Who needs Salem, what with its violence and throngs of tourists and bar scene? Let the college kids get drunk there. Little kids dressed as Ninjas and Star Wars characters and princesses and super heroes roamed the Hill and the Back Bay for their trick-or-treating thrills. More importantly, the neighborhoods get one last block party before the winter closes doors, and people go into hibernation mode.
Halloween wasn’t always drawing the families around here. Longtime residents recall years ago, when it was literally a ghost town for trick-or-treaters.
Former Marlborough Street and Beacon Hill resident Julie Jones recalled the 1980s, even to the mid-90s, since she lived on the Hill in 1982, and Back Bay in 1996, she has watched the holiday change. Of the 1980s, she said, “It was quiet, like a treasure hunt to find homes giving out candy. There wasn’t very much action.”
In the Back Bay, there was the Clarendon Street Playground and about 20 addresses listed as candy stops, plus a hayride. Beacon Hill was a lot quieter.
Actually, she and others noted that life on the Hill was a little scary in other ways, too, citing muggings and other suspicious characters that had many frightened to venture out at night. “It was dangerous and creepy,” she said.
But more families are moving to the city, as part of the downtown’s new attractiveness to young professionals, who, in turn, are choosing not to leave town when they begin having families. College students have been blamed for many things, but one thing they have brought is a safer neighborhood, many residents say.
Jones has watched the demographics shift. Over the years, when she opened her doors to trick-or-treaters, she’d watch the same girls come by, growing from toddlers to junior high students, and then high schoolers coming with their boyfriends.
You see people of all ages with kids, or their dogs, looking to reconnect with familiar faces. It’s yet another reminder that these neighborhoods are a tight unit of people looking out for one another and their kids, and not the typical Boston neighborhood of people too anxious or busy to get to know the person next door.
Halloween night begins at 4 p.m., with the little kids roaming the streets. By 6 or 7 p.m., mobs of kids and their families flood the doorways along the sections of Marlborough Street closed to traffic, and navigate tiny Beacon Hill streets. Neighbors run into friends they haven’t seen for awhile, catching up with each other in a place different from the schoolyard or playdates. Former residents visit to catch up with old friends. By eight o’clock, you start noticing some college kids poking around curiously, warming up for their revels elsewhere, and by 9 p.m., all is quiet.
The list of safe houses, as handed out by the Friends of the Clarendon Street Playground, as part of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, listed 22 Marlborough Street addresses, from 74 to 322 Marlborough, three on Commonwealth Avenue, and four others, on Clarendon, Dartmouth and Exeter. That didn’t stop others who didn’t submit their addresses on time to open up their doors and set out a candy bowl, either attended or on the honor system, watched by glowing pumpkins.
Several residents opened their doors and invited guests into the hallway for a glass of wine or cider. Neighbors gathered on stoops, wine glasses in hand, to socialize with each other and with families that stopped by. You don’t see this in places like Halloween Central over in Salem, or in surrounding communities. You don’t see regular-size candy bars handed out in too many spots, as you do here.
Tiny cobblestoned Acorn Street was wall-to-wall with costumed tykes and their families.
Edwin Prien and Dain Waters of 1 Acorn St. reported going through 10 huge bags of BJ’s candy. “It was slow in the beginning,” said Waters, who reported children’s costumes this year were more creative than ever. “There’s been more Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz and less Harry Potter,” Waters added.
“We get an overwhelming number of adorable kids,” said Debb Diggins of 12 Acorn St. Her dad, Con Coleman, came over to help her out, and for the excitement, he said, since they don’t get many kids where he lives on Commonwealth Avenue.
“It’s so much fun, year after year,” said James Houghton, who with Connie Coburn of 4 Acorn Street gave out bags and bags of candy. “It’s the highlight of the year.”
Lines formed to enter a Chestnut Street courtyard, where Al Holman and his brother-in-law took advantage of the gothic ivy-covered theme and camped it up with flying ghosts, a 3-D scary face, a witch, coffins and cobwebs. Dozens of other Beacon Hill doorways just needed a few touches to enhance the natural spookiness of webbed archways and ironwork grills. Halloween is a natural here.
Will Norse, who formerly lived on Marlborough Street before moving to Coolidge Corner, came to visit his friends on Beacon Hill who alternated with their own bash and decorating their stoop with a talking skeleton in a top hat and other spooky details. “It started out small, and it keeps growing,” he said. “It’s a native New England holiday. I had a friend from San Diego fly in for it. They don’t get it there.”
Norse noted since families have begun settling along the Hill, they are committed to making this a family community. Plus, he noted, “They’re staying in apartments that are far too small, so they look for any opportunity to roam the neighborhood.”
Jones actually traveled all the way from her new home in Jamaica so her now college-age son could experience Halloween on the hill again.
“It’s like Disney World now. It’s little scenarios that are being created in the streets, on doorsteps, and in hallways. Sometimes they’re cheerful, sometimes dark. Disney would give its right hand to have this,” she said.

