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Although it’s no longer in its original downtown location, the Paradise is the oldest name among Boston rock venues. Icons Van Halen, the Police, and Blondie from the ’70s and ’80s first put the club on the map. Today, the Paradise remains true to its rock ’n’ roll roots, welcoming nationally recognized acts that favor volume levels north of ten.

This split-level café with a patio has a lovely view onto the Public Garden (see Boston Common & Public Garden) and an inspired menu of delicious and wildly creative sandwiches (see Parish Café).

During warm weather, the tables outside Parish Café offer a terrific view of the lower Back Bay street scene. Parish has some of the most creative sandwiches in the city – designed by chefs of Boston’s top restaurants. Comfort food dishes (meatloaf with mashed potatoes, fishcakes with Pommery mustard) are also excellent.

It’s posh, it’s civilized, and it’s expensive. Relax in a brocade chair, sip a single malt, and light up a cigar without the high-octane haze found elsewhere downtown.

George Parkman – once a prominent physician at Harvard Medical School – lived in this house during the mid-19th-century. In 1849, in one of the most sensationalized murder cases in US history, Parkman was killed by a faculty member over a financial dispute. Both the crime and its aftermath were grisly – in the ensuing trial dental records were entered as evidence for the first time.

Gillette Stadium is the home of the Patriots, the National Football League’s 2002 champs.

Best known for his “midnight ride” to forewarn the rebels of the British march on Concord, Revere served the American Revolution as organizer, messenger, and propagandist. A gifted silversmith with many pieces in the Museum of Fine Arts (see Museum of Fine Arts), he founded the metalworking firm that gilded the State House dome and sheathed the hull of the USS Constitution.

Home to Paul Revere for 30 years, this 17th-century clapboard house is the only surviving home of any of Boston’s revolutionary heroes. A place of pilgrimage for history buffs, it provides an intriguing glimpse into the domestic life of Revere’s family with displays of their furniture and possessions including silverwork made by Revere, who was highly regarded as a metalsmith. Well-trained staff perpetuate the tale of Revere’s legendary midnight ride (see Paul Revere’s Ride (1775))

The North End’s history as both revolutionary stronghold and Italian immigrant neighborhood comes together along this tree-lined mall, which old-timers persist in calling the Prado. Created in 1933, the pedestrian mall connects Hanover Street to the rear of Old North Church. Bronze plaques lining the walls capture snippets from the lives of former Bostonians, while an equestrian statue of Paul Revere surveys it all. Today, the mall is a social center, where mothers convene with baby carriages, kids play frisbee, and old men hunker over checkerboards.

Its ongoing commitment to research aside, the Peabody excels at illustrating how interactions between distinct cultures have in turn affected peoples’ lives and livelihoods. Its North American Indian exhibit displays artifacts that reflect the aftermath of encounters between white Europeans and Native Americans. Meanwhile, the university’s Natural History museum delves even deeper in time, exhibiting eons-old natural wonders (see Harvard University).