Title
Hong Kong Monument In Harvard Square
Tribute to Sen Lee - founder of the Hong Kong in Harvard Square
Hong Kong Monument In Harvard Square Wander around Harvard Square and you’ll stumble upon memorials – to the Colonial days, to the Revolution, to various classes at Harvard, and to modern day Cantabridgians too.
I was tickled to come across the monument on the right while walking through the Square recently.
It’s a tribute to Sen Lee, the founder and long-time proprietor of the Hong Kong restaurant across the street. Sen Lee opened the Hong Kong more than fifty years ago. It’s a Harvard Square institution and a popular place to see comedy shows.
My Hong Kong experience is limited to the Faneuil Hall Hong Kong where I briefly waitressed while in graduate school. Now that was an easy waitressing gig – plop down the scorpion bowl, stick some straws in it, and collect the tip. Sweet!
The Hong Kong in Harvard Square
New Age Parking Meters in Harvard Square
New parking meter on Church Street in Harvard Square
I did a double take when I spotted this new age parking meter in Harvard Square on Church Street. It’s actually a “pay station” that has replaced all the meters on the block. The City of Cambridge Traffic and Parking Department calls it a “Pay and Display Meter” – actually for some reason they call it “Luke”. Beats me.
Harvard Square visitors will park their car at one of the now meter-less parking spaces and purchase parking at the pay station which takes quarters or credit cards (Visa or Mastercard). The machine spits out a paper receipt which needs to posted on your dash.
For now these new parking meter substitutes are on Church Street and in three City of Cambridge parking lots though there are plans to make the change elsewhere in the city in the future. Benefits of this sort of system, similar to ones installed in Boston on Newbury Street, include increased revenues and reduced time spent by city workers collecting money from the meters.
New Cambridge Parking Signs
While I’m a bit horrified at the idea of parking meter charges ending up on credit cards, the biggest drawback from drivers, or I should say parkers’, perspective seems to be that the small joy of scoring a parking meter with time left on it is no longer a possibility. But simply scoring a parking space in the heart of Harvard Square should be thrill enough.
SEARCH FOR HOMES IN HARVARD SQUARE
New Book About Harvard Square
NECN had a segment the other morning on a new book about Harvard Square – Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950. As soon as the segment ended I called Porter Square Books and reserved two copies, one for myself and one for my parents.
New Book About Harvard Square, Cambridge Massachusetts
My dad grew up in Cambridge and one story that’s regularly retold in my family is how he and his high school friends in the late 1940s would jump in their cars, drive to the Square, pull up and park, and go in for a bite to eat at the cafeteria, Albiani’s, on Mass Ave. The reason the story tickled our funny bones was how far fetched we would all find it – how could they have found three or four empty parking spots all in a row? Different time for sure.
My mother became a fan of the Square in the 70s when we would take the train in from the burbs to shop and take in the sights. The book, with its coverage through the decades, had something for all of us.
Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950 by Mo Lotman
Measuring 12″ by 10″ and 240 pages long this is a *big* and beautiful book jam packed with photographs. When I heard about it I thought it would simply be a collection of photographs – and if it were only that it would be fascinating. Lotman has dug deep for the photos in the book – in archives and in amateur photographers’ personal collections. It’s an amazing look at Harvard Square through the decades.
But the book isn’t just a photography book – it’s much more. It’s all about what makes this such a special place – the people, the politics, the shops, the restaurants, the buildings – it’s a rich tapestry and a wonderful record of the last 60 years Cambridge-style. Streetscapes, interior views, ephemera, news photos – you name it – it’s all here in chock-a-block full, endlessly fascinating pages.
Inside Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950
The book is organized by decades and pictures are both dated and annotated to direct you to other views or info about the same scene. Thankfully there’s an index – you’ll be tempted to take a quick look to see if the places you remember are included here. I checked to see if one of my favorite teenage haunts – Dazzle - was in the book – yes – and was delighted to find four references to one of my regular stops, Reading International. And for my Dad, Albiani’s is in one of the full page photographs that open the book. There’s so much here that will bring back your favorite Harvard Square memories.
Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950 is the ideal coffee table book since everyone who spots it will be tempted to pore through its pages. It’s the perfect gift for anyone who’s ever lived in or spent time in Cambridge.
Author Mo Lotman will be at the Harvard Coop on September 12, 2009 to discuss the book and sign copies as part of the “Bookish Ball”. The book’s official launch will be held at Club Passim, 47 Palmer Street in Cambridge on September 15, 2009 from 7 pm to midnight.
Copyright © 2008 Centers And Squares Log in Design by Real Estate Tomato Powered by Tomato Blogs
