Boston Pet Sitters
Owner Jennifer North has earned the undying love of her charges by accommodating their emotional needs as well as their fondness for particular hydrants. Anxious owners can rest easy knowing their babies are being cared for with the love and affection they themselves lavish on their beastly buddies. 144 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA .
Boston Athletic Club
The best racquet in town. 653 Summer St., South Boston, MA .
The Boston condo market.
Realtors call a soft market a squash, and, boy, have they learned all about squash this year.
Boston Sailing Center
Learn the difference between a rope and a line, and learn to love Boston by sea. 54 Lewis Wharf, Boston, MA .
The Boston Athletic Club
Has it all under one roof. 653 Summer St., Boston, MA .
The Boston Athletic Club
Some say the multipurpose club is the dating-bar wave of the future. This one's got tennis, racquetball, weights, a pool, a Jacuzzi, a restaurant, and a bar. Some nice bods, too. 653 Summer St., Boston, MA .
Boston Pet Center
Everything Phydeau needs, and a rainy day's adventure for the kids. 119 First St., Cambridge, MA .
F1 Boston
Forget Schwarzenegger films, mini golf, and laser tag. Once you've felt your own adrenaline spike through you from one mere inch above the ground at Braintree's indoor "Formula 1"-style kart-racing complex, just about everything else seems lame. NASCAR lovers, take note: This is, by any standards, a luxury establishment, with conference rooms, cafés and lounges, billiards, and exhibitions. 290 Wood Rd., Braintree, MA f1boston.com.
Boston Photo Collaborative
The collaborative is a nonprofit group for inner-city teens dedicated to fostering creativity and self-esteem through photography. The center has both summer and year-round programs for teen students, who are encouraged to document what they see in their neighborhoods and homes. Fresh off a recent exhibit at Boston City Hall and a number of philanthropic awards, directors Carl Mastandrea and Ilana Krepchin run their organization with spirit and dedication. Best event: the yearly auction, which features works from such local heroes as William Wegman. 67 Brookside Avenue, Jamaica Plain, MA bostonstudiop.com.
Boston Children's Museum
The Boston Children's Museum has been mobbed since it unveiled its 23,000-square-foot expansion and accompanying renovation in April, so chances are good you'll arrive to find a long queue snaking from the door. Try to tough it out: Your reward is just inside, in the form of a corkscrew-shaped three-story contraption that the museum calls the New Balance Climb, and grateful parents might regard as the mother of all monkey bars. Even if your kids don't hit another exhibit, a scamper across, up, through, and under its twisting platforms will leave them too exhausted to do anything but go home and watch their SpongeBob DVDs until the clouds part. 300 Congress St., Boston, MA 2210, bostonchildrensmuseum.org.
Robert Pinsky, Boston University
Through his writings, readings, teaching, radio readings, inspired translations, and generosity to other poets, Pinsky is truly poetry in motion. Small wonder that he's also the nation's poet laureate.
Ritz-Carlton Boston
Dark, woody, and intimate, the bar at the Ritz is exactly the sort of watering hole weary travelers and high-end drinkers demand. The martini menu is extensive and intriguing, and the Five Star nut mix (no peanuts in the bunch) adds salty cachet. 15 Arlington St., Boston, MA .
Peter Gelzinis, <em>Boston Herald</em>
First during the battle over building a stadium in his native South Boston, then during the handwringing over a rash of teen suicides in the neighborhood, Gelzinis was everything a metro columnist should be: passionate, eloquent, and brutally honest.
The Boston Company's plunge
The thriving Brahmin bank fell from grace after the suicide of one executive and the resignation of another lifted the curtain on a $30-million accounting error. The firm jettisoned CEO James von Germeten in January, the public relations wound bled for weeks, and the bright star in the Shearson Lehman Hutton empire lost its luster.
Turner Fisheries of Boston
This is another one of those Boston traditions that seems simple enough, but is repeatedly botched by ambitious amateurs. Turner Fisheries sticks to the basics—a good roux, fresh potatoes, lots of clams—to come up with a winner. 10 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA .