A four-alarm fire broke out at the Mandarin Hotel construction site this morning, and it was so strong that it shut down Boylston Street. The fire's origins have been located in "some cabinets on the fourth floor of the 15-story hotel," WBZ reports. The cabinets were part of a fitness room. WBZ has some scary footage of the smoke going up in the sky. Only one construction work sustained "minor burns." That's a true stroke......

Bostonist tends not to eat at places with the word “junkyard” in their name, but when the food is as good as at Spike’s Junkyard Dogs, rules can be broken. Spike’s offers up hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, subs, salads, and wings (plus burgers at the Somerville and Boylston branches) that are quick, inventive, and delicious. The obvious order is a hot dog, but there are so many toppings to choose from. You can order......

The Foggy Goggle is a bar on Boylston Street, located just past the glare of the boutiques at the outer perimeter of Newbury Street. It's a dive -- the kind of place where they serve beer in 8 ounce Dixie cups and don't apologize. And for one night, it was the most earnest place in Boston. Two weeks ago, Bostonist joined Socializing for Justice (SoJust) as the group held its January mixer, "Putting the 'Social'......

Meet more of Bostonist's new writers! Dale Cruse, of Drinks Are On Me, is launching a weekly drinks column for Bostonist that will appear on Wednesdays. Bostonist loves his site, which tracks food and wine trends, and is thrilled that he's joining the team. The Boston Wine Expo is slated for February 8-10 at the Seaport World Trade Center. Jonathon Alsop, founder of the Boston Wine School, gives us his rules to make sure it’s......

A visitor to the Fall Celebration held by the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists (BACA) last Monday could be excused for getting a little lost. The event took place in the hidden back room of Club Cafe on Boylston Street, beyond an empty and darkened corridor. But, when you came within range of the tinkling piano keys and the rousing rendition of "Luck Be a Lady," you knew you were in the right place. According......

Bostonist saw today's "Rolling Rally," featuring the players riding duck boats across the city and relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon dancing to the Dropkick Murphys, from two different vantage points--near the Common and at the Hynes Convention Center. Everyone clearly enjoyed themselves, especially Papelbon: Wherever you were along the parade route, it was simply madness. Of course, the Red Sox faithful turned out in their jerseys. Hundreds of little kids skipped school. College students sat down......

This year's Boston Comedy Festival is about to start, and you won't be able to make up your mind about all the events happening around town. The following listings include just a few measly highlights, but the Boston Comedy Festival is sure to have something that suits your sense of humor, whether it be ironic, sarcastic, slapsticky, or potty. Check the official site and full schedule for all event details. Boston Comedy Festival Contest Preliminaries:......

Keggers and CliffsNotes Grub Street Headquarters 160 Boylston Street Sunday, September 23, 7:00-9:00 pm More info Sunday night: a time for football, Extreme Home Makeover, and staying in, right? You couldn't be more wrong. Sunday night--at least this Sunday night--is a time to don your favorite college sweatshirt, put on your thinking and drinking caps, and head out to Keggers and CliffsNotes, the latest installment in the Dirty Water Reading Series. Co-hosted by Redivider, Quick......

This year will be the first ever wine event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. A Spring Serata (serata is Italian for "evening" but sounds way fancier in Italian than English) will take place on June 7th at the ISGM. They're setting up tasting stations all over the museum for the grassy, floral, and mineral wines – don't ask us what that means, ask them: A Spring Serata also puts a unique, creative twist on......

"Get to Know Us By Filling in the __ : An Evening of Literary & Musical Entertainment" will be from 6 to 9 pm tonight, May 23, at 647 Boylston Street. Clear your calendars because 826 Boston, the soon-to-be-opened Massachusetts division of the writing school that started in San Francisco, is holding its inaugural fundraiser. "Get to Know Us By Filling in the __ : An Evening of Literary & Musical Entertainment" promises to get......

--Smoke filled a Boston University lab yesterday morning, prompting an evacuation. This wouldn't have been such big news if it weren't for the biomedical lab's experiments on infectious "rabbit fever." The Globe proved it was a master of understatement with the following sentence: "[The incident renews] concern about the danger of studying potentially deadly pathogens in a densely populated area." No kidding. --The BPD held a press conference to help find missing sailor Dustin Willis.......

The Boston Redevelopment Authority has finally approved the construction of a new Apple store on Boylston Street in Back Bay, which could be done as early as December 2007. Not only will you be able to wait in frustration for hours at the "Genius Bar", but you'll be able to join the scads of Bostonians you try to avoid in said line. Sweet. Admittedly, the building (a giant glass cube) is alluring. Moreso, though,......

Ever so often there's a press release that comes into the Bostonist inbox. Yesterday we got a string of eight press missives, all from the same sender. Boston Magazine was on their monthly initiative to grab some attention on the internets. They set up a mail merge and pumped out letters into email. They fit the below format I thought you might be interested in "For the Love of Cod" - a piece about......

You can take the T to Green Street, but you can’t take your car. Well, you can take your car to the Green Street Station on the Orange Line. There’s on street parking not too far by, but please, please, don’t put your car inside the Green Street Station. After cracking down on 123 Party! and their dancing “antics” on Boylston Street the police moved down to Jamaica Plain to stop more dangerous art before......

