Blackbird
Senior Member
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- Feb 2, 2014
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Exactly. It used to ba a true square that served diverse groups of people, but now appears to be very student-centric.
Could be worse. Could be Kenmore.
Exactly. It used to ba a true square that served diverse groups of people, but now appears to be very student-centric.
With regard to a), I would guess fewer 19-25-y.o.'s "browse" for these things anymore; many of such are simply downloaded on-demand / ordered from Amazon. And in terms of b), I suspect most kids look up ratings on google maps or yelp in advance...there's much less trial-and-error. These, to me, are fundamental behavioral shifts that wouldn't have jibed with the old square (nostalgic as I am).
Bookstores
There are currently 6 bookstores within a five minute walk of each other in Harvard Square, including one store dedicated just to poetry. I highly doubt there is another urban neighborhood anywhere in America that you can say this about.
Restaurants
There's probably a greater concentration of great and interesting restaurants around Harvard Square than any other Boston neighborhood, save for the South End (where they're more spread out) and maybe Union Square. Alden & Harlow, Waypoint, Longfellow Bar are as trendy as it gets and all are constantly experimenting. Cafe Sushi is one of the best restaurants inside 128. Benedetto is better than just about every restaurant in the North End. And places like Charlie's, Felipe's, Le's, Santouka, and Bonchon Chicken are all cheap, fun, and great.
Grimy
Yeah, the grime is gone (and so are the newsstands). That's a shame, it's also the life cycle of urban America. But, hey, Mr. Bartley's doesn't even have a bathroom, Cafe Pamplona is a mold-filled basement, and there are two tattoo parlors. You can find a little grime if you want it.
I never saw Harvard Square in the 70's or even the 80's. I'm sure we've lost a lot of wonderful urbanity since then. But it really seems like most of the people who complain about Harvard Square today don't actually spend much time there, or any other Boston neighborhoods, for that matter - because the fact is that Harvard Square is still unique, and is still filled with life. Only Central Square and Union Square come close to comparing, but Harvard still has more life on the streets than both of them.
Harvard square is unique? What is so unique about it today? Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chase bank, Bank of America, Santander bank, CVS, chain restaurants. Harvard square back in the 70’s and 80’s was more filter around art. An artist’s view surrounded by unique small mom & pop style business’s. That’s what created the uniqueness of all the squares.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Harvard owns all 6 bookstores just to keep that concept in place.
Harvard square today is far from unique it’s more programmed for the bots they create out of the university.
Could be worse. Could be Kenmore.
I walked by last week and the first floor was more or less gutted????According to someone that works there, there's minimal damage on the inside... mostly water and smoke damage. Varying reports of re-opening in a few days to a few weeks. Source: Reddit
Damn!They have a permit posted for fire remediation work. I expect they will take the opportunity to refresh the interior from its mid-90s chic.
Tangentially related: Down the block, they have finished converting the old Fire & Ice into office space. However, they have left the old sign and CRT on the exterior wall, like a weird museum piece.
Power washing and a stain.I can’t tell if it’s the angle of the second photo interacting with the texture of the clapboard pattern, but it appears to need a power washing.
The first photo doesn’t look bad.
Step 1 - Find well-liked, heavily-used space that developed organically over time.
Step 2 - Start bemoaning how "bad" this well-liked, heavily-used space is and how it needs to be "refreshed" and "fixed".
Step 3 - Erase everything about it.
Step 4 - Create a new, sterile space and spend a ridiculous amount of time overthinking every fixture and feature, while obsessing about how to "program" it.
Step 5 - Cut the ribbon.