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There are a couple of slight differences: one of scale, one of immediate surroundings.
There are some restaurants facing the Common and Public Garden - the Hampshire House/Bull & Finch Pub (that's what they called what everyone now calls "Cheers" thanks to the TV show back when I lived in Boston) among them - but there isn't really a noticeable presence of sidewalk dining on the streets bordering those two parks (unless there's been an efflorescence of these along Boylston and Tremont streets since I left Boston in 1983).
On the 18th Street side of Rittenhouse Square, three of the four restaurants that sit in a row next to each other - Rouge, Devon Seafood Grill, and Parc - all have sidewalk seating (only Barclay Prime lacks it). And (as I noted upthread) the streets bordering Rittenhouse Square are narrow enough that even though these sit across the street from the park, they feel like extensions of it.
The coffee shop on the square's north side also has outdoor seating. The Walnut Street sidewalk being wider than the other three, it doesn't feel quite as attached to the park, but you still feel close to it.
The scale question is that the Garden and Common are significantly larger than Rittenhouse Square, a little too big to feel like outdoor rooms. It's that outdoor-room quality that IMO makes Rittenhouse Square distinctive. Copley lacks the well-defined "walls." Post Office, IIRC, lacks a sizable residential population that fills the room at all hours of the day around it.
That 18th Street frontage feels damn near Parisian (and Parc is Stephen Starr's interpretation of a Paris bistro). I don't think even the sidewalk-dining-friendly stretches of Boylston quite match this feel.
I agree that Copley does not behave, or feel, or even look like Rittenhouse. It's not an intimate location, nor does it sit within a neighborhood, nor does it have it's own neighborhood designation.
There is no sidewalk dining until you head in a block or two from the Public Garden. But, as we know, there is probably more sidewalk dining on Newbury St. than any of the aforementioned areas combined. Boylston has it's share, certainly more than ever.
I would agree that Newbury and Boylston, in particular, do not feel like an extension of the Garden and Common. So, a disqualification from this comparison makes sense to me. Newbury feels like the heart of a neighborhood, while Boylston feels and behaves more like an extension of downtown.
Charles Street, however, does feel like an extension of the park (ditto Comm Ave, though it's all residential with the exception of a few hidden basement joints). Charles Street may not feel Parisian, but I would be surprised if it didn't have the aesthetic that you are looking for in this comparison. Fairly narrow road, no signage, hidden rooftop gardens/bars, a good mix of restaurants, some really nice sidewalk dining. It's not pedestrian only, but it often feels as though it is.
Btw, MarketStEl, No.9 Park (though it's surroundings don't match the description), sounds right up your alley. Parisian food that is located on the North East side of the common, standing firmly below the State House. Highly recommend next time you're up this way.
Btw, MarketStEl, No.9 Park (though it's surroundings don't match the description), sounds right up your alley. Parisian food that is located on the North East side of the common, standing firmly below the State House. Highly recommend next time you're up this way.
I'll file that for reference; my 40th college class reunion takes place next May, and I plan on attending. I hope to stay with the same classmate who lives in the South End. Besides, that gives me an excuse to get some subway-riding in. I'll also probably look up one of my old roommates who lives near Davis Square. (There's a commercial center that was totally transformed by the arrival of the subway.)
I share your assessment of Charles Street. It's Beacon Hill's main shopping street, and IMO it has more of a neighborhoody feel than Newbury does, even though Newbury is clearly part of the Back Bay.
Just for your reference and purposes of comparison, here's a Street View image of the 200 block of South 18th above Locust. Parc is on the corner, and you can see Devon just beyond it. Move to the north and you'll see Rouge:
The restaurant on the left side of the block to the north - on the street floor of 10 Rittenhouse - has been replaced by another restaurant run by a popular local chef/restaurateur. It too has sidewalk tables. That does it for sidewalk dining along that street, but there are several other restaurants on that and nearby blocks.
Copley Square! But Boston isn't really a city of squares like Philadelphia's squares. It has lots of "squares" -- commercial crossroads -- but hardly any proper squares owing partly at least to the non-grid street pattern.
This. I've been hinting at it for a handful of posts, but Boston is not analogous to Philadelphia on the "squares" front and a lot of that is due to Boston simply not being planned/laid out on a grid in the same way that Philadelphia was. By default, Copley is probably Boston's "signature Square" given that it's on the line between two of Boston's few planned/grid neighborhoods (Back Bay and South End) in the center of the city. But it's not nearly as central to the city's overall layout as Philadelphia's Squares. Boston also has Blackstone/Franklin Squares (which, as far as landscaped public spaces go, are far nicer than Copley) in the South End which are lovely urban squares, but they're solidly in the center of a residential neighborhood and not adjacent to the downtown core in the same way Rittenhouse and Copley are.
