I love Harvard Square. I’ve worked here for over seven years, and lived in Cambridge proper for two of them. In that time, I’ve seen so much change. Just one shopfront in that time has transformed from PacSun to Abercrombie to a Citizen’s Bank. And the banks—they are taking over. There are so many banks in the Square that soon there won’t be any place to spend money.
Just this year, my heart has been broken, again and again, by the closings of Campo de Fiori, Planet Aid, Second Time Around, Toscanini’s, Caffe Paradiso, The Greenhouse Cafe, and Ferranti-Dege. Between them, just the last three combined have done over 150 years of business in Harvard Square.
Planet Aid was replaced by a minimall; Second Time Around by a Flagship EMS (after knocking down a wall to join the space with what was once an Express, then a giant corporate record store, them a regular EMS); Toscanini’s space has been coopted by Gnomon Copy, and who knows what will go in where that (or Ferranti’s) used to live; Caffe Paradiso’s space stands empty, as does the Greenhouse’s.
I have a selfish reason for missing Paradiso and Campo de Fiori—lunch. They both served amazing sandwiches, with gorgeous Italian cold cuts and combinations, pestos, oils, and infused roasted veg. The homemade bread at Campo de Fiori was so fantastic, I would order a single slice for $2.50 and call it lunch: a giant slab of light crispy soft bread spread with pesto. There’s a sign up advertising who is taking over its space: Oggi Gormet. I visited its website, hoping for another amazing gormet European sandwich shop, but no luck. It’s fancy pizza. I’m sick of creative pizza. We have Crazy Dough and Cambridge 1, and I see no reason for more upscale pizza when there isn’t a single decent sandwich shop left in all of the Square, besides Finale (and Darwin’s way the hell out in the middle of nowhere).
