Bad news for Allston/Brighton college students

since 'Allston' is really just the name of a post office and its accompanying zip code, Oh-Two-One-Three-Four. Brighton is 02135. When Brighton was still an independent town, Allston was part of Brighton.

Somewhere online there must be a map of zip code boundaries, but I'm too lazy right now to find it.

Allston/Brighton Map?

By anonhey
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:02am

How does this float ya

http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/pdfs/appro...

21/22

That doesn't show you

By anon
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:21pm

That doesn't show you anything, bro. The traditional line between the twon, while certainly fuzzy goes along (roughly) Kelton-Gordon-Everett-Mass Pike-Birmingham Parkway.

Of course, no one knows where the actual line is.

Seriously. When I lived on

By anon
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 3:07pm

Seriously. When I lived on Kelton (early 90s), I noticed that my zip was Allston (02134), my phone was Brighton (789 - xxxx) and, weirdly enough, if I had problems with utilities (H20 was a big issue at the time), I was considered Brookline of all places.

Zip codes, not wards, are the dividing line

By BrightonBilly
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 1:15pm

The Zip line runs more north/south than the ward line, following the length of Everett Street from where it hits Soldier's Field Road, crossing the Pike, and then following Gordon Street for most of the way up to Comm. Ave., then cutting through a few blocks before terminating partway up the hill on Allston Street near Kelton. Ron Newman's explanation nailed it: Allston was never a separate political entity, so there was never a boundary line-- or a need for one-- between Allston and Brighton.

not useful

By Ron Newman
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 1:28pm

Both wards 21 and 22 contains parts of Allston and parts of Brighton.

21+ to enter.. whaa

By anonh8
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 9:31am

"Store owners said they didn’t see the minor take the cases out of the store because it was so busy, and officers recommended they post an employee at the door to check IDs as customers enter."

They might as well put in a dance floor since liquor stores are 21+ with bouncers

Years ago, in my misguided

By neilv
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 9:57am

Years ago, in my misguided mid-20s youth, I emailed a list of grad students at MIT my own version of mischievousness (since grown out of):

"Subject: wanna have a little fun?

Head down to Libby's liquor store in Central Square right now and pretend you can't find your ID.

They have three undercover cops, the Commissioner, and the some cameras there, presumably doing some news piece on the underage crackdown.

I ducked in there to pick up a bottle of Merlot for Turkey Day, and was aware of a lot of sudden activity and overheard a couple excited mentions of 'the kid' as I browsed the wines.

And when I went to pay, my driver's license wasn't quite good enough -- the guy wanted to see something else with my name on it.

I just wish I'd thought to have 'misplaced' my ID, only to produce it after the trap was sprung."

I should amend this account to add that my driver's license was still from Rhode Island (I'd just moved, and it had been fine everywhere til that point), and that the guy was very nice and apologetic after he saw I was legit.

I think the TV people botched that stunt, as -- regardless of whatever TV investigative hidden-camera covert commando team action they had going on -- I think most people of average/untrained observational skill would have sensed something wrong the moment they walked in the store.

The Allston/Brighton stings mentioned in the article, on the other hand, actually seem legitimate. And I say: stick it to the obnoxious drunken idiot college kids. :)

Passport to Stupidity

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:18am

In the mid-1980s, I once saw a manager at Kappy's gruffly and rudely refuse to accept my friend's United States Passport because "we don't accept no foreign IDs - only MA driver's licenses!".

Okay. So you can drink yourself blind if you can drive, but what if you can't drive because you are blind???

Funny ideas about what ID is ok to buy booze

By Martin O'B
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:32am

Back in the early 90s, I was sent off to buy some beer for a party at a friend's house, since I was the only person over 21 that had arrived yet.

Me and another guy went around the corner to the local store. I put the stuff on the counter, and showed the cashier my id, which at that time was just a Mass picture ID (I lived in the city, had no need to drive a car, and I had gotten the ID before I was 21, so no liquor id).

Aside from the fact that it wasn't a 'liquor id', the guy complained that my id had expired. I tried to explain to him that, even if the id had 'expired', I STILL had the same birth date, which is what really mattered. He refused to sell to me.

At this point, my cohort stepped up and flashed his military id, and the cashier sold him the goods. The funny thing was, my friend (who was in the National Guard) was ONLY 18!

I hate to say it but the

By ShadyMilkMan
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 11:49am

I hate to say it but the cashier had a point, it wasnt a legit id for the purposes of buying liquor. Also it was expired, and while that may not seem to be a big deal think of it this way, if its expired someone could have just given it to you. I got my new license and still have my old one, I could just hand it to my brother who looks like me from that time in my life and let him run around buying booze. Id still have my id, and could feign ignorance if he is caught with my old id. On the other hand if I were stupid enough to let him use my id and he got caught and they kept it Id be screwed.

Timely question

By anon
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:36am

I don't know the whole answer, but in Sweden at least, a recent local court case says you can't drive with just one eye open, if you're drunk and trying not to see double.

http://www.thelocal.se/15320/20081030/

Drunk and Drunker

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 11:47am

Ha! I'm sure that it wasn't the one eye open that was her problem - in Sweden, 0.02% is too drunk to drive (e.g. more than 1 beer in an hour for that mythic typical 150lb man).

