Casablanca, the landmark Harvard Square restaurant that for more than four decades has been a home away from home for a Bohemian assortment of professors, artists, writers, and various other regulars and reprobates, is closing. Sari Abul-Jubein, who began working at Casablanca in 1971 as a part-time waiter only to buy the place five years later, announced Friday that the doors of the venerable restaurant will close at the end of August. “Owning a restaurant in Harvard Square is sort of like being a university professor,” he said. “I’ve been working with younger people for all these years and loving it. But it’s also madness, and I am ready to move on.” Abul-Jubein said he’ll be spending a lot of time at his other Cambridge eatery, Casbah, which will be re-named the Fat Man Café and feature a barbecue concept. But drop by Casablanca in the coming weeks because Abul-Jubein is planning a victory lap of sorts with a special menu and other surprises.
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Happily in the pink from decades of dining
The eclectic clientele and the zany decor have kept UpStairs on the Square a go-to institution for 10 years, and for 20 years before that around the corner in Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Club. Today, surprisingly, many customers are sealing business deals and, not surprisingly, proposing engagements, conducting weddings, and celebrating graduations and bar mitzvahs. The whimsy is a stark contrast from the slick design sensibility that defines many restaurants, and the formality of classic wood-paneled steakhouses. But for longtime patrons, that’s part of the draw.
Harvard Square’s Loews Theater to close in July
The AMC Loews Theater in Harvard Square, where fans of the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ have come to see their favorite film every week for 28 years, is closing, a spokesman said Thursday.
AMC to close theater in Harvard Square in July
The AMC Theater in Harvard Square, where fans of the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” have come to see their favorite film every week for 28 years, is closing, a spokesman said Thursday. The closure would leave The Brattle Theatre, which shows cutting-edge, foreign, and art-house films, as the last theater in Harvard Square, said Denise Jillson, the executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association.
Harvard Square kicks off summer
From Louis Armstrong’s hot jazz through Nirvana’s grunge, Parisians have treasured American music exports. Their return gift to us is Fete de la Musique.
Help from Harvard Square: merchants welcoming student who beat odds
Harvard Square is rallying around an incoming Harvard College freshman North Carolina, determined to give the once-homeless student a sense of community when she arrives in Cambridge.
Harvard Square Business Association Trains Homeless Ambassadors
For a few minutes, Denise Jillson was homeless, pregnant and HIV positive. However, when time was up, Jillson went back to being the executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association. On June 2, members of the Harvard Square Business Association gathered with homeless advocates at the Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church to gain a better understanding of what life is like for homeless youth during an educational training session.
Make Music Harvard Square to Provide Eight Hours of Live Music
Make Music Harvard Square, a street music festival organized by the Harvard Square Business Association and the Québec Delegation, will feature 71 bands on 11 different stages throughout the Square on Saturday. The fifth annual event, which will bring eight hours of live music to the Square, was inspired by the Fête de la Musique, a street music festival celebrating the summer solstice. Founded in France nearly three decades ago, the Fête has spawned similar events in more than 300 cities across the globe, including Cambridge.
Curious George Reopens, Excited to be Back
Curious George Books & Toys, a once-popular specialty store located at 1 JFK Street, reopened last Wednesday under new ownership. Owners Adam S. and Jamie S. Hirsch have sought to reinvent the store, which has been a fixture in Harvard Square for decades, as a fresh and dynamic destination for tourists and residents of the Boston area.
Curious George store open again for monkey business
Visitors to Harvard Square were unhappy when the bookstore Curious George and Friends closed last year. So were Roslindale residents Adam and Jamie Hirsch, who are reopening the store at 1 JFK Street today as The World’s Only Curious George Store. (The grand opening is April 28).