A Long(er) Goodbye for The Otherside
The writing is on the bathroom wall.
There's a big furniture store called Room & Board slated for the spot, although my feeling is it's a terrible place for it. Truth is, it's a pretty terrible place for anything, which is why it's the perfect place for a hipster dive like Otherside.
But I can see how a developer could spin it as an ideal location for something else. Even the Globe made it sound like a big box dream-spot — "prime retail space" in Back Bay "where Newbury meets Massachusetts Avenue" — if you didn't know any better.
It is highly visible. It's just that, as the Otherside's name suggests, it's a tad inconvenient to get to, because right there "where Newbury meets Massachusetts Avenue" is also — by happenstance — the entrance to the Mass. Turnpike. It's like a Masshole black hole, where Newbury turns suddenly into Nobury Street, tapering off into oblivion.
Which is sort of what the Otherside based its success on.
They'll be looking for a new Boston locale, but it's hard to imagine a spot quite so conveniently inconvenient, a forgotten destination only seen from a distance if you knew where to look.
Posted by Mike Mennonno at 12/19/2011 4:40 PM 
Categories: Boston, That's So Boston!, A Day in the Life
Categories: Boston, That's So Boston!, A Day in the Life
So sad the Otherside is closing. I hope I can get there one time before they shut the doors for good.
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ARGH - the Other Side is closing?! RATS! But thanks for the headsup - no longer being a Bostonian, I miss this stuff when it comes up in timely fashion. Will have to get there w/Craig afore it's gone. That is a silly place to put a big furniture store (are they tearing things down or just gutting-out?). I will say, on the plus side, that it's well PAST time for Boston to get a Room & Board, which is an excellent chain for clean modernish furniture - like a better, more focused Crate & Barrel w/o all the "Tuscan" slop - I've bought their stuff for clients, but had to go to SoHo to see it for real.
Still, it SUCKS that that plus has the overbalanced negative of losing The OtherSide..."World City Boston" (i.e.: Menino's Disneyland for EurAsiaTrash): 1, Authenticity: 0. Sigh.
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Check out their Facebook page - they say they're not moving after all!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-OTHERside/281983785579
"the building we rent kicked us out before they had made the deal to replace, and then failed to make the deal. This makes me wanna watch the Goonies!"
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I saw this on facebook today, too. Looks like they're staying put (for now at least....)
Sorry for the false alarm guys!
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I lived around the corner from the Otherside for 6 years and love the place. They have the best veggie chili in the city in my opinion.
I'd love to have them work their way over to the South End. I think they'd thrive here, but I'm sure they want to stay closer to their beloved Berklee clientele.
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