🍹🤑 If you like (free!) piña coladas ...

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

🦪 It’s also National Oyster Day! If you want to celebrate, may we suggest perusing the TONS of $1 oyster deals around the city? There are literally 18+ spots serving them up today alone. 

💸 Has our vibecession impacted your renting plans? Have you been priced out of your neighborhood? Had to get more roommates? Skipped on moving to save $$$? We want to chat with you for an upcoming story! Shoot Gia an email at [email protected]. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• More booze coming to Boston

• Our favorite kind of noods

• New rat fear unlocked

Up first…

AUGUST FREEBIES

Last call for summer freebies!

“Salt air, and free events at your door … we never needed anything more.” — probably Taylor Swift if she read B-Side. We’re T-27 days till Labor Day (sorry), so before August slips away, be sure to add these free events to your social calendar:

🌿 Embrace your black thumb. We were today-years-old when we learned The Superette in the Seaport has a FREE snip-your-own herb garden on Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. Take your pick from mint, dill, cilantro, and basil (without having to keep it alive <3).

🧶 Sip a pilsner while you purl. The Greenway’s team is clearly reading our minds with its new pints and purls event, a beginner-friendly knitting class at Night Shift in Dewey Square starting Aug. 7. Bonus: Boston Fiber Company provides free materials and instruction!

🍹 Crown Boston’s new rum daddy. Mojitos, daiquiris, piña coladas — if it has rum in it, it’s probably at Time Out Market’s best rum cocktail competition on Aug. 17. Your job: Sample alllll the rum cocktails from Boston’s top bartenders and restaurants and vote for your fave.

🤠 Swing your partner ‘round and ‘round … to the Great American Beer Hall on Aug. 20 for a beginner-friendly night of line dancing. This video from their last event is SO cute. Even better: This spot holds the elusive going-out trifecta: great beer, great food, and great vibes.

🏋️ Squeeze in the last free outdoor workouts. And boy, do you have options. 1. Shameless plug for our pilates class with Any Body Pilates at Faneuil Hall on Aug. 10. 2. Sweat it out to your favorite “Hamilton” tracks at these iconic Broadway Burn classes on Aug. 11 and 18. 3. And stretch out to an Esplanade sunset with CorePower Yoga on Aug. 7, 14, and 21.

🌝 Celebrate joy, good health, and a season of good crops. That’s exactly what Chinatown’s August Moon Festival on Aug. 10 is all about. Expect the neighborhood to be loaded with food and gift vendors, folk and lion dancing, calligraphy, and more.

🪩 Turn a Boston art museum into a bumpin’ club. We’re obv talking about the ICA’s vinyl nights where you can dance your heart out to Boston’s hottest vinyl-only DJs. And PSA: There are only FOUR of them left! 

QUICK QUESTION!

👀 When do you usually read The B-Side?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🍺 Mass. really said: “Do you have anything … stronger?” Under the new state budget, towns and cities can opt in to allow their restaurants with beer and wine licenses to upgrade said licenses for free and serve liquor. The move is part of a larger push to make these often six-figure licenses more accessible, considering an all-alcohol license costs ~six times more than a beer and wine license. And, not to jinx it, but Boston is likely to lead the charge — Mayor Michelle Wu plans to start the process here soon. 

🏘️ We’ve officially kissed renter-paid broker fees goodbye. So … what now? Now that the fees are officially gonzo (unless you actually hire a broker), Gov. Maura Healey’s office released a Q&A to help you navigate the new landscape. It answers questions like: If I just signed my Sept. 1 lease, do I still have to pay my broker fee? (Spoiler: probably). And, does reaching out over Zillow count as “hiring”? (no, but def confirm with the broker that they’re working for the landlord). Check out the full list here.

🚲 The Bluebike baddies are taking over. And by “taking over,” we mean annual ridership increased by a whopping 2.7 million people between 2020 and 2024. The Globe just dropped all sorts of juicy data like that about Boston’s bikeshare program, and, by all accounts, it’s seriously taking off. Unsurprisingly, most of the stations and rides are concentrated around Downtown and Cambridge, with less central neighborhoods like Mattapan, Hyde Park, and even Roxbury and Brighton, seeing far fewer rides. Meanwhile, the busiest stations see almost 50,000 trips during commuting hours alone.

🤤 We’re eating GOOD this week. Great news for nood lovers: After a three-year hiatus, Noodle Lab is making a grand return to the Boston Public Market, where it served hearty ramen and rice bowls from 2014 to 2022. You can stop in now to try these dreamy-looking ramen, gyoza, japchae, and bao. Meanwhile, on Aug. 6, the South End is getting a new American gastropub, Louis Corner. Details are still under wraps, but may we just say, the vibes look *immaculate*.

GIVEAWAY

Together with SmartSKN

Enter to win a personalized AI-powered skincare session at SmartSKN! To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Aug. 7, 2025. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

Maybe the rats DO run this city

New nightmare unlocked: On Friday night, Bostonian Min Namgung was minding her own business on Mountfort Street by Fenway Park when she felt a sharp pain on her foot. At first, she wasn’t sure what had happened, but when she saw a rat scurry away into the bushes, it dawned on her: She was bitten by a Fenway rat. 

Obviously, she freaked out and went to the ER, where she got a tetanus shot, a rabies shot, antibiotics, and instructions to return, all of which should protect her against any rat-borne illnesses (omg). She’s OK now, but took to TikTok to share her story, which quickly went viral. 

Her advice to us? Don’t walk outside in the dark with sandals on. HEARD.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🐀 Thanks for reading! Sooooo, about that rat birth control?

🥟 The results are in: The B-Siders want us to try out Darling in Central Square, and your wish is our command. One reader said: “The fried fish bao is something I dream about."

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].