Jovonie Houston posed a question yesterday:
I’m from Boston (born and raised), and a REALTOR, and I have a very serious question…
What is “Southern Mattapan”?
Naturally, some wisenheimers promptly answered: "Milton."
But it seems somebody out there is trying to make "Southern Mattapan" exist. Google "Southern Mattapan" and the first thing that comes up is a Realtor.com overview of the neighborhood, which includes this interesting fact:
You can find dozens of grocery stores, and hundreds of cafes and restaurants in Southern Mattapan.
The page also features a map, which shows what, yes, appears to be the southern part of Mattapan, except for Mattapan Square, and on which you can click to overlay the locations of current wildfires in Boston's newest neighborhood. But in case Southern Mattapan is not for you, Realtor.com has alternatives:
There are 21 cities in or around Southern Mattapan. Brush Hill has a median listing home price of $967.5K, making it the most expensive city. Franklin Field South is the most affordable city, with a median listing home price of $564.9K.
Another site, which does include Mattapan Square as part of Southern Mattapan, lists a population of 17,301.
Imperial Kitchen, a Chinese takeout place in Roslindale Square, says it delivers to Southern Mattapan.
A New Zealand short-term rental site offers 27 vacation rentals in Southern Mattapan, and answers the most commonly asked questions about the neighborhood, including "What are the best romantic weekend getaways in or near Southern Mattapan?" and "Are there mansions for rent in or near Southern Mattapan?" (the answer to which is, sadly, no).
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Comments
Southern Mattapan?
By tachometer
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:39am
These guys are amateurs. Everybody knows that it's the hip new neighborhood of SoMa.
his never would have happened
By Alls well
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:52am
his never would have happened in old SoMa.
Curley
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 7:49am
Saint Jim would never have allowed this.
And…
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 10:16am
It should stand for “South of Mattapan” not “Southern Mattapan”
But I hear that all the top trendsetters have set their sights on Franklin Field South (FFS).
Oh, FFS is right
By tachometer
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 11:49am
And it's the more well known version of that initialism which pops into my mind whenever I hear realtor marketing garbage like this.
wye duzz soma sound like the new mass-and-cass drug.
By schneidz
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 6:38pm
wye duzz soma sound like the new mass-and-cass drug.
Blame the realtors
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:42am
and developers for the ridiculous names of sections of the City and developments within the City.
The problem is
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 11:35am
The problem is, this idiocy seems to be sticking. It seems as if "SoWa" has become an actual thing. We're doomed.
The Irony Being....
By John Costello
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 5:15pm
"SoWa" - Is east of Washington Street.
True, but it is also indeed south of Washington
By HenryAlan 2.0
Tue, 07/25/2023 - 12:06pm
Washington runs at a diagonal to the cardinal points, so everything to the right (as you face inbound/northeast) is both east and south of Washington. I'm looking forward to the day when my corner of Roslindale is rebranded as NoWa, or hope beyond hope, WeWa.
New York streets was better
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:54pm
New York streets was better but inly a few are keft
Can we blame AI?
By SwirlyGrrl
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 12:15pm
Either the site got pranked and nobody noticed and enshrined it, or an AI found some obscure but totally hilarious email thread from a community group or reddit playground sometime the last 20 years and considered this to be "research".
I realized Realtors
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 6:44pm
we’re morons when they advertised condos at Broadway MBTA station as the Seaport area or condos on Old Colony as “steps to Castle Island”.
Adorable.
By Alls well
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:53am
Adorable.
That's my cousin
By Jay
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 10:36am
And it kind of is a thing, IMO
Dorchester Lower Mills
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 12:00pm
is North Milton, at least in their heads.
SoMa is an old story
By Waquiot
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 12:11pm
The apartment complex off Cummins Highway by the bridge rebranded itself as the SoMa Apartments so long ago I forget when. 2017? Definitely before the commuter rail station opened, as they also started hyping transit access, which was odd as the station construction had just begun.
