Nightclubs like Felt and The Rack asked to stay open later than the city's 2 a.m. bar and restaurant curfew and were denied, as were Stephanie's on Newbury Street and Jacques in Bay Village. Several North End cafes, hoping to serve cappuccino to sleepy delegates after hours were also told no.
In a city that sprang from Puritan roots, even John F. Kerry apparently doesn't have the juice to keep a celebration going. A request to let a party in his honor at Avalon continue until 3 a.m. was denied.
''There will be nothing past 2 a.m.," declared Patricia A. Malone, director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing. ''There are public safety issues. The city doesn't have the resources to allow for the operation of a licensed premise after the legal closing time."
To some delegates and other out-of-towners expecting to let their hair down at the convention -- many of them accustomed to later closing times in their hometowns or no closing times at all -- Boston's prohibitions seemed almost prudish.
''We're used to a 24-hour town," said Adriana Martinez, chairwoman of the Nevada Democratic Party, ''especially since most of our delegates are from Las Vegas." With the three-hour time difference between there and the East Coast, she added, Boston's 2 a.m. closings will feel like 11 p.m. to her delegation, and some may be just getting warmed up.
Shutting down early is, according to Patrick B. Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, ''part of the Boston package."
''It's what you get when you choose Boston," he said. ''You get the history, the uniqueness of Boston, the fact that it's an easy city to get around and has great museums and attractions. But you also get the 2 o'clock closing -- that kind of continued overlay of 300 years of the Puritan ethic."
Not so in New York, of course. Republicans meeting in August will be free to hit bars and clubs until 4 a.m.
