The mayor and a half-dozen others interviewed for this story said that when they were growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, they didn’t spend much time downtown. Back then, the storefronts were more likely to be empty than filled. McNamara, who is in his mid-30s, recalls that he’d get in the car with his parents and go to a museum, or they’d visit the YMCA, but then they’d get back in the car and go straight home. Today, he says, it’s a different story. People of all ages have moved into more than 300 lofts in the downtown area. On any given day, you can see men and women in business suits walking to lunch at Kuma’s Asian Bistro, parents pushing strollers into Wired Cafe for a latte, and women shopping for flowing, eco-friendly dresses at Minglewood boutique.