Getting to Know Your Neighborhood: Harvard Square

Everyone’s heard about it, few people really know it

By Vicky Waltz. Graphic by Edward A. Brown

History and culture collide in Harvard Square, Cambridge’s most famous crossroads, which combines ideas and learning with fine dining, eclectic shopping, music, theater, public discourse, and art.

According to historian Charles Sullivan, Harvard Square was founded in 1630 as the Puritan village of Newtowne, which would become Cambridge in 1638. Today the square functions as a commercial center for Harvard students, Cambridge residents, and tourists. It’s no surprise, given the disposable income passing through, that regional and national chains have moved in, yet the square retains many long-standing locally owned and operated businesses.

No amount of economic evolution can remove Harvard Square’s fascinating blend of characters. A sunken region next to the subway entrance is a prime venue for street performers, political activists, and panhandlers. Nearby, chess aficionados — including Murray Turnbull, with his ever-present “Play the Chess Master” sign — challenge one and all for kicks and cash. The square also attracts many of the city’s homeless, including Ken O’Brien and Earlene French, who lived with their dog and cat under a mobile bookstall on Massachusetts Avenue for many months before having to shut down and relocate to a nearby park.

It would take more than an afternoon — perhaps a lifetime — to explore the idiosyncrasies and crannies that comprise Harvard Square. Below are some jumping off points, destinations that lead to other destinations.

Actors’ Shakespeare Project
When he was 13 years old, Benjamin Evett saw a London production of Macbeth starring the not-yet-famous Ian McKellen and Judi Dench. The theater was tiny, the costumes inelegant, the lighting simple — and Evett, as he recounts on the company’s Web site, was three feet from the stage. The performance inspired him, several decades later, to establish the Actors’ Shakespeare Project, a small professional troupe based in Harvard Square. In keeping with the tradition of traveling theater companies, most performances take place in nontraditional spaces such as art galleries, museums, warehouses, studios, and churches. The Web site has up-to-date performance info.

Algiers Coffee House
40 Brattle St.
A reporter from the Times of London who reviewed this Mediterranean-inspired café several years ago raved about the coffeehouse’s beverages and cited the frequently overheard debates between Harvard students. The perspective holds true; the coffee is as strong as ever, and the philosophical exchanges never cease. Appetizers are plentiful without being overpowering (the hummus is the best in Harvard Square), and the sandwiches and shish kebabs are tasty and affordable. After a show at the Brattle Theatre, a pot of loose-leaf tea or an iced Viennese coffee go down smoothly.

American Repertory Theatre
64 Brattle St.
The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) has garnered many of the nation’s most distinguished awards over three decades of performances, including a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award, and a Jujamcyn Award. Housed in the Loeb Drama Center at Harvard University, it is the only professional not-for-profit theater in the country that maintains a resident acting company and an international training conservatory, operating in association with a major university. A.R.T. has performed in 83 U.S. cities and 21 foreign venues. Of its 187 productions, more than half were premieres. In 2003, Time magazine named it one of the top three theaters in the country. This season’s performance lineup continues the tradition.

A Taste of Culture
1160 Massachusetts Ave.
Carmen Heller greets every customer with a smile and soft hello. She came to the United States more than two decades ago to bring “a taste of her Peruvian culture” to Harvard Square, and the selection of hand-crafted jewelry, colorful woven clothing, silk-screened scarves, and playful finger puppets keeps expanding. Although much of the merchandise has a South American flair, Heller works with cooperatives and artists from around the world.

Berk’s Shoes
50 John F. Kennedy St.
This trendy footwear boutique has dozens of brands and styles that make the hearts of shoe-lovers flutter. Berk’s shoe inventory ranges from classic to cutting edge to whimsical, including patent-leather clogs and sequined slippers, kitty-cat Mary Janes, and ladybug rainboots.

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St.
Fans of the silver screen have been catching flicks at the Brattle since 1953, when Brent Haliday and Cyrus Harvey, Jr., premiered with the German film Der Hauptmann von Köpenick. Showing classic, independent, foreign, and art-house films, this not-for-profit theater — one of a vanishing breed — is best known for its eclectic and repertory format. Housed in a barnlike meeting hall, this is one of the few remaining movie theaters that uses rear projection, with the projector located behind the screen rather than behind the audience. See the Web site for a calendar.