Rittenhouse is Philadelphia's signature Square in a series of squares that were intended to be the focal points as far as central green/park space in the city. Copley was never intended to be the same thing for Boston (and it very clearly isn't that). Instead of having a series of squares in the center of the city, Boston's central focal points are the Common/Public Garden. Downtown Philly is surrounded by a series of small/medium sized squares, whereas downtown Boston essentially surrounds two larger, adjacent central parks. They're very different setups and that's why it's impossible to have an apples to apples comparison.
This. I've been hinting at it for a handful of posts, but Boston is not analogous to Philadelphia on the "squares" front and a lot of that is due to Boston simply not being planned/laid out on a grid in the same way that Philadelphia was. By default, Copley is probably Boston's "signature Square" given that it's on the line between two of Boston's few planned/grid neighborhoods (Back Bay and South End) in the center of the city. But it's not nearly as central to the city's overall layout as Philadelphia's Squares. Boston also has Blackstone/Franklin Squares (which, as far as landscaped public spaces go, are far nicer than Copley) in the South End which are lovely urban squares, but they're solidly in the center of a residential neighborhood and not adjacent to the downtown core in the same way Rittenhouse and Copley are.
Rittenhouse is Philadelphia's signature Square in a series of squares that were intended to be the focal points as far as central green/park space in the city. Copley was never intended to be the same thing for Boston (and it very clearly isn't that). Instead of having a series of squares in the center of the city, Boston's central focal points are the Common/Public Garden. Downtown Philly is surrounded by a series of small/medium sized squares, whereas downtown Boston essentially surrounds two larger, adjacent central parks. They're very different setups and that's why it's impossible to have an apples to apples comparison.
I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you saying you wouldn't physically eat in the Boston Common/Public Garden? That much I agree with, as there are no restaurants on the common. But you absolutely would go to the Public Garden and the streets surrounding- Newbury/Charles St. for trendy dining. I'll disqualify Boylston for the sake of this argument.
You can't walk down the stairs from your apartment, sit at a sidewalk table on Newbury Street eating your $100 meal with a view of Boston Common/Public Garden. I used to date someone with a Newbury Street apartment. You get the residential, street level commercial, but not the green space.
I also had several Beacon Hill friends a couple hundred yards from Charles Street. Again, the green space isn't colocated with the street level commercial space. You can't get drunk at the Sevens or eat a pizza at Figs and gaze at green space.
And yeah, I'm not counting Boylston Street across from the Common.
I wish Boston had something like Rittenhouse. It's a great resource for Philly.
I even think Washington Square in Philly is better than Copley for that matter, and tourists are more likely to come about it as Independence Square sits diagonally across from it on one corner. About a mile east of Rittenhouse towards Society Hill/Old City, it too has a similar "Urban Room" setup, and is more varied in its offerings. Everything from an art gallery, hospital clinics, rowhouses, a boutique, an events center inside a big apartment, an office building, a little library, and a pharmacy. It has a well-designed layout with a central status, diagonal and square paths, and a mix of wooded and small green spaces. It may not be a central regarding offices, but its still a vital feature of Center City. Then Philly's Franklin Square, while not as aesthetically pleasing due to highways on two sides (though the view of the Ben Franklin Bridge is neat), consists of cool family-friendly offerings from carnival-style food stands, a carousel, playground, and a miniature golf course, something that none of Boston's squares feature. Finally, Philly's main library building fronts Logan Square, which although different due to the Parkway and circle running through it, still is worth passing through with the fountain in the center, WWI memorial as well as a couple museums and a cathedral bordering it. If it weren't for that circle, it would basically be a clone of Copley.
I even think Washington Square in Philly is better than Copley for that matter, and tourists are more likely to come about it as Independence Square sits diagonally across from it on one corner. About a mile east of Rittenhouse towards Society Hill/Old City, it too has a similar "Urban Room" setup, and is more varied in its offerings. Everything from an art gallery, hospital clinics, rowhouses, a boutique, an events center inside a big apartment, an office building, a little library, and a pharmacy. It has a well-designed layout with a central status, diagonal and square paths, and a mix of wooded and small green spaces. It may not be a central regarding offices, but its still a vital feature of Center City. Then Philly's Franklin Square, while not as aesthetically pleasing due to highways on two sides (though the view of the Ben Franklin Bridge is neat), consists of cool family-friendly offerings from carnival-style food stands, a carousel, playground, and a miniature golf course, something that none of Boston's squares feature. Finally, Philly's main library building fronts Logan Square, which although different due to the Parkway and circle running through it, still is worth passing through with the fountain in the center, WWI memorial as well as a couple museums and a cathedral bordering it. If it weren't for that circle, it would basically be a clone of Copley.
Logan Sq(Circle) actually was a square similar to the others once upon a time. Google "Great Central Fair 1864" or "Civil War Sanitary Fairs". The cathedral was there at the time of that fair.
Copley especially great because every direction you turn,
there's another Dunkee's,
and a kaleidoscope of shades of beige, terra cotta and brick,
nuanced by the colors of Dunkin Donuts reflecting off the glass of the JHT.
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