Hanging Out in Boston’s Back Bay

by admin | September 5, 2025 7:05 am

Last in a series about returning to my native New England

BOSTON — We spent our final two vacation days in Back Bay, our favorite part of Boston, because it is close to most of the attractions to which we invariably return. We can either walk or take the T, the city’s efficient and safe subway system.

Our home base is the venerable Lenox Hotel, which opened in 1900 in Copley Square, on the corner of Essex and Boylston streets. The finish line for the Boston Marathon is painted on the pavement less than a block away. I have been staying at the Lenox off and on, during trips to Boston for more than a quarter-century. It has long reminded me of the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas, with its dark-wood paneling, the lobby fireplace constantly blazing, though it is 90 degrees outside, and its neon sign on the roof visible for blocks. That makes it easy to find one’s way back after dark.

Being nerds, we always visit the Boston Public Library next door. It has a well-appointed snack bar near the glass-enclosed broadcasting booth for the public media station WGBH. We enter through the modern section and make our way to the older building, which opened in 1895 at the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston streets. The library was established in 1848 and was the first large free municipal library in the United States.[1]

A pair of sculpted lions — commissioned to honor Union soldiers from the 20^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry who served in the Civil War — guard the grand marble staircase. The entrance to the Boston Public Library is as grand as any I have witnessed. And the restrooms are easy to find. That becomes increasingly important as the years pile up.

A trip to Back Bay also means walking through Boston Common, the oldest city park in the United States. Cows once grazed where kids now play baseball or splash in the ankle-deep splash pad (it is transformed into an ice rink in winter). The Common’s 50 acres are bounded by five of Boston’s most storied streets: Boylston, Tremont, Park, Beacon and Charles.

Across the street is the Boston Public Garden, also a first in the nation as a botanical garden. It features the famed swan boats, statues of famous generals and politicians, and lush vegetation. Entering the garden drops a curtain down on the traffic noise of those busy streets. The temperature drops as well in this unseasonable heat of mid-August. I swear the same Chinese fellow has been an Erhu — a two-stringed instrument played with a bow — for the past quarter-century. He appears to be ageless [2]

Our time in Back Bay invariably involves strolling the shops along Newbury Street, eating at both Joe’s and Stephanie’s on Newbury before heading on our final afternoon in town to Fenway Park. It is an easy 1.2 miles walk to the park. We are soon joined by hundreds of fans dressed in jerseys and sporting Red Sox caps.

I should have picked a night game to attend Fenway on this trip. The sun is unrelenting, fierce enough that my Beautiful Mystery Companion and daughter Abbie hide out in the park’s green corridors, watching the game on television until the 8^th inning. I sit stoically and sun-stunned alone for most of the game, sipping $15 beers and hoping in vain to catch a foul-ball off the left field section so that I can give it to the young boy sitting behind me, glove in hand. Once again, no foul balls come within reach.[3]

The next morning we catch an Uber to Logan Airport. The only good thing about 10 days in New England that are mostly unseasonably hot is that the shock to our system isn’t as great when we step out of DFW airport, looking for our parking shuttle.

Perhaps we will return next time in January.

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