If you are at all curious about what blue collar Boston is really like, check out Firehouse USA: Boston on the Discovery Channel.
Choice quotes (paraphrased):
- “We got all these these wood construction triple-deckahs around heah — We call them Irish Battleships…”
- “We gotta check the airbags and stuff, cuz airbags’ll go off and they’ll break ya leg, they’ll break ya head — they’ll kill ya…”
I need to work break ya head into more conversations.
The show lead to some contentious moments between The Wife and myself, however.
For one, one part of the show took place in a Rock Bottom Brewery and we were both kind of disappointed by the obvious shilling for a chain restaurant. The Wife tried to tell me that “That was the Sam Adams place, wasn’t it?” to which I responded “What Sam Adams place? The words you are saying mean nothing to me…” So, she goes on to tell me that we had gone to a bar that only served Sam Adams brew, including specialty items not usually available at your local packie. I had (and still have) absolutely no recollection of ever setting foot in such a place, so we argued for a while questioning each other’s mental capacities until finally I cracked saying, “I didn’t even like it there, why would I retain that sort of detail?”
This, of course, is an overstatement. I have a lot of fondness for Boston, obviously. That said, New England and I really didn’t mesh well.
And so it goes.
(BTW: The Wife and I will be hitting Beantown in early August. Email for details, kids.)





The only “Sam Adams Place” I can think of is in a hotel in Copley (the Lennox maybe) and it’s called the Sam Adams Brew Pub (or at least it was 6 - 7 years ago)
Good memory, but I don’t recall ever having been there…
(And I don’t think that’s the place that is now a Rock Bottom.)
No, I think Rock Bottom is in the theatre district, Stuart St. maybe. I’m sad that place is closed, it is the only place I’ve ever been that had Sam Adams Scotch Ale on tap.
As I’m sure you’ll recall, there’s only one Scotch Ale in my book.
Side note: 8.0%!! I had no idea!
And if you’d like to see how Boston used to look…
I love the Brockton Fair sign in the 5th pic down.
Yeah, who knew it was in October back then, eh?