From Dave Brigham:
I have no idea whether any of the places I shot for this post many, many months ago have gone out of business. I hope not.
I used to frequent Inman Square, which is mostly in Cambridge, Mass., but spills over into neighboring Somerville, primarily to eat at the S&S Deli, an award-winning eatery that's been around since 1919, and where I once saw Robert Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. On other occasions I shopped at a toy store, ate Brazilian barbecue and saw live music at the former Ryles Jazz Club (see September 28, 2019, "Waving Goodbye, With Jazz Hands").
I recently walked through as much of the square as I could given my time constraint. Here's what I found.
I was happy to see the S&S is still going strong. I miss going here, and to other breakfast/brunch places. My kids aren't eating-out-for-breakfast types, unfortunately. The restaurant's original matriarch, known as Ma Edelstein, used to greet customers in Yiddish, imploring them to “Es and es" (eat and eat), per the eatery's web site. This inspired the name of the restaurant; I'm not sure what it was called when Ma worked there. On the rear, outer wall of the restaurant, Ma still keeps an eye on things, even though she's gone to that great kitchen in the sky.
Another place I dined at a few times is the Brazilian BBQ joint, Midwest Grill.
I love the logo in this not-terribly-good photo. If you haven't had Brazilian BBQ, let me set the scene for you: most importantly, there is meat on swords. Waiters ceremoniously bring said swords of meat to each table, set down a small plate under the sword to catch blood, drippings, stray pieces of meat, and you indicate how much sausage, chicken, beef or pork loin you want them to shave off onto your plate. Each waiter has a different meat, and they make the rounds of your table as often as you like, or until you explode, a la Mr. Creosote.
You don't have to order the eat-until-you-pass-out sword-meat extravaganza, but I recommend it. As my buddy who took me and some fellow coworkers to Midwest Grill said, "Don't waste your time with the salad bar."
Those are the only two places I recall eating at back in the day. If I were young and kid-free today, I'd definitely go to Bukowski Tavern.
Named for foul-mouthed postal worker/poet and novelist Charles Bukowski, the tavern (there is also one in Boston, near a failed development that I wrote about a while back) has been around since 1998 and seems a pleasant enough place. And that's the problem. Bukowski was a dive bar guy, for sure, not one to be seen hanging out in hipster yuppie joints. I read a few of his books back in my 20s, and loved "Barfly," the movie based on his life and writings, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. The man was a misanthropic alcoholic who wrote down-and-dirty stories and poems. In my immediate post-college years, my friends and I would give out the "Chanaski Award," named for Bukowski's alter ego in "Barfly," to whichever one of us got the drunkest, or bled while partying, or did something disgustingly stupid.
I probably would only go to this bar once, although I like that on the bar's web site they promise "surly service." If you are able to, expand the photo above. You may be able to see the quote in neon that says, "Find what you love and let it kill you." It's a great quote, but while many people attribute it to Bukowski, it apparently wasn't something he wrote. Another reason to limit my visits.
Alright, that's way too many words about a place I've never been. Let's move on to some other watering holes.
Trina's Starlite Lounge -- what a great name, eh? -- opened in 2009. It's known for fried chicken and, as you can probably guess by the Miller High Life sign out front, hipsters. OK, I should lay off the tattooed, trucker-hat wearing crowd, right? The tavern, which is in Somerville, opened after the dissolution of longtime dive bar the Abbey Lounge, where I saw former Phantom Tollbooth bassist Gerard Smith play in some band.
The owners of Trina's also run Parlor Sports next door. The place has cool murals on the exterior that evidently change on a regular basis.
The Thirsty Scholar Pub opened in 1995, one of countless Irish bars inspired by public houses on the Emerald Isle. Seems like a pretty cool place; I hope it doesn't fall victim to the trend that has seen many local Irish pubs close their doors in recent years.
Regular readers know I love social clubs, so let's cover a few.
Clube Desportivo Faialense (Faialense Sports Club) is a private Portuguese club that seems to be open to the public for meals and parties on occasion. Faial Island is located in the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugual.
The Portuguese American Civic League is located on Springfield Street, not too far off the main part of Inman Square. Cambridge and Somerville have quite a few Portuguese clubs like this, which makes sense, as East Cambridge had a sizable Portuguese community beginning in the late 19th century.
We've covered bars and social clubs; how about some restaurants and coffee shops?
Richards -- named for four generations of Cambridge natives with that first name -- opened last October along Cambridge Street, offering "Exceptional Food/ Art / Hip-Hop." The new eatery replaced Tupelo, a Southern restaurant that had occupied the space for nearly a decade. Tupelo shuttered due to difficulty finding staff, per this article. Several months ago I shot a picture, below, of Tupelo, which is the name of the town where Elvis Presley was born.
Puritan & Company on Cambridge Street serves modern American cuisine, per its web site, and has done so since 2012. I've never been to this restaurant, but I love it because of the sign and the story behind it. The eatery is named after a prior tenant in this space, Puritan Cake Company, which was in business from the 1930s to 1950, per the restaurant's web site.
I wanted to return to Inman Square to get a better shot of this place, and a few others, but I haven't ventured out much in recent months, for obvious reasons.
M'lor Caffe, also on Cambridge Street, serves coffee, baked goods and other breakfast and lunch items. I love the artwork on the exterior, below.