Dianne Wilkerson finally agreed to drop her sticker campaign against Democratic candidate Sonia-Chang Diaz, despite expressing initial defiance in the face of charges that could land her in prison for years.
Wilkerson, who was arrested last week and charged with accepting over $20,000 in bribes, said she still hasn’t decided on whether to resign from the Senate.
"As of this moment today, though, I am certainly announcing the suspension, the termination, cessation," Wilkerson said, after a meeting with local black ministers. "I want to make it clear that I am ending any further campaign."
Wilkerson’s decision to drop out came amidst a total evaporation of her supporters. On Wednesday, her colleagues in the Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for her resignation for clear violations of Senate rules.
State Representative Marty Walz, who represents sections of Wilkerson’s Second Suffolk District in the House, echoed the outrage of her Senate colleagues.
“Senator Wilkerson has again brought disrepute onto the Legislature and violated the public’s trust,” said Walz, who was one of the few local politicians to not support Wilkerson in the primary and has strongly endorsed Chang-Diaz in the general election. “Serving in the Legislature is an extraordinary privilege, and I am deeply troubled and angered by Senator Wilkerson’s actions. If these allegations are true, Senator Wilkerson should immediately resign,” Walz added.
Boston City Councilor Mike Ross, whose district also overlaps with Wilkerson’s, pledged his support to Sonia Chang-Diaz and expressed sadness at the news of Wilkerson’s arrest.
“If the charges against Senator Dianne Wilkerson are true, she has betrayed her duty as a public servant,” said Ross. “She has the right to her defense, but given where we are now, her ability to be the senator from the Second Suffolk is seriously compromised.”
Ross is one of many local politicians, including state and national figures such as Senator John Kerry and Governor Duval Patrick, who supported Wilkerson in her primary fight with Chang-Diaz. Ross was also one of the few local Democrats to remain neutral in the general election, after most of the party threw their support behind Democratic nominee Chang-Diaz.
Patrick, one of Wilkerson’s strongest allies, issued a somewhat ambivalent statement after the Senate passed its resolution.
"On a bipartisan basis, the Senate [last week] unanimously reaffirmed that elected officials should be held to the highest ethical standards,” said Patrick. “I support and respect their action."
Another public figure who spoke in measured terms was Wilkerson’s primary and general election opponent, Sonia Chang-Diaz, who sounded a note of sympathy for both the senator and the many Wilkerson supporters whom she will now represent in the Senate.
“It's important to remember that the legal proceedings will continue, and like everyone else, Senator Wilkerson deserves a fair trial based on the facts, not a rush to judgment,” said Chang-Diaz. “I want to ask members of the media, and certainly anyone involved in my campaign, to be considerate of Senator Wilkerson's supporters...for whom this must be a very difficult time.”
Initially, before dropping out of the race, Wilkerson, who was seen in photographs released by the FBI, stuffing hundred dollar bills down her shirt at No. 9 Park, expressed defiance to the Senate.
"Surely the members of the state Senate could not have believed that such a monumental decision would be made within a few hours," Wilkerson said. "A decision like this could be comforting to some, but could prove disastrous to others."

