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Guides
Secret Boston shop gift guide: from a $16 CITGO sign ornament to a $128 hoodie
Every product in this guide is an original Secret Boston design. The Christmas collections come right after the gifts that don’t ship, then the stocking stuffers, then Wicked Good for the rest of the year. The physical gifts are made to order when you buy them, and delivery time varies by product (the luxe hoodies take about 9 to 11 days in the US), so check each product page before you count on a date. Shipping is free on US orders over $50. Want to see what other Boston makers are up to? Our Boston craft fairs guide has every holiday market through Christmas, and these 10 shops selling stuff you totally don't need are perfect for the hard-to-shop-for. And if anyone at the party says Boston has always loved Christmas, you can tell them about the time Boston once banned Christmas. The gifts that don’t ship Shopping late, or for the person who already owns every Boston hoodie? Give them a year of Secret Boston Members for $99. Tell us who it’s for, and we’ll email them on the day you choose. It’s paid once, and nothing renews. Can’t pick a size? The shop gift card comes in $25, $50 or $100 and arrives by email. Secret Boston gift membership $99 A full year of Members. Paid once, and it arrives by email on the day you choose. Give a membership Secret Boston Shop Gift Card $25, $50 or $100 Good for anything in the shop, delivered by email. Shop it Boston Ugly Christmas Our loudest holiday collection: BOSTON knit across the front, with the CITGO sign and the T worked into the pattern. The crewneck (from $50, navy or white) runs small, so order one size up, and there’s a navy tee from $28 for the party where the heat is cranked. Boston Ugly Christmas Hoodie From $52 BOSTON across the chest of a navy hoodie, with cream snowflakes and trees. Made for the office party, the tree lighting and the bar after. Shop it Boston Ugly Christmas Beanie, T and CITGO $33 The T in the first O and the CITGO sign in the second, in red and green on a white cuffed beanie. Shop it Boston Ugly Christmas Beanie $33 BOSTON and two snowflakes on the cuff. White on navy, or red on white. Shop it Boston Ugly Christmas Pom-Pom Hat $33 BOSTON and two snowflakes in white on a navy pom-pom hat. Shop it Classic Ugly Christmas The same snowflakes and trees, with the T and the CITGO sign in the middle row and no words at all. Beyond these two beanies, it comes on a navy hoodie (from $52), a crewneck in navy or white (from $50, order one size up), a navy tee (from $28) and a pom-pom hat ($33). Classic Ugly Christmas Premium Beanie $38 Black organic cotton in a snug ribbed knit, embroidered in white. The step up from the cuffed beanie. Shop it Classic Ugly Christmas Beanie $33 The CITGO sign, a snowflake and the T on the cuff. White on navy, or red and green on white. Shop it Wicked Good Christmas Have yourself a Wicked Good Christmas. The script is embroidered on the luxe and premium hoodies and printed in red and green on the rest, including a tee from $28. Wicked Good Christmas Luxe Hoodie From $128 Our heaviest hoodie: 15 oz brushed fleece, 80% organic cotton and 20% recycled polyester with an organic cotton face, embroidered in red on stone or black. It comes in European sizes, so order one size up. Shop it Wicked Good Christmas Premium Embroidered Hoodie From $98 A 10 oz oversized hoodie. Red thread on cream, or the original red and green on white. Shop it Wicked Good Christmas Hoodie From $52 Printed in red and green on ash or white. Shop it Wicked Good Christmas Beanie $33 Embroidered in red and green on a white cuffed beanie. Shop it Stocking stuffers The metal ornaments are $16, printed on both sides in round or bell, with a red ribbon. The wrapping paper also comes as a set of three sheets in red, forest green and navy for $22. Boston Ugly Christmas Ornament $16 BOSTON across the middle, with the CITGO sign and the T in the pattern. Shop it Classic Ugly Christmas Ornament $16 Snowflakes and trees with the T and the CITGO sign. No words, just the pattern. Shop it Wicked Good Christmas Ornament $16 White with red and green script on one side, red with white on the other. Shop it Boston Ugly Christmas Wrapping Paper From $19 BOSTON on repeat with the CITGO sign and the T, in three roll lengths up to 15 feet. Shop it Wicked Good, all year The way Boston says it, without the Christmas, so it gets worn long after December. There’s also a premium embroidered hoodie (from $98) and a classic tee (from $28). Wicked Good Luxe Hoodie From $128 The same 15 oz fleece, 80% organic cotton and 20% recycled polyester, boxy and slightly cropped. Black thread on stone, white on black, and order one size up. Shop it Wicked Good Hoodie From $52 Red on ash, white on navy. Shop it Wicked Good Premium Heavyweight T-Shirt From $42 Garment-dyed Comfort Colors cotton, in ivory, grey, navy or black. Shop it Wicked Good Premium Beanie $38 Ribbed organic cotton with the script in white, in black, Oxford navy or light grey. Shop it Wicked Good Beanie $33 Embroidered in white on a black or navy cuffed beanie. Shop it Wicked Good Rope Cap $38 Black with a white rope, or white with a black rope. Shop it
