Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill Reviews

Jessica C.

Trick or Treat

Walking down the streets of Beacon Hill, with its brick brownstones and sidewalks, old-fashioned lampposts, and well-maintained secret gardens, makes me feel like I’m strolling the streets of old London. Located right near the Boston Common and Public Garden, and a stone’s throw from the red and green lines, this nabe is a quiet sanctuary from the bustle of downtown.

While Beacon Hill is the epitome of old Boston money, students from nearby colleges (Emerson and Suffolk) live here as well. Which is surprising, considering the steep rent prices. Though Beacon Hill is mostly a residential area, cute shops and restaurants on Charles Street make it worth a stroll.

The Upper Crust, though small, is great for a slice of pizza. And Café Bella Vita is good for coffee and dessert. The original Bull & Finch Pub (where everybody knows your name) can be found on Beacon Street, usually surrounded by a gaggle of tourists.

You’ll know you’re a local when you start walking through their pictures. On Halloween, Trick or Treating in Beacon Hill is a pleasure. You don’t even need to knock on doors, because residents get dressed up and sit on their doorsteps with big bowls of (often full-sized) candy bars.

There’s also usually at least one cotton candy machine to be found. Neighbors chat and laugh, and you can really feel the sense of community here. (Sure, by my sophomore year of college, residents started giving me a hard time about my trick or treating habits.

What’s wrong with a 20 year old trick or treating anyway?) While this nabe is pretty safe, I would advise against walking through the nearby Boston Common and Public Garden late at night. A lot of people get mugged that way.

Walk around the perimeter instead, or even better, across the street. All in all, Beacon Hill is a lovely place to live. But be prepared to pay through the nose.

 Megan J.

Down and Out in Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill is my neighborhood, and I’m happy to say I’ve lived here for over three years. To make this easy to, I am going to lay out the good and the bad of living/visiting the Hill.

So behold: My un-official Beacon Hill Starter Kit. Positives: -If you’re a young professional, Beacon Hill is located within walking distance of the financial district, back bay, and pretty much any other commercial area, which means you won’t have to foot the bill for expensive T passes. -It’s historic and drop dead gorgeous.

If you’re a history buff like me, living in the same neighborhood that once housed Louisa May Alcott/Sylvia Plath/Robert Frost/Anne Sexton is a major draw. And the buildings are beautiful, brick strictures that that make the area look like something out of a Dickens novel. -Charles Street, the “main drag” of Beacon Hill, has great restaurants and (some pricey) shops, and LOTS of character.

This means you’ll run into people you know all the time, and you’ll notice regulars in the neighborhood coffee shops (like Clark Rockefeller, who was a regular at the Starbucks on Charles/Beacon.) -Depending on which part of the hill you live on, public transportation can be close by or about a 10 minute walk.

However, you do have the choice of all the different color lines depending which area you’re in. -Some really great restaurants, some not so great ones. But there’s multiple bars if you’re interested in boozing, mostly neighborhood joints and after-work hangouts for young professionals.

The Whole Foods is expensive, but beautiful and located right next to a CVS. – If you’re a college student, don’t let anyone make you think there won’t be any apartments for you on the Hill. There’s actually a huge student population, and there are TONS of crappy apartments waiting to lease to you, particularly up on the super steep streets.

Negatives: -If you are a senior citizen, I cannot IMAGINE living in beacon hill. In the winter time, walking around the brick streets is basically a death trap due to steep hills and some irresponsible homeowners/landlords who don’t shovel right away. -Practice your parallel parking.

That is, if you can find a parking space, which you probably won’t be able to. Not only is there very little parking for non-residents, but you’ll have to park on steep hills which is REALLY fun.

If you don’t have to have a car on the Hill, then resist it. – While the buildings are historic and wonderful, if you’re a hater of old things that break easily, look elsewhere. Many of these homes have old plumbing/heating/etc, so stuff tends to break often.

Also, you may find yourself with some rodent houseguests…mice tend to sneak in when things are old. But if you learn to plug up holes correctly, you should be okay. At night, rats tend to come out of the woodwork and skitter around through the garbage, which is an issue because many college students leave trash on the sidewalks in a big pile.

But don’t worry about rats going inside, because they prefer the dark streets. – Carrying groceries uphill and then up multiple flights of stars can make you want to kill yourself. -Occasional drunk college students yelling in the middle of the night, but that’s Boston, I guess. – If you’re looking for a place that is alive and loud 24/7, this isn’t really the neighborhood for you.

