Harvard Square: A Love Story

by Catherine J Turco

"Harvard Square isn't what it used to be." Spend any time there, and you're bound to hear that lament. Yet people have been saying the very same thing for well over a century. So what does it really mean that Harvard Square--or any other beloved Main Street or downtown--"isn't what it used to be"? Catherine J. Turco, an economic sociologist and longtime denizen of Harvard Square, set out to answer this question after she started to wonder about her own complicated feelings concerning the changing Square.



Diving into Harvard Square's past and present, Turco explores why we love our local marketplaces and why we so often struggle with changes in them. Along the way, she introduces readers to a compelling set of characters, including the early twentieth-century businessmen who bonded over scotch and cigars to found the Harvard Square Business Association; a feisty, frugal landlady who became one of the Square's most powerful property owners in the mid-1900s; a neighborhood group calling itself the Harvard Square Defense Fund that fought real estate developers throughout the 1980s and '90s; and a local businesswoman who, in recent years, strove to keep her shop afloat amid personal tragedy, the rise of Amazon, and a globalizing property market that sent her rent soaring.

Harvard Square tells the crazy, complicated love story of one quirky little marketplace and in the process, reveals the hidden love story Americans everywhere have long had with their own Main Streets and downtowns. Offering a new and powerful lens that exposes the stability and instability, the security and insecurity, markets provide, Turco transforms how we think about our cherished local marketplaces and markets in general. We come to see that our relationship with the markets in our lives is, and has always been, about our relationship with ourselves and one another, how we come together and how we come apart.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Business, Sociology

332 pages, ebook

First published February 28, 2023

Reviews

[Crystal King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harvard Square by Catherine J. Turco explores the development of Harvard Square, from its colonial founding to its transformation into a bustling commercial hub. Turco examines the various historical and cultural figures associated with Harvard Square, from quirky business owners and Harvard faculty to the many diverse communities that have called it home. The book is filled with interesting stories, colorful anecdotes, and engaging descriptions of the people, places, and events that have shaped Harvard Square. If, like me, you’ve been shaped in some way by Harvard Square, you’ll find this book to be a unique and engaging exploration of the area’s past and present, revealing the richness of the area’s history and its influence on American culture. Highly recommended.

[Michael Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun history of the culture and businesses that composed Harvard Square through the years. Not sure it would be worth the read if you don't have at least some relationship with the area, but did a great job exploring people's relationship with the area.

While there is some lamenting that "things aren't what they used to be," the author takes a deep dive into dispelling that notion, as the Square has been in constant change since its founding. Shoppers' preferences, technological changes, and social norms are all shown to affect what type and size of businesses occupy the Square.

While coverage of the time period I lived in Boston was light, even I experienced that pang when realizing that the Curious George shop was closed, which I remember walking past every day. But I never shopped there, maybe entered the store once, and that shop had extremely prime real estate and sidewalk space.

The coverage of the debate about the JFK Presidential Library was enlightening to me, I did not know the history of that fight or how the Library ended up out on a spit at Boston College.

[Phil Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well done, detailed history of Cambridge’s iconic Harvard Square. This was particularly interesting to me since I’ve lived nearby for almost 30 years. Turco’s telling us full of interesting characters, detailed research and her own personal experience as a denizen of the Square. I also appreciated the academic angle as she tried to make sense of how a marketplace plays an important role in people’s sense of self and their community.

[Brittany McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In this small, tight space in which an elite university sits in the midst of a public transit hub, the marketplace as a whole and some of its most iconic businesses have been known to serve as what sociologists call “third places”—those spaces outside of home and work, like a local pub or diner, in which people of all backgrounds and walks of life can meet and mingle as relative equals.”

— Harvard Square: A Love Story by Catherine J. Turco

I loved this intense treatise on the difference between street level vs high level investment logics played out in a tangible, local market with surprising emotional attachments throughout an almost 400 year history.

And what a concluding chapter, ‘Our Markets, Ourselves’ (chapter 12). The book is a must-read just to bring you to those reflections. They left me desperate for more. And then followed an epilogue covering the pandemic in Harvard Square! I was in Harvard Square the last day things were still open (had to return a rental car in the square) and man, was I brought right back to that time and place.

