#50 Boston - A Tour of the Squares - May 19 07

Squares we have many in Cambridge, Massachusetts, they are omnipresent, as a matter of fact every street corner in my neighborhood has one, and often there are two squares per intersection on opposite sides of the street; most of them are named after World War II veterans, and I have yet to find one that does not have this distinction. The Tour of the Squares, a Community Running event everyone was looking forward to, hosted by a certain Ms Petra Loesch at 10 6th Street in Cambridge, ignored the myriad of small squares and focused on the main landmarks – Kendall, Central, Inman, Harvard, Porter, and Davis Square. My fellow runners started out bright and early at Casa Petra and with more or less correct maps were invited to “get to know Cambridge” the athletic way. The tour of “The City of Squares” reached its farthest point at Fresh Pond, a reservoir and park area in North Cambridge with a lovely 2-mile loop for runners to enjoy. (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Fresh+Pond&gbv=2) Finishers (and I do believe I accounted for all participants) were treated to a pile of bagels and other breakfast items at the yellow house on 6th Street, the mood was elevated by sufficient levels of caffeine and carbs, and Lei’s demonstration of stretching on a foam roller delighted all guests and should be counted as the highlight of the morning.

I’ll have to throw in a few tidbits about the squares of this lovely town of mine – Central Square for example is the seat of our local government, Cambridge City Hall, boasts a wonderful mix of restaurants, and a slew of music venues, including TT The Bear’s, a tiny hovel of a club which on occasion does feature class acts. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were its most famous residents, and so was John Forbes Nash, who was depicted in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash). Kendall Square equals MIT, and of course a whole batch of biotech companies, which seem to be sprouting there like mushrooms after a spring rain. One of my favorite movie theaters, the Kendall, is in the neighborhood, just a ten-minute walk from my house.

Inman Square, another 10 minute walk from that little house of mine, in a slightly different direction, is probably my favorite of the squares, tons of ethnic restaurants, in particular Brazilian and Portuguese, cool stores, Christina’s ice cream (and Christina’s spice shop next door), the S&S deli, Riles Jazz Club, Rosie’s Bakery….. The square (http://www.inmansquare.com/) was named after 18th century “gentleman of fortune and Boston merchant” (Wikipedia) Ralph Inman. Apparently young Ralph did quite well in business and owned himself a little mansion in Cambridge along with other well-to-do families such as the Brattles. Improv Boston, a comedy club and Boston Institution, is located right near Inman; and what is now Ole, a Mexican restaurant that does serve a killer guacamole, was once the Ding Ho restaurant, where many now famous stand-up acts such as Jimmy Tingle and Bobcat Goldthwaite earned their comedic chops.

Davis Square is in Somerville, but ranks next to Inman as one of my favorites, again, same MO – oodles of restaurants, ethnic or not, comedy clubs (Jimmy Tingle) and of course, my favorite Irish pub in Boston, The Burren – the Guinness Beef Stew there is just number one on my list of local pub grub. No contest. The Somerville Theater features concerts and offbeat movies, including Boston’s Independent Film Festival each year. As I was checking out the list of notable Somerville residents on Wikipedia, I had to giggle – not just because I did not recognize anyone, but because of the eclectic group of VIPs listed: Alex Rocco (Actor/Gangster), Archibald Query (the inventor of Marshmallow Fluff), James “Buddy” McLean (Gangster), Bobby “Boris” Picket (Composer of “Monster Mash”), Leonard Tower Jr (Software Hacker) and my favorite Thomas “Tommy Somerville” Hardy (Beer Drinker, Story Teller). Actually, I just discovered that football Hall of Famer Howie Long is from Somerville, so I do recognize someone from the list after all.

Harvard Square trumps with history, famous residents and performers such as Tracy Chapman, who was known to give street performances during her college years at Tufts University. You may have recognized parts of the square in the movie “Good Will Hunting”; a quick hop across the street gets you to Harvard Yard, the historic Harvard campus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Yard. If you like NPR’s “Car Talk” radio show with Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers, look no further, the show’s office is right here, with a plaque on the wall for Dewey, Cheatham and Howe – the not-so-real law firm often mentioned by hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi. The address given for the show’s famous “Puzzler” notes the square – Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Harvard Square, Cambridge (our fair city), MA 02138 (and that folks is the correct zip code!).

Enough Cambridge Trivia for today – what is up in Boston? Mother Nature has done a 180 turnaround and brought winter back for a while. It has been raining most of the week, miserable weather, cold with temperatures in the 40s and I swear this is true, I was wearing my winter coat yesterday. Thursday night, when I headed out for a quick 7-mile run, I was wearing a wool hat – we are heading into June and I have the heater blaring. Unbelievable!!!

What else to do but cultural activities, starting off with an advance screening of “Shrek - The Third” this past Wednesday, courtesy of my friend Chris Gibbs, who scored a couple of tickets and whose kindness of asking me along deserved some tasty Mexican food at “Fajitas and Ritas” prior to the big event.
Friday night, again food and culture – this time starting off at Jacob Wirth’s in Boston (http://www.jacobwirth.com/ ), a Bavarian-style dining hall, with good German beer, German food, and a waitress that did not understand my German pronunciation of the beer order. Jacob Wirth’s is a hoot, in particular Friday nights, when starting at 9 PM our friend Mel Stiller hits the keys on his piano, and the whole restaurant, armed with songbooks, starts a sing-along that lasts well past midnight. Renee, Jennifer and I could not wait that long (this would have led to an excessive consumption of beer as you may imagine), as the Boston Ballet awaited our attendance – Giselle, a 19th century story ballet, about a love-sick young woman, who dies after she discovers that the handsome prince she fell for was two-timing her. In the second part of the story, which plays in the woods near the grave, she re-appears to the grieve-struck young man. You see our dead little Giselle is now a Wili, which are ghosts of engaged women who die before their wedding day. They are kind of a tough gang, and their ringleader, Myrtha, wants to do away with poor prince Albrecht by making him dance until he drops. Giselle, being a tad more forgiving, drags the whole process out so that Albrecht can survive until sunrise, then the Wilis, being creatures of the night, return to their graves. Poor Albrecht now is among the living, suffering in the knowledge that even though Giselle still loves him and has forgiven him, he can never be with her. Tough luck, eh? The performance of the Boston Ballet was simply spectacular, the stage setting alternated between a Breugel-like painting dipped in fall colors in the first half, to a mysterious, ethereal setting in the second – what a simply wonderful evening!!

Time to go out for a quick run, it is not raining right now, and one has to make use of every rain-free second here. A little exercise will do me good, somehow the combo of two beers and champagne last night may have slowed me down a bit today.

Have a nice weekend my friends, stay dry!

Pet:)