5 after-work drink spots near Copley Square
After-work drinks near Copley Square can mean a hotel bar with an 83-foot copper counter or a beer in a tavern built into a parking garage. Both are reasonable answers to the end of the workday. The useful question is which one your group actually wants. These five stops run from the square itself toward the Prudential Center and Dalton Street. Choose OAK if you want to stay close to Copley, Lolita for Mexican food with your drinks, or Bukowski if beer is the priority. If dinner is likely to follow, decide that before reserving: a dining-room table and a drinks-only visit are not always booked the same way. OAK Long Bar + Kitchen is inside the Fairmont Copley Plaza, right by the square. The long copper bar gives the room a clear focal point, while the hotel setting makes this a good choice when you want the evening to feel a little more considered than stopping at the nearest counter. The restaurant’s current information lists dinner from 4 p.m. on weekdays, with food orders continuing until 11 p.m. That makes it possible to turn one drink into a meal without changing addresses. Book a table if dinner is the plan, and contact the restaurant about a larger gathering rather than assuming a row of neighboring bar seats will be free. Earls Kitchen + Bar at the Prudential Center has a dining room, lounge and rooftop patio. It is the option here for a group that wants a choice of settings as well as something substantial to eat. The Prudential location page links its current menu and reservation system, so use that branch when organizing the visit. The restaurant advertises the rooftop as a year-round space, but ask about seating and weather arrangements for your particular date. A reservation for the restaurant does not by itself settle where you will sit. If everyone is arriving at different times, agree on the meeting area beforehand; “we’re at Earls” leaves a little room for confusion. Trifecta is the street-level lounge at Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street. Its cocktail menu uses Boston neighborhoods as its organizing idea. The Green Monster combines poblano tequila, citrus and cilantro oil; Mike’s or Modern uses vodka, espresso and cannoli cream. Several drinks have spirit-free versions, and there is a separate spirit-free option too. Prices place this firmly in hotel-cocktail territory, so look at the list before inviting the whole office. The lounge’s hours currently start at 3 p.m. on weekdays, with dinner available into the evening. It suits a planned drink or dinner more than an attempt to keep the bill as small as possible. Lolita’s Back Bay location is on Dartmouth Street, making it an easy choice when you want to stay near Copley and eat Mexican food alongside your drinks. Its menu includes guacamole, hot queso, tacos and quesadillas, so the table can start with something to share before deciding how hungry everyone is. Read the reservation policy before booking. Reservations are for full dinner service, and the restaurant seats a party when everyone has arrived. That is useful to know if half the group tends to get stuck at work. For drinks alone, ask about the bar arrangement instead of reserving a dinner table you do not intend to use. Bukowski Tavern at 50 Dalton Street gives this list its beer-first option. The bar is built into a parking garage, and its own FAQ lists rotating taps, a substantial bottle selection and wine. It does not serve liquor, so choose another stop if someone’s entire plan revolves around a martini. The food menu runs until 11:30 p.m., and the staff play vinyl from the bar’s collection and their own records. There are televisions for games, too. This is the place to choose when a beer and bar food are enough of an occasion, without needing the setting or cocktail menu of a hotel lounge. Make the plan easy to join Send the exact venue and location when inviting people. Earls and Lolita have other local branches, and the Four Seasons at One Dalton is a different hotel from the one on Boylston Street. If the plan depends on sitting outside, confirm the patio arrangement rather than assuming an ordinary reservation includes it. For a group with a fixed budget, share the current menu before booking. One person’s quick drink can become another person’s expensive evening once food arrives. Give everyone the chance to choose a beer, a cocktail or something without alcohol without making it a negotiation at the table.