Then came the coda! It concluded with a sweet image (containing a NPR Car Talk easter egg).

What a wonderful exploration of a powerful yet under-recognized force: our personal emotional attachment to a marketplace continually shaped by depersonalized forces.

[Liz Helfrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall: Harvard Square: A Love Story examines two central notions. First, it looks at the idea that for decades people had been complaining that the Harvard Square wasn’t what it “used to be.” Every generation bemoans changes in the marketplace that make the beloved world of the Square seem different (usually in a bad way) from what people remember. Of course, one person’s “not what it used to be” is another person’s well-loved present, with the cycle continuing every few years. Second, the book examines how people rely on street-level markets to create a sense of community, stability, and continuity on a deep psychological level, even though they are places full of change. If you’re interested in Harvard Square particularly, or if you are interested in how marketplaces become meaningful parts of peoples’ lives, you should pick up this book.

Likes: the book credibly merges economics, history, a dash of psychology, and lots of on-the-ground observations and interviews into an interesting blend that’s highly readable. Picking unconventional “characters” to follow, such as a neighborhood merchants’ association or a single block of one street, allows the reader to see the book’s arguments develop with plenty of humanizing detail. The book is great at illustrating how the marketplace constantly changes in response to many different factors, whether local, national, global, or some combination. The economic parts were easy for me to understand, despite my lack of expertise in that area. And the depth of the research warmed my history-loving heart.

Dislikes: at times the argument became a bit repetitive, which I think is common in non-fiction books of this type. And I would have liked a more examination of racial and ethnic diversity (or lack thereof) in the marketplace; the book nods towards this but doesn’t explore it in depth. At times as a reader I felt that there was a bit too much of the same kind of anecdote (especially the speeches from the merchants’ association).

FYI: a bit of strong language. There was also a short quote from a historical source that contains a derogatory word referring to people of short stature in the advance copy I received.

Thank you to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for my advance copy. All opinions are my own.

[Jiawei Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book talks about the history of Harvard Square, a marketplace that has existed for more than a century. Similar to many marketplaces in the country and the rest of the world, the biggest concern of the local community is always "Harvard Square is not what it used to be" as the evolution of time. However, if we look through all the events since the beginning of Harvard Square, such an argument was brought up many times. So, what is the reason of us saying such an argument again and again even though the marketplace we know is far from its original form and some of us don't even know what it truly used to be in the beginning?

In American culture, the "Main Street" is always a special place that shape the daily lives of many people. The love of Main Street, the local marketplace, comes from our day-to-day interactions to the local community. Our bonds to the society lie mostly in the commercial behavior such as our daily coffee routine, the visit of convenience store every two or three days, or the brunch we have every time we stay up late. Our feeling of the marketplace "used to be" is hidden in our custom that is formed by all the interactions we had with it. So, we may start to resist when changes come in.

But this is only one side of the story. There are always people that are welcome to change. On the other hand, the society also has a tendency to change because of competition. The evolution of the marketplace can get rid of some "bad owners" who don't serve the community with good quality. This side of the force, though it may disrupt our daily routines, actually better our daily lives and deepen our love to the local marketplace.

However, there is always an issue. Competition is not always benevolent. In fact, competition from those "big companies" are mostly predatory. Therefore, the resistance of change is not always bad. It is fortunate that there are always people who fight for the coffee house, the gift store and the restaurant that have stayed with them for years. The situation may be complicated when the two forces come together and we may feel exhausted with the unending discussions. But this is how our society is evolved. I would say the evolution will tend to be in a good direction if there are many forces compensating against each other, compared to those controlled by oligarchy or dictatorship.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvard Square: A Love Story, by Catherine J Turco, uses a specific case of change to a marketplace (buildings, businesses, consumers, place broadly speaking) to look at change in public marketplaces in general. With this comes as many questions as answers, though a better understanding all the way around.

