Best metamorphosis of a pukey frat-boy bar into an indie-rock haunt
Five years ago, the Allston bar Great Scott was a hook-up joint for blond college girls, white-hatted meatheads, and underage dorm rats brandishing their elder siblings' IDs in hopes that bouncers would believe they were 32. But ever since May of 2003, when Carl Lavin relocated "The Plan" - an indie-rock club night with the decks manned by Lavin and Victoria Woodword - from the Westway (a/k/a Hideaway Pub) to Great Scott and later took over booking the venue, the Harvard Avenue watering hole has morphed from a frat-boy sports bar to a bona fide rock venue. With Honeypump event-planner Ben Sisto and EXiMiOUS Productions' Debbie Nicholson scheduling acts for other nights, Great Scott has become one of the best places around to see shows, hosting everyone from indie-rock elder statesmen the Wrens and noise demigods Lightning Bolt to Vice Records' duo Chromeo. The proportion of barflies who can string a guitar may have risen drastically, but the ghosts of Great Scott's curved-brim past still linger: among the wall of Hollywood-star headshots are two framed Sports Illustrated covers documenting Boston College's late-'90s basketball and football heroics. The pukey college kids are gone, but not forgotten.

Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston, (617) 566-9014.