Filene's is tumbling down

The old Filene's building is getting torn down this week, and people are lining up to watch. There are these two dinosaur-like machines with huge jaws that grab and hold and shake girders. I'm not sure what the fascination is. I know I've stopped a few times and I wonder if one of the machines will pull the the entire building down on top of the operator and I'll be the eye witness of a disaster. That's part of the element of NASCAR. There's the potential danger.

But there's more. I'm sorry to see Filene's go. I love Downtown Crossing, and a few times have blogged about it, calling it Boston's Times Square. Boston isn't all "pawking the cawr at HawvardYawrd"....as a matter of fact, that is a tiny aspect of Boston. Boston is multi-racial and multi-cultural, and Downtown Crossing is one of the few places in Boston where you can see that. You don't see people of color at Fenway Park, the Garden (TD Banknorth Garden), Faneuil Hall, or any other Boston tourist site. Truth be told, Boston is a pretty racist, segregated city.

So, the powers that be, the developers, are putting in a 38-story glass tower in place of the old department store. And this morning standing on the other side of the street were two very old women, watching quietly. I asked them both what they were thinking. The first said she was sad. I said, I bet you spent a lot of time in there, and she laughed and said yes. The other said she missed the basement. (That would be Filene's Basement, the long-time place where Bostonians bought discount from Filene's.)

But things change. Sometimes I just get a glint of what those two women must be feeling. Blogging more, instead of writing for publication. Reaching out this way, sometimes I do wish for the days of a typewriter, when you could feel each letter of each word with a punch and a snap.

And all in all, I think change is good. If you don't embrace it, if you just live in the past, you're just waiting for the Grim Reaper to tap you on the shoulder.