Yesterday a myspace bulletin was at the top of the ticker when we logged in: 123 Party! Arrested!!! Hey Fans and Party Favors-- 123 Party! was arrested on Friday, January 5th, 2007 for dancing on Boylston Street. The Boston Cops provided no sympathy and severely doubted the dance. Turbo, Sonic, and Fury (The new Boston trio) were thrown in cells without any 80's synthpop dance tracks. It was totally bogus. We need you!! To write......

The emphasis on First Night has been as much on what you can't do as much as what you can do. So let's get what you can't do out of the way right now. Don't drive. Take public transportation. No excuses because the T will be free after 8 pm. The MBTA provides more details about the New Year's schedule here. And, as far as the law is concerned, the message is try not to......

The Finnish patterns of Marimekko first caught our eye while shopping in Crate and Barrel years back and we’ve been hooked ever since on its trippy patterns and bold colors. Being the naïve, self-righteous ones we are, we assumed C&B got some great new designers, until Bostonist’s more artsy friends told us that Marimekko patterns grew to international success in the mid 1960s, putting Finland on the fashion map. It is still around today, being......

You might have seen all the signs around Boylston Street today announcing the street being closed Saturday morning. The city then put up a flashing sign for motorists this afternoon warning them of the “Lions Club International Parade of Nations.” What the hell is the Lions Club parade you ask? Well, Bostonist had to submit an “Ask Bostonist” question to itself and did a bit of research on this one. The 89th Lions Clubs International......

For those enthralled with the decorated cattle all over the city, the Jimmy Fund has created a city map with all of the 117 cows' locations. While it appears that a good number of them are grazing along Boylston Street, the rest of the statues appear to be placed along the Waterfront and Faneuil Hall area. Beacon Hill is perhaps the most sparse area on the map and Bostonist was excited to see that even......

Bostonist has been unkind to the Herald in the past, but we have to say that it's never bad to live in a two-newspaper town, especially if what you want from your news is not just information, but amusement. Take today's papers: Both the Globe and the Herald had fine coverage of the day's biggest local story, the scaffolding collapse on Boylston Street. And both rags reliably ran wire stories on the major national stories......

More details from yesterday’s accident at a construction site in Boston are being heard today. A 10-ton orange metal platform fell 13 stories down onto Boylston Street during the lunch hour and it’s been announced that three people were killed. Two victims were construction workers, who were thought to be working for the subcontractor, Boston Masonry: Romildo Silva, 27, and Robert Beane, 41. Michael Tsan Ty, 28, a doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, was......

Bostonist is still recovering from that one-hour loss of sleep due to Daylight’s Savings Time yesterday, so please be kind as we slowly enter into the world of blogging this week. Here’s a round up of the top stories here in the city today…with a couple of highlights in what is turning out to be a gloomy news day. Breaking News: A crane that was working on an Emerson College building at 136 Boylston Street......

Starbucks has decided to give you a little treat this morning by handing out free 12 oz. (or "tall" if you jive like that) Arabica coffee to celebrate its First Annual National Coffee Break. We first saw it mentioned over on boston.com on Monday but when we were accosted this morning outside Copley T station with a free copy of the Globe with an insulating Starbucks sleeve around it, it actually made Bostonist quite happy......

In the land of Bostonist, two whole days before Xmas means dedicated shopping to ensure that this year, no friend or relative receives something chosen randomly from a drawer in the kitchen and wrapped. Open markets, fairs and bazaars abound on Saturday and Sunday, with lots of variety for all styles...so come all 'ye (consumer) faithful! For the earthy, culturally aware, and maybe a little bit boho-chic The Cultural Survival Winter Bazaar Days: Saturday......

There are quite a few author readings and events going on tonight around the city and there seems to be a bit of something for everyone. So why not Tivo that episode of "The O.C." (Bostonist knows it's one of your guilty pleasures) and introduce some literature into your night. If feminism, comedy, and just blatant, hilarious honesty, is your interest, head over to see Jill Soloway (pictured) in her "Tiny Ladies Extravaganza" at 8p.m.......

The Four Seasons Hotel Boston usually sees the likes of celebrities and professional athletes as they check in to the swanky joint, but this past Sunday morning, the hotel employees were witness to a much stranger check-in. It seems that Anthony Michael Giannone, 36 of South Boston, wandered, or as the Herald put it, "staggered" into the hotel's lobby around 5:30a.m., and went on make a scene. The security guards were all over him and......

A Dorchester woman has been charged with shoplifting after being caught with over $13,000 worth of goods taken from the Prudential Center and Copley Place Mall on Monday. According to police, she was working along with two other women, who first tipped off security at Sephora, where they stole $750 worth of perfume. The Boston Police were called and later led to a car parked on Boylston Street where the women were seen dropping off......

Forget what everyone else says. Bostonist loves the new Old Navy tunic ads (pictured at right), and not just because they use "Bust a Move," that classic rap song from our youth. We may be crazy, but we think the lyrics include a subtle, Boston-friendly bit of vocabulary. Bostonist has a complex relationship with mass-media offerings that try to pander to our fair city: most attempts to play up Boston-ness feel heavy-handed and contrived to......

Today the New England Patriots take to the streets in Boston’s own Duck Tour boats for the championship parade. This will be Boston’s second World Championship parade within five months, but complacency is not setting in. All the speak of a new dynasty in football gets us excited to bring the Lombardi trophy home more often, with more parades. The Patriots will roll down Boylston Street starting around Copley Square and turn onto Tremont Street......