Brattle Street Myth Exposed

The Myth of Brattle Street is dead. The roads to Radcliffe are many and varied, but no longer will Harvardmen be able to whisper in a knowing way that the shortest path is along Brattle Street.

An independent research group reported yesterday that the traditional route along Garden St. from Harvard Square is eight-tenths of a mile long, while the route along Brattle, Mason, and Garden streets from Brattle Square is nine-tenths of a mile. The measurements were made from the front of Cleverly to the front of Bertram, a typical path.

Defenders of the Brattle Street Myth may claim that one should cut across the campus behind Longfellow Hall, but they must, in all fairness, concede that the people who choose the Garden street route may cut across the Common.

Brattle Streeters have one valid claim, however. The fastest way to drive to Radcliffe is along Brattle Street, because of the detour around the green, but returning from Radcliffe, the Gardan Streeters regain the advantage.

A third school of thought, which disclaims and interest in precise time-and-motion study, prefers to walk up Massachusetts Avenue, and eventually turn left on Shepard Street. This route, as one of their adherents boasted last spring, is 1.1 miles long.

Drives who wish to deliver their dates to the front door of any of the dorms on the quadrangle must travel the extra two-tenths of a mile from Shepard to Linnaean Streets and then back to Shepard Street through the quad.