Rav Casley Gera

As the rest of the world enjoys its increasingly ambivalent relationship with the ongoing spread of American brand names, it’s strange that, within America, the same tensions exist. You probably know about the attempts some small communities have made to oppose Wal-Mart coming in. Well, on another level entirely, a similar process is at work in Boston - the city’s gradual commercial takeover by New York.

Boston’s not keen on New York. It sees itself as the Big Apple’s mature older brother -not unlike the way Europe sees itself in relation to the US. And it looks very dimly when the brasher, larger, newer city takes its precious things. It started with Babe Ruth - the superstar Yankee started out as a Red Sock. Over the last few years, the city has watched helplessly as some of its proudest institutions have been subsumed. First it was the Boston Globe, now owned by the New York Times. Then, not content with setting up shop next to Boston’s long-loved department store institution, Filene’s, Macy’s announced in 2005 it was going to buy it (or rather, its holding company was to buy Filene’s holding company). Obviously, Macy’s saw no reason to keep open a competitor outside its doors. So, on Saturday September 9th, Filene’s closed.

I didn’t even realise when I went in on Saturday that it was the final day. It looked like a morgue - for several months, it had been used to offload old Macy’s goods at knockdown prices, so it was all but indistinguishable from its budget Basement, which remains operational. But the last day it was, and soon the historic building will be offices. And where will the pigeons perch then?