Plans are moving forward to convert a portion of an historic house first built more than 200 years ago in Harvard Square into a place for registered patients to purchase medical marijuana products.
The Cambridge Planning Board on Feb. 28 voted in favor of a special permit for Healthy Pharms Inc., to operate a dispensary at The Red House, a restaurant packed tightly among other businesses along pedestrian-friendly Winthrop Street.
In the most recent iteration of a beloved Cambridge store shuttering due to high rents and low sales, Schoenhof’s Foreign Books will close its Harvard Square store at the end of March after 161 years of continuous business in the Boston area. The store will continue to exist online, as employees turn their focus on beefing up the website, but the brick and mortar at 76 Mt. Auburn St. will no longer exist after March 25.
Cambridge officials are marking the fifth year of the closing of the former Harvard Square Theater by threatening an extraordinary intervention if the owner of the long-vacant property doesn’t quickly move forward with redevelopment. The move comes as the City Council is considering an ordinance to discourage real estate investors throughout Cambridge from the practice of “land banking,” or sitting on vacant properties for long periods for later profit with no intention of redeveloping them.
The City Council is demanding answers from the owner of the vacant Harvard Square Theater on what he plans to do with the property. The council voted unanimously to have the City Manager is notify the owners of the old Harvard Square Theater that they must respond in writing to the City Manager within 30 days with their long-terms plans are for the 10 Church St. property. The property has been vacant for nearly five years, and was purchased by Gerald Chan in 2015.
After 161 years of business, Schoenhof’s Foreign Books plans to permanently shutter its doors on March 25. Schoenhof’s, the self-described “oldest and largest foreign language-only bookstore in the United States,” was originally founded in Boston in 1856. The store moved to Cambridge in the early 1900s and has been at its Mount Auburn St. location in Harvard Square since 1983.
Mid-morning on a steely grey Saturday, a long line begins to form in the middle of Brattle Square. Three young women in knit caps and nametags stand at the head of the line, protected by a folding card table piled high with plates. The line curves along Brattle Street into Massachusetts Ave. all the way down to C’est Bon. It circles around the Church Street T-entrance and then doubles up, heading back towards Brattle. Line-waiters fidget in the cold, adjusting their winter gear, shushing their kids, and checking the time.
The weekend, chocoholics will descend on Cambridge for the ninth annual Harvard Square Chocolate Festival. The three-day event, hosted by the Harvard Square Business Association, kicks off on Friday with several Harvard Square restaurants featuring chocolate-themed menus and vendors offering limited-time items and deals.
With major developments looming on the horizon, Harvard Square is in peril of losing all that makes it lively and lovable – unless the city can pull together and plan for its future, according to residents and city councilors.
Benedetto, an Italian restaurant that emphasizes local ingredients, opened its doors this week in the Charles Hotel. The restaurant replaces Rialto, an award-winning restaurant that served Italian food for more than 20 years before closing this summer, and joins a roster of high-end restaurants, including Parsnip, Henrietta’s Table, and Harvest in Harvard Square.
Harvard Square’s Hong Kong Restaurant has served its time for its October 2016 drug violation — almost.