Every detail in the just-opened Spas at Mandarin Oriental is designed to promote wellness, which they define as focusing on physical, emotional and mental well being. Surfaces are strewn with fuschia philinopsis orchids, a waterfall bubbles pleasantly, the lights are low, the music is soft and pleasant.
Upon my arrival, the ritual immediately begins. Concierges lead me to a cushy bench, take my shoes to complete the transformation of leaving the external world behind, and give me spa slippers, an aromatic hand towel to clean my hands, and a cup of its signature peppermint tea to help me enter a more peaceful zone.
Guests get a locker filled with toiletry products, a fine robe from Frette, and nearby are hair styling supplies and hair dryer. At a supply station, bottles of water and huge soft towels are readily available.
Inside, the spa’s rooms feature bamboo flooring except in the wet area, where they are slate, three-dimensional artwork and glass tiles, and golden-hued anegre wood throughout.
There’s an option of rinsing off in an aromatic “Experience” shower with names like Artic Ice and Tropical Mist, with multiple water jets and a waterfall-like showerhead, but I found the water far too cold to enjoy my experience. After a brief rinse in the shower – which was equally lukewarm at best, even when cranked all the way to hot - I warmed up in the large hot tub, followed by the color therapy Crystal steam room. The steam, thick enough to obscure anything beyond a few inches away, was tinted with mood-shifting lighting that changed colors and created an almost surreal experience, like living in a watercolor painting. To cool off, clients can scoop up some shaved ice just outside the steam room.
While awaiting my massage appointment, I enjoyed fresh fruit and nuts while relaxing on one of the lounges, which feature privacy curtains, current magazines and a spa menu.
Holistic services are hosted in nine treatment areas that feature natural light, some with private showers, a hydrotherapy room and two specialty suites. Treatments are personalized, depending on a discussion between the guest and the concierge. “The traveler who has just deplaned from an international flight would benefit from a different treatment than the person who has so much on their mind that they are not spleeping well,” explained Sharon Holtz, Mandarin Boston’s director of spa.
Treatments include “Time rituals,” a two-hour or more treatment designed to “restore your natural state of equilibrium,” with a customized treatment that begins with feet cleansing and a tiny bell.
The Oriental Harmony Signature Experience, at two hours, provides four hands working in unison to provide a foot bath, a warm body scrub, and a harmonious dual massage, ending with a head and foot massage performed simultaneously. I left the room relaxed and simultaneously energized, with fragrant skin to boot.
The Triple Vitality two-hour massage includes Shiatsu and Tui Na techniques which uses stretching, jostling, range of motion and meridian stimulation to energize the body. For the busier types, the New England Retreat also provides two hours of full body exfoliation to prepare for a massage that focuses on the upper back, eye strain, leg circulation, and “those overused Blackberry muscles,” reads the Spa brochure.
Suite experiences, at three hours or more, offer a 700-square-foot “private spa oasis” with a private vitality tub, stone sauna, two treatment tables, and a day-bed for relaxation. It’s designed for two guests to enjoy a time ritual or signature treatment of choice, with an hour of relaxation time. For couples, two therapists provide simultaneous treatments personalized for each guests needs.
Other services include specialty treatments for expectant mothers and new mothers, leg and foot refreshers, body wraps with names like “definite detox,” “rose indulgence,” and “de-stress mind”. Several water-based therapies include an aqua ritual with body exfoliation, vichy shower, aromatic hydrotherapy bath, and massage. They offer salt scrubs, coffee-and-frankincense scrubs, facials, and manicure/pedicures. Half-and full-day services are also available with various treatments and lunch.
I received a two-hour massage on a heated table that began with a foot bath, and included a combination of Swedish, Shiatsu, Tui Na, and other massage techniques to address the stress in my upper back and neck. The therapist, Samantha, got up on the table at times to twist, bend and flex my body to improve circulation, release tension, and energize me. She wrapped my body in long scarves to apply gentle pressure, and worked to unblock my three chakras. I left feeling refreshed and energized, although we both agreed the crick in my neck would require a few more sessions.
Samantha then escorted me back to the relaxation lounge for tea, and noted I could go to the Spa Café for light meals.
The nearby fitness center will feature personal trainers and attendants to guide guests using the Technogym equipment and the personal Kinesis Wall.
For those doing yoga, lululemon, a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company, also just opened in the hotel. Lululemon athletica is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company using technical fabrics and functional designs created with feedback from yogis and athletes. This is lululemon’s first full-size retail store in Boston.
The Mandarin Oriental will also round out its retail division with the Thanksgiving arrival of Gucci.

