Life at Harvard Can Extend Outside the Gates of the Yard

While there’s enough to do at Harvard to never require one to leave the Yard or the Houses, freshmen who venture beyond Mount Auburn or Prescott Street will be pleasantly surprised to discover that there’s more to Cambridge than the Pit, the Charles, or Cambridge Common.

Here are some one-hour breaks first-years can enjoy:

CENTRAL SQUARE

No, Central is not just the T stop before Harvard. The area is home to City Hall (where the first legalized same-sex marriages in the country took place), ethnic restaurants, all kinds of colorful Cantabridgians, and fast food (McDonald’s and Wendy’s, specifically). Grittier than Harvard Square, Central feels like a city’s downtown (but with shorter buildings).

To get to Central, walk down Massachusetts Avenue past Widener and Lamont libraries. In about ten minutes, you’ll be at Central, where you can rent a movie from Blockbuster, get a Big Mac, or just enjoy Cambridge from the perspective of famous former residents Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (a Harvard drop-out).

PORTER SQUARE

If you walk down Mass. Ave in the opposite direction from Central (past the Law School) you’ll end up in Porter Square in about ten minutes. Along the way, you’ll pass restaurants, bars, and the campus of Lesley College. Your final destination should be Shaw’s­—a real, non-CVS, grocery store—and Porter Square Books, an independent bookstore with its own coffee bar. Stock up on your favorite foods—for students should not live on HUDS alone—and enjoy an iced coffee on the walk back.

INMAN SQUARE

Props to the first-year who heads over to Inman, as the fact that it doesn’t feature a T stop makes it a little more obscure in comparison to Central and Porter. But getting there is just as easy as the other squares—simply walk past the Science Center down Cambridge Street. Along the way, you’ll pass Cambridge Rindge and Latin School­, Cambridge’s public high school, and Darwin’s Ltd., a great place to study and eat. Keep walking, and you’ll reach Inman’s Indian highway-style cafe, Punjabi Dhaba, along with Rosie’s Bakery and S&S Deli.

If Lamont’s starting to feel claustrophobic, take your books with you and spend some time studying at the cozy 1369 Coffee House (which also has a shop in Central). And if hungry friends accompany you on your walk, definitely stop at Christina’s, well-known for its ice cream.

BRATTLE STREET

A walk down Brattle will lead you to the historic mansions of Cambridge, including the home of former Harvard professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Take this walk when you need a reminder of why you’re working so hard in your classes—pure intellectual curiosity should motivate most of your hard work, but the possibility of one day living in a mansion like those on Brattle can be encouraging as well.

And for those with a bit more time:

DAVIS SQUARE

Two stops outbound on the T’s Red Line will bring you to Davis Square in Somerville, a less-gentrified version of Harvard Square. Cafés such as the Blue Shirt Café offer wraps and smoothies, and the Someday Café and Diesel Café are havens for writers and bookworms. The used-bookstore McIntyre & Moore Booksellers has an eclectic (and mostly scholarly) selection of titles.

CAMBRIDGESIDE GALLERIA

When your budget prevents you from spending any more money at Jasmine Sola or your laptop gives you a headache, head over to Cambridgeside Galleria, located right next to the Lechmere T stop on the Green Line (and not far from the MIT/Kendall Square stop on the Red Line). The Galleria has over 120 stores, including an Apple Store (which offers in-store service), J. Crew, Old Navy, H&M, Express, and Victoria’s Secret, making the Galleria a one-stop shop for fashion on a budget. You and your roommates can get to it by taking the 69 (yes, really) bus from Johnston Gate to Lechmere. The mall is across the street from the station.

PRUDENTIAL CENTER

If you want to make a full day of shopping, the “E” Green Line train leaves from Lechmere and will bring you to the Prudential Center in nine stops. (Otherwise, you can get to Prudential by transferring to the E train at Park Street.) The “Pru” bills itself as the best shopping destination in New England, and it caters to the high-end: Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, and Lacoste are all located under the skylights of the complex.

Connected to the Prudential Center is Copley, where you can splurge (or window-shop) at stores such as Louis Vuitton, Coach, Neiman Marcus, and Armani Exchange.

MFA AND GARDNER MUSEUMS

Take a Saturday to enjoy the Museum of Fine Arts—free if you bring your Harvard ID—and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The MFA has a Impressionist room that anyone—art aficionado or not—will love, and it has an impressive enough collection that you will walk through the museum and recognize work from your AP Art History class or Literature and Arts Core.

The Gardner Museum is located in the former home of Isabella Stewart Gardner, an early 20th-century society woman and art collector. Because she stipulated in her will that the permanent collection of the museum not be altered, empty frames stand where three Rembrandts and a Vermeer were stolen in an 1990 heist. You can get to these museums by taking the Green Line E train to the Museum of Fine Arts stop.

COOLIDGE CORNER

Located in the upscale suburb of Brookline, Coolidge Corner is home to an independent movie theatre, the Harvard Book Store-esque Brookline Booksmith, and restaurants and delis including Zaftigs, a Jewish deli perfect for Sunday brunch. Walking around Brookline is like walking around Harvard Square, sans the garbage and noise that gives the Square its character and headaches. Take the “C” Green Line train to Coolidge Corner to experience what Harvard would be like without the Pit or the Chinese guy who plays outside of the Coop every night.

Cambridge (and by extension, Boston and its environs) is a great place to get to call home for four years, and you will shortchange your experience if you stay within the Harvard bubble. In the time it takes to upload pictures of the Yard to Facebook, you and your roommates could bond over sorbet at Christina’s or head out on adventure in downtown Boston. Because, really: if you’re going to procrastinate, you might as well get lost.

—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.edu.