Most of us have probably watched a cherished area change or, even more startling, gone back to such a place years later and been stunned. Usually we think the phrase Turco uses in the book: it isn't what it used to be. But what is it exactly we are lamenting? The actual businesses that have changed? Buildings that may have been replaced or simply removed? The different people who are using the space? Or just the fact that it has indeed changed and by doing so reminds us we have aged and changed too?

It is likely a combination of all those things, and Turco looks at them through a historical account of Harvard Square. From its beginning through various controversies over change to the present COVID recovery issues. As a longtime resident of the area and frequent visitor to the Square (as in every weekend for years) Turco brings a personal touch to the analysis. As an economic sociologist she also has the tools to take a more objective (to the extent possible) approach.

While I felt she was a little easy on one of the current figures in the current changes (I don't like big corporations in small town squares, especially as landlords) she did so out of fairness. And thanks to that fairness I did come to understand his stand better. I still disagreed and thought it was more self-serving than necessary, but the presentation allowed me to see a bit beyond my personal viewpoint.

For anyone interested in street level marketplace change, especially in smaller communities, this will be an excellent read. If you have gone or are going through a period of marketplace change, or even community change, this may help you to better understand both the others involved as well as your own feelings. Those interested in histories of place will also enjoy this book.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Matthew Barmack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author uses Harvard Square as a window on how our "Main Streets" have evolved. While some of the book's arguments generalize, there is a lot of detail about the square and readers who don't know the square may have a hard time following. The author is an economic sociologist who grew up in the Boston area and went to Harvard. The book characterizes the evolution of the square from its beginnings as a marketplace in the 1600s (?) through the present mixed with the author's own personal anecdotes about the square. 2 general themes are that (1) the square has always been changing, e.g., recent concern that national chains have driven out local businesses are not actually new and (2) (and somewhat more abstract) the tension between how people derive a sense of identity from marketplaces such as the square, but the same market forces that attract people to these marketplaces also force them to change, if for no other reason than to maintain their vitality. Having spent a fair amount of time in the square myself, I am much less sentimental than the author about the square. It has always felt cute and not really urban and pretty useless whenever I actually need to shop. In addition, I think the square's restaurants and cultural amenities are pretty mediocre...Nevertheless, I enjoyed some of the threads about specific businesses that have been familiar to me, e.g., the Tasty. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book to me was about how NIMBYism stopped the construction of the Kennedy library on the site of what is now the Kennedy School. (Some of the same forces also stopped an underpass that would have facilitated the flow of traffic at Mem Drive and JFK.). The more abstract parts of the book are a little repetitive.

[Miranda Cecil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agreed with many of the author’s points, but at bottom I found this to be frequently in defense of corporations raising rents and evicting small businesses in a way I didn’t enjoy. Most jarring for me was the discussion of how a sweetgreen or a dunkin brings people to the marketplace as much as an indie coffee shop might - while I know this might technically seem true, I also know from my own experience that I’m far more likely to mobile order and leave with takeaway when I visit a spot like that than I am at a neighborhood spot. The staying power of community in a marketplace must be local.

I did like the discussion and hope surrounding the possibility of the pandemic allowing space to revitalize the square. Having lived in Boston since 2020, I think I’ve actually gotten to see some of that borne out to a certain degree. I don’t know what the square was like pre-pandemic, but I do know that there’s a sense of localized vibrancy there today, particularly with places like the Harvard Independent Bookstore. Then again, it’s hard to think of so many shops being independent as the book describes.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this wide-ranging, well-researched and eminently readable account of the history of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, author Catherine Turco explores not just this iconic marketplace but also the changing face of all our main streets, high streets and downtowns and the businesses that inhabit them. She examines how businesses begin, develop and often ultimately fail due to changing market forces. She explores with empathy and insight how we relate in a very personal way to these places and find their demise so upsetting. Many anecdotes and stories pepper the text, with vivid portraits of both people and businesses, making this an entertaining, illuminating and thought-provoking work of social history. Although the book focusses on Harvard Square and will have a particular resonance for those who know it, the book offers much more than a purely localised chronicle, as the issues Turco raises have a universal application, not least in our era and its increasing reliance on online shopping and consuming. Something here for everyone.

