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I maintain a small list of places friends should visit when they are in Boston. Algiers was on that list. The Curious George Store and Out of Town News are on t

I maintain a small list of places friends should visit when they are in Boston. Algiers was on that list. The Curious George Store and Out of Town News are on that list, but they'll soon be gone too. My recommended Harvard Square places are now Club Passim, Harvard Book Store, and Grolier Poetry Bookshop. It's a bummer.

djb_hackernews 10y ago
If you are going for Hsq institutions Grendel's Den should really be on that list, they've been around more than 40 years and even won a case that went to the supreme court.
- robbfitzsimmons 10y ago
  Plus daily $5 lunch specials, which basically sustained me through a startup and grad school...
- gardano 10y ago
  It's great for me to hear that Grendel's is still there. I used to love to go there for their Sour Cream Chocolate cake. I don't imagine Elsie's diner is there (and also Tommy's). I loved to get bagels at Elsie's of a morning, knowing that the bagel would be infused with whatever else was on the grill that morning.
  - ghaff 10y ago
    Elsie's has been gone for a good couple of decades. I loved their sandwiches and thick frappes (which were called Westerns as I recall).
cypherpunks01 10y ago
Any chance we can see the whole list? : )
athanasius 10y ago
I am curious about why you include Out of Town News. I know it is of historical interest under its original owner but I looked in the other day and it didn't seem especially interesting: as much Harvard gear, sodas, and candy as magazines and those don't seem so significant anymore.
- ghaff 10y ago
  I think it's just that it's iconic. If you had to pick a focal point [1] to meet in Cambridge, it would probably be Out of Town News for most people. But you're pretty much right. Probably no one's going to buy the newspaper from their hometown in Ireland there any longer. The Curious George store actually isn't that old relatively speaking (from the 90s) I believe. I think it was in some way an offshoot of another Harvard Square bookstore (Wordsworth) which went out of business at the same time that lots of bookstores did. (There was a time when I would regularly make a weekend trip into Harvard Square in part to do the rounds of bookstores and record stores. Most are long gone.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory)

djb_hackernews 10y ago

If you are going for Hsq institutions Grendel's Den should really be on that list, they've been around more than 40 years and even won a case that went to the supreme court.

robbfitzsimmons 10y ago
Plus daily $5 lunch specials, which basically sustained me through a startup and grad school...
gardano 10y ago
It's great for me to hear that Grendel's is still there. I used to love to go there for their Sour Cream Chocolate cake. I don't imagine Elsie's diner is there (and also Tommy's). I loved to get bagels at Elsie's of a morning, knowing that the bagel would be infused with whatever else was on the grill that morning.
- ghaff 10y ago
  Elsie's has been gone for a good couple of decades. I loved their sandwiches and thick frappes (which were called Westerns as I recall).

cypherpunks01 10y ago

Any chance we can see the whole list? : )

athanasius 10y ago

I am curious about why you include Out of Town News. I know it is of historical interest under its original owner but I looked in the other day and it didn't seem especially interesting: as much Harvard gear, sodas, and candy as magazines and those don't seem so significant anymore.

ghaff 10y ago
I think it's just that it's iconic. If you had to pick a focal point [1] to meet in Cambridge, it would probably be Out of Town News for most people. But you're pretty much right. Probably no one's going to buy the newspaper from their hometown in Ireland there any longer. The Curious George store actually isn't that old relatively speaking (from the 90s) I believe. I think it was in some way an offshoot of another Harvard Square bookstore (Wordsworth) which went out of business at the same time that lots of bookstores did. (There was a time when I would regularly make a weekend trip into Harvard Square in part to do the rounds of bookstores and record stores. Most are long gone.) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory)