, August 21 and Tuesday, August 23. It’ll be a sellout.

Insiders’ Tip
Unless you are utterly devoted to Mick and The Boys, we are sure you could find other ways to spend $2,000 in Boston. But here are a few special to-dos you might not have considered: a romantic weekend at the Eliot Hotel, the charming small European-style hotel at the edge of the Back Bay; a dinner of grilled lamb and kaddo borawni at Helmand, the wonderful Afghan restaurant in East Cambridge that consistently pleases the most discerning diners without ever showing up on the lists of hot spots; lunch at Sel de la Terre, the Provencal restaurant on the Waterfront; a vintage print from the International Poster Gallery on Newbury Street, and a CD from the music bar at Louis on Berkeley Street.

For more information:
The Helmand
The Eliot Hotel
Sel de la Terre
International Poster Gallery
Louis Boston

Neighborhood Festivals
Boston’s ethnic neighborhood festivals offer an energizing antidote to the sultry late-summer fade out.

Top among them is the joyous saint’s feast days in the Italian North End, Boston’s oldest neighborhood. Almost every weekend in August, a section of the neighborhood – a square or a block – is dressed up to honor one of its favorite saints. Best known is Saint Anthony's Feast, celebrated each year on the last weekend of August (August 26-28). Begun by immigrants from Montefalcione, in 1919, it is the now largest Italian religious festival in New England. Ethnic foods and music, religious services, and parades, mark this and every North End saints feast day.

Insiders’ Tip
Although the North End gets all the attention, other neighborhoods offer equally delightful, yet less touristy, festivals. Hear are a few worth exploring:

Chinatown Festival, August 7, at the Chinatown Gate at
Essex and Lincoln streets
South Boston Italian Pride Festival, August 9, on East 3rd Street,
between K and I streets
Dominican Festival, August 12-14, at Franklin Park
Caribbean Carnival, August 27, on Blue Hill Avenue

For more information:
City of Boston


Beantown – a little history
On a recent Boston Your Way tour, a guest asked, “Why is Boston called ‘Beantown’?” Here is what we told her. During the colonial era, Boston was a strict religious Puritan town, and its citizens were required to attend church all day on Sundays. That meant they needed to prepare their Sunday meal the day before. A favorite was a dish that became known as Boston Baked Beans. It had to be cooked slowly and, hence, ahead of time. It also used molasses, which was a plentiful product in Boston. People who looked down on Boston for its Puritan piety, nicknamed it Beantown.

Insiders’ Tip
It may be all that sugar and molasses, but Boston Baked Beans are delicious. We thought you would like to try to make them. The key is to keep them covered with water while baking, except during the last hour.

Boston Baked Beans
2-quart bean pot
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 lbs. white pea beans
4 teaspoons salt
1 lb. fat salt pork
1 medium-sized onion
½ teaspoon ground pepper
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 cup molasses
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Soak the beans overnight in water. In the morning, rinse and cover with fresh water and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Parboil them for 10 minutes.

Run cold water through the beans in a strainer. Score salt pork into 1- inch squares. Peel the onion and put it in the pot with 1/2 of the salt pork. Put the beans in the pot over the onion and pork, and put the rest of the salt pork on top.

Mix other ingredients with boiling water and pour over the beans. Bake in a preheated 250 degree F oven for 7-8 hours. Keep adding water as necessary to keep the beans moist, but do not flood them. Do not cover. Serves 8 to 10.

Swimming – a Boston First
Boston is known as a city of Firsts. We know, for instance, that it had the first public school and first public library in the nation. But who knew that it had the first free public swimming beach? By the mid-1800s Boston had a population of over 250,000, mostly immigrants, crowded on to a small peninsula. Seeking to bring relief to its citizens, civic leaders in 1866 built a bath house on Dorchester Bay at the foot of L Street in South Boston. The current L Street Bath House, a stunning Art Deco structure, still draws local beachgoers, and every New Year’s Day the L Street Brownies take their annual dip in Dorchester Bay.

Insiders’ Tip
The L Street Brownies may be crazy for swimming in Boston in the winter, but not for swimming in Boston Harbor. Once literally condemned as the most polluted body of water in the country, Boston Harbor and the Waterfront are now among the most inviting local summertime destinations. In addition to the popular beaches of South Boston, swimmers and picnickers can enjoy the fantastic Boston Harbor Islands parks. The islands can be reached by boat from Long Wharf on the Waterfront. George’s Island is the most popular of the group.

If you need relief from the heat, but you can’t get to the beaches, go ahead and stick your feet into the Frog Pond on Boston Common.

For more information:
Boston Harbour Islands
Save the Harbour/Save the Bay


Speak like a Native!
Out-of-towner: It’s a hot day, I could use a beer.
Bostonian: It’s a scawchah! Hey, get me a beah.

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