Helena Collins admits to having a big ego. She's so sure that once you come into her studio and take a class, you'll be back.
"I've been in this industry forever," says Collins, 44, who just opened Life in Synergy on Boylston Street last week. In 26 years, she has run many gyms, and she also knows the super fitness centers that automatically withdraw $49.95 a month from your bank account is betting that you don't even show up.
"I think my industry is completely responsible for making people fat," she declares, pointing out the trendy exercise machines you see advertised on TV, as used by models who starve themselves and work out three times a day. "You go to that gym, and you see that $49.95 come out of your checking every month, and maybe the place is too intimidating, and you don't go, and your self-esteem goes down..."
Her health center is about as big as many other gyms, at 5,000 square feet, but the difference is that it's filled with 5 trainers at the studio and 30 class instructors, who "are filled with people like me who are dying to get you into shape."
In fact, she's so sure you'll be back, she only sells her classes individually for $15 or in 10-packs for $120. "If we're not good, we don't make money. It makes the people who work for me think about fitness and education. It's a completely different model."
With the first class, the instructors don't want to be your friend, they want to check your alignment, see where your strengths and weaknesses are. They look at your body holistically, taking into account nutrition, how you breathe, your stress. "People think it's about what did I eat or did I work out. It could be about learning some breathing exercises that you do for two minutes a day, so at the end of the week you aren't so exhausted."
And unlike some gyms that emphasize the need to work out five days a week, Collins says her studio has clients who work out only two days a week and still look great. "You align your body, you can just be. You don't have to stress out."
Collins has had many years in the field to figure this out.
She was an asthmatic who took up swimming to improve her health and swam competitively while growing up in Long Island, but when she discovered the gym she stayed on dry land. "I was in incredible shape," she said, but then began feeling a sore back, a knee that hurt, and noticed that the instructors would just say, "do this exercise. They wouldn't explain what led to the pain."
That's what led her to study what she calls macromuscular synergy, to tailor a workout to an individual, rather than have a whole class follow a routine that works for her particular body. "If a watch is off, it may keep ticking, but you'll lose time," she says. "That's what is happening with our bodies. To correct your engineering so you won't be in pain any more, that's the big journey for me."
She married a martial arts trainer, Brian, who taught her about Eastern philosophy, and she studied around the world, including acupuncture in China.
Collins has traveled around the world to study muscular science and movement, to create her Synergistics Fitness Method, which she teaches at her award-winning facility, Synergistics Personal Training Studio, which she opened in 1997 on Newbury Street.
Last week, she opened Life in Synergy Fitness Studio to bring her methods to a broader audience in class format. Students experience different types of movement, including yoga, salsa, Martial Arts, meditation, Zumba, House Dance, and pilates. "Things like Pilates are only a teeny, tiny part of Life in Synergy," she says. "I am a fitness geek, and I have to learn everything about it, the pluses, the minuses, the negatives, and improve upon it so I can tailor it to each person and do the best thing possible for them."
She has classes that focus on diabetes, women who under went a mastectomy, and other sessions that cater to a person's individual needs, she says.
While many of the people in the big gyms hire pretty and slim people whose bodies many would like to emulate, Collins says she hires her educators based on what she notices "from the neck up": they're smart, and they know that there's always more to learn. "Anyone who works on my team want to be educators," says Collins.
The instructors are not going to chat about their personal life, she says. "That may be fun, but it may not get you where you need to be. You need to be friendly but not friends, happy, no attitude, no -isms, no ifs. When you walk in the door, everyone is friendly. Then they would take you in front of the mirror, and say, 'This is what's wrong with your alignment.'"
"My goal this year is to really work to change the health of America. To bring what I teach to the public."
In her first week, 275 signed up, and for those who register online, they get the first class free. "I think once they see how clean it is, they see the quality, people will be back. I say, 'Book one session, you don't have to see me ever again.' The retention rate at health clubs is 40 percent. My retention rate is 98 percent."

