Archives: Media Room

As the architect of the project cited in your article, I take exception to your characterization of it.  My aim wasn’t a transformation of Harvard Square into a ‘mini Times Square.”

Julia Child was a regular customer, scouring the Out of Town News kiosk here for German and Italian cooking magazines.  John Kenneth Galbraith came to the kiosk every day to buy Le Monde.  And in 1975, a young man named Paul Allen picked up a copy of Popular Electronics with a picture of a boxy personal computer on the cover; he shared it with his friend Bill Gates, and, well, the rest is history.

The reports of its demise were greatly exaggerated.  We’re talking about the Algiers Coffee House in Harvard Square.  The beloved café/restaurant on Brattle Street isn’t closing after all.  A few weeks after a Facebook post abruptly announced that it would cease operations  posthaste, there’s word that Algiers Coffee House is back in business, albeit under new management. 

Café Algiers in Harvard Square is open again.  The well-known café shut in October, saying that “Algiers will be closing after many years of business, may years of hard work and many stories.”

Cambridge City Councilors are objecting to a plan from city officials to speed along a process seeking new designs for the Out of Town News kiosk in Harvard Square. At their Oct. 31 meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to approve a policy order that urged the city to slow down the process, potentially making room for historic preservation efforts to advance.

Springsteen fans flock to Harvard Square…

A line of thousands wound its way from the front entrance of The COOP on Massachusetts Avenue down along Church Street, as loyal fans waited to meet Bruce Springsteen at his book signing in Harvard Square this afternoon. (Click here to see more photos.)  The Boss came to Cambridge for the last stop of his book-signing tour to take photos and sign copies of his new autobiography, “Born To Run,” released Sept. 27.

Forget about your iPod – now you can create your own tunes or play old favorite by visiting numerous locations throughout Boston and Cambridge where pianos have been set up for use by the public until Oct. 10.

Is the entire idea of Harvard Square as we know it about to end? Or is the long, slow fade of street-level intellectual foment that once set it apart merely being accelerated?  Whether you consider the Square’s heyday long past or not, news that the chopping block has been primed for two iconic institutions in the heart of the Square is still cause for alarm. Out of Town News, an incomparable international newsstand housed by the city of Cambridge next to the MBTA Red Line entrance, faces an uncertain future.

The famously curious monkey whose stories have entertained generations of children is turning 75 this month. In honor of his birthday, The World’s Only Curious George Store in Harvard Square threw a grand celebration this past Saturday.  While the Curious George brand is popular around the world, there is a special local connection to the books in Cambridge. According to Diana Nessralla, director of corporate accounts and community outreach for the store, Curious George’s creators resided in the city for a good portion of their lives.