This first ran in GBH News’ morning newsletter, The Wake Up. Don't want to miss out? Subscribe now to get our rundown of news, culture, and community straight to your inbox every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday morning.
Does Boston have good nightlife? I’m not so sure what I think after spending a Friday night traveling across the city and asking people what they think.
Don’t get me wrong — some people love it. “It’s the best place ever for nightlife,” Olivia Lavalle told me near Faneuil Hall.
“I feel like Boston has a lot to offer in terms of late night travels and lots of great taverns,” said Marcus Cromwell, adding that the history makes it so “you’ll never run out of places to see.”
But it’s clear that most people think it could be better. “It sucks. It’s very terrible,” Kevin Xiong said as he barhopped in Allston. “People just hang out with their own people, and they’re not open to meeting new people … It’s very white-centric.”
“It doesn’t start early enough,” Kristin told me, adding that she also thinks nightlife doesn’t go late enough. “Extend the curfew past 2 a.m.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Marc Plageman, who spoke to me outside Allston’s Model Cafe. “Run the trains all night. Let the bars out later.”
The city does want to change its sleepy reputation. Corean Reynolds, who assumed the role of “nightlife czar” earlier this year, is tasked with making Boston more lively, convenient and inclusive at night. But that’s a tall order. And folks around town have lots of thoughts on how the city can achieve that goal.
Today, GBH News is launching a new series in collaboration with Axios Boston called Nightlife in Boston. Axios Boston’s Mike Deehan and Steph Solis will join Paris, the morning team and me as we deep dive into the city’s late night identity, asking what YOU think of Boston nightlife — and what could improve it.
Reply to this email with your thoughts and ideas for what we should be reporting on and tune into GBH Tuesday morning as we talk more about the series on-air!
— Jeremy Siegel, co-host, GBH’s Morning Edition
Can Boston nightlife be better?
Is Boston the perfect place for a bar crawl? Or is it a sleepy city that closes early? Recent efforts by the city to revive the downtown include bringing on a night czar. Will it work? Can Boston be... fun? In a new collaboration between GBH News and Axios, we are taking a look at nightlife in Boston and asking: what could make the nightlife better?
We want to hear from you: What can Boston do to improve its nightlife landscape?
🍕 More late-night food?
🚎 Better transit?
💃 Different types of events and activities?
Fill out our quick survey.
