the rat

The Rathskeller (known as The Rat for short) was a Kenmore Square live music venue in Boston, Massachusetts that opened in 1974. As implied by its name (German: "meeting cellar"), the Rathskeller was a dimly-lit establishment below street level. It is notable for being one of Greater Boston's premier music venues for three decades and the starting point for the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble.[1]One Boston-area magazine describes:There was also a new Ground Zero for live performance in Boston at that time. Deep below freaky-funky Kenmore Square, the Rathskellar (or, as everyone called it, “The Rat”) was a dingy subterranean dive bar that would appeal to the ever-burgeoning punk movement, and that hosted shows by everyone from Talking Heads and Tom Petty to Thin Lizzy and The Ramones. Everybody played there—and would continue to do so until the club finally closed its doors in 1997 amid a movement toward gentrification. [2]The Rat also hosted such acts as the Cars, the Pixies, the Dead Kennedys, and Replacements and Mr. Butch. It closed to make way for Hotel Commonwealth which was primarily funded by Boston University.[citation needed]