The venerable Harvard Square restaurant has been closed since it suffered extensive water damage in January.
by Tom MeekWednesday, July 8, 2026
Social media was rife recently with photos of Charlie’s Beer Garden being cleared out, along with speculation about what it meant for the future of Charlie’s Kitchen, one of the oldest dining establishments in Harvard Square.
Charlie’s was devastated by a water leak earlier in January when a dishwasher malfunction spewed over a gallon of water per second, as restaurant owner David T. Oshima told the Harvard Crimson.
Charlie’s has remained closed during negotiations between the insurer and the building’s owner, Paul Overgaag. Both Overgaag and Oshima said the damage affected all four floors of the Harvard Square classic, ruining electrical systems, damaging walls and floors and more. Overgaag estimated it will cost several hundred thousand dollars to repair.
Clearing out the beer garden is a separate but related matter. Overgaag owned Charlie’s Kitchen, the building that Charlie’s occupies and the structure formerly known as the Red House, but he did not own the property that the beer garden occupied. That property is owned by the Banker Real Estate Company which leased the garden to Overgaag in 2010, when he first opened the outdoor patio. When Oshima took over the operation of Charlie’s from Overgaag in 2024, the beer garden was leased to him. Banker Real Estate said in an email that the garden area was cleared out because the business closed, and the lease was mutually terminated.