Archives: Media Room

Harvard Crimson

March 5, 2014

Billionaire Hong Kong investor and Harvard School of Public Health alumnus Gerald L. Chan has made waves in Harvard Square in recent months with purchases of Square real estate totalling more than $100 million.  Chan’s acquisitions include the property at Winthrop Square, which houses Grendel’s Den and the recently closed UpStairs on the Square, a recently vacated American Express building, and the stretch of property from 18 to 28 JFK St., which includes UNO’s and Papyrus.

When Buoy Lee, owner and founder of the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant, first walked by the property on 1238 Mass. Ave. in 1954, she could sense its potential.  “I thought to myself—jeez, that place has feng shui,” Lee said. This week, as the Kong, as the restaurant is affectionately known among students, prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary, Lee and her family reflected on the growth of the business and its landmark status in Harvard Square.

Alden & Harlow, the new Harvard Square restaurant from chef Michael Scelfo, located in the former Casablanca space.

The winter of 2013-2014 has not been an easy one for Harvard Square’s homeless population, but most winters are not. With nearly a foot of snow last week and more in the forecast, the weather has exacerbated existing shortages in space and resources at area shelters and placed added burdens on the population that spends most of its days on the street.

Harvard Square is a place where even the threatened passing of a Dunkin’ Donuts can prompt student outrage; passion for favorite food haunts runs deep. While both students and restaurants in the Square turn over as fast as patties at Tasty Burger, some local favorites persist.  Enter the Grafton Group, one of Harvard Square’s largest locally-owned families of restaurants, which has been around since 1996. In the nearly twenty years since the group’s founding, it has been a witness to a Square in flux.

Alden & Harlow, the restaurant that opened Friday in its location under Cafe Algiers on 40 Brattle St., pays homage to Harvard Square with its decor, its independent ownership, and even its personnel.  Featuring many of the murals that decorated the walls of its predecessor, the new bistro employs a line cook whose great uncle was the original owner of Club Casablanca, the iconic bar that occupied the space for more than 50 years.  “The name of the restaurant itself is the ultimate nod to the Square,” owner and chef Michael Scelfo said.

Students might have to walk a little farther for their late night burritos once Felipe’s Taqueria, the popular Harvard Square Mexican restaurant, completes its move from Mt. Auburn St. to a new spot two blocks away on Brattle St.  Although some students may be dismayed by the longer walk, co-owners Thomas J. Brush and Felipe Herrera said they are excited about the benefits presented by the move.

Celebrating the Boston area’s abundance of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and other Celtic-related music and dance traditions, BCMFest (Boston’s Celtic Music Fest) begins its second decade on January 10 and 11, 2014. A program of Passim, the Eleventh Annual BCMFest will bring together dozens of the best local musicians, singers and dancers to three locations for dozens of performances as well as participatory music and dance events right in the heart of Harvard Square.

January/February 2014
For the last days of June we’re going to share our favorite stories and pictures from Scout’s decade of local reporting. We need you to share those stories alongside your favorites. And then we need you to stand for Scout by becoming a member. Here’s one from January 2014! Every neighborhood worth its zip code has at least one place that feels eternal—the mom-and-pop drugstore that seems to get its stock straight from the ‘50s; the barbershop that’s on its ninth or tenth presidential administration; the corner pub where the only things that seem to change are the taps. These quintessential local fixtures are equal parts convenient directional landmark and vital component of communal history—the kinds of places that were around long before you got there, and will probably be still selling lozenges, buzzing cuts and tending bar long after you’re gone.