'Harvard Square was never what it used to be'

Submitted by GlobeOpinion t3_126o4lj in CambridgeMA

By David Scharfenberg in Globe Ideas:

My father took me to Harvard Square quite a bit when I was a kid.

We’d browse at Wordsworth, flip through the CDs at Newbury Comics, and sit at a high top at 33 Dunster Street, where I’d order a Shirley Temple and a cheeseburger with fries.

I was too young to understand the square’s mystique but not too young to feel it: the Ivy League heft and, a couple of decades after Joan Baez debuted at Club 47, the tendrils of bohemia.

My dad was in his element there. I liked that.

Over the lunch, he’d tell me about the Richard Thompson album he’d just picked up. And we’d talk Red Sox and school and summer camp.

Then we’d make our way back to whatever beater he was driving at the moment and head home, a little happier than we’d arrived.

My dad died years ago. And as an adult, I haven’t spent as much time in Harvard Square. But a couple of weeks ago, I took my 14-year-old daughter and her friend across the Charles in search of some of the feeling I’d had as a kid.

We got a spot on Massachusetts Avenue, not far from where I used to park with my dad, and we started walking.

But I couldn’t help but think of how much the place had changed.

Wordsworth had closed years ago; 33 Dunster Street was a distant memory, too. And it only took my daughter a minute to pull out her phone, search for Starbucks, and take off with her friend.

I wanted to tell them, as they were disappearing down the sidewalk, that this wasn’t the experience they were supposed to be having. That the place had been corrupted, somehow.

That Harvard Square isn’t what is used to be.

But I stopped myself. Our outing had just begun. And I was partway through a new book that had me thinking differently about places like Harvard Square — and the ache I was feeling at that moment.

...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/30/opinion/harvard-square-was-never-what-it-used-be/

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JerryVand t1_jeaf30v wrote

The big change for me happened when the Harvard Square Movie Theater closed. It used to draw hundreds of people to the square every day, now it's just an empty building.

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TheBigClipper t1_jecsiw3 wrote

a Chinese developer bought it and just lets it sit there. and no one can do anything about it.

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MatNomis t1_jeafmsf wrote

There’s still a few nice things in the Square, but right now the argument between new and old, chain vs local is kind of moot because so many places are literally vacant…some for quite for a while. The theater, the old “Hidden Sweets” location near Felipe’s, the old Starbucks location on Church St, former Dickson Bros’ location now vacant..

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Weak-Committee-9692 t1_jecqkjt wrote

Why is that?

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MatNomis t1_jed0nsq wrote

Why vacant? I’d imagine a combo of turnover, construction, and pandemic effects. But I can only speculate. Turnover is always a thing, construction is sometimes a thing, and the pandemic was pretty unique. Hopefully the current vacancy levels settle down. The theater location has been vacant since well before the pandemic, so there must be greater issues at play there. It’d be great to have something there again. That address dominates half of Church St.

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erbalchemy t1_jeb2tq5 wrote

"And as an adult, I haven’t spent as much time in Harvard Square."

That's basically the problem. (Not you, specifically) but people who don't live in a neighborhood, who don't visit, don't shop there. don't work there, don't spend money there, don't own property there, don't run a business there--they don't usually get a voice in how a neighborhood develops over time.

"Harvard Square isn’t what is used to be." It's like The Neverending Story. You have to go there. You have to participate. You have to be part of the story. Or else it gets consumed by the Nothing. (again, speaking in general terms--not trying to call you out)

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callofspacey t1_jeeobn6 wrote

The Neverending Story reference really sent this home for me. Thanks.

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HaddockBranzini-II t1_jeac7nk wrote

When I was a kid growing up in Medford, I yearned to live in Cambridge to be closer to Harvard Sq. Now I live here and haven't been to the Square in almost a year. There's just no reason.

Now Medford Sq has more going on...

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legstrongv t1_jebp7cp wrote

Medford square?

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lycon3 t1_jecruok wrote

It's mostly parking lots, nail salons and insurance companies, and a few interesting restaurants. I'm there in the day several times a month and it's pretty bleak to just get coffee and find something to do. Not that Harvard Square is some kind of utopia at the moment, but I don't think Medford Square is it either.