It gets pretty quiet by 10pm.

 Jeanette M.

Cutest of the Bunch

The award for cutest place in town goes to Beacon Hill, hands down. Also, cutest 7-Eleven. Yes, the main drag of Beacon Hill – Charles Street – is so friggin’ cute, what with its impeccable Victorian/Federal/Greek Revival row houses, seasonal flowers in window boxes, decorative iron work, and narrow brick sidewalks. 7-Eleven, want to stay on the block?

Just change your sign to stylized gold lettering and tell us you sell “Sundries” (then please define those for us). Really, though, stepping into Beacon Hill feels like a trip back 200 years, and it’s simply beautiful.

History left and right. Definitely a spot to take visitors – friends and grandparents alike. All you have to do is wander up a couple of streets and they’ll be sold on Boston, not just this one neighborhood.

Being such a darn beautiful place, it has attracted important figures from Louisa May Alcott (well, probably not the most famous historical figure to live there, but I have spent a lifetime loving Little Women) to John Kerry. Come to think of it, they both live(d) on Louisburg Square, just off Mt.

Vernon – a good street to head up for that quick intro to the area. Young professionals and grad students who manage to have money also find their way to Beacon Hill, getting character-filled apartments with access to roof decks that overlook the other charming roof decks, as well as the Charles, the rest of Boston, and plenty of Cambridge.

To accommodate these fine folks, the neighborhood has a range of restaurants, a couple of great consignment stores nestled among all the boutiques, and a big park – you know, the Common. There’s also incredibly easy access to the Charles River Esplanade, and a couple of red line stops (Charles/MGH and Park, which the green line runs through too).

There’s Figs (don’t even look it up – just go), Charles Street Liquors (most excellent local and foreign beer selection), and Second Time Around. Did I mention the roof decks? The drawbacks?

Well, most objectively, the amount of money you must pay to live here. Ha. We’re talking up to 50% more per month for a tiny one-bedroom place (with or without roof deck option, zero storage) than what we pay for a Davis Square large two-bedroom spot that comes with parking, basement storage, free laundry, a backyard/garden with a patio for BBQing, and great neighbors, all situated just one block from the T and Johnny D’s.

Oh, and on top of rent, you have to pay an exorbitant amount per month to get a parking permit in Beacon Hill, and then give up 30-45 minutes each night trying to find a spot. Less objectively, the other drawback I’ve come to see in Beacon Hill is that it doesn’t seem to have nearly the same feeling of community as, say, many of the squares on the Cambridge side of things.

Charles Street – again, the main thoroughfare – feels like it has stores and restaurants that most please a few wealthy visitors, and not that it’s aimed at a range of residents and what they actually need. I don’t have any friends here who know their neighbors.

The Beacon Hill website claims just the opposite, though, so please judge for yourself. Just, in my humble opinion, while the neighborhood’s filled to the brim with historical character, not sure how much modern, livable character – at least for a young person – it offers up.

Both the positives and the negatives in mind, I have quite a few friends who live in Beacon Hill and love it. And, honestly, I’m pretty sure I would be over the moon to get me a roof deck there, or to be so close to the Charles and the rest of Boston in general.

Still, for now, I’m thrilled to have signed on for another year in a spot that, for me, has felt like much more of an immersion in local culture and community, and with quite a bit more diversity and creativity. And though we don’t have a roof deck out here, a backyard garden patio on a warm night suits me just fine.

 Megan S.

A Stroll on the Hill

Beacon Hill is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Boston. It’s full of gorgeous brownstones and tucked-away gardens, well-dressed socialites and strolling tourists. The selection of yummy cafés, art galleries, old print shops, thrift stores and knick-knack havens has something for just about everyone.

Charles Street is a lovely series of blocks where I spent a recent Saturday morning browsing teacups, animal lithographs and second-hand dresses with a vanilla latté in tow.

It’s far less bustling than Newbury or Boylston, two other up-scale shopping streets in the heart of the city, so you can enjoy some peace and quiet while admiring shop windows, peeking into sumptuous rose gardens and learning who inhabits some of the most expensive real estate around.

It’s definitely an old-money corner for the most part, but peeking in some of the agents’ windows, I did see a few one-bedrooms up for rent — not cheap, of course, but doable if you’ve got a solid income or a padded trust fund. It’s not har