Burdick’s
52-D Brattle St.
When the Aztecs drank chocolate thousands of years ago, this “drink of the gods” was so rare and sacred only the richest could afford it. Some may argue that’s still the case at Burdick’s, where a mug of hot chocolate costs $4. But a cup of Burdick’s beats that watery instant stuff any day. The secret? It’s made from chocolate and chocolate alone, hand shaved and warmed in milk. If that’s not rich enough for you, try the Harvard Square, a dense chocolate cake layered with walnuts and ganache, or a slice of chocolate mousse cake.

Cambridge Artists Cooperative
59-A Church St.
Established in 1989, the Cambridge Artists Cooperative is the area’s only year-round artist-owned and -managed crafts cooperative. Featuring the work of more than 250 artisans, this 2,000-square-foot gallery offers contemporary crafts, paintings, pottery, photography, jewelry, clothing, and sculptures. New work is displayed every month.

Casablanca
40 Brattle St.
Named for the classic Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman film, this lounge and restaurant has enjoyed a cultlike following since opening more than 50 years ago. A giant wall mural depicting the movie’s characters, painted by David Omar White, sets the ambiance, and the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern menu is as varied as the films shown at the neighboring Brattle Theatre. The bar is stylish, comfortable, and fine for people-watching.

Club Passim and Veggie Planet
47 Palmer St.
Before she became a poster child for the antiwar movement in the 1960s, Joan Baez gave her first concert at a small Cambridge music venue called Club 47. Fifty years later, Club 47 — now called Club Passim — remains a cornerstone of local and legendary folk music, having been on the ground floor of the careers of Bob Dylan, Tom Rush, and more recently, Shawn Colvin and Tracy Chapman. Its intimate setting (125 seats) invites audience and artist interaction, while the club’s bohemian restaurant, Veggie Planet, appeals to the health-conscious. Try the vegan peanut curry pizza, topped with tofu and broccoli, or the Lunch for Henry, topped with roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, sage, and creamy goat cheese. But most of all, listen.

Curious George Books and Toys
One John F. Kennedy St.
Since his debut in 1941, Curious George, the mischievous monkey owned by the Man in the Yellow Hat, has charmed readers of all ages. While the Curious George franchise includes dozens of illustrated books, an animated television show, and a movie, the only store dedicated to the impish monkey is in Harvard Square.

The Games People Play
1100 Massachusetts Ave.
The name says it all. Customers will find a wide array of study-time distractions, including board games, mechanical puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and mindbenders. Check out the specialty chess sets — carved from wood, metal, and jade. Diehard strategists won’t be disappointed — Dungeons and Dragons and Go each occupy an entire bookshelf.

The Garage
36 John F. Kennedy St.
Follow the smell of pizza, incense, and Vietnamese food, and you’ll end up at the Garage, definitely one of Harvard Square’s oddities. This multistory mini shopping mall is in fact a converted parking garage; even the original car ramp has been preserved. The Garage houses an eclectic variety of shops and eateries, most notably Newbury Comics, which features one of the region’s largest collections of new-wave and alternative music. There’s a tattoo parlor for punks, a hemp store for hippies, an anime shop for nerds, a Starbucks for yuppies, and more.

Grendel’s Den
89 Winthrop St.
The sign outside this dyed-in-the–wool Harvard Square watering hole claims that it was established in 1271. It’s a typo that should have read 1971. Grendel’s Den is named after the antagonist from Beowulf, and the owners kept the sign because the medieval date evokes the period when the epic poem was written. The bar circumvents the state’s no-happy-hour mandate by offering half-price food nightly between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and between 9 and 11:30 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. There’s precedent to such defiance: Grendel’s famously fought a legal battle over its liquor license all the way to the Supreme Court and won — separation of church and state was at the heart of it, believe it or not. That’s worth celebrating with a burger and microbrew — or two.

Harvard Art Museum
485 Broadway
The Harvard Art Museum comprises three museums and four research centers. The Fogg Museum is renowned for its collection of Western paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, photographs, prints, and drawings from the Middle Ages to the present. The Busch-Reisinger Museum specializes in significant works of Austrian Secession art, German expressionism, 1920s abstraction, and material related to the Bauhaus movement. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum holds world-renowned collections of archaic Chinese jades and Japanese surimono, as well as Chinese bronzes, ancient ceremonial weapons, and Buddhist cave-temple sculptures. Admission is $9 for adults and $6 for college students with ID.

