Two pieces of news on Union Square

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

Don Law has bought the USPS building. Don Law is the president of Live Nation New England, which runs House of Blues Boston and the Paradise, among other venues. It would be interesting to have a venue of that size in Union Square. I think I'm in favour -- from a purely selfish standpoint, it would be cool to be able to walk to a big concert, rather than braving driving and parking downtown.

The New York Times profiles Somerville (specifically, Union Square) again. This is, what, the fourth or fifth time? We're either officially hip or officially done being hip.

Comments

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Clearly Union Square is the new Davis Square.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

It's just earlier in the Gentrification Cycle. Give it time.

(http://jensorensen.com/2013/04/15/gentrification-cartoon/)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

Are you making fun of hipsters up there? Because, y'know, that's kind of old news; some of us were making fun of hipsters before it was cool.
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

The parts I'm glad to hear is that there seems to be a clear understanding all around of the significance of the building and the mural, and a plan in place to preserve it and protect public access to it.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

No, I'm more making fun of The New York Times. It's one of my primary news sources, but that doesn't stop me from being amused by The New York Times is ON IT (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/twitter-new-york-times-on-it-account). In short: by the time something is noticed by The Gray Lady, its hipness is already over.

[somergirl80.livejournal.com]

I hope that doesn't happen. We have enough bars and the like.
Maybe it's my generation but we've never used the term "hipsters" it was always a VERY unaffectionate "yuppie." It is very hard to have no sense of home. Nothing feels like home. A lot of the "yuppies" can go home and it feels like home. We don't have that luxury. Houses that we wanted to keep for more generations we've been forced to let go of. Somerville is unrecognizable and not in a good way. But that's a whole other discussion. I'm crossing my fingers that we don't get a concert venue or club type place. That is continuing in the opposite direction that many of us (most of us natives) want to go in.

I would have much rather seen a clinic for the city's many addicts. Or a homeless shelter or some type of community center, a new Boys and Girls club perhaps. Something actually needed and useful.

[spatch]

Ah, yes, Live Nation, the unholy offspring of Clear Channel which got into an even unholier union with Ticketmaster.

Who wants to give money to local venues to see local artists when you can pay convenience fees through the nose to see some up-and-coming national act who, through the good graces of Massa Live Nation, won't even literally see a dime from your ticket?

Sorry to hear about the post office building. It was a nice example of a time when people actually fucking cared about their city and built nice things.

[ron_newman]

If the Somerville Arts Council is OK with this plan (and they seem to be), so am I. Perhaps this will be a less-commercial counterpart to Law's big rock venues, much as the Armory is a less-commercial counterpart to the Middle East clubs.

Yes

[el-cubano-15.livejournal.com]

Well said.