North End

The scent of marinara sauce wafts inescapably over the neighborhood that juts out into the harbor on the north side of the city. Congested and lively, the North End is Boston [1]’s answer to New York [2]’s Little Italy, with dozens of Italian restaurants, grocers, pastry shops, and small businesses such as tailors and cobblers lining every inch of storefront space.

The area is the oldest part of the city, and claims as its own a number of Puritans and revolutionaries, including Paul Revere, whose house still stands [3]. At the turn of the 20th century, however, it became the firm territory of a new wave of Italian immigrants who made the neighborhood over in the image of Napoli.

Even while it has slowly gentrified over the years, it has retained its ethnic identity, with third- and fourth-generation Italians choosing to age in place or returning on Italian Feast Days, which usually occur on Sundays during the summer and feature churches and community clubs attempting to outdo each other with lavish parades full of floats, bunting, and sizzling Italian sausage.

To the east of the North End proper is North Station, one of the main transit hubs of the city. Built partially over the station, the TD Banknorth Garden is the official home of the Boston Celtics and Bruins—though many still lament the passing of the original Boston Garden that was located next door, the site of the many championship banners that Boston [1] brought home with the help of a few Larry Bird three-pointers.