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CBS News

Massachusetts restaurant donating drink sales proceeds to California fire relief efforts

By Paul Burton

Updated on: January 12, 2025 / 1:43 PM EST / CBS Boston

CAMBRIDGE – As wildfires continue to cause destruction in California, people and businesses in Massachusetts are looking for ways to help victims. One restaurant in Cambridge is doing its part to support relief efforts by donating proceeds from part of their menu.

Donating to wildlife victims

Source Restaurants, located on Church Street in Harvard Square, is donating all the money from their Perfect Harmony Drink.

“We are going to be donating our proceeds from the Perfect Harmony to go out to the families and all of the people out in California to help get them back on their feet,” owner Brian Kavorkian said.   

The restaurant is partnering with World Central Kitchen, which provides hot food and cold drinks to first responders on the frontlines of the fires. 

Kavorkian says he’s happy to know their impact is now being felt and fed across the country. 

Terrifying and one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, and I lived in California, so seeing that makes me feel so sad for all the people that I know out there,” he said.

Source Restaurants prides itself on supporting nearby communities by using products that are within 100 miles of their restaurant, so they said they are more than happy to help people who will need to rebuild in other communities.

“It means a lot to me to give back there, especially to the communities, because you know the struggles that the people are going through, and it’s going to be so hard to get your life back on track,” he said. 

Brian says Source Restaurants will be donating the proceeds from The Perfect Harmony Drink from now until the end of the month.

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WGBH

The Brian O’Donovan Legacy Artist Grant will be awarded for the first time at BCMFest

Listen • 23:57

Boston Public Radio

Brian O'Donovan pictured on stage during  a production of  "A St. Patrick's Day Celtic Sojourn,"  March 16, 2019. He's greeting the audience, with his arms outstretched.
Brain O’Donovan hosting “A St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn,” March 16, 2019
Nicole Updated Headshot

Nicole Garcia

January 10, 2025

The 22nd Annual Boston Celtic Music Festival will take place from Jan. 16-19 across various venues in Cambridge and Somerville. The event celebrates the traditions of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, Quebecois and other Celtic cultures.

Brian O’Donovan Legacy Artist Grant will be awarded for the first time at this year’s festival.

The grant recognizes an artist who embodies the spirit of community and musical collaboration. Rakish, the inaugural recipient, will be featured during the festival finale, with more artists to be announced, along with a tribute to O’Donovan.

“We wanted to do something that would celebrate his musical legacy,” said Lindsay O’Donovan, reflecting on her late husband’s influence on the Boston Celtic music scene on Boston Public Radio Friday.

One of the festival performers, fiddler Hanneke Cassel, credits Brian O’Donovan for fostering the spirit of live music.

“It’s really hard to even come up with a great description of everything he did for the scene,” said Cassel. “Boston is such a unique place … bringing together the Irish, Cape Breton and Scottish communities.”

The festival has expanded over the past two decades, reflecting the growing appreciation for Celtic traditions in Boston.

“We were doing things mostly in Harvard Square, but being able to expand it into bigger spaces in Davis Square has been a really great thing to bring more people in,” said Matt Smith, managing director at Club Passim. “This is the biggest BCMFest ever.”

“When you’re playing music with people, it kind of surpasses … even if people have different ideas and opinions about how things should be run, music brings that together,” said Cassel.

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Harvard Magazine

The Fish in Harvard Square

Artist Isola Murray’s child-size animals

by Olivia Farrar

Septimus, a sculptural character within Tired Clichés, a solo installation by artist Isola Murray | PHOTOGRAPH BY OLIVIA FARRAR/HARVARD MAGAZINE

In the middle of Harvard Square, with pedestrians bustling by, there’s a fish sitting in a bathtub. He’s patient, watching everything unfold from behind a window. His name is Septimus, and he’s a sculptural character within Tired Clichés, a solo installation by Isola Murray, an artist and art educator originally from Western Massachusetts. The exhibition, curated by Yolanda He Yang, runs at 25/8 artspace located at 2 Linden Street, Cambridge through February 4.

25/8 artspace is itself an intervention in the everyday. A slim, hallway-sized gallery nestled in the heart of Harvard Square, it was opened in 2023 through a collaboration between building owner Intercontinental Management, Yang, and Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association (HSBA). The tiny gallery serves as a physical reminder that creativity can thrive even when made narrow.

view from street of a gallery with paper creatures on display
View of the gallery from the street | PHOTOGRAPH BY OLIVIA FARRAR/HARVARD MAGAZINE

The space was created almost serendipitously, the result of a Cambridge zoning code requiring a maximum street frontage of 25 linear feet (here, between Mass Ave and Linden Street)—which inadvertently created a “false wall” on the side of Santander Bank. Rather than let the area go to waste, the HSBA worked with Intercontinental Management to transform it into a refuge for art.

The name given to 25/8 reflects two sources of inspiration. First, in curator Yang’s view, it’s a reference to the amount of time museum staff spend in their jobs: somehow, they find and devote an extra hour to each day, and an extra day to each week. Second, it references the original “Gallery 24/7,” a former repurposed Bank of America ATM at Mount Auburn and Holyoke Streets, which was converted into a temporary all-day, all-night artists’ collaborative in 2022. That gallery featured local artists and exhibited work in a mix of styles. From those beginnings, 25/8 artspace emerged as a more permanent, if still snug, home for artistic exploration.

25/8 is also the gallery for the larger project “Behind VA Shadows” (VA stands for Visitor Assistants), a creative collaboration created by Yang after the pandemic. Noticing the level of burnout experienced by museum staff at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), Yang spearheaded an initiative to create art opportunities for museum workers. Murray and Yang originally met working together at the ICA, where they bonded over a shared love for whimsical and inventive art. 25/8 has become the dedicated spot to showcase the art of museum workers, like Murray, through this project.

“There’s a term, called an ‘alternative art space,’” explains Yang. “Meaning, out of institutional control or management—and we all know why we need places like this. Too often, management is more concerned with administrative processes, like paperwork, than artistic vision. So, one thing I keep very clear and firm about the curatorial vision of this space is that I want artists to have the opportunity to experiment.”

Bringing new installations into the petite space always requires a bit of physical and logistical finagling, and Murray’s Tired Clichés is no exception. According to Yang, all new exhibitions are set up by community volunteers, who help to create the view seen from the street. The space rotates art every 4-6 weeks, sponsored by the HSBA.

sculptures of a hound and a bird on display in a gallery window that looks like a room
 Florian is a stamp-collecting hound; Delia is a bossy songbird who “reads to Coriander at night” | PHOTOGRAPH BY OLIVIA FARRAR/HARVARD MAGAZINE

Inside this portal now, all nine of Murray’s sculptures from Tired Clichés gaze out. They are a whimsical tableau of papier-mâché and mixed-media creatures, set within household scenes. Each are imbued with distinct personalities and clothing. According to Murray, Septimus the fish is a gifted and deeply sensitive chef; Muriel is a “loud and good-natured” ewe; Monique the bee is a connoisseur of “the finer things,” and is accompanied by her partner, Laverne (also a bee); Coriander the owl is a “great listener”; Celeste is a gossip-prone but “formidable” horse; Delia is a bossy songbird who “reads to Coriander at night”; Algernon is a discerning goat; and Florian is a stamp-collecting hound.

