Page 87 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Boston

CHINA T OWN AND THE THEA TER DISTRIC T  85

houses the AMC Loews Boston added the term
Common (see p161). Boston’s “vaudeville” to show busi-
first premier cinema has 19 ness vocab ulary. It was
screens, stadium seating, renamed the Savoy Theater
child-friendly matinees and in the 1940s and served
multiple dining concessions. as home for the Opera
The nightclubs and Company of Boston from
restaurants of the Ladder the late 1950s until 1991.
District are often indistin- The venue became inter-
guishable, although if a long nationally recognized for
line is standing outside, the Spanish Baroque, terracotta ornamentation on Sarah Caldwell’s daringly
establishment probably serves the façade of the Boston Opera House innovative productions.
more liquor than food. Club With its white Spanish
names also tend to change 5 Boston Opera Baroque, terracotta façade,
frequently as owners tweak House high ceilings, and three-tier
the themes to attract different horseshoe balco nies, the theater
crowds. Many maps do not 539 Washington St. Map 4 E1. represents the apogee of early
show all the small streets in Tel (617) 259-3400.  Downtown 20th century hall design. A $54-
the district, such as Pi Alley, Crossing, Chinatown, Boylston. 7 million reno vation completed
∑ bostonoperahouse.com
so it is best to take a leisurely in 2004 restored the theater’s
stroll and discover the area The building that is now the original opulence with gilded
for yourself. Boston Opera House has been surfaces and exquisite ceiling
known by many names. Built murals, while installing modern
on the site of the original climate control, technical
Boston Theater, and designed systems, and seating. Primarily
by Thomas Lamb, it opened in used for large touring Broadway
1928 as the B. F. Keith Memorial musicals, the Boston Opera
Theater, named after the late House is also the performance
19th-century showman who venue for the Boston Ballet.
Liberty Tree
At the corner of Washington Street and Boylston Street, a low
relief of a tree marks the exact site of the famous Liberty Tree,
Carts of second-hand books outside the where the Sons of Liberty would meet during the prelude to the
Brattle Book Shop American Revolution. The tree’s fame first became widespread when
4 Brattle Book it became a focal point for opposition to the Stamp Act (see p22).
The British stamp master, Andrew Oliver, was hung in effigy from
Shop its branches, an incident that caused people from all over the region
to gather around it. The tree was also a meeting place in the days
9 West St. Map 4 E1. Tel (617) 542- running up to the Boston Tea Party (see p77). In August 1775, during
0210.  Park Street, Downtown the early part of the Revolution when Boston was still occupied
Crossing. Open 9am–5:30pm Mon– by the British, a mob of Redcoats vented their anger on the tree
Sat. 7 ∑ brattlebookshop.com and chopped it down.
Founded in 1825 and located
at various sites around Boston
since, this bibliophiles’ treasure
house is packed with more
than 250,000 used, rare, and
out-of-print books. Proprietor
Kenneth Gloss also stocks
back issues of periodicals, Life,
Look, and Collier’s magazines
among them, along with
antiquarian ephemera such
as maps, prints, postcards,
greeting cards, and auto-
graphed manuscripts. In front
of and alongside the three-
story building, passersby
browse through bins and
carts full of discounted
bargain books priced in Bostonians protest the Stamp Act of 1765, around the Liberty Tree
the range of $1 to $5.

084-085_EW_Boston.indd 85 09/01/17 12:08 pm