On the Town

... with the author of The Town

huck Hogan was 26, living in Canton with his parents, and working as an assistant manager at a video store (remember those?) on Huntington Avenue when he sold the rights to his first novel, The Standoff, for $500,000. It got better: He went on to write Prince of Thieves, the book on which Ben Affleck based the hit The Town. A BC grad, Hogan also wrote The Fall, the second installment of a vampire trilogy coauthored by director Guillermo del Toro Gómez (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) and signed to write the script for another Boston crime drama based on the exploits of Charlestown’s Winter Hill Gang being put together by Graham King, Oscar-winning producer of The Town and The Departed. Talk about celebrity. But Hogan keeps it real. “My favorite thing about Boston is that it is a small town disguised as a major American city,” he says. “That it is this nation’s epicenter for both academia and gritty crime movies. Maybe I just like contradictions.” Hogan shows us around the town. Gullotti

Eastern Standard. It’s not much of a secret, I know. But I ate there before the Fenway Park premiere of The Town and can never wait to get back.
 

Ginza. Ask for the Bombay Maki. It’s not on the menu. You’re welcome!
 

Bukowski Tavern. It’s featured in my book Devils in Exile. Just hanging out over the Mass Pike. “Here’s a drink for all my frieeeends…”
 

The Tam. The place for the not-screwing-around crew.
 

The B-Side Lounge. I know it closed a few years ago, but I still go there. In my mind.
 

For inspiration, I go to the Boston Book Company. Always worth 30 minutes of your time.
 

The Harvard Book Store (downstairs). The Kindle and its ilk are going to turn out to be the best thing to happen to used bookstores since used books.
 

The Harvard Book Store (downstairs). The Kindle and its ilk are going to turn out to be the best thing to happen to used bookstores since used books.
 

The Brattle Theatre. Balcony, second row left, facing the screen. My name is on the underside of the first aisle seat. That means it is saved. Get your own seat! Support the Brattle.