 | Disappearing PlacesAn archive and collective map of places that no longer exist, at least not as they once did. |
IHOP Kenmore Square
Posted On Monday April 23, 2007 By The RatKenmore has experienced a lot of changes over the last 10 years. I was living there just when BU decided to clean up the area. It meant the demise of just about everything that made Kenmore an interesting place. I won’t even get into The Rat, Planet Records, Captain Nemo’s or Deli Haus. I’ll let someone else post about them. The story I have is about the IHOP in Kenmore and the breakfast I had there with Anthrax. Not the disease (fortunately), the band.
So, I was at this IHOP one morning, it must have been the summer of ’96 or ’97, with a friend of mine, and we had just ordered pancakes (what else?), when he said to me, “Hey, isn’t that Anthrax?”. Two tables down the guys from Anthrax were having breakfast. I assume they had played The Rat the night before. We never said anything to them. We figured they would rather just eat in peace.
On the other side of us was this older guy who kept falling asleep in his pancakes. At first I just thought, wow, this guy is TIRED. He would get a fork full of pancakes and before he could actually get it into his mouth he would fall asleep right on his plate. He had syrup all over his face. Then I remembered there were signs for a Methadone clinic above the IHOP. This guy was probably a recovering junkie drowsy after his Methadone treatment.
We finished our food and left. That’s the Kenmore Square I remember, not the generic version that exists now. Sure, it used to be a little gritty, but I didn’t mind living there.
Tags: anthrax, boston, ihop, junkie, kenmore, methadone
This Location: Beacon St. and Commonwealth Ave. Boston MA
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I lived in the greater Boston area from 1984-86 and I recall full well what a mystical, magical time me friends and I had loitering around Kenmore Square then, we elevated it to an art form I dare say. Kenmore was a living, vibrant beehive of activity. The Rat will forever hold an esteemed place in my heart. But let us not forget the funky tiled murals in the hallowed Pizza Pad, the subterranean Captain Nemo’s, The newsstand at the top of the stairs that led down to the T station, The Store 24, the rustic British charm of Cornwall’s Pub where many a pint of Watney’s Red Barrel were gleefully dispatched, The Key West restaurant & bar, in the Hotel Buckminster, further down the drag, Charlie’s Diner with it’s welcoming lurid neon come-on “good, fast, clean, plenty!” Wouldn’t trade those memories for anything. I went back to Kenmore a few years back, now a desolate, homogenized, colorless and bland place. What a drag.
— Todd Shepard Sunday March 2, 2008 #