caption:
The French Library AllianceFrançaise is an important stop on an excursion to find all things French in Boston. The library houses the entire archival collection of French film director Marcel Carné, best-known for his award-winning film Children of Paradise, which was awarded the César des Césars, the best French film of the entire 20th century. In this photo, Marlborough Street resident and French Library Alliance Française staff member Grégor Nemitz-Ziadie displays Carné's camera and director's chair, which are part of the archive.





Bastille Day is a wonderful opportunity for Bostonians to reacquaint themselves with the contribution of French culture to our city. In fact, Bostonians have been fascinated by things French for over three centuries. We all know, for instance, of the important contributions made by the French during our fight for independence. Some will remember that Benjamin Franklin was a favorite of Parisian women or that Lafayette (who visited our city eight times) was the darling of Boston ladies. What is perhaps less well known is the important French influence upon the cultural heritage of Boston.

This heritage began in the 18th century as Bostonians visited France, returning with works of art. French construction and city planning inspired the creators of Boston’s landscape, from broad, tree-lined Commonwealth Avenue, modeled on the grand boulevards of Paris, to the handsome buildings located there. Today, a walk through the Back Bay and its environs reveals many elements of French art and architecture.

Let’s begin with the Public Garden, so reminiscent of French parks of the Second Empire (mid-19th century)—islands of green bursting with sumptuous flower beds, vast green lawns, and beautiful old trees offering visitors a place of peace and repose in the heart of the city. Nearby, the Second Empire style is found as well in the former Hotel Vendôme, once home to Sarah Bernhardt. Near that structure, at 32 Hereford Street, is Andrew House, designed by McKim, Mead and White; one of its balconies comes from the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

At the corner of Dartmouth Street and Commonwealth Avenue stands the Ames-Webster residence. Its attic roof has frescoes by French painter Benjamin Constant (1845-1902) and an imposing porte cochère for vehicles to pass through. The Renaissance-style Burrage House at 314 Commonwealth Avenue was designed by Boston architect Charles Brigham (1841-1925), who was inspired by the Château de Clémenceau located outside Tours in France.

After the State House, the Boston Public Library is perhaps the most readily identifiable building in our city and the one most closely associated with our rich cultural traditions. It, too, shows the influence of French architecture. Frenchman Nicolas Marie Alexandre (known as Vattemare) provided much of the inspiration for its creation. The architect of the main building was Charles Folten McKim, who was inspired during his architectural studies in Paris by the façade of that city’s Sainte-Geneviève library. Inside, murals by French painter Puvis de Chavannes are displayed.

Across Copley Place, Trinity Church is a lovely Romanesque construction designed in 1877 by H.H. Richardson, a result of his inspirations while studying at l’École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Over on Berkeley Street, the elegant clothing store Louis Boston demonstrates a French brick and stone style; it was originally designed by W.G. Preston for the Natural History Society of Boston.

French influence on our city is not limited to art and architecture. Instances of French décor, fashion, food and a certain “French way of life” are also plentiful and easy to find. Boston and Cambridge have nearly 50 restaurants featuring French cuisine. Here in the Back Bay, Newbury and Boylston streets are home to elegant shops, galleries, and restaurants, many of which are French in origin.

The Back Bay is also home to institutions actively engaged in the promotion of French culture, the most prominent of which, The French Library Alliance Française on Marlborough Street, features French language classes, wine-tastings, art openings, lectures, and concerts, not to mention the lively and exuberant Bastille Day Street Dance. An outgrowth of the French Resistance during the Second World War, the French Library began as part of the France Forever movement, which, among its many activities here in Boston, sponsored a lending library of French books from its offices in the Hotel Vendôme. Anticipating the postwar dissolution of France Forever, the chapter officers decided in 1945 to maintain, enlarge, and make permanent the library, which at that time had 500 books. And thus the French Library was born. Today it houses more than 25,000 French books, magazines, and films, and the archives of the celebrated French film director Marcel Carné.

The high point of French civic life is, of course, July 14th—Bastille Day. In honor of the event The French Library Alliance Française hosts its ever-popular street dance. Tonight three Francophone musical groups will share their culture through music, a formidable and effective means of communication. What better evidence could there be that French culture is alive and well in the Back Bay!


Sarah Brelsfoard is the director of marketing and public relations for The French Library Alliance Française on Marlborough Street.

CAPTION: Gail King, from Dover, MA, works downtown and shops at Filene’s Basement. Filene’s officials hope their new Back Bay store will attract the same mix of residents and nearby office workers.

