My best friend from high school grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. Well, actually she grew up in Lowell, but I always referred to her as being from Boston because that’s what most people are familiar with. I always liked the fact she was from Lowell, though, which is right next to Boston, because it reminded me of Jack Kerouac, who was also from that city. In fact Dr. Sax, which was set in Lowell, was the first Kerouac novel I ever read. And yes I know most people start and sometimes finish, with On The Road, and I don’t quite remember how that novel first came into my possession. A very similar thing happened with William Burroughs. The first novel I ever read of his was not Naked Lunch, but was Junkie. But anyway, I digress. The real point of this is to relate my first trip to Boston , which occurred due to the fact that Kim ended up moving back there with her mom in the summer of our eleventh grade.
I was very sorry to see her go, but after high school graduation, my mom bought me a ticket to fly back and see her. I was really excited and though she had actually moved north of Boston at that point I definitely wanted her to give me a tour of the city and of course take me into Lowell. She did both and we had a great time. Boston is really an incredible city and has such a strong distinct atmosphere, which is something I’ll never forget. We had lunch at a great little place called 1790 Restaurant and Tavern . At the time were still to young to enjoy the tavern aspect of it, though it really looked great. That’s the thing about Boston, you can call things names that have 1790 in them. The food was really good and we sat out in their open courtyard, which was great. When we finally got out to Lowell at first I was shocked that it didn’t look like the dark and dank shipping yards that Kerouac had described, but that’s how na ¯ve I can be. It was still exciting and Kim showed me a special monument for Jack Kerouac that stands in Lowell. I really had a great time that summer and would love to go back again.
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