The DunQueens
Joshua Qualls/Office of Governor Maura Healey “Massachusetts runs on DunQueens!” was Governor Maura Healey’s teasing proclamation at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in South Boston, where she and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll turned up in matching pink-and-orange tracksuits and fluffy bucket hats, tossing Munchkins into the crowd. It was an inspired act of parody that saw Healey and Driscoll take the stage as the state’s answer to DunKings — the Super Bowl–ad supergroup featuring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady. They rounded out the ruling triple threat with a surprise appearance from one special guest: former Governor Jane Swift. Well played, Madame leaders, well played.
Museum of Fine Arts
Courtesy What’s left to be said about the MFA, one of Boston’s premiere attractions and cultural institutions? Not much, so we’ll just remind you again. A diverse collection spanning different cultures, centuries, and artistic styles? Check. World-class exhibits, ranging from Egyptian sculptures to Dutch paintings to the works of Salvador Dalí? Check. Stunning architecture and a gorgeous Huntington Avenue location? Check and check. No wonder we bring all of our smart friends here when they’re in town. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, mfa.org.
The Karen Read Case
Karen Read appears in court. / Photo by Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images) What is it about the Karen Read trial that’s so universally captivating? Is it the possibility that a tight-knit group of townie officials could’ve staged an elaborate cover-up of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe’s alleged murder by framing his Lexus-driving girlfriend? Is it the star power of big-shot defense attorney Alan Jackson, the messy relationship drama on full courtroom display, or the defendant’s array of inscrutable facial expressions? Whatever it is, the Netflix series is sure to be a must-watch.
MLK Embrace Honors: Friends and Family Sneaker Affair
The Embrace Boston team. / Photo by Malakhai Pearson Although only in its second year, Embrace Boston’s MLK Jr. Day gala is already affectionately known as “The Sneaker Gala,” and therein lies part of its charm. Guests are encouraged to rock their flashiest kicks along with creative black-tie attire, and rather than a rubber-chicken sit-down dinner, this year’s iteration was an epic dance party at Boston club Big Night Live, with arcade games and stellar music. embraceboston.org/friends-and-family-sneaker-affair.
Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club
Frank Poindexter, the grandson of original Wally’s owner Joseph
“Wally” Walcott. / Photo by Pat Piasecki. There are legends, and there are legends. Wally’s Café Jazz Club is the latter — a 77-year-old family-run italicized legend. Billie Holiday performed there. So did fellow American jazz greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. One of the first racially integrated venues in the region, the South End spot was the first New England nightclub owned by a Black man, Joseph "Wally" Walcott, a Barbadian immigrant and first Black recipient of aliquor license in Boston. More recently, Grammy-winning vocalist Esperanza Spalding and Mark Kelley, bassist for the Roots, cut their chops on Wally’s stage. As the trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah told Boston in 2021, “Wally’s is a monument.” Continue reading ... 427 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02118, wallyscafe.com.
“Cop Slide”
Comedian John Oliver declared this August 2023 viral video “the single best movie of the summer,” and what a groundbreaking work of gonzo filmmaking it was. Seven seconds of an on-duty Boston police officer shooting out of a tube slide like a potato from an exhaust pipe, “Cop Slide” yielded tens of millions of TikTok views, inspired Halloween costumes (and FOIAs), and transformed the City Hall Plaza playground into a tourist attraction. Not your average enforcement beat, but one with way more weeeee!
The ‘Quin House
Photo by Jenna Ohnemus-Peffley Looking for business and creative professionals with eclectic experiences and abilities who are passionate about the arts, innovation, philanthropy, and more? All inside a gorgeous and historic Commonwealth Avenue mansion that showcases one of the city’s finest art collections? Then you have the makings to become a member of the ’Quin House, the jaw-dropping achievement of Sandy and Paul Edgerley, who brought the former Algonquin Club back to life several years ago with a deep commitment to building community in Boston. With a new tequila bar coming soon, the ’Quin remains the members-only place to see old friends and make new ones. 217 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02116, thequinhouse.com.
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Courtesy For the past 30-plus years, Kearns Goodwin has given us the inside scoop on every 20th-century POTUS worth knowing, from FDR to LBJ to JFK. In her latest book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, released in April, the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian takes us inside her longtime marriage to political visionary Richard Goodwin, who died in 2018, and unlocks a goldmine of memories from the turbulent decade. A downtown Boston resident and regular at the ’Quin House, where she likes to cut loose with friends, Kearns Goodwin is as much of a local treasure as any of her bestselling works.
Coolidge Corner Theatre
Courtesy of Anton Grassl Thirty-five years after 400 people encircled this Brookline movie house and effectively gave it a group hug, the Coolidge is just as revered for its 70mm film capabilities, midnight movies, and expert curation of new releases, international treasures, and filmmaker Q&As. Best of all, the 90-year-old nonprofit’s future is more secure than ever, thanks to a marathon fundraising drive and recently unveiled 14,000-square-foot expansion: 200 more seats, two new theaters, and a $1 million gift from the Trust Family Foundation for a permanent endowment. 290 Harvard St., Brookline, MA 02446, coolidge.org.
