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The longtime owner of Harvard Square’s Curious George store is selling the highly visible brick-and-mortar business as the store moves to another Cambridge neighborhood.

The first solo artist gallery of Harvard Square has arrived. On Sept. 18, Cambridge painter Susan Miller-Havens opened her collection to the public, titling the event “Now You See It Now You Don’t” as tribute to the ever-changing landscape of the Square and the power of art.  Located at 9 JFK Street, between The Curious George Store and Urban Outfitters, this space has historically housed pop-up shops and short-lived shoe stores, like Mudo and Karhu. But now, the one-room gallery displays upwards of 30 Miller-Havens’ paintings, spanning her career from early surrealist abstracts to her more recent works, which are intimate portraits of two or three people. Painting prices range from around $1,000 to $11,000.

Some kids have Manhattan.  Others have Hollywood.   As a kid growing up west of Boston in the 1980s and 1990s, I had Harvard Square.  I remember driving into Cambridge along Alewife Brook Parkway with my parents as a 1980s elementary schoolers, peering out the window past the Fresh Pond Mall sign and Faces nightclub, en route to Joyce Chen’s Chinese restaurant – the pinnacle of authentic dining back then. 

A little over a year after the flame of Les Sablons’ kitchen brought the historic 1912 Conductor’s Building “to life,” the upscale French restaurant cooled off its stove tops for the last time Thursday.  A message on Les Sablons’ website gave no reason for the restaurant’s closure, instead thanking its staff and patrons.  “We look forward to seeing all your familiar faces at our sister restaurants throughout New England,” the statement reads.

More than a month after nearly 200 tenants had their leases terminated at Cambridge’s EMF building, a few of them are continuing to fight to preserve – in some way or another – their former art spaces.  Last month, several former tenants submitted a “Protected Land Petition” to the Cambridge Historical Commission. In it, they ask the city to designate the EMF building as a historic landmark.  “There is historical value to that building,” said Steve Onderick, one of the former tenants who has been working to save the former EMF building since his lease was terminated.

Les Sablons in Harvard Square closed Thursday, according to  a statement on behalf of partners Jeremy Sewall,, Garrett Harker, Shore Gregory, and Skip Bennett.

The deserted and dilapidated Harvard Square Theater may soon house office space, several stores, and a new, two-screen theater — all concealed behind an LED-embedded facade capable of displaying art or photography.  Gerald Chan, the developer seeking to revive the Harvard Square Theater announced plans last month to tear down the deserted building to make way for storefronts, a new theater, and a four story-tall, LED-embedded edifice.

The Harvard Square Business Association, in partnership with the Cambridge Police Department, is collecting donations for the homeless through July 31 at its office located at 18 Brattle St., Cambridge.  Items needed include sanitary wipes, sunscreen, socks and snacks, preferably soft and nutritious. Collected items will go to local homeless neighborhoods through the Multi-Disciplinary Outreach Team.

Smoke could be seen billowing out of a Harvard Square business as Cambridge firefighters quickly contained a two-alarm blaze that began around 10:10 a.m. this morning at the corner of 1 Story St. and 52 Brattle St.  The brick-and-wood building houses Toscano, an upscale Italian restaurant with a second location in Beacon Hill. The cause is still under investigation.

Over a year after plans for the building were first outlined and six years since the theater’s closure, the developers of the old Harvard Loews announced Tuesday that they plan to start the permitting process in September for a new building on the site.  “We’re going to do the work so that the permitting process goes as quickly as possible,” said Anthony Galluccio, representing attorney and former Cambridge state senator and mayor, at a public meeting at the Beat Brasserie Tuesday night, June 26.