“Murray and I are both big fans of Hayao Miyazaki,” Yang said. Miyazaki is the Japanese animater and artist who co-founded Studio Ghibli, the production company behind Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle. “So, we’re very inspired by the fantastical world and storytelling—and imagining that objects or animals might magically begin communicating with us at night.”view from gallery display window of anthropomorphous barn animals in costumes

sculpture of an anthropomorphic barn animal at a table named Celeste
The installation entices passersby to reflect | PHOTOGRAPHS BY OLIVIA FARRAR/HARVARD MAGAZINE

25/8, and its predecessor 24/7 Gallery, are also part of a larger story about bite-sized art in Harvard Square. Down the street, the Shadowbox at One Brattle Square—curated by artist Kyoko Ono—similarly houses small-scale exhibits from artists affiliated with Gateway Arts, a nonprofit studio for adult artists with disabilities. Last spring, Gateway displayed a show at 25/8 artspace curated by Yang, entitled “fanfare of clouds” (a title drawn from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s “August Bank Holiday,” 1954). In Ono’s words, “These windows give opportunities for artists to connect with the public through their art. They can bring peaceful moments of joy and appreciation. They can brighten small alleys. They might [even] inspire passersby to have a go with their own creative projects. And these windows stay open all the time.” Like “Little Free Libraries,” which have also gained popularity across the country in recent years, these three miniature open art galleries expand the goals of literacy and art beyond the institutional spaces of the library or museum.

As life ebbs and flows outside 2 Linden Street, Tired Clichés invites a moment of pause. As good art does, the installation entices passersby to reflect—in this case through the simplicity of the silly. The effect is twofold. First: What? And then, inevitably: a smile—a welcome bit of warmth on the cold, winter streets of Cambridge.

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Boston Calling 2025 Lineup Features Luke Combs, Fall Out Boy, Dave Matthews Band

Author Erica Banas // Rock Music Reporter

January 6th 12:32 PM

Rich Polk, Theo Wargo, Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

The lineup for Boston Calling 2025 is very diverse and spans the worlds of rock, pop, country, and hip-hop.

Taking place May 23-25 at the Harvard Athletic Complex, headliners for the festival include Luke Combs on May 23, Fall Out Boy on May 24, and Dave Matthews Band on May 25.

Some of the support acts for Combs on May 23 include Megan Moroney, Sheryl Crow, T-Pain, and TLC. Supporting acts for Fall Out Boy on May 24 include Avril Lavigne, Cage the Elephant, The Black Crowes, and All Time Low. Lastly, supporting acts booked before Dave Matthews Band on May 25 include Vampire Weekend, Sublime, Public Enemy, Remi Wolf, Goth Babe, and Tom Morello. (The full lineup is listed below.)

Like in previous years, local food vendors will be on hand to feed the festival masses. Boston Calling’s website states that over 30 local food vendors will be participating and “Serving up everything from New England lobster rolls to Southern BBQ.” A full list of food vendors can be found here.

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WBZ News Radio

Hannukah Themed Pop-Up Bar In Boston Emphasizes The Overshadowed Holiday

Dec 31, 2024

BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A Hannukah themed pop-up bar in Boston is shining a light on the holiday that is very often overshadowed by Christmas.

Maccabee Bar’s award-winning bartender Naomi Levy created this pop-up back in 2018 after seeing numerous Christmas pop-up bars and feeling left out.

“Maybe none of us really get over the trauma of not getting to sit on Santa’s lap, you know?” Levy said. “I thought to myself, what if we just made Hannukah the whole thing and really made it be seen and feel like something special?”

The pop-up is located at the bar Noir in Harvard Square, with another location in New York.

The entire place was decorated blue and gold, with menorahs and dreidels placed all over.

Maccabee’s cocktail menu leaned into the Jewish holiday theme, with drinks such as Hey Judith, Hebrew Hammer, and Latke Sour.

Speaking of latkes, the bar serves those too, but not the typical potato kind – these have cheese in them.

“The original latke was cheese,” Naomi said. “In ancient, ancient times that’s what they had, they had a lot of dairy.”

Read More: Boston’s Puppet Library To Walk In First Night Parade

Levy said she was surprised with Maccabee’s success when it first opened up.

“Nobody cared that they were waiting 30 minutes for a drink, they were just so psyched that this thing existed!” she said.

