Bit of Boston history preserved: Pair plan to buy and re-open the Red Hat

incompetence, a reflexive *blech* at the term "red hat" is only natural. It's like that time you mistook a long string of Fireball shots for a good idea, and now even the thought of eating a Red Hots candy makes your gorge rise a little.

Not considering a name change now would be negligent from a marketing standpoint. My childhood pizza place was called Sambo's and had a racist caricature on the box: it is no more. Times change, and Trumpie symbols now have similarly gross associations most people would rather forget.

If you want to attract tourists that don't know the Red Hat's history (like the fact that the mascot is a 19th-century toff in a top hat) and aren't MAGAt-y, you might not want that malodorous whiff of criminality, death and corruption attached to your name.

Plus you really don't want to attract that MAGA crowd, even accidentally. If they disagree with the math on their check, and you point out that 2 + 2 does indeed equal 4, they might smash the place up and try to lynch the floor manager.

Conveys a sense of togetherness, and has pleasant associations of being easy to get into ;)

trade, it's something to consider. Even accidental association with the Bumbling Orange Mass Death-Dealer is a buzzkill. The last thing anyone wants to be reminded of is America's dumbest mistake, especially at happy hour.