Cocktail Club

Corean Reynolds is reimagining what a night out in Boston means

"I really want the downtown area to be a reflection of the other 22 neighborhoods that we have."

By Zipporah Osei and Kevin Slane

May 1, 2023

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Boston is a city of pubs and neighborhood haunts, but residents have long complained that the city doesn’t come alive the way it should after work hours. Coming off the heels of pandemic lockdowns, city officials want that to change. 

When people think of Boston, they should be able to think of a bustling downtown that reflects the many neighborhoods and communities that make up the city. That’s the vision Corean Reynolds, the city’s new “nightlife czar,” sees for the future of Boston. 

As the first-ever director of nightlife economy, it’s Reynolds’ job to put some energy into the after-hours industry through partnerships with local businesses, new policies, and initiatives. 

Boston.com readers have been vocal about wanting to see changes to Boston’s nightlife, and Reynolds knows those complaints well. Her new role has meant she’s been in continuous conversation with Bostonians who want to see changes made that will not only support existing bars and clubs but will invite new opportunities for late night fun in Boston. 

A month into the job, Reynolds sat down with Boston.com to discuss her hopes for the future of nightlife in the city, how she wants to transform downtown Boston, and her favorite place to get a cocktail. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Boston.com: For those of our readers who might be unfamiliar with your role, can you give a summary of what being the director of nightlife economy entails, and what your goals are as the so-called nightlife czar of Boston?

Corean Reynolds: This may evolve over time, right, as I’ve been in the role for a month and it’s a newly crafted role. What I see my role here at the City of Boston and the director of nightlife economy is to serve as a liaison for nightlife industry, for community, and the city agency. Really coordinating city services, creating policy, and programs to promote the…growth and diversity, creativity and inclusion. Promote the quality of life for all Boston residents and people who visit here.

One of the duties of the job is talking to internal and external stakeholders to better understand the post-pandemic challenges to a nightlife economy. Who are the types of folks you’ve been talking to, and what have you been hearing about how the pandemic has changed nightlife in Boston?

Internally, I have some great colleagues in the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion and partners in this work. There’s a lot of focus in different areas already, in nightlife and just in the economy in general.

John Borders IV, who is our director for tourism, sports, and entertainment, and then Kathleen Joyce, who is the chairwoman of our licensing board and our cannabis licensing board. Those have been my two partners in crime, if you will, to really understanding the processes of businesses and licenses that you need to create some of the excitement and the experiences that we want to foster and also invest in even more.

There’s stuff already happening, so how do we amplify that? How do we support that, to grow that? John has a really cool job with tourism and sports and the entertainment side of things, so all the conventions that are coming in and all of the parties that we have. The city’s indoor gatherings like the Donna Summer gathering in City Hall Plaza, our parades, our festivals, like the Puerto Rican day festival.

Externally I’ve been meeting business owners and Main Streets groups, as well as listening to folks who feel like they have a stake in the nightlife — whether there’s a student here that wants to see different things happening, or long-standing residents from different neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Downtown, Dorchester. I’ve just been listening and learning from them and what I’m hearing from them, to answer your question, are a few things. 

There are some of the…things that you will automatically think of, like, ‘We’ve got to extend the T and we’ve got to have happy hour,’ which are two things that are regulated at the state level. I can suggest policy [changes] and make a case for why we would want to advance legislation that may change those laws, but I cannot directly change that. There are those, but then it’s also like, the diversity of offerings beyond clubs and bars. So what are some of the experiences that are for sober folks, folks who are from the Cape Verdean community, folks from the queer community, the LGBTQIA+ community. Where are the spaces that are owned by people of color in the queer community? A lot of folks trying to find spaces where they can have a sense of identity and connection to them. Those are the top few that I would name.

I’ve heard from both Mayor Wu and your office that there is a long-term goal of wanting to make downtown Boston a 24-hour city. In an ideal scenario, what does that look like?

That’s a great question. I really want the downtown area to be a reflection of the other 22 neighborhoods that we have. We have a total of 23. How do we infuse the other flavors, the other cultures, and identities of those communities in the downtown area? So when people visit the downtown area, whether they’re a resident or traveler, they really get a clear sense of all that the city has to offer. The deep cultural ties that we have to so many different ethnicities and different identities throughout the city.

High level, that’s what I would love to see there. But I’d also love to see people interacting with each other in the square. If we look at Winter Street, how do we activate that space? Let’s say we get a bunch of folks to occupy office spaces again. How do we get folks not only going downtown to work, but afterward enjoying the space? We are a cold city during the winter months. How do we embrace that? How do we create experiences and activities so that we truly embrace the kind of city that we are, and get people interacting and finding new things every time they come visit?

That’s what I’m thinking about, pie in the sky. That will look like a lot of different things. We really want the community to have a voice in what that looks like going forward.

