Hidden Gems

Opened on New Year's Day 1947 as Wally's Paradise, the club was the first nightclub in New England owned by a Black man, according to the club. It is still run by the Walcott family and presents live music every night of the year in a narrow room on Massachusetts Avenue.

Berklee and New England Conservatory students sit in with veteran players at jam sessions Tuesday through Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m., followed by night sets until midnight. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday. There are no reservations; seating is first-come.

The Mapparium is a three-story stained-glass globe that visitors walk through on a glass bridge, showing the political map of the world as it stood in 1935. It is part of the How Do You See the World? experience at the Mary Baker Eddy Library on Christian Science Plaza.

The room's spherical glass produces unusual acoustics, and the political borders are frozen in 1935. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, with the last tour at 4:40 p.m. Weekend afternoon tickets are sold onsite only. Boston Public Library card holders can reserve a pass for free adult admission.

The Lilypad is an independent music venue and event space in Inman Square that books jazz, experimental, rock and singer-songwriter shows most nights, along with piano lessons, yoga and art classes.

It is a small room with seated and standing shows, a low door price and an eclectic calendar. Shows on Oct. 20, 2026, for example, were listed at $15 and $13 admission.

Lizard Lounge is a 21-and-over basement club on Massachusetts Avenue known for its red lighting and intimate stage. Rolling Stone called it an "intimate, eclectic hot spot," according to the club.

The club is open Wednesday through Sunday nights and books local and touring acts in a room small enough that there is no distance between performers and the audience. It also serves food and drinks.

The Brattle is a nonprofit single-screen repertory cinema operated by the Brattle Film Foundation, showing classic, foreign and independent films, film festivals and in-person conversations with filmmakers.

Its double features, which screen two films back to back for one ticket, are a long-running Harvard Square tradition. The fall 2026 calendar includes the Boston Palestine Film Festival and a conversation with author Jim Shepard and actor Casey Affleck.

Yvonne's is a New American restaurant and supper club on Winter Place, an alley off Winter Street. It occupies the former home of Locke-Ober, which operated at the address from the 19th century until 2012.

The entrance is easy to miss, and the restaurant describes itself as flowing from dinner and drinks into lounging later in the night, which makes it a common choice for a date or celebration.

Founded in 1831, Mount Auburn is America's first garden cemetery and a National Historic Landmark. Its 175 acres of landscaped paths, ponds and trees draw more than 200,000 visitors a year, according to the cemetery.

It is one of the region's best places for fall foliage and birding. The grounds are open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Note: the Washington Tower lookout has been temporarily closed for maintenance since Oct. 17, 2026.

Inside the Central Library's 1895 McKim Building in Copley Square is an arcaded Italian Renaissance-style courtyard with a fountain, open to anyone during library hours.

Many passers-by in Copley Square do not know it is there. It is a quiet, free place to sit or read, steps from the library's Bates Hall reading room. The Central Library is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Harvard University's 281-acre Arnold Arboretum holds more than 15,000 cataloged plants and is part of Boston's Emerald Necklace park system.

Peters Hill, in the southern part of the grounds, offers one of the widest views of the downtown skyline in the city. The landscape is open daily from sunrise to sunset, admission is always free, and the Hunnewell Visitor Center is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants comprises 4,300 glass models of 780 plant species made by Czech glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka between 1886 and 1936. The gallery was renovated in 2016.

The models are accurate enough to be mistaken for real plants. Admission to the museum, open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., also covers the connected Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.