You know, we were in this assembly hall and the kids weree getting up and jamming and dancing and totally enjoying the music.

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College kids also fill the tables at Hong Kong, a hip restaurant, lounge and nightclub in Faneuil Hall and Daedalus, a gastropub in Harvard Square that has an attractive outdoor patio area.

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"It's a great place to live, and I think there's probably no better place in the world to die, " says Joanne Karp, an 81-year-old resident who was supposed to be in her room recovering from eye surgery but instead was down the hall at the piano, accompanying three kids learning to play the recorder.

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