All in all, Levy was happy to give fellow Jews people a space to celebrate Hannukah in a sea of Christmas festivities.

“Why not get to feel seen this time of the year, when you know you’ve heard Mariah Carey belted out the 17th time today?” Naomi said.

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Boston Irish

Dervish joins local performers for BCMFest 2025

By Sean Smith, BostonIrish Contributor
December 29, 2024

Dervish will be the special guest artist at BCMFest (Boston Celtic Music Fest), which takes place Jan. 16-19. Photo by Collin Gillen

Cathy Jordan, the lead singer of traditional Irish band Dervish, doesn’t require a lot of convincing to visit Boston, so she’s more than happy that she and her bandmates will be in town this month for Boston Celtic Music Festival (BCMFest).

“Boston is such an extension of Ireland it’s like another county,” said Jordan in a recent interview. “There’s such a huge Irish diaspora in Boston and the Greater Boston area, and there has been so much great music played there down through the generations. 

“The audiences are always fantastic, so when we see Boston on the tour schedule, we’re always delighted because we know for sure for sure it’s gonna be a great night!”

Dervish will be the special guest for the 22nd edition of BCMFest, which takes place Jan. 16-19 at venues in Harvard Square in Cambridge and Davis Square in Somerville.

A program of Cambridge non-profit Passim, BCMFest is the annual showcase for Greater Boston’s rich offerings of music, song, and dance from Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, and other Celtic communities. BCMFest features traditional acts and others that draw on contemporary sounds and ideas; full-time, professional touring acts; and local session musicians, highlighting performers from across the generations.

Dervish will headline the BCMFest Nightcap finale concert on Jan. 18 in the Somerville Theater, a performance that will include collaborations with local musicians and dancers. 

BCMFest 2025 also will feature Rakish – the fiddle-guitar duo of Maura Shawn Scanlin and Conor Hearn – as the inaugural Brian O’Donovan Legacy Artist, honoring the late Brian O’Donovan, a towering figure in the evolution of Boston’s Celtic music scene. Known for its seamless connection of Celtic and Americana-influenced styles, Rakish will serve as the festival’s resident artists, appearing in a variety of settings. In addition, Scanlin is the musical director for the Nightcap concert.

The festival line-up also includes: Hanneke Cassel; Matt & Shannon Heaton; Scottish Fish; Copley Street with Owen Marshall; Ed Pearlman, Jacqueline Schwab, and Laura Scott; Torrin Ryan & Amy Law; Casey Murray & Molly Tucker; Marty Frye, Sarah Collins, and David McKinley-Ward; the Adam Hendey Band; Elias Cardoso; the Rose Clancy Trio; Magpie; Isabel Oliart and Friends; the Clare Fraser Trio; Sarah Ann Hajjar & Alan Chiasson; the Coyne Family Band; the Simon Lace Trio; Fox River; Joe Keane; Mrs. Wilberforce; Ken Pearlman with Janine Randall; Helen Kuhar & Rose Jackson; Jen O’Shea; Riko Matsuoka; and Clara Rose & Raphaella Hero. 

Tickets and all festival details, including updates, are available at passim.org/bcmfest.

This will be the second year of BCMFest’s new format, which includes a headline act for the Nightcap concert and additional venues for performances and sessions. BCMFest events take place in Harvard Square’s Club Passim, as well as The Burren, The Rockwell, Crystal Ballroom, and Somerville Theater, all in Davis Square. 

“There was a lot of excitement about the events in The Burren, The Rockwell, and Crystal Ballroom last year,” says festival director Summer McCall. “Having these venues as part of our Saturday Dayfest program really seemed to bring a new energy to the festival, and quite a lot of people who hadn’t experienced BCMFest before, and the Nightcap concert in the Crystal Ballroom that featured [Quebec band] Le Vent du Nord was a perfect ending.