The 1369 Coffee House (exterior, below) in the heart of the square has been around since 1993. The building dates to 1894, and was home for five years in the 1980s to the 1369 Jazz Club.
The jazz joint was highly regarded, booking local and national acts. But a dispute with the landlord resulted in the club shutting down. A documentary, "A Place for Jazz," was filmed but from what I've read online, the film was never released. Below is a clip:
There's a cool mural on the side of the coffee shop.
Heading east from the 1369 Coffee Shop, I saw what is perhaps the major commercial showcase building in the square.
Home to Highland Fried, a chicken, BBQ and exotic Tiki drinks spot; Christina's Homemade Ice Cream (and the related Christina's Spice & Specialty Food); Quick Food Mart; and the All Star Sandwich Bar, the building at 1245-1273 Cambridge Street dates to 1884. Try as might, I haven't been able to find out any background/history on this place.
Moving on....
Howzabout we look at some other old buildings that, with any luck, the Internet will tell us about?
The Cambridge Auto Center across from Bukowski Tavern has closed since I took this photo. As you can see at the roofline, the building dates to 1914. That's all I've been able to find out. Man, I need to improve my batting average here!
We're in Somerville at this point, near the Thirsty Scholar. This is 108-118 Concord Street, which sits on the corner of Beacon Street. The building dates to 1900, per the Somerville assessing web site, but I'm guessing it's older. Anything white on this building, I believe, is after-market crap that ruined what seems like it was a nice brick apartment building.
Across Beacon Street sits a much nicer old apartment complex. With all the beautiful trees in front of this place, however, it's tough to get a very good picture.
Built in 1880, 28-36 Beacon is known as George Wyatt Apartment Row, according to my new best friend, MACRIS. Across the street is the former home of George Wyatt, who owned a brickyard in the area in the 19th century.
Home to Vasquez Barber Shop and Alegria Dental, among other businesses, 1052 Cambridge Street, below, is an oddball.
The story above the red line appears to have been added on after the original construction. The back part of the building (not pictured) has only four levels. I haven't been able to find out anything about its original or former uses.
On the other side of Cambridge Street, opposite Puritan & Co., I saw the boldly designed building below.
Built in 1849 (!), 1157 Cambridge Street is currently home to Cambridge Rug Co., which has been in business since 1964. I haven't found anything more to say about this building than that, which is a shame.
Maybe I'll have better luck with the building below, which is located at the nexus of the square, at the intersection of Hampshire, Cambridge and Springfield streets.
Great picture, eh? I took that picture because of the date "1874" chiseled into the building's facade. That's a long time ago. Let's see if there's any info on this beautiful brick behemoth.
Known as the Middlesex Bank Building, this Italianate-style hunk of architecture is home to, well, I'm not sure.
Let's get to some old signs, shall we?
Now home to coworking space IndustryLab at the corner of Hampshire and Norfolk streets, just a little outside of Inman Square, this place was home to Monk's Laundry at some point in the distant past. I haven't found out much about the company, but per the beautiful ghost sign I now they offered French cleaning, which is what dry cleaning was popularly known as, and dyeing services.
The former Automatic Cone warehouse across Cambridge Street from Vasquez Barber Shop and Alegria Dental has been vacant for years.
The University Monuments showroom at the corner of Cambridge Street and Webster Avenue has been abandoned for years, as well. A developer has proposed demolishing the warehouse and showroom buildings and putting up -- wait for it.... -- apartments on top of commercial space.
Founded in 1903 by Italian immigrant, James Denaro, Automatic Cone Company manufactured cake cones, and also invented and patented the Icy-Pi, per the web site for Por-Shun, a dairy distribution company that acquired the Cambridge company. As for University Monuments, I know it was in business a long time, but I haven't found out information about when it launched and when it closed up shop.
Not much to say about this sign, except I like how long it's obviously been telling people, "Piss off and get the hell away from our driveway!"
Now for a different type of mural than I've seen around the area before.
This is an ad for a five-night stint that British punk/folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner played at Boston's Royale club in late June and early July 2018. I took this picture in May 2019, and the ad was still there when I returned to Inman Square last fall. I've never seen an ad for a concert painted on a wall. I'm guessing there have been others in the Boston area, but I doubt they last very long.
Speaking of murals....
Painted by Ellary Eddy in 1980, and restored by the artist in 1999, this fantastic mural is a showcase of Inman Square. Located on the station for Engine Co. 5, the painting dominates the major intersection of Hampshire and Cambridge streets. You need to enlarge the photo to see George Washington and Ben Franklin, along with firefighters. For an explanation, read this Centers & Squares blog post. Below is the station.
I'm gonna wrap up with two churches, and a photo that I think is cool but that has no backside connection.
The First United Presbyterian Church is just up Cambridge Street from the firehouse, heading toward Harvard Square. Built in 1892, the church has always been occupied by the FUPC congregation, according to this history.
The Immanuel Seventh Day Adventist Church, below, dates to 1940, according to the City of Cambridge assessing department, but I'm guessing it's older.
As I was pointing my camera at the door, a teenage boy was exiting. I quickly dropped my camera, and he went back inside. I snapped a quick shot and moved on.
Finally, a cool window display at a travel agency along Cambridge Street.
For more recent posts about Cambridge, see June 23, 2020, "Walking Through the He(art) of Central Square" and April 3, 2020, "Walking Through a Waterless Port."
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