UConn BYU, Boston 11/15 - Pregame Reception

[Flipside]

Easting my own dog food here ...

Just registered my brother (UConn Med, Mass General), his GF, his oldest child (recent LSU Sports Management grad, and a Dir @ PhD Volleyball in Mass), and my friend from Duke/Fuqua who's now flying in from Chicago a day early for a work trip (don't worry, she'll cheer for us! ... we watched the 1999 Championship together in my apt in Durham NC)

*Also FYI, the registration confirmation has a discount code Alumni for Ticketmaster

https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/010062DCAB8D485F?did=alumni

 

[auror]

I'll be parking at Oak Grove and taking the Orange line MBTA in. Very reliable for reasonable outdoor parking and the T ride is like 15 minutes. It's 20+ min farther drive than some of the western Boston T stops (like Riverside) for those coming from CT, but those can take a lot longer on the Green line (up to an hour).

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'll be parking at Oak Grove and taking the Orange line MBTA in. Very reliable for reasonable outdoor parking and the T ride is like 15 minutes. It's 20+ min farther drive than some of the western Boston T stops (like Riverside) for those coming from CT, but those can take a lot longer on the Green line (up to an hour).

The always difficult thing about Boston is how hard it is to go through it in any direction. Oak Grove might as well be Salem for me. The only actual subway station I can really get to is Quincy Adams. Forest Hills is the Orange line station furthest west, but it's nowhere near any highway.

 

[Lafayette]

This is why I take Amtrak to South Station and it's not a bad walk 1/2 way to North station where the hotel is. Even if I lived in CT I would take the train - schedule is nice with 3:00pm arrival and leave at 1:10pm heading back the next day.

 

[HooperScooper]

I'll be parking at Oak Grove and taking the Orange line MBTA in. Very reliable for reasonable outdoor parking and the T ride is like 15 minutes. It's 20+ min farther drive than some of the western Boston T stops (like Riverside) for those coming from CT, but those can take a lot longer on the Green line (up to an hour).

Do you live in suburban Boston? That must be the only reason you would know where Oak Grove is.

I know I live here and go into Boston a lot but it's really not hard to drive into Boston for people who don't come here often. Especially on a Saturday. It's not like going to MSG in NYC. Parking at the TD Garden is very expensive ($62?) and it will probably be full way before game time. And driving around that area kind of sucks.

But from CT you can take I-90E right into downtown Boston. 3 minutes off the highway and park for $10 at Post Office Square Garage (Rates & Hours - Garage at Post Office Square) in a very secure safe garage (nicest parking garage you'll ever see). Then a safe 15 minute walk to TD Garden. Then walk back to your car after the game, take the Congress Street exit out of the garage, 3 minute drive to I-90W and you're on your way home.

 

[UConnJim]

Do you live in suburban Boston? That must be the only reason you would know where Oak Grove is.

I know I live here and go into Boston a lot but it's really not hard to drive into Boston for people who don't come here often. Especially on a Saturday. It's not like going to MSG in NYC. Parking at the TD Garden is very expensive ($62?) and it will probably be full way before game time. And driving around that area kind of sucks.

But from CT you can take I-90E right into downtown Boston. 3 minutes off the highway and park for $10 at Post Office Square Garage (Rates & Hours - Garage at Post Office Square) in a very secure safe garage (nicest parking garage you'll ever see). Then a safe 15 minute walk to TD Garden. Then walk back to your car after the game, take the Congress Street exit out of the garage, 3 minute drive to I-90W and you're on your way home.

I second the Post Office Square Garage. It will be pretty empty on a Saturday night so parking a large truck shouldn't be a problem and relatively cheap.