“We’re continuing to add some touches to the new format this year, in ways that affirm the special music community we have here in Boston, and we’re so happy to welcome Dervish – one of the most exciting and accomplished Irish bands of the past few decades – to be a part of BCMFest.”

Originally formed in 1989, Dervish has performed all over the world, represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, served as cultural ambassadors to China (where they held an impromptu session on the Great Wall), and, in 2019, received a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award. Their most recent album, “The Great Irish Songbook,” featured classic Irish songs sung by special guests like Steve Earle, Andrea Corr, Vince Gill, Kate Rusby, Imelda May, and Rhiannon Gidden.

In addition to Jordan, who also plays bodhran and bones, Dervish’s members are Shane Mitchell (accordion), Liam Kelly (flute/whistle), Brian McDonagh (mandola/mandolin), Michael Holmes (bouzouki), and Tom Morrow (fiddle). 

Dervish has built its compelling sound around the instrumental and song traditions of Sligo, Leitrim, and North Roscommon, which Jordan describes as “very high energy. It’s fast and furious, highly ornamented and very wild.” She pointed out that Sligo-born musicians like Paddy Killoran, James Morrison, and Michael Coleman were the first to make recordings of traditional Irish music after they had resettled in New York City in the 1920.

“And then the recordings of their music traveled back to Ireland and became very popular all over the country,” added Jordan.  

But the band has proved quite comfortable in other kinds of musical settings: They’ve covered contemporary material, including “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, the 1971 hit single by Cher, and performed in large festivals featuring acts like Iron Maiden and Sting. Jordan doesn’t find this at all baffling.

“When you think about it, all types of music were influenced by the various folk music and traditions around the world, and these were very strong foundations on which to build other music,” she explained. “Traditional Irish music in and of itself is a very strong, powerful music to listen to; its roots go very deep, and people can relate to that.” 

McCall, the festival director, said the launch of the Brian O’Donovan Legacy Artist – made possible through the Brian O’Donovan Legacy Fund, established by Passim and the O’Donovan family – adds a further dimension to BCMFest while honoring the work of Scanlin and Hearn, who as Rakish combine a solid grounding in Irish and American folk traditions with a shared interest in, and love for, chamber music and jazz. 

A two-time US National Scottish Fiddle Champion, Scanlin wields the technical range of an accomplished classical violinist, and the deep sensitivity of a traditional musician. Hearn, a native to the Irish music communities of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, has played for a number of traditional music acts and bands. 

In addition to BCMFest, the duo have appeared at Front Row Boston and “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” and played across the country, as well as at the Celtic Colors festival in Nova Scotia. Last year, Rakish released its third album, “Now O Now.”

“Brian’s influence on us and the community was so deep and simultaneously so widespread that it’s kind of hard to describe succinctly,” said Hearn and Scanlin in a recent interview. “Of course, it’s the ultimate honor to be connected with him in this way this year. He always made us feel really loved and supported, so it feels special and kind of nostalgic for BCMFest to support us and believe in us in this specific way, the way he did. Playing music in Brian’s honor feels like the truest way for us to show our gratitude to him and keep his legacy alive.”

With more than a decade of BCMFest experiences under its belt, Rakish has found that the festival promotes fellowship along with traditional music and dance.

“It always feels like a place where you’ll discover something for the first time,” according to Scanlin and Hearn. “That also speaks to the collaborative nature of BCMFest and the way it often transcends some genre boundaries. Often we – everyone – will tend to stay in our little sub-niches and only go to our regular session or dance, etc. But the memories of the sessions, dances, and parties at BCMFest are fond because they were some of the first times we’ve seen everyone from these communities in the same place playing and communing with each other.”

Cambridge gets romance-focused bookstore with pending wine bar, cafe

“The concept is similar to Trident in Boston, but it will be unique in its own way,” a Cambridge license commission page indicates

By Boston Restaurant Talk  Published December 27, 2024  Updated on December 27, 2024 at 2:18 pm

A new bookstore has come to Cambridge, and it will soon include a cafe and wine bar within its space.