MA is 0.08%, and used to be 0.15!!

hello, state ID...

By anon
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:38am

Ever heard of a "state ID"?

Hello, State Department ID

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 11:56am

I had a MA state ID because I had an OR drivers license in college. That still doesn't excuse rank provincial stupidity or rudeness when it comes to using what should have been a vastly preferable ID format ... if one ever bothered to learn that like a professional liquor store manager should.

A US Passport is not only NOT a "foreign ID", it was far more secure than any state license or state ID at the time. In the 1980s, state licenses were so easy to forge that you could get a fake for cheap that was good enough to get you a real MA drivers license! I knew barkeeps who had books of all the different license appearances from all the different states valid at the time so they could reference them - each state had multiple variations and there wasn't yet all the holographic stuff. Meanwhile, there was only one US passport format and the government controlled the supply of the special paper it was printed on (it was thus on the approved ID list posted on the wall of the store to boot).

OR to MA

By anon
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:05pm

If you didn't leave Oregon for Mass because of College, why would you make that change? Oregon seems like a much more peaceful and happy place.

thanks for setting us straight on that one

By Brett
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:05pm

A US Passport is not only NOT a "foreign ID",

Well shiiiyyyat. Learn somethin' everyday. You cityfolk sure are sharp.

My Pleasure

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:13pm

Were you a manager at Kappy's in the mid-80's who didn't get that basic fact and refused a US passport as a "foreign ID"?

Or is this just another one of those EVERYTHING has to be about Brett moments here wherein Brett MUST make some comment that Brett thinks is clever?

Want some dilute acetic acid with that?

The OP said "heard of state IDs?"

By Brett
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:19pm

...in response, probably, to you saying "Okay. So you can drink yourself blind if you can drive, but what if you can't drive because you are blind???"

...and then you launched into a bizarre rant lecturing us that gosh, US passports are not foreign IDs.

Yawn. Checking out.

Passport as ID

By Allstonian
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:05pm

Liquor stores weren't the only places that refused US passports as ID in the 80s - I had mine refused as ID in a bank more than once when I tried to cash a check.

I was denied with my passport too

By Passportuser
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:42pm

It was at the Lynwood in Randolph, which I go to about once a month. It was my Birthday and my wallet got stolen that weekend and since it was Sunday I had to wait till Monday to get a new license. I had my trusty ol' Passport just in case they carded me, even though they hadn't in the past. But as my luck goes the bartender carded me and I showed her my passport that is used to get in and out of the country. She denied me. We asked the manager and he denied me. I just wanted a bud with my pizza. I think it's insane people don't take passports, but it seems like it isn't uncommon. Go figure.

You had to mention the Lynwood

By merlinmurph
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 1:56pm

Now I've got massive pizza cravings. Might have to make a road trip this weekend.

Was recently denied with my

By anon
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 3:14pm

Was recently denied with my passport and a NY DL at a wine store in East Cambridge. Now, I'm pushing forty and both IDs quite clearly indicated that. Visit the place every other week or so and have never had any problems except for this one time (the owner 'vouched' for me after my asking the cashier, who'd been rather hostile to me, to find him.) Given that the guy who took my order was an angry person of Arab origins, I'd wondered if it didn't have anything to do with the fact that I was a single, blonde female buying liquor.

Are you implying that

By Jeff F
Sat, 11/15/2008 - 10:39am

Are you implying that somehow Arab=Muslim=misogynist teetotaler? It seems a stretch to imagine someone of that sort finding employment in a liquor store.

More likely he'd been dinged for being too lax on IDing in the past and was overcompensating, or you looked just like his ex girlfriend, or he was constipated, or any number of other typical explanations behind the jerkwad behaviour we all encounter everyday. The world's too full of hate and mistrust to go looking for reasons to let race/ethnic/etc prejudice into your head.

I mean - just think of all the perfectly good reasons to loathe people on an individual basis!

Yeah Kappys is silly like

By ShadyMilkMan
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 11:53am

Yeah Kappys is silly like that. The ones Ive been to wont accept liquor ids either. I thought the entire point of a liquor id was so you could walk into a liquor store and buy liquor without having a drivers license? The craziest thing happened at the one in Medford, I was with a friend who has a liquor id and they wouldnt let him buy his beer with his id because it was just a liquor id. I stepped up and offered to pay for it and showed them my id. Apparently protocol in this case is to check the ids of all people in front of the register but since they wouldnt accept his id they wouldnt allow me to buy it. We ended up leaving the store with my liquor, then I had him sit in the car while I walked back in, picked up the stuff and wanted, went to a different cashier, paid and left.

Happened to me, too

By Bender
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 1:51pm

Got a guy at the liquor store deny my passport (couldn't find my driver's license, for some reason, so grabbed the passport) because they are, and I quote, "Easy to fake." At that point I was 23 and had been to about six different countries in Europe. "Do you really think I faked all these stamps from France and Italy and the student visa from the UK?" I asked, but the guy wouldn't budge. Luckily a guy stocking beer ended up being a high school classmate of mine and vouched for my age.

allston brighton

By bostnkid
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 10:40am

i grew up in brighton and we always considered anything across the pike and anything from union square(going towards boston) allston.