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Nothing these days is quite so good at provoking strong emotions about gentrification as that ugly, forced sobriquet that realtors have tried to foist on East Boston: "EaBo." To begin with, Bostonist can't decide if it sounds more like a person with a head cold talking about a certain sub-genre of music, or the name of a character from the movie Friday. But beyond that, "EaBo" embodies, for some, everything bad about high-rent outsiders coming in to ruin classic, old-timey Boston neighborhoods. On the other hand, for developers and their ilk, "EaBo" gives name to hopes of cashing in on the next big thing. This is also true, we learn from today's Globe, of restaurateurs.
Apparently, chef Pietro DelViscovo thinks Eastie is "the new North End," so he's built a fancy restaurant there (along with many other similarly optimistic business owners). And, surprise, it's not taking. "Despite massive advertising campaigns in local newspapers and reduced prices," the Globe tells us, "most of the new restaurants are not serving full dining rooms." Another hopeful restaurant owner imagines the neighborhood á la Newbury Street, "lined with elegant cafés and colorful boutiques."
The article offers upbeat speculation about why EaBo has not entirely supplanted Eastie, all of which supposes the answer is "when," not "if." But DelViscovo may have inadvertently put his finger on why this will never happen: ''Right now there doesn't seem to be a lot of foot traffic where we are." Hmmm - what could be the reason that the North End and Newbury Street get more foot traffic than East Boston? Why doesn't Bostonist stroll from our downtown office over to Maverick Square on nice days? What could it be that's standing in our way?
Photo: Downtown Boston as seen from Eastie: So close and yet so far.
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My wife and I finally quit renting and bought our first home six months ago -- in Eastie (I refuse to call it EaBo). I honestly didn't know what I'd think of living here. But it is the best neighborhood in Boston. Unyuppified, unpretentious, lots of immigrants, lots of old-timers, lots of hipsters (of late), which makes for a very cool mix. And just a reminder: Maverick Square is ONE STOP away from downtown Beantown. I walk from my house to the T, and I'm in downtown Boston in 5 minutes. Eastie rocks. I love it here.
Yeah, I know it's only one stop - I was over there just a few weeks ago. I'm not saying it's impossible to get to or a bad place to live (heaven knows it's more convenient by T than my Somerville digs), I'm just saying it will never be like the North End or Newbury Street because you can't just stroll there (unless you already live there or you live in Chelsea). At some point, Eastie may have a critical mass of newer residents who will patronize all these new eateries, or maybe there will be enough bourgie commerce options that people will bother to go there from elsewhere to walk around, but for now, I think negotiating the construction barriers between downtown and the North End will seem more appealing to most people than taking the T.
True, but then who strolls from downtown Boston to Central Square in Cambridge, or Davis Square, or Allston, or Centre Street in JP? Yet these are all thriving places with lots of commerce and foot traffic.
Good point. I think those places have largely local patronage (maybe I'm wrong on this) while the North End & Newbury draw more widely, but you're right that the harbor need not be an impediment to growth, gentrification, and hipness. Also, wouldn't it be cool if there were a way to walk to East Boston from downtown (aside from the Charlestown-Everett-Chelsea route, which takes a while)?
I moved to EaBo from the South End in July after buying my first home (a condo). While I miss the South End and its restaurants, bars and quite tree-lined streets, I do like EaBo. Once the thousands of luxury condos are up on the waterfront we may get some nice restaurants and bars in Maverick Square. (I read in the Globe that Starbucks signed a lease in the Clippership Wharf complex that is to be build.) I look forward to the day when I can go out for a drink in my neighborhood, something I cannot do presently at the dive bars I wouldn't think of stepping foot in. I hope all of the ghetto stores and restaurants currently around the square are pushed somewhere else so that the area can gentrify with nice coffee houses, lounges, boutiques and restaurants with some new mid-rise luxury apartment buildings ringing the square. Right now all I can get is a taco in the square. Hopefully, by then residents with more income will want to hang out in EaBo. For now I must hop on the T one stop to Boston if I want to get a drink or eat at a nice restaurant. I may have bought in too early but I think EaBo will come along it may just take longer than anyone thinks.
What a sorry comment that was. And ignorant. Moody St in Waltham has a great variety of restaurants and entertainment, certainly something affordable compared to Newbury street. The neighborhood is nothing but old coots, pakistanis and grouphomes for the criminally insane.
And the North end and Newbury street survive on tourist yahoos and local nerd-yuppies who like their culture at 5% of total volume. The north end is Italian Disneyland. I think of my parents trying to be a success in America, then I have to take my inlaws to the North End so some fake goombah in a white tie can let us into his place with the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie. All the pizza in Boston is Greek.
Um . . . what?
I'm saying the factors that make a neighborhood "a spot" have very little to do with moving new rich people into the district.
If I wanted to live in the North End, or Newbury street I would live there. The problem is, I would be paying through the nose for rent or would mortgage my life away for a tiny condo. East Boston does have some challenges, but I would rather live one or two T-stops away from downtown, be able to park my car with little hassle, and actually own a home than live in either of those two areas.
Ibo - tribe in West Aftica, especially Nigeria
That's what I think of when I see EaBo
That would be Africa, not Aftica
I just heard "Eabo" mentioned for the first time on the news. Trust me, it's not going to take.
To Daryl, the guy who posted above who referred to Eastie as "Eabo":
Why don't you do us all a favor and move somewhere that already has a Starbucks so that we don't have to hear you whine about the fact that Eastie has nothing to do and is full of "ghetto stores"? (By the way, can we say rude?) The whole world shouldn't get swallowed up by these cookie-cutter establishments that make neighborhoods indistinguishable. Eastie has so much going for it because it's NOT the South End or one if its clones, of which there are many. If that's what you'd like, make things easy on yourself and move to one of them! We like things the way they are here.
Thanks!
To Daryl, the guy who posted above who referred to Eastie as "Eabo":
Why don't you do us all a favor and move somewhere that already has a Starbucks so that we don't have to hear you whine about the fact that Eastie has nothing to do and is full of "ghetto stores"? (By the way, can we say rude?) The whole world shouldn't get swallowed up by these cookie-cutter establishments that make neighborhoods indistinguishable. Eastie has so much going for it because it's NOT the South End or one if its clones, of which there are many. If that's what you'd like, make things easy on yourself and move to one of them! We like things the way they are here.
Thanks!
To Daryl, the guy who posted above who referred to EASTIE as "EaBo":
Why don't you do us all a favor and move somewhere that already has a Starbucks so that we don't have to hear you whine about the fact that Eastie has nothing to do and is full of "ghetto stores"? (By the way, can we say rude?) The whole world shouldn't get swallowed up by these cookie-cutter establishments that make neighborhoods indistinguishable. Eastie has so much going for it because it's NOT the South End or one if its clones, of which there are many. If that's what you'd like, make things easy on yourself and move to one of them! We like things the way they are here.
Thanks!