Get to know Boston
What the colors of the Zakim Bridge lights mean
Green on the Zakim does not automatically mean the Celtics. Purple does not have one permanent meaning either. The Zakim Bridge lights change for holidays, memorials, and awareness campaigns, and the same color can stand for several unrelated things in a single year. MassDOT publishes a dated lighting calendar. Match the night to the entry, check that the Zakim is one of the bridges listed, and you have a better answer than guessing from the color alone. That last part matters. The state schedules several bridges on the same page. An entry for the Longfellow or the Braga is not automatically an entry for the Zakim. Where to check the Zakim Bridge lights The MassDOT bridge lighting schedule lists the occasion, color, date, and participating bridges. Use the current year, especially if the photo you are looking at has been reposted without a date. The 2026 calendar is a useful demonstration of why a universal color key would fail. Green has already been used for St. Patrick’s Day, Boston Legacy Football Club, and Living Donation Week. Blue has appeared for World Parkinson’s Day and for the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11. Those are not competing theories. They are different nights. A blue bridge photographed in April cannot explain a blue bridge photographed in September. Two September nights this year make the point. On September 11 the Zakim was blue. On September 13 it was green, and that night the Zakim was the only bridge on the list. Same week. Different colors. Different reasons. Multi-color displays can be easier to tell apart, though the date still matters. The schedule names combinations as well as single colors. Read the full line before attaching a meaning to a picture, particularly when the occasion is a memorial or a health campaign. Who gets to decide MassDOT’s bridge lighting policy, dated November 14, 2023, says special displays express the agency’s official views. The bridges are not a public billboard and not an open platform for anyone’s message. A change needs approval from the department’s Office of the General Counsel and the transportation secretary’s concurrence. The policy covers state and federal holidays, other national observances, and public commemorations and celebrations at the national, state, or local level. The calendar can still move after that approval. A screenshot is useful evidence of an earlier plan. The live page is the better place to check what is scheduled now. The Zakim is one of several state bridges with programmable lights. The policy also names the Longfellow, Fore River, Kenneth F. Burns, and Braga bridges. Matching colors across the state can be one coordinated observance, not a coincidence. Why blue looks familiar Blue is also the bridge’s ordinary night look. Color Kinetics, which worked with MassDOT on the LED system, describes the design as blue-lit towers with the cables picked out in white. The company cites architect Miguel Rosales, who wanted a formal entrance to Boston. The LED system was unveiled in December 2012. It replaced older metal halide lights that had been on the bridge since it opened in 2002 and had grown dim. The new fixtures can hold the familiar blue or shift for a listed occasion. The lighting is not a new coat of paint. It is a programmed change. Blue by itself is therefore not enough to identify a tribute. Check whether a special blue display was on the calendar for that night before assigning it a meaning. Read the date before the symbolism For an old photograph, establish the date before looking up the color. For a night you have not seen yet, check the calendar again close to the date. If the page has no matching entry for the Zakim, leave the occasion unconfirmed rather than borrowing one from another month or another bridge. The fastest route to the answer is the least dramatic: date, bridge name, calendar line. Boston has other lights with a code, including the weather beacon on the old Hancock. This one usually comes with a schedule.
Why Bostonians say “wicked” so much
“Wicked good” is a compliment. “Wicked expensive” is a complaint. The same word does both jobs without any concern for whether the subject deserves praise. In Boston, “wicked” often means very or extremely. It turns up the volume on whatever comes next. Say someone is wicked tired and you mean they are very tired, not that they have become a worse person. The meaning comes from how the word is being used. That is the useful thing to know before attempting a Boston impression. You can pronounce every R and still use the word correctly. You can also drop every R and put “wicked” in a sentence where it sounds like you learned to speak from a souvenir sweatshirt. Why Bostonians say wicked before almost anything In this usage, “wicked” is an intensifier. Merriam-Webster records its adverbial meaning alongside the older adjective meaning morally bad. The two uses can occupy the same language without confusion. A wicked person and a wicked good sandwich are different propositions. Think of “wicked cold,” “wicked funny” or “wicked crowded.” The word strengthens the description. It does not tell you whether to like the thing being described. Someone saying the restaurant was wicked busy might be recommending it, explaining a long wait, or wishing they had stayed home. The placement is more important than putting on an accent. “That was wicked good” has the familiar local construction. “That was wicked,” meaning excellent, is another slang use, but it does a different grammatical job. Adding the word everywhere will not make every sentence sound more Boston. The Puritans do not get automatic credit Boston’s reputation makes an origin story involving stern Puritans tempting. But the fact that an old word existed in England does not prove that seventeenth-century settlers brought this particular local use with them. The language program A Way with Words discusses “wicked” as a New England intensifier. That regional association is useful. It does not supply the name of the first person who said it, or a neat date when everyone in Massachusetts agreed to start. There is no need to invent a founding ceremony. People repeat words they hear in their families and communities, and a familiar expression can feel entirely ordinary to one speaker and immediately regional to another. “Wicked” works perfectly well without a colonial certificate of authenticity. Ordering a frappe does not require dropping an R Other local words need a little more translation. A frappe is a thick milkshake; the familiar New England pronunciation rhymes with “cap.” The spelling can make visitors expect a different word, especially if they are thinking of a coffee drink. For an order, the menu is more useful than a debate over terminology. Ask what is in the drink if the distinction matters. Regional vocabulary is interesting until it becomes the reason you receive something other than the ice cream you wanted. “Bubbler” means a drinking fountain, with a history that reaches beyond Massachusetts. Our bubbler explainer separates the regional word from a frequently repeated manufacturing story. Calling it a water fountain is also a perfectly effective way to ask for water. Vocabulary is not the same as an accent The Boston accent concerns sounds: which R’s a speaker pronounces, what happens between words, and how vowels are formed. Vocabulary concerns the words chosen. They overlap in conversation, but one does not require the other. A person raised here might say “wicked” constantly, occasionally, or never. Another might arrive from elsewhere and pick it up. Neither case is a useful citizenship test. Boston contains more than one way of speaking, and ordinary conversation is less uniform than the movie version. If the word is new to you, listen to what follows it. Good, bad, fast, slow, cheap, expensive: the next word does the describing. “Wicked” just makes sure you heard.