Vox Populi, a Latin phrase that literally means “the voice of the people,” is an apt name for the Boylston Street restaurant of the same name. It gets pretty vocal during a late night scene with upscale ambiance competing with one of the more glittery singles scene around Boston.
The 755 Boylston St. restaurant used to be the Back Bay Brewing Company, from 1995 to the end of the brewpub phase, around 2000. The owner, Joe Quattrocchi, picked up a full liquor license and converted the restaurant to Vox Populi. The move was smart, because the spot turned into a trendy hot spot known for its lively social scene as well as martini-fueled hookups. For the glassy-eyed regulars wondering what all those words are along the bar top, it’s from one of Cicero’s speeches to Congress, an inspiration of the architect, Steven Sousa.
On top of that bar, award-winning bartenders serve many a martini, and perhaps you’ve been there when you needed to absorb some alcohol with their late-night snacks. Yes, they have food.
It’s good food, too, as the after-work crowd and the business-and-tourist lunchers have discovered. A lot of comfort food –- pan-roasted maple salmon, blackened shrimp, black angus burgers – but executive chef Ryan Murphy would steer you toward the Tuscan braised pork shank, an osso bucco that falls off the bone, with saffron potatoes laced with an earthy thyme; or his Cajun seafood stew, with sauteed shrimp, lobster, scallops, mussles and clams in a spicy broth, served with dirty rice.
Audrie Lambert, a friendly waitress who lives on Beacon Street, strongly recommended for lunch the New England Fall Salad, mixed greens with fresh blueberries, goat cheese and candid walnuts with cranberry vinaigrette. She’s right -- topped with salmon, and it becomes an antioxidant dream far too tasty to be called a salad.
Like most Back Bay restaurants, they are also serving simple entrees with a la carte sides, which many customers appreciate because they can choose what they want. The sharable portions include creamed spinach, lyonnaise potatoes, haricot vert, and truffled parmesan or sweet potato fries.
But its their new lineup of organic beef and local-farm fruits and veggies that the restaurant is especially proud of. “There’s probably only two or three other restaurants who are featuring Brandt beef,” says Yasmin Saleh, marketing and events coordinator for Vox.
It’s all part of Vox’s mission to go green. “We’re more aware of what’s going on around us, environmentally. We’re the only bar in the City of Boston who is recycling its beer bottles, and we’ve started doing liquor bottles. We’re going to start doing away with water bottles. We have some of the cleanest tap water in the country. People are going to have to get used to water from the tap. We’re really lucky to have great water and great regulation.”
But in the end, what people want is good food. Their Brandt beef is from well-treated cows fed vegetarian, corn-based diet without antibiotics or hormones. The ala cart beef menu includes New York sirloin, bone-in rib eye, and filet mignon. Murphy, a dad of two young girls in Taunton, is especially sensitive to providing quality food to families. “Everyone wants to eat healthier,” he says. “We are showing our kids how to eat.”
Chef Murphy also likes to watch his customers eat, which means going downstairs from his second-floor kitchen to talk to diners to see what they like and don’t like. “I like seeing people happy when they’re eating.”

How Chef Murphy makes a New York Sirloin:
This recipe is a special, served with a ragout of local and organically grown vegetables and fingerling potatoes, finished with a sherry lobster glace. The meat isn’t officially prime, but it’s buttery and fork-tender, full of flavor further enhanced by the sherry sauce.
First, he recommends chopping up and preparing all of the ingredients ahead of time, for “mise en place,” which he says is French, literally "put in place." He also recommends a really sharp French knife – at home, he uses a $600 JA Henkels knife.
He also came up with a recipe that uses local ingredients, which for this time of year means a colorful array of root vegetables. Less transportation means fresher veggies with more vitamins.