Mmhmm not new
By Transphobia Watch
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 1:00pm
Black-owned businesses with Hyde Park/Roslindale ZIP codes, especially the ones catering partially or entirely to a queer clientele, have been saying they're in Southern Mattapan for years. It's a way of signaling they're in Blacker/browner block of HP/Ros, so people don't see "Hyde Park" and think they're having to go to a very white residential neighborhood where they might be less safe.
Weird
By Waquiot
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 9:25pm
I kind of get Roslindale , though “West Mattapan” would be more geographically correct, but Hyde Park? That’s been a black neighborhood for decades now. I mean, why not call Mattapan South Roxbury in that case, since 55 years ago “South Mattapan” was mostly white people.
Less safe in Hyde park lol
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 11:25pm
Less safe in Hyde park lol
Less safe?
By registeredUser2
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 9:13am
That would be Mattapan, sweatie. Very white residential neighborhoods are safer in this part of town and even this city, no matter your skin color. I live (and grew up in) in this part of Southern Mattapan (re: Lower Washington/Mt. Hope) and no one has ever called it SoMa until now. I am curious which businesses say they are in Southern Mattapan, I would like to have a look and maybe patronize them.
*points to username*
By Transphobia Watch
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 10:29am
Why do racists always say "skin color" rather than race?
Please keep out of our businesses with your delusions that white people are safe for us.
It is racist to say white people aren't safe for you.
By registeredUser2
Tue, 07/25/2023 - 9:36am
Very rude and disingenuous of you to be racist against white folks while trying to prove your inane point.
This just needs to stop
By Rand McNally
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 12:52pm
All of these swanky-sounding names just has to stop by these realtors. Then the victims they sell or lease to just perpetuate it making them sound silly. The locals don't know wher eany of these are.
What ever you do, don't call 311 for SoMa or South Mattapan. You will be told its not in Boston and not on their list of neighborhoods.
Indeed that was the experience when trying to report a problem at "Forest Hills." They don't know those either. Also skip Readville since that is Hyde Park.
The biggest sin is these realtors talking up these properties all over the city and sucking in out-of-towners with th eplace sight unseen based on the lies. Then they get here and it's a roach motel with a leaky roof. Just try to get that deposit back as well.
Read r/Boston on Reddit sometime. So many sad stories.
It's near the Brookline line.
By Chris77
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 1:37pm
It's near the Brookline line.
Oh, you mean ...
By adamg
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 2:26pm
Northern Brookline?
And let’s not even start on
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 7:53am
And let’s not even start on the question of what town Chestnut Hill is in…
Brookline tried something...
By anon
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 12:04pm
Calling Harvard St south of Beacon St: SoBe
Boston Harbor Distillery and Venezia
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 3:56pm
both assure visitors to their websites that they are in Boston, or On Boston Harbor. Of course, they are in the Port Norfolk village of Dorchester, adjacent to the Neponset River Estuary, which flows into Dorchester Bay. It's within the 02122 Zip Code, which is the USPS office in Fields Corner.
i think that south south south boston ...
By schneidz
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 6:25pm
would have a better ring to it.
It could go new-old school
By tachometer
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 8:14pm
My dad grew up in Mattapan Square when the main thoroughfare was nicknamed "Jew Hill Ave" because they were the dominant population there (I'm still salty that I never got to go to the G&G Deli).
Maybe "New Hill Ave" should be the marketing term.
So it's sort of like JP Moss
By anon
Sat, 07/22/2023 - 7:32pm
So it's sort of like JP Moss Hill and JPRox. Brokers would through JPRox under the bus if they got a phone call with $3 mil signed lease or p&s from JPMoss Hill.
Completly ridiculous
By Don't Panic
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 2:08am
You cannot just create a neighborhood out of whole cloth. Whose interest does this rebranding serve?
Google's fake neighborhoods?
By JonT
Mon, 07/24/2023 - 10:38pm
Google has a habit of making up neighborhood names that nobody in real life actually uses (but then they start to use them because that's what Google says). Google labels the part of Brighton along Foster St just north of Comm Ave "St. Elizabeth's", even though it's not really near the hospital of that name. And They call the area just north of Brighton Center "Oak Square", even though it's a mile east of the actual Oak Square
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