Wenham Street Cinema
Courtesy Wenham Street Cinema The films are free, the vibe is neighborly, and the seating is bring-your-own at this DIY screening space, which also happens to be a Jamaica Plain home garage. Resident Matt Shuman started casually hosting watch parties here in 2015, but the pandemic necessity for open-air gatherings made his Forest Hills carport an Instagram-official community venue. Now, Wenham Street Cinema’s 2024 season is already underway, with live-music performances, comedy, and movies like Dunkirk and Bring It On programmed through October. 23 Wenham St., Boston, MA instagram.com/wenhamstreetcinema.
Get Konnected!
Get Konnected! remains the city’s most influential cross-cultural event series, but everyone knows that it’s the woman behind it — Colette Phillips, the pied piper of progress and inclusivity — who is literally helping to change the face of Boston. Whether she’s consulting with companies establishing inclusive work practices, honoring the area’s top people of color at her award tributes, or writing her recent book, The Includers, a guide for DEI-minded leaders, she’s always looking to connect people who can move the city forward.
“Winteractive”
Endgame (Nagg & Nell) by Max Streicher / Photo by Annielly Camargo, courtesy of the Downtown Boston BID From January through April, this 16-piece initiative from the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District represented a welcome shift for a city that, only 17 years ago, shut down when LED-lit panels of Aqua Teen Hunger Force characters prompted a bomb scare. Winteractive’s most spectacular installation was Max Streicher’s inflated pair of gargantuan clown heads, but it was artist Mark Jenkins’s hyper-realistic human sculptures that underscored Boston’s changing attitude when it comes to public art: When a concerned citizen reported one of Jenkins’s lifelike figures to authorities — a stationary ski-masked fisherman seated on a School Street ledge — the piece was temporarily removed and then relocated without incident. Boston, you’ve come so far. Multiple locations, Boston, MA winteractive.org.
Roadrunner
Photo by Ben Stas The 3,500-capacity Allston venue somehow manages to be expansive but intimate, with an incredible sound system and not a bad sightline in the house. 89 Guest St., Boston, MA 02135, roadrunnerboston.com.
Big Night Live
With multiple floors for dancing and drinking — including 26 VIP tables — this state-of-the-art venue books megawatt DJs, meme-inspired parties (see: June’s “ShrekRave”), and electronic-music pioneers. Add the fact that some big names have been known to stop by as guests, too, and you have the makings for a very Big Night. 110 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02114, bignightlive.com.
Caveau
Caveau. / Photo by Josh Jamison Set in an enchanting underworld of hanging gardens and cave-like walls, this clandestine wonderland of a club offers the gold standard in elevated nighttime experiences. Splurge on bottle service, but don’t forget COJE Management Group chief culinary officer Tom Berry’s flavorful French Polynesian–inspired shareables, including the Bora Bora shrimp with vanilla-coconut sauce. Best of all, you don’t have to stay until closing to let loose in this breathtakingly designed lounge: Rent out the space for a private event with a 6 p.m. start, party like it’s 1999, and then be in bed by midnight. 1 Center Plz., Boston, MA 02108, caveauofficial.com.
Matt Shearer
Nick Lavallee/Wicked Joyful This WBZ NewsRadio reporter has become so recognizable for his roving video stories — consistently clever, often amusing segments about colorful local characters and regional idiosyncrasies — that local toymaker Wicked Joyful (a.k.a. Nick Lavallee) immortalized the social creator as an action figure. Fitting, since Shearer did something low-key heroic in December when he orchestrated a recording-studio session for unhoused singer Ara Bolster, whom he’d encountered randomly on the street, and helped her release an original single on Bandcamp, where the song quickly earned her thousands of dollars. Bolster cried joyously, Dunkin’ recruited her to perform at Logan Airport with the Boston Pops, and a CBS Evening News segment took note. This dude really is that good. instagram.com/reportermatt.
Pop’s Pinball Parlor
Courtesy of Pop’s Pinball Parlor / Photo by Carlie Febo Fancy activity bars are cool and all, but sometimes all you want to do is slap an old machine. That’s where Pop’s Pinball Parlor, a cozy coin-operated arcade tucked away in Somerville’s Bow Market, comes in. Operators Daniel Radin and Ty Ueda have worked hard to showcase a rotating collection of 11 spectacularly restored titles, a range of classics like Bally’s Addams Family (1992) and Eight Ball Deluxe (1981) that wow hardcore pinheads and new players alike. With paint-by-numbers art, cup holders on the games, and repurposed bowling-alley furniture, the welcoming atmosphere extends to special community events, like tournaments and a recent one-day course on the art of pinball-machine repair. 1 Bow Market Way, Somerville, MA 02143, instagram.com/pops_pinball.
