On Newbury Street, people waited for hours to sit out on restaurant patios. Along the Charles River, students ran in shorts and T-shirts. And at the Boston Common and the Boston University Beach, hundreds played Frisbee, studied and sunbathed.
As students left their dorms to explore the streets of Boston, sans coat and sleeves, temperatures reached a high of 72 degrees.
According to wunderground.com, a weather history website, on the first day of spring in 2009, the mean temperature was a just &- above &- freezing &- 35 degrees. But on the first day of spring this past Saturday in Boston, the mean temperature was 59 degrees &- the warmest mean temperature for March 20 in 65 years, the website said.
Huge lines formed at North End pastry shops like Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry, and restaurants on Newbury Street like La Voile and Stephanie’s on Newbury opened up their patios early for al fresco diners.
Ben Demmel, a manager at Stephanie’s on Newbury, said the patio was opened a week early to meet the demand of patrons.
People waited for up to two hours to get a seat out in the open air, he said.
College of Arts and Sciences senior Lauren Granstrom, a hostess at La Voile, estimated that the French brasserie served about 300 customers on Friday and 400 Saturday.
With the patio open, the restaurant was able to approximately double its capacity, according to Granstrom. Still, she said the influx of hungry Newbury Street shoppers surprised the restaurant.
“We had both the nice weather and then restaurant week, so it was one of the busiest weekends we’ve had in a while,” she said. “It ran smoother than expected.”
Most students said they took as many opportunities as they could to get outdoors.
Gretchen Tietge, a freshman in College of General Studies, says her weekend of warm weather involved going to the Programming Council’s first annual “Scarlet Fever,” California Pizza Kitchen and the Boston Commons.
“I spent some time at the Commons playing Frisbee,” said Tietge. “It was 7 p.m., so the big crowd had left, but there were still lots of people there.”
School of Management sophomore Kimberly Vega, an avid runner, said that when she tried to go running outdoors in the winter, she ended up getting sick. But this week she ventured outside for her workout because of the nice weather.
“I went for a run every day along the Charles,” she said. “[After running] I laid out and tried to get a tan on the Esplanade and the BU Beach.”
Chase Baker, a sophomore in CAS, said he also ran “all around the city,” including through the North End and Faneuil Hall, which he said were crowded.
“People had the same idea I did &- get out and enjoy it while it lasts,” he said.
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