September 5, 2007

US & Canada | US | Boston

Boston Goes South

By Nicole Cotroneo

Prepare yourselves for Beantown’s bevy of hip, new galleries, restaurants and hotels.

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Will Hunting wouldn’t recognize Southie anymore. Boston’s toughest neighborhood’s gone stylish and artsy — think old SoHo, New York (but don’t dare say it). Meet the force behind the change, September 15 and 16, when over 250 artists open their SoWa studios to visitors (that’s “South of Washington Street,” by the way.) Later, follow the ever-lengthening Harborwalk to the new Institute of Contemporary Art (pictured) — Beantown’s first museum built in 100 years — where Wolfgang Puck Catering runs the glass paneled Water Café. ICA recently installed sculptural and audio exhibits on a handful of Boston Harbor’s islets, including Spectacle Island, formed from 6 million tons of dirt dumped from the Big Dig. Accessible by ferry, the 105-acre park softly opened last year but Sunday jazz concerts this summer have helped put it on the map.

Oh, and don’t go to Southie expecting dive bars and greasy spoons. This is the burgeoning epicenter of Boston’s dining scene. The city’s top restaurateurs, The Aquitaine Group, whose portfolio includes Armani Café on Newbury St., just opened Gaslight Brasserie du Coin in blooming SoWa. And don’t worry about seedy lodgings either. Across town, one of the most infamous landmarks, the Charles Street Jail, has morphed into a swanky dig: the $120 million Liberty Hotel opens today.