This city is made up of 23 incredible neighborhoods. And yet you hear from people who get stuck in a bit of an enclave, and have rarely set foot in huge swaths of the city. You already said long-term that’s a goal you’d love to rectify. Are there early ideas you have, smaller things that you might hope to implement sooner rather than later, that can help address that?

Totally. One, this is going to be a participatory process. I’m gathering feedback on what they would love to see. What kind of options and ideas we have that are quicker fixes, and so I’m constantly gathering feedback for that. Some of those ideas have been a centralized location to know what events are happening, what restaurants you can go to at night, what theater shows or music events you can go to at night. Because what I’m hearing is [people] get to Boston and they’re like, ‘We don’t know where to find what to do.’ I think that’s something that we can achieve in the next few months coming up, and something we’ll definitely consider.

And then just really identifying the policies that we do have that allow for some innovation in the space. What does that mean? There is a license for BYOB. I don’t think a lot of Bostonians know that, and that particular license has some restrictions on it. Maybe we can reimagine what those restrictions are.

Maybe there’s a pretty low seat count that you have to have to have this license. What if we expanded that seat count not from the downtown but in our neighborhoods? What would that look like? Maybe your nail shop would have late-night appointments where you can bring your bottle of champagne and have a night out with your girlfriends. Or maybe a paint shop might allow you to bring a bottle and enjoy a night of painting or something like that. Rethinking, looking at what we have, and then reimagining how we can make them work for earlier wins.

Boston.com has a Cocktail Club which is a space for our readers who are really interested in the bar and cocktail scene in Boston to connect with local bartenders and to discuss the nightlife scene in the city. What’s your favorite bar in Boston, and why do you love it?

I’m a cocktail girlie so I love a well-balanced cocktail. The first cocktail that I fell in love with was the Dante Picante at MIDA. If someone was like, ‘Okay, where do you want to have a cocktail?’ … That’s probably where I would go. But there’s so many different offerings like Bully Boy [Distillers]. That’s one of my favorite places to go and try unique cocktails because they’re always innovating and changing up that menu. And then it’s all in-house, locally-distilled alcohol, so that’s a plus.

Do you have a neighborhood that you think is the best for nightlife, or do you have a favorite place to hang out after work?

Generally speaking, if I’m hanging out after work, I’m gonna go to Hue which is over in the Back Bay Copley Square area. That’s my after-work hangout. If I want to hang out after work on the weekends and just grab a burger and catch up with friends or a beer, I’d go to Costello’s in [Jamaica Plain] because I’m a JP resident.

What would you consider as the ideal night out in Boston?

I get asked this question quite a bit. And I try to switch it up but when something’s good, it’s good. We are blessed to have so many different institutions, museums, theaters, in the city, and so that night can go anywhere. You can either see a great show over at the [Boch Center] or the Huntington Theatre. You could go to one of the museums and then end your night at a restaurant like Hue or Mida. Or you can even … listen to music from local folks from Berklee over at Wally’s. That is an ideal night for me, just hopping around from different areas. If I’m in the theater district, after I see a show I’m going to Dumpling Cafe to end my night with some soup dumplings for sure. Maybe go to the W to listen to music, DJ. There’s so many things that make a good night because there are options out there. 

I know when people think of nightlife they go kind of automatically to bars and clubs in the city. But obviously, like you mentioned, Boston has a lot to offer aside from just bars and clubs. So what are some of your favorite nighttime social events? 

I love when our museum institutions, they do their late nights, because it’s just an interesting way to interact with culture, with art. I love that. I also like doing an activity when I’m out so recently I went to [PKL Boston], which is a pickleball, indoor pickleball experience. There’s also Spin which is ping pong. Then there’s…a paint shop [at Canvas Studio] over in Hyde Park Square. And then go into Park 54, that’s a good way to spend the night. … They’re doing a great job [at Canvas Studio] and it’s fun because sometimes they turn the entire studio into a canvas and you could just splatter paint everywhere which is a great experience to get a little bit of aggression out.

You talked a little bit about the first cocktail you fell in love with in Boston, but what’s your current cocktail of choice?

There is a cocktail over at Hue called The Huntington … and it’s just the right balance of sour and sweet and it’s very tropical which I’m a big fan of. There’s this balance, I’m always for a well-balanced cocktail. There’s also a pistachio martini at the Pearl. I’m also a really big fan.

This is something we like to ask the guest bartenders during our Cocktail Club events. If you were a cocktail, what kind of cocktail would you be and why?

That is a great question. And I know how to answer this very well. No one’s ever asked me this so I’m glad that you’re asking me this because everybody should know. I love a spicy tequila-based cocktail so I’d probably be a spicy pineapple margarita.

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