"I spent the better part of my 20s as a society reporter in Manhattan for Vogue and for the now-defunct Style.com. For years, I dutifully trailed every fashion week, every film premiere, every nightclub opening, and every charity gala with the attention and zeal of David Attenborough. For the better part of 2015, I attended black tie dinners at Cipriani Wall Street more than I cooked in my own apartment."
"All the while, Boston, my hometown, remained the punchline. If our neighbor to the south, New York City, was long known as "the city that never sleeps," I always viewed Boston as "the city that not only sleeps but goes to bed early." When I moved home in my 30s, I almost welcomed the predictability. A quieter city would mean less temptation, right?"
"Liquor licenses are prohibitively expensive, often running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if you can find them at all. Arcane governance structures make it difficult for the City of Boston to pass its own nightlife laws-keeping us beholden to the political whims of far-flung towns at the other end of the Commonwealth (which, ultimately, have very little day-to-day influence on life here)."
Boston historically maintained a muted nightlife characterized by early closing times and a reputation for going to bed early. Structural barriers included prohibitively expensive liquor licenses, arcane governance that constrained municipal nightlife policy, and public transportation that stopped running before many late-night events ended. Bars officially closed at 2:00 a.m. while transit often halted around 1:00 a.m., limiting after-dark activity. Recent political momentum and municipal support have begun to reduce those obstacles. Community energy and policy shifts are fostering a more vibrant, accessible late-night culture across the city.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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