“The Big Dig”
The Big Dig was more than just an endlessly delayed construction project that cost some $22 billion more than the original estimates — it also catalyzed the birth of today’s “New Boston” while simultaneously burying the elevated Central Artery and some of the city’s more unsavory past. Hosted, created, and reported by producer Ian Coss, this nine-episode GBH News series succeeds in untangling what went wrong, but also what went right — and what lessons can be learned from the ultimately successful and transformative project. Deservingly so, the podcast won the prestigious Peabody Award for storytelling excellence. wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig.
Davis Clarke
Via Instagram Who knew 9-to-5 quarterly reports needed a hype man? This guy, apparently. Since January, the 27-year-old Citizens capital manager from Winchester has become a viral sensation for his ruthlessly earnest motivational clips and video selfies in which he roars about tackling desk-job mundanities — like Excel spreadsheets or dial-in work meetings — with the “locked in” intensity of 1,000 linebackers charging a quarterback. “This has to be a joke, right?” asked one commenter on Instagram, where Clarke has amassed more than 720,000 followers. It is not: What may’ve first seemed like a hustle-culture send-up has played out like an endearingly real-life micro-reboot of The Office. In other words: Michael Scott, come get your son! instagram.com/davis.clarke.
Drawdown Brewing Company
Liz Nicol of Drawdown Brewing Company. / Photo by Matthew Morse After a European trip showed Liz Nicol how sports and beer can build community, the civil engineer turned brewer brought that experience back to her Jamaica Plain neighborhood, where she opened this 50-seat spot in December with a dual commitment to classic beer styles (and excellent root beer) and televised women’s sports. Quickly becoming a hub for WNBA and PWHL fans, Drawdown has already hosted the founders of Boston’s proposed professional women’s soccer team, a franchise that would play just blocks away at Franklin Park’s White Stadium. 3204 Washington St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, drawdownbrewing.com.
Joyce Linehan’s Living-Room Book Events
Punk-rock promoter turned political power player Joyce Linehan has had some famous houseguests in her day. In the ’90s, Courtney Love crashed at her place; in the late 2010s, Linehan convinced an obscure Harvard Law professor named Elizabeth Warren to run for Senate in her living room. And since 2017, that same enormous Dorchester living room has hosted the city’s coziest and most eclectic literary series. There are only two rules: No true crime, and every guest of honor gets his or her face memorialized on an ink stamp. Yes, Linehan’s tastes still veer rockwise, with visits from rockers-turned-authors Warren Zanes and Bill Janovitz. But she's hosted plenty of policy and politics, too, from Congressman Jamie Raskin and former Labor secretary Robert Reich to New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe. Highlights from the past year include writer and playwright Nick Flynn, The Big Dig podcast host (and fellow Best of Boston winner) Ian Coss, and ex-Gawker labor reporter Hamilton Nolan. Dorchester, MA
Eric Fisher, WBZ
More than 600,000 followers on X agree: Channel 4 chief meteorologist Eric Fisher is the best. Whether it’s his willingness to traverse Mount Washington in the name of weather education or his seamless ability to make a yellow-snow joke in a pollen-season explainer, “Fish” is the one to watch.
The Emerald Necklace
Skyscrapers and construction cranes may frame the Boston skyline, but in many city dwellers’ hearts, there remains a secret wish: to find a green oasis where nature thrives, and a person can escape the urban buzz. Bless Frederick Law Olmsted, who more than a century ago designed 1,100 acres of public park space that spans from the Back Bay to Jamaica Plain to Dorchester and includes Franklin Park Zoo. What would Boston be like without it? Thanks to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and its dedicated president, Karen Mauney-Brodek, we’ll never have to know. emeraldnecklace.org.
The Charles River Pumpkin Rides
Harvard senior Benjamin Chang fulfilled an absurdist dream last October when he rowed an enormous, hollowed-out pumpkin across the Charles River. Inspired by giant pumpkin regattas (there’s one in Maine) and Cinderella’s carriage, the 1,500-pound squash-boat’s voyage was a feat of biotechnology, physics, and crowdsourcing. The stunt also doubled as an academic mini fundraiser: For $20 a ride, bystanders could take the gourd for a solo spin, with more than $500 in proceeds going to Harvard-student-led biology research.
Porchfest Somerville
Somerville may not have invented Porchfest (credit Ithaca, New York, for that), but the city sure has perfected the concept. Like open studios for live music, the city’s annual sprawling community event of local acts playing stoops, driveways, and backyards touted a record 400 registered performers this past May, including a late-breaking set from Tufts-formed, Gold-certified band Guster. Following Somerville’s example, more than two dozen communities across the state will stage their own Porchfests in 2024, including Dedham, Malden, and North Falmouth. Multiple locations, Somerville, MA somervilleartscouncil.org.