Here's hoping we're not under howling blizzard, or something.

I always loved Boston. Only been a few times, mostly as part of someone else's tour, but I dug the hell out of it. I remember taking a good long walk around Beacon Hill in appalling weather, and twisting an ankle.

It's going to be really cool to see it again, with people I like to show me the way around.

I guess there are changes. I guess I view Boston, or the culture as being relatively slow to change or accept change.

R.I.P. The Rat...

True dat. And Planet Records. On the other hand, I do not mourn the loss of Narsyphilis or Pizza Pad one bit.

Nora, I've only just realised how much SF has changed since I got here in 1970. I've had people, locals, muttering forever about how it's changed, it's different, and I kept looking at them and going, wha...?

And of course it has. Leaving aside anything else, the entire SOMA and waterfront area went upscale, once the Pac Bell Park was built.

But really, the changes I noticed most over the years were in the surrounding areas: Marin, where I lived for over five years, was about one-fifth as developed then as it is now. Funky Rocker Hippie is now Wealthy Annoying Yuppie - it's pure "out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" territory. And the south bay, courtesy of the creation of Silicon Valley, is unrecognisable. When I first moved here, it was all orchards and crops and farmland.

Gah. Weird, how stuff changes.

I guess I view Boston, or the culture as being relatively slow to change or accept change.

On that I'll agree - most of the changes are cosmetic ones, and, apart from things like the Rat, generally for the better. The psyche of the town remains the same.

The place that kills me in how it's changed so much, and for the worse, is Harvard Square. They've pretty much killed everything that I used to enjoy about it (and with the Brattle in trouble, it looks like the job's going to be finished soon).

I was just about to mention Harvard Square, Frank. I agree completely.

R.I.P. The Rat...

::weeps copious tears::

The place that kills me in how it's changed so much, and for the worse, is Harvard Square. They've pretty much killed everything that I used to enjoy about it (and with the Brattle in trouble, it looks like the job's going to be finished soon).

Wha? What's happened?

Wha? What's happened?

We can play a game! You ask if a particular establishment is there anymore and we'll say yes or no. Likely the answer is no.

And, if it's someplace he liked, the answer's almost sure to be no.

We can play a game! You ask if a particular establishment is there anymore and we'll say yes or no. Likely the answer is no.

Oh jeez, I can't remember all the names. Uh, the poetry bookstore Grolier's? The sandwich place with the green sawdust on the floor where you could get a Turkey Delight? It was a woman's name. Emack and Bolio's? What was that rep cinema...University Theater? The one where they always had an old James Bond double feature on every schedule.