Last of the Autumn Colors

DOT Abuzz This Weekend

This weekend is a abuzz in the DOT with events crisscrossing the neighborhood, including open studios and Boston's first annual Barista Throwdown.

Dorchester Open Studios (Saturday and Sunday 12 to 5 PM)

Around the neighborhood artists are opening the doors to their studios and showing off not only their works, but often fabulous work spaces (and sometimes residences). Organized by the DAC (Dorchester Arts Collaborative), more than 60 artists will participate in the event. For more details check out the official program (PDF document).

White Chrome; Boston's First Annual Barista Throwdown (Saturday 2 to 9 PM)

Hosted at Flat Black Coffee Company's Ashmont Location (just steps from Ashmont Station), this event promises to be not only a Boston first, but likely a soon-to-be Boston must. Baristas will square off in competition to claim the title of Boston's best with spectators enjoying the fruits of their labors and enjoying special demonstrations of equipment, coffee and espresso techniques and much more. The event will wrap-up at Tavolo's, just down the street, with an awards ceremony and celebration. Proceeds will benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Boston's Neighborhood and Best Block

Ahh Savin Hill. Perhaps one of Boston's best kept secrets, it has beautiful Victorians, a hilltop park with stunning views and unrefined wildness, a beach (affectionately known as Malibu Beach), a smattering neighborhood retail including an awesome cleaners, a package store (or two), pharmacy, a bubble tea shop, a couple Vietmanese markets, clinic, and McKenna's Cafe...add nearly a dozen Zip Cars in the area and the red line stop in the middle of it all and you have the makings of a fabulous little neighborhood.

Even more wonderful than the neighborhood as a whole is Auckland Street, perhaps one of Savin Hill's best kept secrets.A stone's throw away from the red line, stroll down Savin Hill Ave; west of the bridge. Take a left off of Savin Hill Avenue onto Auckland Street and walk the block down toward Bay Street.

In this singular block you will find...wonderfully clean and tidy sidewalks. I know, not the most stellar proof of being the best block you might think. BUT, we have the very best sidewalk sweeper in the entire city. She is out day after day tirelessly sweeping not only nearby DOT ave, but her very own stretch of Auckland Street! You'll also notice a fabulous fire hydrant. It's currently painted red, white and blue with stripes and stars and all. Each year, block organizers circulate a simple hydrant outline on a sheet of paper to every house. Inspired and ambitious designers can submit their hydrant styling ideas, with the most popular design taking over the hydrant for the year.

"Urban Mechanic might be a bit biased, but this little stretch of Auckland Street, is truly Boston's best residential block."

Residents of the street also are known for organizing seasonal block parties where traffic is closed off, kids play ball in the street and make chalk drawings for half the block. Neighbors fill the street enjoying food, company and even a local band or two. Then there is Dorchester (DOT) Day, whereby the block's residents poor onto the neighboring Dorchester Ave, which is still a bit gritty, for a truly authentic parade. Halloween in its own turn features porches and stoops filled with trick or treating.

Of course you might be tempted to think this idyllic street is just a yuppie haven filled with condos. NOPE, there are but a handful of condos on the block. There are a number of families who occupy various parts of their triple deckers, renting out one or more floors to others. There are elderly, there are young professionals, there are families. There are not only the old-guard (largely Irish) but also young professionals, Vietmanese (not new to the area either), a Latinos and African Americans, and yes this is all within one little block. It is the best of Savin Hill, Dorchester, and Boston.

Simple Things

Breakfast, brunch or lunch. Sit down, or take out. Family, friends, or solo. Reasonable prices, fun and friendly service, plain and simple. That's McKenna's Cafe in a nutshell. This Savin Hill establishment, just steps off the T and at the heart of the Savin Hill community, wouldn't call itself an institution. Residents and loyal customers aren't stuffy enough to care about such acclaim either. For everyone else, foreign to this unassuming, but fabulously authentic part of Boston, you'll either fall in love or lament the lack of any attempt to be chic or designer.

For Urban Mechanic, McKenna's is just one more reason to love calling Savin Hill home. Oh, and hipsters take note, there's already lines-out the door just about any weekend. AND, the locals have plenty of flair already. That's not to say visitors won't be welcomed.

The Pear in the Square

Public art in Boston sometimes can feel a bit understated or just plain lacking...

...especially when you consider places like Chicago, with its Millennium Park filled to the brim with sculptural, architectural, landscape, and even digital installations.

The bronze sculpture of Clapp Pear at Edward Everett Square offers up a classy exception to this rule. Though some may feel it too is understated, I find it a perfect punctuation mark for what is an interesting, if yet unrefined part of town. If anything, it offers a glimmer of the potential for the square as a more urban (and therefore less auto-centered) place.

Those who are interested in such notions might take an interest in the local Main Street organization based in nearby Uphams Corner. If you enjoy public art and haven't visited the Pear, it is highly recommended (especially while the weather is mild). It's a short walk up Columbia Road from the JFK Red Line stop (See it on the Map). You can also take in some local dinning with the always enjoyable Restaurant Laura and hip 224 Boston both close by.