[Andy Oram · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book certainly got me thinking. Having just finished it, I'm not sure how much I agree with Turco's structuring and positioning of the issues. Certainly, the book helps to explain modern retail.

One thing should be emphasized to would-be readers: The congenial subtitle notwithstanding, this book is not a simply stroll through amusing anecdotes. It is a serious (though non-scholarly) work of sociology and economics. It's well-written, but be prepared to consider lots of abstractions.

Sometimes I felt that the author used the idea of a market as a hammer and turned Harvard Square into the proverbial nail. But I admit—Harvard Square has been a market, from the beginning.

Do denizens of Harvard Square love and care about it more than the average suburban resident does about their district? That is one of the many fascinating questions one can think about while reading the book. (I worked in Harvard Square for a year at one of the stores mentioned in the book, and have been visiting it for about 40 years.)

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by an MIT professor with three degrees from Harvard details her lifelong love of Harvard Square, the history of marketing in the Square, and an examination of why we dislike and fight against changes in the places familiar to us. I liked the book on two levels. I was a student at Harvard Law School in the late 1960s and was often in the Square. I returned 17 years after graduation and was disappointed that one of my favorite places was gone. Ten years later another place was gone. Forty-five years after graduation yet another favorite was gone. This book made me examine why that upset me. And that led me to think about other places in my life that have come and gone and my feelings about the changes. My familiarity with the Square made this book special to me. But the questions it raised can be considered by anyone thinking about changes in the places they have come to love. This is a book both entertaining and thought provoking.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! As someone who is very fond of her favorite downtowns, main streets, and town centers, I got a lot out of Turco's exploration of Harvard Square history from the perspectives of both the ever-changing marketplace and the local population that calls it home. It's a wonderful mix of psychology and economics, told through a character driven narrative that is immensely readable. I think the text is worth the read for anyone who has a favorite local neighborhood, as the analysis and conclusions can be applied widely to any American main street, but if you're in any way attached to Harvard Square then this book will hit home that much more - a true love story indeed.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvard Square - it's not like it used to be, right? The old places we used to love are gone, our favorite bookstores, coffee shops and bars, replaced by banks and chain stores. Out Of Town News is gone, the Tasty is LONG gone, and even the COOP is just a souvenir stand. The place is hardly better than a mall.

This is a common refrain.

The biggest insight in Professor Turco's well researched, thoroughly entertaining look at Harvard Square through the years is that denizens of the Square were saying the exact same thing 100 years ago (and at regular intervals since); and she has the newspaper articles, the business association minutes, and copious other materials to prove it. Her thesis is that market transactions are not merely economic, but that they provide a psychological and sociological benefit to the participants in that market - which is a trap, since markets change and alter, they are not stable. The features of Harvard Square that contribute to our own well being and mental health are threatened by the "normal" evolution of institutions in the neighborhoods we cherish. And so we resist change, often to the possible detriment of the rights of property owners.

"Harvard Square: A Love Story" is a little longer than it needs to be, but Turco writes well and sympathetically about these subjects. Of course, her thesis is not unique to Harvard Square. I'm sure Greenwich Village, and countless other communities, feel the same pressures. Even the little street I live on lost its neighborly feeling when the local tavern (where everybody knew MY name, at least) lost its lease. I hear a new restaurant is set to move in.

A parting thought: if you carry some fondness for Harvard Square in your heart, look for the superb photographic history of the Square assembled by Mo Lotman, "Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950." It's out of print, but worth every penny if you can find a good used copy.

[Andy McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great book about a famous square. Being from the area and walking its streets throughout my life starting in the 1970s to present, I have seen so much of the changes that Catherine writes about. I always felt that it mallified especially after Abercrombie and Fitch took over the Wursthaus location. Catherine writes about so many changes throughout its history, so this mallification is not the only thing that happened "negatively" to the square. I am happy that there are still quirky stores there. But I am also happy that it has music venue, The Sinclair. While not independent, alas, it is a great place to see up and coming national and international bands. Harvard Square is a place that is always evolving and changing, so it will be interesting to see where it goes now and in the future.