B E B E R E

Ea-Bo? Try Lame-O.

Back when I moved there, it was called Eastie. People on the Mainland used to snidely tell me that I would "have to get a gun" or that "there were no Starbucks' there." No, there were no Starbucks' there, and it turned out to be the safest, most neighborly neighborhood I lived during my time in Boston. An added bonus was the regard afforded to me by most state and municipal employees due the cache of the 02128 zipcode. I was in particularly well with postal workers.

Of course, all good things have to come to an end sometime: due to Eastie's proximity to downtown, more suits moved in and the rents/house prices went way up. Now it's become hipster central, the "hottest neighborhood in Boston" according to Boston Magazine, the Boston equivalent of Williamstown. With that veneer of hipness comes silly nicknames, too, hence the change from Eastie to Ea-Bo.

Right now I'm crammed into a little room in overpriced Somerville (another formerly crusty neighborhood that has turned hip) in the (snort) WiHi neighborhood...and I work in Ee-Kay (the part of Cambridge that hasn't been appropriated by Harvard). If I ever move back to where I come from, I wonder if I'll have to deal with WNY becoming Wi-Nee and Buffalo being renamed Bo-Flo?