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave.
In 1932, Mark Kramer borrowed $300 from his parents to open a small store that sold used and remainder books. More than 75 years later, the Harvard Book Store is still family owned and has expanded to include 100,000 new and used titles. The store’s award-winning Author Event Series features readings, signings, and lectures by emerging and established fiction and nonfiction authors.

Harvard Coop
1400 Massachusetts Ave.
Founded in 1882 by a group of Harvard students, the Harvard Coop is one of the country’s largest bookstores. The multilevel, multibuilding retailer sells textbooks, school supplies, and dorm necessities, as well as Harvard merchandise. Each June, the Coop distributes its store-earned profits among its members. Fees are only $1, just as they were back in 1882, but membership is selective: only students, faculty, alumni, and employees of Harvard, MIT, Radcliffe, Wheelock, and the Mass College of Pharmacy can join.

Harvard Museum of Natural History
26 Oxford St.
A trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History is an evolutionary experience. Visit prehistoric creatures such as fossil invertebrates, reptiles, and the world’s only mounted Kronosaurus. Wander through a garden of more than 3,000 handcrafted glass flowers or admire a 1,642-pound amethyst geode and the world’s largest turtle shell. Admission is $9 for adults and $6 for college students with ID.

Harvard Yard
The “Yahd” defines two sides of the square. Lined by Harvard’s freshman dorms, it’s a quintessential college campus scene in the heart of Cambridge, and also a good shortcut. There’s even a statue of John Harvard somberly gazing over all, but the 17th-century clergyman didn’t really look like a chiseled Liam Neeson— sculptor Daniel Chester French had no idea what the historical Harvard looked like and in 1884 used a student for a model.

Hong Kong
1238 Massachusetts Ave.
Since its modest beginnings in 1954, the Hong Kong has expanded to a three-floor enterprise that includes a restaurant, a lounge, and the largest dance floor in Harvard Square. Oddly enough, the Hong Kong also hosts the Comedy Studio six nights a week. The menu is nothing remarkable; standard Szechuan chicken, beef with broccoli, and wonton soup. But the Hong Kong boasts the biggest scorpion bowl in town, made from nine alcohols (mostly rums) and pineapple and orange juice. With that and some stand-up, who needs food.

Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage
1246 Massachusetts Ave.
Americans love two things: burgers and political snark. Diners can order both at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, where every seven-ounce burger is served with a free side of sarcasm. Try the George Bush (“Don’t blame me, I’m retired”), a double-cheddar barbecue burger with sweet potato fries; the Mitt Romney (“2012 or bust”), a Swiss cheese burger with grilled onions and onion rings; or the Michelle Obama (“Hot and spicy”), a Cajun, blue cheese burger with French fries. For the truly authentic Bartley’s experience, add an extra-thick frappe or malt — but only if you wear your stretch pants.

Out of Town News
Zero Harvard Square
Anyone looking for news from far and near will find it at Out of Town News, an iconic newsstand in the heart of Harvard Square. It was here that Julia Child searched for obscure Italian and German cooking magazines, and rumor has it that Robert Frost stopped by for directions to a reading on a snowy winter’s eve. The newsstand nearly folded in 2008 (why fly in yesterday’s Times of India or Le Monde when they can be read online?), but was saved by Mike Patel, who in January signed a five-year lease with the city of Cambridge. So don’t stop the presses yet, and don’t give up browsing in person.

Zoe’s
1105 Massachusetts Ave.
A leisurely Sunday brunch at a local diner is a joy, but these iconic landmarks are few and far between. Look no farther than Zoe’s, where the plates are piled high with golden pancakes, eggs, and bacon, the coffee is strong, and the jukebox is active. In true diner fashion, Zoe’s serves breakfast all day. After all, it’s the most important meal of the day.

Getting there: By subway: take the Green Line inbound; at Park Street, take the Red Line outbound toward Alewife and get off at Harvard Square Station. By foot: walk across the BU Bridge heading into Cambridge. Take a left, using the pedestrian walkways along Memorial Drive that skirt the Charles River, until you reach the Harvard campus. Take a right on John F. Kennedy Street, and you tumble into the square. It’s a two-mile trip, one-way, and an easy bike ride.

Vicky Waltz can be reached at vwaltz@bu.edu. Edward Brown can be reached at ebrown@bu.edu.

Explore other area neighborhoods here.

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