 

[boog204]

No question seaport has changed the most. I remember when it was the courthouse, the ICA, a couple bars and hotels around World Trade Center, the Bank of America Pavilion, and Harpoon. That was it. I remember when Trillium was still in fort point and had a capacity of I believe 8 for the whole “bar” they had set up

I definitely wasn’t in Boston for its more notoriously rough days but 10-15 years ago you didn’t really bother going to the north station anrea unless you were going to something at the Garden. I say that as someone who spent two years commuting to and through the area to get to the Charlestown Navy Yard. Frankly, there weren’t really too many bars conducive to clubbing 20-somethings in that specific area. But back then at least you had west end Johnnie’s and Hurricane’s nearby for a good time, and ward 8 is a nicer spot. I never really bothered with the Harp. Kudos to the city for doing a ton with what wasn’t typically much more than a staging ground for the circus, flipping that into what it is now. And with TITS, night shift, A&B, there’s a really solid set of options

Boston will never really hold a candle to New York in terms of food, entertainment, culture, night life etc but it certainly has come a long, long way in a very short period of time.

Nothing worthwhile to add, except the Harp was an insanely fun club to play in my cover band days. Place got PACKED out, people were always fun, and load out was always bizarre in the most interesting and unsketchy ways. Lansdowne was also a great, great spot.

 

[auror]

Do you live in suburban Boston? That must be the only reason you would know where Oak Grove is.

I know I live here and go into Boston a lot but it's really not hard to drive into Boston for people who don't come here often. Especially on a Saturday. It's not like going to MSG in NYC. Parking at the TD Garden is very expensive ($62?) and it will probably be full way before game time. And driving around that area kind of sucks.

But from CT you can take I-90E right into downtown Boston. 3 minutes off the highway and park for $10 at Post Office Square Garage (Rates & Hours - Garage at Post Office Square) in a very secure safe garage (nicest parking garage you'll ever see). Then a safe 15 minute walk to TD Garden. Then walk back to your car after the game, take the Congress Street exit out of the garage, 3 minute drive to I-90W and you're on your way home.

Yeah I do. Good points. I was looking into the nearby parking for the truck guy and it is hellaciously expensive and a Saturday night, so was thinking of alternatives. But it's true for regular cars there are parking garages that are easier and cheaper to park on a Saturday than a weekday that will be a little bit quicker than taking the T.

If the weather is poor, though, a 15 min T ride > 15 min walking since the train lets you out right at the arena, and only 10 min longer drive to Oak Grove than Post Office square according to Google (if that depending on fluctuating city traffic). But I don't think the weather will be poor anyways, just cold.

 

[SixRings]

Anyone know of an outside parking lot for TD Garden? I’ve got a big truck so prefer no parking garages.

Constitution Wharf Parking. Don’t tell anyone.

 

[auror]

Constitution Wharf Parking. Don’t tell anyone.

My now wife-then girlfriend used to live in the North End and didn't have a parking permit. Used to park on Chelsea St by the wharf right after the 2 hour parking ended and leave it there for free for the full weekend. Just had to walk across the freezing windy bridge.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Nothing worthwhile to add, except the Harp was an insanely fun club to play in my cover band days. Place got PACKED out, people were always fun, and load out was always bizarre in the most interesting and unsketchy ways. Lansdowne was also a great, great spot.

Yeah whenever I would walk by the Harp on those nights it always looked like a fine spot, just not where the people I rolled with went

 

[StllH8L8ner]

It was made for horses. The area around North Station is the absolute worst for cars, it's chaos. I agree those are the only real option aside from parking near a T station somewhere. I don't know where @Dibbie is coming from, but there are quite a lot of surface lots near Kenmore square/Fenway. Could take the Green Line to the Garden. I'm sure the train will be crowded after the game but probably less so than for a Cs or Bs game. Driving a truck in the vicinity of North Station is daunting enough, even if you don't park it. If coming from North or South that may not work.

For people coming from CT, it might be viable to stop in Framingham (or another station), take commuter rail to Back Bay station (it doesn't always stop there) and then the Orange line to the Garden/North Station. The commuter rail lots are big surface lots and will be mostly empty on a Saturday. Schedules & Maps | MBTA

So for those interested, where would be the best horse parking?

 

[HuskyHawk]

So for those interested, where would be the best horse parking?

In the 19th century mostly.