My first apartment in Boston was a month-long sunny sublet on Boylston St. in JP, two blocks from the small City Feed. The afternoon I moved in, I bought a Moroccan Mint iced tea with honey syrup and texted my BFF that this small pleasure was enough to keep me in Boston forever.
A few years later and I’ve moved back to JP from Somerville, and graduated to the big City Feed on the corner of Centre, where I purchase a Spindrift cucumber seltzer or hot tea and write in my journal, often sitting in the window seat until they close. City Feed provides a perfect vantage point from which to gaze at our idyllic hamlet (called “The Eden of America” during the 19th century). I love to watch my neighbors flaneur from the bottom to the top of JP’s main drag, sometimes pausing for a chat, or sometimes simply waving from the street.
While it’s a symbol of a changing city, (the larger location replaced Videosmith in 2007), their support for non-profits like Girls Rock Camp and Bikes Not Bombs and emphasis on local, quality food provides an oasis for the entire community.
Plus, they keep hiring my friends, which is rad, and definitely makes City Feed a place to hang.
— Jennie Rose Halperin
