Blue-Collar vs White-Collar
NoName was created during a time in which the South Boston Waterfront served as a place of work for fishermen, construction workers, and other blue-collar, laborious jobs. This hard-working, macho environment came to define the waterfront in the coming decades, and one can certainly still identify the influence of its past inhabitants as you engage in conversation with the workers along Fish Pier. Located in the middle of Fish Pier sandwiched between fish- processing plants, the restaurant is still able to preserve its fundamental surroundings while in the midst of technological revolution at its doorstep.
15 ½ Fish Pier East is where one will find NoName Restaurant, located along the South Boston Waterfront. Within the confines of the Innovation District, NoName preserves a gritty existence founded on working class customers, although the Kennedys and a number of Boston-based celebrities have been frequent guests. Nowadays, the location of the establishment sticks out a bit like a sore thumb due to its cultural history juxtaposed with the more recent slew of innovative firms existing within the area. In the early 20th century, the Seaport District’s identity was primarily that as a fishing port, while modern renovations to the district has tried to redefine it as a trendy technological and business hub. The rather recent erection of the New World Trade Center attests to the transition of the district as a whole to a marketable Boston attraction rather than a blue-collar workplace. Next door on the pier, the World Trade Center proudly sits with its dozens of nation’s flags waving as the sea breeze creates a majestic still of interconnectedness. However, the Innovation District is more well known as the fastest growing area of Boston; the iDistrict boasts as an area doe catapulted economic growth for the city with its large startup influence and culture. The surrounding area has become a popular tech hub in New England and is even beginning to rival those of other East Coast technology staples such as New York City and Washington D.C (2). Weaving the collective narrative of the Seaport District as a whole from its industrialist days to its recent technology-focused businesses is a difficult task, but NoName’s unwillingness to budge can seem to act as a bridge between what Boston as a whole represents: a modern city with founding principles that shapes the narrative of its inhabitant’s ethics and identity.
Sources:
2) http://www.innovationdistrict.org/faq/