Archives: Media Room

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.

Berk’s Shoes closed this week after 35 years in Harvard Square…

The Cardullo family is parting ways with their longstanding business, Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe, a landmark in the heart of Harvard Square for the past six decades.  Sisters Donez Cardullo Tavilla and Francesca Cardullo Sibboe have sold the popular business to Newton couple, Rich and Kim Wilson. The sale will be finalized in four to six weeks once the liquor license is transferred, but the new owners plan to keep the shop’s name and mission, according to Tavilla.

Harper Lee’s long-awaited second novel, Go Set a Watchman, is set for release on July 14. In response, independent bookstores around the country are preparing for the biggest book release since the golden days of Harry Potter.  BookPeople in Austin, Texas, for instance, ordered 300 copies of Go Set a Watchman as soon as it was announced in February, according to retail store manager Bryan Samsone. Since then, 100 of those copies been set aside for preorders.