Longform

City Life

Massachusetts Has a Massage Problem

Jennifer knew exactly what she needed before starting her new job—a day devoted entirely to herself. A 42-year-old pediatric nurse from Roxbury who had accepted […]

Wellness

Help! I’m Perimenopausal and My Instagram Feed Won’t Stop Selling Me Solutions

At 44, I wet my pants for the first time since toddlerhood. I was sitting on my couch when a whoosh of fluid seeped into […]

City Life

Our Top 10 Most-Popular Stories of 2024

Below you’ll find the 10 most-popular longform stories we published this year, a handy list of things to (re-)read that includes Boston’s in-depth coverage of […]

City Life

The Greater Boston Eviction Crisis Will Hurt You, Too

Morning light spilled over Boston as Noreli Vasquez unlocked the black front door of her brick walkup near Maverick Square in East Boston. Tired after […]

City Life

How the Karen Read Case Turned a Neighborhood Bar Into a True Crime Landmark

The cheeseburger arrived just as the woman fled. It was the last Sunday night in July at the Waterfall Bar & Grille, and I was […]

City Life

The Boston Bierhaus That Burned Down. Twice.

It was a total loss from the start. On June 24, Boston fire crews rushed over to Jacob Wirth, a restaurant on Stuart Street about […]

Life & Style

Inside the New World of Luxury Kids’ Parties, Where Parents Are Plus-Ones

Forget the Met Gala—today’s soirees of the century are where VIPs still raid their parents’ closets for couture. From bubble artists to custom teepees to […]

City Life

From Heartbreak to Hope: A Maine Father’s Unlikely Journey, One Year After the Lewiston Massacre

Arthur Barnard sits alone in his car just outside a vacant, low-slung building on the edge of the Androscoggin River in Lewiston, Maine. Not so […]

City Life

How October 7 Galvanized Boston’s Jewish Community

Mia was a high school sophomore living north of Boston when her life changed in an instant on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas militants […]

City Life

The James Rodwell Case: A Somerville Man Fights for His Innocence

The stark lamplights of East Somerville’s industrial district cast an eerie glow on the gold Buick Electra, its engine still purring in the cold December […]

City Life

Charlie Baker’s (Still) Got Game

Once upon a time, Charlie Baker says—before he was governor, before he was in politics, before he was anything, really—he wanted to be, of all […]

City Life

The Fractured, Surprising, and Sobering Truth About Kids and Smartphones

It was a miracle: My seventh grader was at the Burlington Mall with friends. I double-parked in front of Nordstrom for pickup, eagerly awaiting tales […]

Arts & Entertainment

Is Candlepin Bowling a Dying Pastime?

It’s 6 o’clock at night, and inside East Boston’s Central Park Lanes, the late-summer air is heavy and humid. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, […]

City Life

Oral History: The 1999 All-Star Game That Saved Fenway Park

In 1999, before the seemingly endless parade of championships in this town, Boston sports fans were longing for a win—any win. The Patriots were in […]

City Life

How Yuppies Shaped Modern-Day Boston

One day a few months ago, I happened to be in the South End when I started noticing, in a way that I never have […]