It is for all intents and purposes the dead of summer – that wonderful moment in the New England weather cycle when there is just as much summer in front of us as already behind.
In neighborhoods like the North End, Beacon Hill and Back Bay, thousands of residents in those storied areas have already fled the city for the beaches or the mountains.
In The Back Bay and Beacon Hill neighborhoods, the crowds subside. Business slows. The pace of life tends to go down a few notches.
You can even find a parking space with relative ease.
Not so in the North End.
The pace of life has not slowed. The neighborhood has not emptied.
Indeed. It appears to be the exact opposite.
The North End swarmed with people over the weekend and during the holiday. It was awash with people, visitors, tourists from everywhere and business was robust.
There is no let up here, no vast out-migration of people, rather, there is continued and palpably growing interest we see in the North End as a historical spot on the tourist map, as an eating venue quite unlike any other in the city, and as a shopping venue with a new and growing abundance of smaller specialty shops.
So it may be the dead of summer. It may be the time when other neighborhoods in this city empty out.
Not here, though.
Not in the North End.