CREDIT: Peter Sterling




Filene’s Basement is aiming for the second week in September for the grand opening of its Back Bay retail store.

The store will occupy the first and second floors of the former New England Life building at 501 Boylston Street, now known by the unlikely name of “The Newbry.” The property is owned by an affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners, LLC.

Why the Back Bay, when the chain’s original store is only a 20-minute walk across the Public Garden and the Common?

It’s that 20 minutes and the 1.3 miles, said Patricia Boudrot, a Filene’s Basement spokesperson. “In a city as densely populated by day as Boston, it’s really not that close,” she said. “It’s not enough time on a lunch hour.”

She said the company, which has 26 other stores all east of the Mississippi, didn’t expect to build another store in downtown Boston, but when the real estate became available, they decided it was a great opportunity. “We never expected it,” she said. “It takes nothing away from the downtown store.”

Boudrot said the Back Bay store will look different from the Washington Street store. “I happen to like the down and dirty [feel] of the Basement, but some people find it too confusing and hard to shop in” she said.

The Boylston Street store will be well organized, with beautiful fixtures, mannequins and displays. She said the store will have two entrances, one on Newbury Street and one on Boylston, which the company believes is a real plus.

Filene’s Basement, which calls itself an off-price store rather than a discount store or outlet, sells merchandise—canceled orders, overstocks and last season’s clothing—that other stores want to get rid of. This is different from many outlet stores, which attach their brand to cheaper goods made especially for their outlets, rather than discounting the merchandise they sell in their full-price shops.

Filene’s Basement began 98 years ago in the original Filene’s Department Store’s location at Washington and Summer streets, partly as a way to move unsold merchandise from the above-ground store, which was founded in 1881. Its “automatic bargain basement,” in which goods are marked down by increasingly higher percentages depending on how long they have been on sale, was a novelty and created such an interest that the original store became a tourist attraction. The Back Bay store will not have an automatic mark-down, said Boudrot.

In 1929 Filene’s and its basement became part of Federated Department Stores. In 1984, Filene’s Basement became a separate division of Federated, according to Boudrot.

In 1988, the Basement was formally separated from Filene’s Department Store and sold to Sam Gerson and Jim Anathan, who expanded it and took it public. But it went through tough times, with the Gerson filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999. Retail Ventures, Inc. of Columbus, Ohio then bought it, and Gerson and the new owners closed stores and reorganized the company. The chain has recovered and is expanding once again.

For residents who described sleepless nights and jarring noise to the Board of Appeal Tuesday, life just got worse.

Joseph Cimino, owner and operator of two neighborhood hang outs at 240 Newbury Street, received permission from the city this week to expand the basement bar Daisy Buchanan’s into the building’s first floor and the street-level Ciaobella into the second and third floors. The plans call for combining 240 Newbury Street with an adjacent building at 41 Fairfield Street, also owned by Cimino, for a combined 3,395 square feet.

The neighborhood already suffers from excessive problems with garbage, noise and public urination in the alley by the bar, neighbors said. Several protesting the plans at the Board of Appeal hearing echoed the sentiment expressed by Thomas High, co-chair of the Licensing and Building Use Committee of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay who said, “If it gets bigger, it will certainly get worse.”

State Representative Marty Walz, who lives nearby at 250 Commonwealth Avenue, said that the expansion would upset the balance between business and residential communities that neighborhood groups try to preserve. “I think this kind of large expansion tips the balance in the wrong direction,” she said, adding that the plans would exacerbate the “challenges Daisy Buchanan’s generates for the community.”

Kiki Kakoulidis, a trustee of 242 Newbury Street, said that she was concerned that the expansion would affect property values. “I’m afraid that when [the current tenants of 242 Newbury Street] leave, I won’t be able to sell or rent it at a competitive price.”

Mayor Thomas Menino’s and City Councilor Michael Ross’ offices also opposed the plan.

Eugene Kelly, a member of the Board of Appeal and a resident of the Back Bay, cast the board’s sole dissenting vote. “It’s hardly in keeping with what the rest of the neighborhood is about,” he said. “Daisy Buchanan’s is not a first-class restaurant and it never will be.”

Supporters emphasized Cimino’s strength of character, calling him “a great operator,” “very responsible,” and “well-respected in the area.”

“This is a man with an impeccable reputation,” said Board of Appeal member Angelo Buonopane. He referred to Daisy Buchanan’s, which has been open for 35 years, as a “landmark.”

