Gay-friendly Boston boasts popular summers, but shines brightly in autumn
UNCOMMONLY GRAND | The iconic Massachusetts State House rises above Boston Common, part of the city’s beautiful Emerald Necklace park system. (Photo courtesy Andrew Collins)
Summer may signal the end of high season at New England’s beach resorts, but early autumn is the perfect time for visiting the region’s largest metropolis, Boston, along with its smaller neighbors, Cambridge and Somerville. In October, the city comes alive with students back at the area’s many colleges, the leaves turn bold shades of orange and crimson in gardens and parks around town and restaurants and bars with terraces and sidewalk seating entertain fans of alfresco dining for a few more weeks of warm weather.
Here’s a look at one of the nation’s gay-friendliest destinations, with a particular eye toward what to see during the fall months.
The handsome South End neighborhood of narrow, tree-shaded streets lined with Victorian bow-front, redbrick townhouses has steadily evolved over the years into one of the city’s favorite destinations for an afternoon stroll, whether to admire the architecture, duck into tony boutiques or seek out trendy neighborhood bistros and cafes. This upscale district is very much the heart of Boston’s gay scene, and it’s home to several long-running LGBT nightspots: The endearingly dive-y Boston Eagle, the classic dance club and video bar Club Café (ClubCafe.com), the friendly sports bar Fritz (FritzBoston.com).
A favorite pastime around here is dining out, with most of the top restaurants along the main thoroughfares of Tremont and Washington streets and Columbus Avenue. Longtime favorites of the gay community, like Franklin Café (FranklinCafe.com) and Tremont 647 (Tremont647.com), are as popular as ever both for dining and drinking. But in recent years, a few other culinary stars have helped shine a light on the neighborhood, including Coppa (CoppaBoston.com), where you’ll find superb charcuterie and cheese plates, wood-fired pizza and wines by the glass, and newcomer Estelle’s (EstellesBoston.com), which earns raves for its updated take on Southern cuisine, from crispy catfish burgers to buttermilk fried chicken.
Slightly out of the way Jamaica Plain (JP as it’s affectionately known) is a few miles southwest of downtown Boston, in a relatively residential part that tourists sometimes miss. Especially if you’re visiting during the fall foliage season, this funky, progressive neighborhood with a solid gay (and particularly lesbian) following merits a visit.
Boston’s famed Emerald Necklace — a string of a dozen green spaces laid out by eminent 19th-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted — has several significant sections in Jamaica Plain, including Franklin Park (with its historic zoo), Arnold Arboretum (with 280 acres of plants and trees connected by well-marked paths), Jamaicaway (a tree-lined parkway) and Jamaica Pond.
You can continue along the Emerald Necklace visiting the other linked parks, including Olmsted Park in Brookline, the Riverway, the Back Bay Fens (where you can access the outstanding Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts), Commonwealth Avenue Mall and the Public Garden and
Boston Common. The entire string of parks is about 10 miles (and popular as a biking route), but it’s easy just to choose a few portions of it and explore those on foot. All of the Jamaica Plain parks are great for strolling and jogging.
— Andrew Collins
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 27, 2013.
