The Changing Face of harvard Square
Every Saturday, a long line of students, locals, and tourists snakes around Mass Ave. They are waiting for a crowded table at a hamburger joint that’s soaked in equal parts fry grease and Hollywood kitsch. Don’t they know that there’s a brand-new Qdoba franchise down the block, stocked with burritos, stainless steel, and plasma TVs?
Bartley’s Burger Cottage has been packing them in since 1960. “Just good burgers, fast service. I guess it’s an institution,” says Joy Shean, a New Yorker who visits Bartley’s whenever she is in Boston. “It’s these little places that make Harvard Harvard.”
But since the 1997 closure of the Tasty Sandwich Shop—a 24-hour mecca that stood for 81 years in the heart of the Square—few such holdouts of gritty, grungy, old Harvard Square remain.
Their replacements—fast casual, ethnic fare, and fine dining—speak to an increasingly sophisticated and Disney-fied Square. Some long-time residents wax nostalgic for the old school and, along with students, lament the seemingly inexorable move upscale.
Although several new arrivals hint at the promise of a revitalized, unique neighborhood, rising rent costs have left Harvard Square’s diners in a state of flux.
THE LOCAL TRADITION
Harvard Square used to abound with small, inexpensive, owner-operated eateries: the Tasty, the Wursthaus, Elsie’s Sandwich Shop, and, yes, the Hong Kong.
“All of these places were dives, places that, if you were not in an altered state, you wouldn’t want to be in or be seen in,” said Timothy A. French ’82. “There was about Harvard Square a sense of grunge, a sort of counterculture that was reflected nicely in some of these dining places.”
John J. Koenigsknecht ’91 also appreciated the Square’s unique flavor. “It lent more to the atmosphere of you being in Cambridge, you and your buddies crammed into the same deli,” he said.
But one by one, these unique eateries disappeared, victims of rising rent costs. Bartley’s only survives because, according to proprietor Joe Bartley, “We have a friendly landlord: Harvard.”
In place of the locally owned restaurants came several chains and a growing array of fine dining options.
“It’s becoming a lot less interesting,” says Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society James L. Watson, who teaches a course on “Food and Culture” and has lived near the Square since 1988.
Watson believes that diners’ escalating expectations have driven up prices, shutting out many students and local residents.
“I think it’s moved upscale a lot…it’s become a very yuppie kind of expensive place,” he says.
Pebble Gifford, of the Harvard Square Defense Fund, also recognizes the Square’s newfound sophistication.
“[Uniqueness] has always been the appeal of the Square,” says Gifford. “We’re losing sort of a funkiness.”
Nevertheless, for Gifford the sanitization is a not an unwelcome change.
“We were sort of like a mini combat zone in the 80s,” she says. “There was a proliferation of bars, late-night drunks. Store windows were being broken, cars were being vandalized…it was just a nightmare.”
Rising rents slowly weeded out the less profitable. Today, eating in the Square is largely divided between high-volume fast food and fine dining. There is a distinct lack of authentic neighborhood restaurants at affordable prices.
“In terms of average college offerings, it tends to be more of a formal restaurant, or something you can grab and go,” says Claudia F. Schreier ’08.
A BRIGHT FUTURE, IF YOU CAN PAY THE RENT
Nevertheless, two new restaurants are explicitly seeking out that high-quality, mid-priced segment of the market.
Wagamama, on JFK St., opened in August. It is one of the first American incarnations of the London-based chain of noodle shops.
The restaurant is high-concept and a bit gimmicky. At Bartley’s, they certainly don’t zap orders to the fry cooks via PDA. But Wagamama bustles with students, and its long tables encourage conversation.
Paul O’Farrell, chief operating officer of Wagamama USA, says that in the process of bringing a restaurant to Harvard Square, his company addressed residents’ fears about the proliferation of chains. He is convinced that Wagamama is a valuable addition to the community.
“If you look at the restaurant today, and that building today…and you compare it to where it was six months ago, I think a reasonable person would say that we’ve done quite a lot to make that an attractive feature of the Square,” he says.
Another bright spot is Z Square, a two-level café, restaurant, and bar which opened last October in the location of the old Wursthaus.
Z Square’s sleek design reflects the Square’s trend towards sophistication, but its affordable riffs on classic American food set the restaurant apart.
Co-owner David Zebny ’84 is proud to continue the tradition of locally-operated Harvard Square businesses. “I had my high school graduation party in the Wursthaus,” he says. “This particular location goes back a long time with me and my family.”
Zebny, for one, is optimistic about the direction of Harvard Square. “The Square lost authenticity a few years ago, and I think it’s starting to get it back. I hope that in 20 years, Z Square will be seen as an institution within the community.”
Zebny hopes to soon keep the café level open 24 hours a day, which would go a long way towards enshrining Z Square in students’ hearts.
Pinocchio’s co-owner Rico DiCenso was instinctively suspicious of the neighborhood’s move upscale. But, like Zebny, he is now excited about what he sees as a revitalized Harvard Square.
“They’ve been doing a lot of work on the streets… kind of sprucing up the Square,” DiCenso says. “The new life that’s going into Harvard Square, I like the idea a lot.”
Still, the Square’s future depends largely upon the whims of local landlords. According to Tom Brush, co-owner of Felipe’s Taqueria, rising rent costs will make it ever-harder for an affordable locally-run business to stay afloat.
“That’s going to be the big challenge,” says Brush. “How do you convince landlords that it’s going to be in their best interest long-term to attract better, more unique tenants?”