According to a poster within the Friends of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants Facebook group page, Lovestruck Books is now open in Harvard Square, moving into a space on Brattle Street that has 5,000 square feet of space and which focuses on romance books. The poster included a link to a boston.com article that says the shop will become home to a George Howell coffee spot and wine bar by late January, with a Cambridge license commission page indicating that “The concept is similar to Trident in Boston, but it will be unique in its own way.”

The address for Lovestruck Books (and the upcoming cafe and wine bar) is 44 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138. The website for the bookstore is at lovestruckbooks.com.

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Boston Restaurant Talk

Lovestruck Books Opens in Cambridge’s Harvard Square, Will Soon Be Home to George Howell Cafe and Wine Bar As Well

A new bookstore has come to Cambridge, and it will soon include a cafe and wine bar within its space.

According to a poster within the Friends of Boston’s Hidden Restaurants Facebook group page, Lovestruck Books is now open in Harvard Square, moving into a space on Brattle Street that has 5,000 square feet of space and which focuses on romance books. The poster included a link to a boston.com article that says the shop will become home to a George Howell coffee spot and wine bar by late January, with a Cambridge license commission page indicating that “The concept is similar to Trident in Boston, but it will be unique in its own way.”

The address for Lovestruck Books (and the upcoming cafe and wine bar) is 44 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138. The website for the bookstore is at https://lovestruckbooks.com/

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Cambridge Day

Anthropologie to close in January after 14 years inhabiting showpiece Harvard Square building

Home | Business + Money

Anthropologie to close in January after 14 years inhabiting showpiece Harvard Square building

By Chloe Jad

Friday, December 27, 2024

The Anthropologie in Harvard Square has been announced as closing Jan. 16. (Photo: Marc Levy)

After 14 years in Harvard Square, women’s clothing store Anthropologie closes its 48 Brattle St. location Jan. 16, according to corporate parent URBN, and expects to vacate the space by the end of the month.

Anthropologie carries small inventories of apparel, accessories, intimates, home furniture, décor, beauty, garden and bridal goods. A sister chain to Urban Outfitters and Free People, it was founded in 1992 and has grown to more than 200 storefronts globally. Along with Cambridge, the chain leaves locations such as Chicago, Minneapolis and Toronto in January. In a filing at the end of November, the parent company said it had closed 11 retail locations in 2024 among all its brands but opened 36, including closing four Anthropologies and opening nine.

A message was left last week with Anthropologie’s parent company inviting comment, but there was no reply.

The store never because a member of the Harvard Square Business Association, said Denise Jillson, HSBA executive director. There is a corporate policy that discourages or does not allow individual locations to become members of the chambers of commerce or business associations, Jillson surmised, and a resulting lack of dialogue leaves its reasons for leaving unknown.

An Urban Outfitters opened In Harvard Square in 1979 and lasted until 2019, closing ahead of construction in what is now known as the Abbot Building. A Free People opened on Church Street in 2011 but was also gone in 2019.

Anthropologie has been a destination since 2010 for women visiting Harvard Square. (Photo: Marc Levy)

Jillson suspects the Anthropologie must have seen a decline in sales or an unmet potential in the square. If store revenue was robust, she said, it would not be leaving.

Anthropologie came to Cambridge in 2010, replacing a Crate & Barrel that had stood as a pillar in the neighborhood retail for three decades, from 1979 until its closing in 2009. The Brattle Street location is the only Cambridge storefront for the “global lifestyle brand,” with the nearest alternative location being on Newbury Street in Boston, across the Charles River.

From the HSBA’s perspective, Anthropologie never became an anchor in Harvard Square the way some stores do. Anchors tend to be entertainment venues and experiences that are not accessible on smartphones like online retail, Jillson said.

