And then there were two... (Boston, Gardner: restaurants, price, trendy)

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

Is this sarcasm? I don't recall that being the case then but we were talking about before the pandemic, not when you were a child.

Boston as I remember it 15-20 years ago (as a child) felt less populated and busy, probably because it was actually less populated and busy. Fewer structures, fewer people, less intense traffic (aside from I-93)

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

Boston as I remember it 15-20 years ago (as a child) felt less populated and busy, probably because it was actually less populated and busy. Fewer structures, fewer people, less intense traffic (aside from I-93)

Okay, well it certainly did feel less populated. But I wouldn't go as far as saying it felt spacious or quiet, except maybe in certain neighborhoods or streets. It does seem nowadays you can't go in any nook or cranny of this town without running into others there too.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

Okay, well it certainly did feel less populated. But I wouldn't go as far as saying it felt spacious or quiet, except maybe in certain neighborhoods or streets. It does seem nowadays you can't go in any nook or cranny of this town without running into others there too.

That's what in saying . Place like Hyde Park Mattapan Roxbury East Boston Quincy Stoughton Chelsea all feel a lot more bustling than I remember. No place feels forgotten and very few feel left behind. .15-20 years ago i wasn't downtown often. Especially not 20 years ago. Albeit I was in Cambridge a lot as a kid 20 years ago. East Cambridge certainly felt different.

[bostongymjunkie]

But E Cambridge is still probably the least gentrified in the city maybe in part because of the projects but also probably because a lot of the housing isn't that great.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

But E Cambridge is still probably the least gentrified in the city maybe in part because of the projects but also probably because a lot of the housing isn't that great.

Least gentrified in Cambridge is still pretty gentrified though.

East Cambridge and East Somerville kind of feel sort of like a different world now than they did back then. The closing of Good Time Emporium sealed the deal, that's where working class dads came with their kids from all over the inner Boston Metro...

[bostongymjunkie]

Oh Assembly Square definitely is a different world and the working class Good Time crowd is long gone. Cambridge Street from Lechmere up to around Inman, at least, still feels somewhat similar except seems like newer immigrants in the area. The streets off Cambridge toward Kendall still have homes owned by old timers or their kids.

[Urban Peasant]

When I was a kid living north of the city in the early 1990's, on a Sunday you could shoot down Rutherford Avenue in Charlestown with absolutely no traffic. You'd have been one of 5 cars on the road at any one time. I-93 would have been more voluminous but not traffic jam level. There didn't use to be traffic jams in Boston on the weekends. Not anymore. The 90's traffic is something I miss. Hopefully the new mayor can do something about it but I sincerely down she can do much anything.

[bostongymjunkie]

I remember doing that many times. Coming off 93 at Sully Sq or Mystic Ave and being at City Squre all within 10 minutes or less.

[msRB311]

I used to go for walks at castle island after work when it was nice out. At some point probably in 2011 i just felt like the place became a madhouse. It was like somehow castle island became the place to go.

For me I don't want to be somewhere that is mobbed with people. If you live in the city a certain amount of busy-ness is to be expected...but it gets tiresome. This is likely why a lot of folks choose to leave cities like Boston for the suburbs. Or leave Boston altogether.

The town I live in now has a few parks where people walk. Last fall I remember walking and some old lady and I got to chatting. She was like I can't believe how busy this place has become, every time I come here it's packed with people. The place was not busy at all to me...but I guess it was to her. I kind of laughed to myself because it reminded me of myself how I had felt so many times about places in Boston.

[bostongymjunkie]

There used to be obscure outdoor spots you could go if you wanted to just sit and read a book or have a conversation with someone. Now it seems every spot is either occupied before you get there or a group of people come up on you with their kids or their dogs, pot smoking or whatever and destroy the peace. Crazy.