Editing Harvard Square (section)

== History ==
{{expand section|date=April 2015}}
[[File:Harvard Square Hopkins Map 1873.jpg|thumb|1873 Map of Harvard Square]]

Although today a commercial center, the Square had notable residents in earlier periods, including the colonial poet [[Anne Bradstreet]]. 
<!-- Acoustic Research showroom, Design Research store, CyberSmith (early Internet cafe), WGBH Store, Tower Records, HMV Records, Holyoke Center, etc. -->

=== Transformation ===
[[File:Harvard Square aerial 1921.jpg|thumb|Harvard Square from above in 1921, looking west. [[Harvard University]]'s [[Widener Library]] is right of center]]

Discussions of how the Square has changed in recent years usually center on the [[gentrification]] of the Harvard Square neighborhood and Cambridge in general. The Square also used to be a neighborhood shopping center, including a grocery store (Sages) and a [[F. W. Woolworth Company|Woolworth's]] [[Variety store|five and ten]].  Although a hardware store (Dickson Hardware at 26 Brattle Street) survived until 2021 amid chain drug stores and bank branches, the Square is mainly a regional rather than neighborhood shopping destination, serving students and commuters.[https://www.cambridgeday.com/2019/05/06/pop-ups-such-as-community-phone-fill-a-void-where-view-could-be-long-empty-storefronts/]

In 1981 and 1987 the Harvard Square Theater was converted into a [[Multiplex (movie theater)|multiplex]] cinema; it later became part of the [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment]] chain and then closed on July 8, 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/cambridge/2012/06/amc_to_close_theater_in_harvar.html |title=AMC to close theater in Harvard Square in July |publisher=Boston.com |access-date=2012-12-31}}</ref>  During the late 1990s, some locally run businesses with long-time shopfronts on the Square&mdash;including the unusual [[Tasty Sandwich Shop|Tasty Diner]], a tiny sandwich shop open long hours, and the Wursthaus, a German restaurant with an extensive beer menu&mdash;closed to make way for national chains. Elsie's Lunch, a long-popular deli, also closed; what remained of its small corner storefront space facing [[Lowell House]] on Mount Auburn Street is now occupied by an [[Automated teller machine|ATM]]. Another long-time restaurant,  Leo's Place, closed in December 2013, after 64 years in business, when the landlord of the property terminated their lease.<ref>{{cite web |last=Baldassari |first=Erin |title=After 32 years, Leo's Place closes |url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20140109/News/301099740 |work=Wicked Local News |access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref>[[File:2019 Out of Town News, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts just closed. (pic.41) Photo by David Adam Kess.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Harvard Square Subway Kiosk|Out of Town News]] newsstand, which opened in 1955, occupied the Harvard Square subway kiosk from 1984 to 2019.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.masslive.com/boston/2019/09/harvard-squares-iconic-out-of-town-news-to-close-as-early-as-oct-31-as-cambridge-prepares-to-renovate-the-kiosk.html | title=Harvard Square's iconic Out of Town News to close as early as Oct. 31 as Cambridge prepares to renovate the kiosk | date=16 September 2019 |author-first1=Aviva|author-last1=Luttrell|website=Mass Live}}</ref>]]The student co-op, the [[Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society]] ("The Coop"), founded in 1882, is now managed by [[Barnes & Noble]], though it is still overseen by a board elected by its membership of Harvard and MIT students and staff. [[Schoenhof's Foreign Books]] is owned by the French [[Éditions Gallimard]]. Major bookstores Paperback Booksmith, Reading International, and Barilari Books had closed by the end of the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/2004/11/0536.php |title=Ohio-state.edu |publisher=Omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref>  WordsWorth Books at 30 Brattle Street closed in 2004, after 29 years as a fixture in the Square.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bookweb.org/news/2982.html |title="WordsWorth to Close on Saturday", "Book Selling This Week" |publisher=News.bookweb.org |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref> In the same year, the famous [[Grolier Poetry Bookshop]] announced that it would be sold (although it survived under new management). [[Globe Corner Bookstore]] converted to an exclusively online business, serving its last walk-in customer on July 4, 2011.

Following national trends, the former Harvard Trust Company has been absorbed into the national [[Bank of America]] through a series of mergers.  Several establishments remain as longstanding, locally-run businesses with unique styles. Examples include [[Leavitt & Peirce]] tobacconists (est. 1883), Laflamme Barber Shop (est. 1898), [[Harvard Book Store]] (est. 1932), Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe (est. 1950), [[Charlie's Kitchen]] (est. 1951), the [[Brattle Theater]] (est. 1953), the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant (est. 1954), [[Club Passim]] (est. 1958), [[Café Pamplona]] (est. 1959), [[Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage]] (est. 1960), Million Year Picnic comics (est. 1970), Algiers Coffee House (est. 1970), and [[Grendel's Den]] (est. 1971).