The lack of variety of men and children’s goods in Anthropologie might have been part of the problem, Jillson said.

“It’s definitely a place for women,” said Julie Mahdavi, who handles e-commerce orders and manages back stock for the store, “either women with their friends, or women to drag their husbands or boyfriends that sit there and they do their fashion show.”

Still, the store is the reason a lot of women walk into the square, which makes the closing “demoralizing,” said Mahdavi, who joined Anthropologie in November 2023 upon returning to Cambridge after three years in Paris. She often found herself at the store any time she was in Harvard, as it’s one that has “everything you need” in a colorful, creative and friendly environment.

Many workers were surprised by a one-month closing notice. “But at the same time, I think we weren’t even thinking about our jobs, to be honest,” Mahdavi said. “We were like, ‘But what about the square?’ – which is kind of weird, but that’s where my head went, and that’s where two of my colleagues’ heads went.”

The store’s workers are close, Mahdavi said, but will likely have to disperse to other locations – there are also Anthropologies in Boston’s Seaport District, Newton, Burlington, Dedham and Lynnfield – or find other work.

Jillson said she does not yet know what is next for the space on Brattle, but said it would be “wonderful” to have more retail, “something dynamic and community oriented” like the new Lovestruck Books next door, a store the association is “delighted with.”

Mahdavi said people will “really miss” the store’s window designs – the elaborate compositions the Anthropologie chain is known for – which pair particularly well with the award-winning, five-story 1968 glass-front building that acts as a colossal “display case,” as architectural critic Robert D. Campbell Jr. told the Harvard Crimson in 2008.

The store’s departure opens up three floors of that jewel-case architecture to be filled by building owner Bill Poorvu, an emeritus adjunct professor in entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School.

“If it’s not replaced by another retailer, I think the morale is going to be shot,” Mahdavi said.

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Boston Globe

Arcades are making a comeback in Greater Boston. Here’s why.

By Dana Gerber Globe Staff,Updated December 24, 2024, 9:03 a.m.

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1:00WATCH: Reporter Dana Gerber talks about her experience with arcades and their growing popularity

Decades out from their heyday, arcades are once again becoming space invaders.

From a 300-square-foot storefront in Somerville to a former pizza joint off Route 140 in Taunton, a spate of these electronic playgrounds have opened their doors across Greater Boston in the past few years.

Why the extra life? In the aftermath of the pandemic, operators found a public clamoring for experience-based brick-and-mortar spots, and communities hungry for businesses that could bring people out to play.

“Coming out of COVID, it was really clear that people had taken experiences for granted,” said Sean Hope, who got “good deals” on leases to open two locations of an arcade, called Dx, in Cambridge this year. “I felt that people really would be attracted to a curated experience that was something different than before.”

And though their inspiration may be retro, this new generation of arcades isn’t mere nostalgia bait. It’s more like a leveling-up,with these venuesoffering a mix of classic and high-tech games, modern pricing models, and on-site bars and restaurants.

One needs only step in the Dx location in Central Square to see that it’s playing a very different game than its grungy forebears. Gone are Frogger and his ilk, replaced by machines like a bunny-themed virtual reality experience and a two-person StepManiax dance floor. A small bar stocked with White Claws and Heinekens is nestled next to the prize selection — which includes stuffed animals, yes, but also grown-up novelties such as Bluetooth headphones and marbled water bottles. And there’s no need for pocketfuls of quarters; all machines accept only pre-loaded play cards.

It’s not the first arcade to arrive to the neighborhood; Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, which has an arcade bar in the back, is just a short walk away from Dx.

Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District, was glad to see the all-ages hangout take over one of the neighborhood’s vacant storefronts.

“We have the foot traffic. They just need places to go and more reasons to stay, and this is one of them,” said Monestime. “That’s been a hard corner . . . now we have this great small business on a corner that sometimes feels hard, and now it will feel playful. I think that’s a big win for the Square.”