It’s good news for those who have had to answer nature’s call while out exploring Cambridge: After years of research and input from the community, the city will officially open a freestanding toilet in Harvard Square this week that will be accessible to the public.
The outdoor facility was recently installed in General MacArthur Park, a small parcel of land just outside the university gate, at Massachusetts Avenue and Church Street.
After years of planning, the first outdoor public bathroom opens Friday in Harvard Square.
The toilet will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It’s comfortable, but it’s not too comfortable,” Harvard Square Business Association Director Denise Jillson said. “There are vents on the top and vents on the bottom. You’re not going to want to spend a whole lot of time in there.”
Tailor Joe Calautti put a suit coat on a hanger at Rizzo Tailors in … Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff … or Brioni but a little tailor shop above a grocer in Harvard Square. … to Rizzo Tailor when she became president of Harvard eight years ago, … but also a neighborhood tailor dispensing alterations and advice.
This weekend’s Head of the Charles Regatta brought with it more than just spandex-clad rowers and crowded bridges; for Harvard Square establishments, it also brought a boom in sales and a change of pace from business as usual. Attracting more than 11,000 rowers of all ages and more than 400,000 spectators each year, the Head of the Charles Regatta is the world’s largest two-day rowing event. It regularly drives traffic to Harvard Square’s businesses, especially those in the hotel and food industries.
Time to bust out that Lederhosen. Oktoberfest is coming. The 37th annual Oktoberfest and HONK! Parade in Cambridge’s Harvard Square arrives Sunday, October 11, and while the seasonally-appropriate jamboree features six stages of live entertainment — as well as “dozens of international food vendors, hundreds of street vendors selling artwork, jewelry and vintage clothing, neighborhood sidewalk sales and HONK! bands from around the country!” — we’re most excited for the live lineup curated by Bowery Boston.
Greater Boston is traditionally known as a hub of Irish-American culture: the Celtics, the Kennedys, the pubs called Murphy’s and Doyle’s and Clery’s. It may come as a surprise, then, that Beantown is in fact a great place for enjoying a very German celebration: Oktoberfest. Every year, venues around the metropolitan area put their own spin on the beer-centric festival (Boston does love its beer, after all), complete with steins and pretzels and lederhosen. Here are three spots to hit for this year’s festivities.
Club Passim has found a replacement for outgoing executive director Dan Hogan. Jim Wooster, who’s been the business manager for GlobalPost and has served on Passim’s board of directors, has been tapped to take the job.
Harvard’s glass pavilion plan for plaza meets resistance. Fans of Forbes Plaza’s footloose style balk at project.
Homeless youth are a sad but very real fixture in Harvard Square and two recent Harvard grads, motivated by that grim reality, have gone about creating a shelter for them. Set to open in November, the shelter is meant to provide beds to homeless youth between 18 and 24 years old, a population that advocates say lacks an adequate number of beds specifically set-aside for them.