Sirloin:
10 oz. "Brandt" NY Sirloin
Kosher salt & freshly cracked pepper to taste

Season well with salt & pepper, atop a hot grill, without oil, to your liking. “Don’t touch it! The more you touch it, the more uneven it cooks,” says Murphy. For medium rare, 3-4 minutes each side; medium, 4-5 minutes each side; medium well, 6-7 minutes each side. Don’t flip or touch the meat until the time is up. When done, let the meat rest while you cook the rest of the food.

Vegetable & Fingerling Ragout:
Canola or soybean oil
6 Pearl Onions, whole
6 Baby Button Mushrooms, whole
3 Baby New Carrots, Blanched
1⁄4 Leek, Julienned
2 Fingerling Potatoes, Blanched & Quartered
1⁄2 Roma Tomato, Quartered
1⁄2 c. White Wine (use a wine you’d drink, nothing fancy)
2 oz. Demi Glace
Salt & Pepper

To blanche carrots, boil carrots in a pot of salted wter, and cook until fork tender or to taste. Shock in icewater so they’ll stop cooking.

On medium heat, lightly season and saute onions and mushrooms in some oil until brown. Add carrots, then leeks for a few minutes, then add potatoes and tomatoes for approximately 3-4 minutes.
Remove vegetables, and deglaze pan with white wine and simmer and reduce by half. Add demi glace, and toss vegetables in sauce. Season to taste.

Sherry Lobster Glace:
1 Lobster Claw
1⁄2 c. Sherry Wine
1/8 c. Lobster Stock
1/8 c. Demi Glace
1 tbls Unsalted Butter

Allow pan to get hot and burn off sherry wine, reducing it by half. If you’re feeling brave, light it on fire, letting the alcohol burn off before it self-extinguishes. Add lobster stock and demi glace and reduce by half again. Add the butter and lobster claw and remove from heat after about a minute.

Demi Glace:
You can use any reduced beef stock; specialty stores like Whole Foods may have some already made, he says. Murphy likes to take beef or veal bones, roast them until they are nice and brown, add a mirepoix (50 percent chopped onions to 25 percent chopped celery and 25 percent chopped carrots) and peppercorns to the pot, add bones, and cold water, and simmer for 2-3 hours. Strain, let it cool down, then transfer to a different pot and reduce it by half. You should have about a half-gallon of demi glace.

Lobster stock: use leftover lobsters and shell, and boil a few hours in water. Or you can buy lobster base at many stores. He has also used lobster powder for the base, to good results.

Plating:
Place sliced sirloin on one side of the plate and the ragout on the opposite side of the plate. Top sirloin with the lobster claw and drizzle with the glace. Garnish with fresh chopped chives & a rosemary sprig.

Serve with a nice bottle of Organic Halter Ranch, a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso, California.

Great weekend
The weather was the only variable on Friday night and it was perfect for both children and young-at-heart who went out trick-a-treating. However, the residents in both Back Bay and Beacon Hill made Halloween, a very special treat. To all those residents who took the time to decorate their houses, a thank-you is in order. To all those residents who just were out on their front steps passing out the candy, a thank-you is also in order. To those residents who opened their houses and provided a special treat to the adults, another thank-you is in order. To city officials who closed off sections of Marlboro Street and Beacon Hill to automobiles, thank you for adding to this festive time and keeping our children safe.
Not too many years ago, in the Back Bay, Halloween was almost a forgotten time. Too few families and too few Halloween hosts marked the eve of All Souls’ Day. But this has changed, as the city has changed over the years. More families with young children are living in the neighborhoods that once were dominated by either college students or young professionals.
The increasing numbers of young families staying in Boston’s neighborhoods were seen in another part of the weekend. Hill House held the annual in-house playoff soccer championship, and on Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m., hundreds of young soccer players packed Ebersol Field.
Both of these events prove that Boston neighborhoods have achieved what many thought was impossible in the 1970s – they created a livable city for young middle-class families.