So, how many of you have been back to Cambridge since that June, 25 years ago? I know I've seen a bunch of you for previous reunions or passing through on business. Some of us still live here, or nearby. But I'm wondering how the Square will seem to those who haven't seen it in a while. For example, the Tasty is long gone – and this year we lost the Greenhouse Cafe, too. Some of us were mighty happy when the Tasty's successor, Abercrombie and Fitch, closed. And as we age, I miss Father's aka the Bow and Arrow Pub less (it's now a Baskin-Robbins). But does the Square really need another bank or cell phone store?
In the interest of looking back, I'd love to compile a list of what was there and what is there now. Contributions welcome - and if you're curious about an old hangout (Casablanca - still there, Hong Kong and Grendel's too), post a note and one of us will check it out.
Wursthaus and Tasty, now a bank
Bow and Arrow Pub, now a Baskin-Robbins
Elsie's, now a wrap/burrito place
Reading International, now an American Apparel
Wordsworth, gone and vacant
3 comments:
Wordsworth! Say it ain't so! I spent 1984-91 in and around the Square while earning my Ph.D. in English. And I spent many hours browsing in Wordsworth.
Sad to say, now that I'm an actual English professor, I spend very little time browsing in actual bookstores. And when I do go to one, it's often the Barnes and Noble in NYC's Union Square. (The Strand is less appealing since its makeover.)
Almost all my books come from amazon.com these days, sometimes over the airwaves!
Which, I suppose, is why Wordsworth has gone the way of all things.
Is Bartley's Burgers still there? And Leavitt and Pearce?
Breathe easy, Bartley's Burgers is still going strong (with appropriate new entries for the election) as is Leavitt & Pearce.
Actually, the story w/ Wordsworth is more sad. The owners overreached, tried to open a store in the Chestnut Hill mall and borrowed on the successful Harvard Square store to do so. Not smart. What bugs me, though, is that the space is still vacant, more than two years after that great store closed.
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