“We are very disappointed that the board failed to recognize the concerns of the neighbors on this project,” said High. “We will continue to work with Mr. Cimino to try to make sure the expansion has as little adverse impact as possible.”

Illegal sidewalk vending in the Back Bay appears to be hot this season. Reports from Back Bay residents of vendors selling trinkets on Newbury and Boylston streets have abounded.

“You’ll find one on virtually every block,” said Jolinda Taylor, president of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. “I’m all for people having jobs and being inventive, but it doesn’t seem fair to law-abiding commercial businesses.”

Taylor said that she has seen several vendors selling jewelry, bottles of water, greeting cards and fortune-telling services competing to “capture the attention of people walking by.” One unlicensed peddler selling goods out of a van near Arlington Street Church has burdened Boylston Street by taking metered parking spaces and “filling trash cans with boxes and plastic wrap,” she said.

One Back Bay resident said that she has seen a certain vendor selling framed pictures from a wrought iron fence on Newbury Street between Fairfield and Gloucester streets on several weekends. “When I asked him if he had a permit to be there, he just shrugged and didn’t answer. He’s still there,” she said.

Stephen Haag, chief administrator of the Newbury Street League, said that he has received three or four complaints about illegal vending in the area over the past three months. Haag said that he calls the city to report complaints. “They may come out once, and the vendors learn their lesson,” he said. “Actual merchants have paid to [operate businesses] on the street. I think that’s the heart and soul of this issue.”

Haag noted that the vendor who sells portraits in front of Snowden International School at 150 Newbury Street is licensed. “Beyond that, I don’t think anyone else has a permit,” he said.

Outdoor vendors must apply for a license through the city’s Division of Standards, which grants about 1,000 permits each year. A potential vendor must call the office for an application and have it certified by the chief of police in his or her hometown. The licenses are not transferable.

Police revoked one license in Cambridge earlier this year after they discovered that two vendors were sharing a license, according to Charles Carroll, assistant director of the Division of Standards.

Captain Mike Mackan of the Code Enforcement Police said that the complaints his office received this year have been “few and far between.” He said that one vendor selling wares by the Orange Line’s Mass Avenue T stop was told to “pack up and leave.”

“Very rarely do we get complaints about illegal vending in the Back Bay,” Mackan said, “but we love that we have extra eyes and ears in the Boston residents who watch out and tell us what’s going on.”

A news box solution

It looks as if the city of Boston is finally considering installing permanent news racks to hold the dozens of publications, free and otherwise, whose publishers want them to be accessible from the sidewalk.

This is good news. It’s about time. News boxes as they now exist in Boston are unsightly. Despite attempts to regulate them, the city hasn’t held up its part by citing scofflaws or pulling out their boxes.

It is hard to understand why the publications that use them want to trash the neighborhoods of the readers they are trying to attract. The Back Bay Sun will never use news boxes, since we live in the neighborhood too. We don’t want the things—unless this city takes a cue from other cities that have already solved this problem successfully.

Take Chicago, for example. Over the past three years this city, which has the capacity to bowl over visitors with its imagination, has installed news racks on sidewalks throughout the city, according to Brian Steele, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. The newsrack design complements the acorn lights and the wrought iron that traditionally has decorated the city’s details. The structures come in different sizes, holding different numbers of newspapers, depending on the location. The individual boxes can be arranged to hold free newspapers or paid.


The program cost the city nothing, since it was a part of a street furniture program in which J.C. Decaux provided bus shelters, public toilets and information signs with the proviso that they could sell advertising space on them, much as Wall USA does in Boston. The city of Chicago takes in several million dollars in income from a cut of that advertising. Boston’s take from a similar program is considerably less, but then Boston is a much smaller city than Chicago.

The impediments mentioned by Boston officials don’t seem to have been a problem in Chicago. That city ran into no First Amendment issues, said Steele, and the newspapers supported the solution. The city’s two major newspapers have space in every news box. A citizens’ advisory panel decides which other publications are allowed to occupy the boxes.

The most noticeable attribute of the newspaper racks is their cleanliness. Even on a windy, rainy Saturday morning, the space underneath them was clean. No newspapers were blowing around. No one had left their soft drink or beer bottle inside the niches.

Chicago’s solution may not be the only one that Boston could deploy to get rid of those disgusting news box dirt and grime collectors. But it is one worth considering and doing so sooner than later. We are, after all, as a BRA official once put it, a provincial city in a small corner of a big country. Our officials and Boston’s citizens need to get out more and discover how some of our big brother and sister cities have solved relatively quickly the problems that seem to bedevil our leaders and keep things at an impasse.