Vanishing Davis

[spatch]

This weekend was beautiful so on Friday, when the sun was out and the sky was nice, I took pictures of two businesses on Highland Avenue whose physical presences will be just a memory to those of us who were there Back In The Day, whenever that Day is. One's already been closed and the other will be closing sometime next month.



R. J. Cody (something of a "Eweler", if you believe the large sign out front) had a combination jewelry and stationery store. I never went in, but I bet the atmosphere was always very quiet, as quiet as businesses running on inertia and borrowed time often tend to be. It's now closed and the windows have been papered up, but I believe there's work going on inside. For what, I don't know. I do hope whatever business takes over keeps and re-uses that nice 3D sign. The UPS store down the block a bit re-used their space's sign.



La Contessa is a lovely Italian pastry shop and one of the few places this side of the Charles where you could get a damn good cannoli, filled right before your very eyes, as well as those black-and-white cookies you can only get in Italian pastry shops. It's family-run and operated, with a blessing from Pope John Paul II hanging proudly on the wall. No, he didn't visit, but the Pope will send you a nice blessing if you know the right people and send the right contribution. But I bet if he had stopped in, JP2 would have enjoyed the cannoli. While Ron Newman reports the family has been rather sketchy with providing details, it doesn't look as if La Contessa will last past Mother's Day, so get your black-and-whites while you still can.

Comments

[spatch]

The Greenhouse is closing?! Holy cats. The Greenhouse has always been there. ALWAYS!! With its wholly incongruous rock wall facade and everything! It can't go away! It's eternal! You can't die, Artax! You can't give in! Come on, you can do it, Artax! ARTAAAAX!

Of course, I said the same thing about the Tasty and the Wursthaus. And Wordsworth. Minus the Neverending Story stuff, at least.

[http://users.livejournal.com/urban_faerie_/]

I'm STILL pissed about the tasty and the Wursthouse even though they closed almost 10 years ago now. Hell, my MOM remembers going to the Wurshouse when she was in college in the late 1960's. is nothing sacread anymore? When I have kids there will be nothing left of the old Harvard Square to distinguish it from anywhere else.
My high school English teacher used to tell us that Harvard Sq. was the intelectual capitol of the universe. It was like Boston's Left Bank. Now it is the gentrification capitol of the universe. Why live in a great city like Boston, Cambridge or Somerville when they are becoming undistinguishable from anywhere else? Hell, I might as well live in Wouburn now!

[spatch]

My sole consolation regarding the Tasty and Wursthaus is that the Abercrombie & Fitch that took over died an ignoble, nobody-gives-a-shit death. Now a chain bank is there, but at least it's useful for Citizens' customers or people who don't want to take the time and walk across the street to Bank of America. (Plus the Tasty's old door is still there, which is a strange nod to the past.)

There's good progress and there's bad progress. Good progress is when something old comes down but something new, local and unique goes up in its place (such as Magpie taking over Poor Little Rich Girl's space in Davis, which moved to take over West Coast Video's space, etc.) Bad progress is when something old comes down and something new that you can get anywhere else in the city by walking a few blocks goes up in its place (such as the little corner market across from the Brattle theater -- remember that? -- going away and being replaced by a cellular phone store.) I worry about what will fill the Greenhouse's spot.

My father tells stories of demonstrations in Harvard Square in the 60s, stories of the time when he almost got tear-gassed there, that kind of thing. He still talks about Club 47/Passim with a nostalgic tone and at least that's still around. But you're right. Little by little, each unique neighborhood gradually takes on the exact same chains, the exact same offerings and if you don't pipe up and spend your money locally, the creep will continue.

[ron_newman]

Some discussion of the Greenhouse:

http://community.livejournal.com/cambridge_mass/170205.html

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Whoa, weird, I was just thinking about that scene a few minutes ago. How random.

Greenhouse: Nooooooo!

[siderea]

You can't die, Artax! You can't give in! Come on, you can do it, Artax! ARTAAAAX!

Yes, precisely. Is there a more perfect representation of the Greenhouse than a hard-ridden horse drowning in a pool of quicksand?