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Daenyth t1_jecppc6 wrote

Such as? Any good places to hang out?

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devmac1221 t1_jear4mn wrote

If lived here all my life (30 + years) and It's definitely lost a lot but there is still some good there, though mostly from a nostalgic view. I used to go out drinking there all the time, can't anymore because all the good bars/"clubs" are gone now and because Harvard kids are insufferable when they drink lol.

I still occasionally swing through Newbury comics "for old time sake" to see what kind of cool weird shit I can find in there. It's nice to go sit in the park and people watch still. Felipes and Charlie's Kitchen are still good places to go eat. The chains and businesses have taken over for sure but on a nice, mid-spring or a mild summer day it can still be really nice

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BaconNinja89 t1_jecfryy wrote

Don’t worry! There’s another Chase opening on JFK Street! It’s coming soon!

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okethan t1_jecejyn wrote

Multiple pizza places including Pinocchio s. Multiple book stores including the independent Harvard Bookstore. Multiple ice cream places including the local Lizzy’s. Multiple,coffee shops. Harvard Yard. JFK park.Winthrop park…

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bunk_debunk t1_jea4n2a wrote

Which Starbuck's did they go to? Since one recently opened in the lobby of the old Curious George, I think there are now like four in the Square. LOL, but true. And ridiculous.

Anyway, every generation has its own memories of Harvard Square. When I was about 16 and living in upstate NY, I visited a friend whose family had moved to Orange and we drove across the state just to hang out in Harvard Square. Much later, I have now lived near the Square for 25 years.

I've seen a lot of changes, but I try not to get too wistful about the way things used to be.

Rather, I like to say that the one constant in Harvard Square going back to its beginning in 1630 is the complaining about change, and I'd rather live in a place where change is pretty constant rather than rare.

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MatNomis t1_jeaf1fj wrote

Are you including the Starbucks at Broadway Market and the one halfway to Porter as being “in the Square”? Because the Square has fewer Starbucks now than it’s had in the past two decades.

Not long ago, there was a Starbucks on Church Street, a Starbucks in the Garage, and then the big one by the Pit right outside the main T entrance. Those have all had a fair amount of seating space and have all closed and are replaced by the small one in the former Curious George space.

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bunk_debunk t1_jeah5uf wrote

> Not long ago, there was a Starbucks on Church Street, a Starbucks in the Garage, and then the big one by the Pit right outside the main T entrance. Those have all had a fair amount of seating space and have all closed and are replaced by the small one in the former Curious George space.

All closed? Hmm. I don't go to Starbuck's, so lost track, but those are the ones I was counting.

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MatNomis t1_jeam6u0 wrote

Yeah. There was even a gap between the closure of the big one (by the Pit; the last of the three to close) and the new, Curious George one opening where there was no Starbucks in the Square proper. It was wild.

But I feel like the best coffee (overall; including price/size value) is probably gotten at Flour, anyway (blue bottle is likely better, but too slow/expensive).

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baazaar131 t1_jecwjz2 wrote

Yo this shit makes me sad. I miss the old harvard sqaure. even the homeless people left. The pit OMG that shit used to be different.

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NodensInvictus t1_jed03mz wrote

I once traded the jeans I was wearing for a Banshees record in The Pit.

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BaconNinja89 t1_jecfiek wrote

This feels ripped off the recent book called Harvard Square a Love Story by Catherine Turco…

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waffles2go2 t1_jed0i25 wrote

PRC seemed to somehow ignore the oblitrization/commercialization of the square. Not unlike Faneuil Hall, which became all "Mall Stores" before Malls became extinct.

Used to have small independent shops and restaurants and was a draw even though it was impossible to park...

Now it's barely worth visiting.

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Barkingpanther t1_jee257r wrote

For me, the square is 100% dead when Charlie’s and Million Year Picnic go under

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TheTr7nity t1_jebnli7 wrote

Definitely miss the old Harvard Square

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kkkkk1018 t1_jebti1u wrote

Anyone remember Minute Mam Radio?

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