Have you wondered how much prices have increased over the last five years?
Here are the nitty-gritty details....
year-over-year sales data for cambridge, 2012-2016 * single family YEAR
TOTAL # SOLD
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
MEDIAN SALES PRICE
SP:LP RATIO
HIGHEST SALES PRICE
LOWEST SALES PRICE
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
2016
97
$1,744,437
$1,430,000
105%
$4,850,000
$487,500
33
2015
112
$1,518,970
$1,343,500
106%
$7,500,000
$284,000
32
2014
119
$1,460,107
$1,250,359
107%
$6,500,000
$405,000
32
2013
145
$1,262,140
$903,000
103%
$5,580,000
$330,000
34
2012
133
$1,195,111
$885,000
101%
$3,740,000
$300,000
52
YEAR
TOTAL # SOLD
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
MEDIAN SALES PRICE
SP:LP RATIO
HIGHEST SALES PRICE
LOWEST SALES PRICE
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
2016
671
$820,501
$695,000
106%
$7,100,000
$250,000
27
2015
594
$714,819
$625,000
105%
$2,550,000
$270,000
31
2014
661
$658,445
$580,000
104%
$2,995,000
$262,000
36
2013
826
$591,694
$514,750
102%
$3,974,000
$148,000
38
2012
841
$509,937
$446,250
99%
$3,350,000
$187,500
57
YEAR
TOTAL # SOLD
AVERAGE SALES PRICE
MEDIAN SALES PRICE
SP:LP RATIO
HIGHEST SALES PRICE
LOWEST SALES PRICE
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET
2016
91
$1,432,416
$1,270,000
102%
$5,100,000
$699,000
41
2015
79
$1,292,477
$1,150,000
103%
$3,400,000
$745,000
37
2014
76
$1,336,796
$1,215,000
105%
$7,950,000
$635,000
38
2013
73
$1,263,112
$995,000
108%
$8,380,000
$440,000
32
2012
96
$1,275,786
$900,000
103%
$3,167,500
$400,000
45
condos
multi family
*Data from on-market sales compiled from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database. “SP:LP RATIO” means sale price to list price ratio. The data for “AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET” is inconsistent, because some things are marked “under agreement” when an offer is accepted, whereas others are marked “contingent” when offer is accepted until all contingencies are fulfilled and continue to accumulate days on market until then. The wide range of prices for multi-families (MF) can be attributed to the range in number of units. A majority of MF sales are 2-3 unit buildings, but there are some larger (4-10+-unit) buildings that are included, skewing the figures higher.
Free Classes First Time Home Buyers
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time
Thursday, March 16th
Wednesday, March 22th or Wednesday, April 5th
an overview of the buying process 6:30-7:45 pm
If you’re considering buying your first home and want to understand what’s in store, this is a quick and helpful overview. Led by our agents, it includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
for homeowners contemplating a move
6:30-7:45 pm
If trying to figure out the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one make your head spin, this workshop will help make the process understandable. This workshop, led by our agents and a loan officer from a local bank, includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session.
To reserve space in a class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods or coats/gloves/hats for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
New Listings
Thalia Tringo 26 Newbury Street #1, Somerville ~ $549,000 Adorable condominium with 2 beds, 1 bath, renovated kitchen, shared laundry and private storage area in basement, and 2 exclusive driveway spots between Davis and Teele Squares.
President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Niké Damaskos
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
14 Wheeler Street #1, Somerville ~ $635,000 East Somerville 2-bedroom, 2-bath condominium with stunning kitchen, in-unit laundry, private storage room, exclusive driveway and deck, shared yard. Walk to Sullivan and Assembly subways, CT2 bus to Kendall, great East Broadway eateries, and Union Square.
Jennifer Rose
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Lynn C. Graham 4A Sargent Street, Cambridge ~ $925,000 Feels like a single family! Lovely 3-level TH with 3-4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, private deck and yard, and exclusive driveway in convenient, neighborly North Cambridge. Walk to Davis, Porter, and Alewife subways, shops, nightlife.
37 Allen Street, Somerville ~ $1,400,000 Rare opportunity to own a loft-style single family with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, central air, driveway, and yard in a converted industrial building in Union Square. OR to develop the property into three units as approved by the Zoning Board in 2016. Seller will give buyer his approved development plans and permits.
57 Highland Road, Somerville ~ $1,400,000 This enticing single family has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths on 3 floors, with updated kitchen and baths, original details, 2-car garage, high-efficiency heating system, and solar panels —all on a coveted tree-lined street between Davis and Porter Squares.
Coming Soon Arlington ~ 2 bedroom, 1 bath condo in an enviable location between the Center and the Heights
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.216.5244 cell/text Lynn@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Brendon Edwards
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.895.6267 cell/text Brendon@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Adaria Brooks
Executive Assistant to the President, Realtor ® 617.308.0064 cell/text Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
About our company... We are dedicated to representing our buyer and seller clients with integrity and professionalism. We are also commi ed to giving back to our community. Our agents donate $250 to a non-profit in honor of each transaction and Thalia Tringo & Associates Real Estate Inc. also gives $250 to a pre-selected group of local charities for each transaction. Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
MARCH | APRIL 2017 ::: VOLUME 25 ::: SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM
contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE
8 // WINNERS & LOSERS The Cambridge community has rallied in support of immigrants; we finally find out what caused December’s 10-alarm fire. 10 // WHAT’S NEW? Mass+Main is moving forward, and Kendall Square just got a brand new yoga studio. Plus, Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and Area Four have opened the barcade of your dreams.
30
THE INNOVATION ISSUE
16 // IN LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE, CITY OFFICIALS LOOK TO THE PEOPLE Government is known to be notoriously slow. But that’s not the case in Cambridge, where the culture of innovation isn’t limited to colleges and constituents but is part of the very workings of the city itself.
14 // BACK FROM THE DRAWING BOARD: THE ABBOTT BUILDING PLAN INCHES FORWARD Public skepticism about redevelopment in Harvard Square hasn’t waned much since plans were first shared in September. 32 // SCOUT OUT: DRAWING, DANCING, DRAMA—DREAM JOURNALING? This Harvard Square hub can teach you to do just about anything. 34 // SCOUT OUT: FINDERS, GIVERS Michael Devney’s unusual hobby has made him something of a local legend. 36 // CALENDAR 37 // MARKETPLACE 38 // SCOUT YOU
18 // THE FUTURE OF TECH IS SQUISHY AND PLANT-BASED Could bomb-sniffing dogs be replaced by bomb-detecting spinach? 20 // OFFICE SPACE Get a behind-the-scenes look at Facebook, HubSpot and Hopper, where the right workspace helps employees get the job done. 24 // START ME UP We asked entrepreneurs of all kinds—from streaming video service providers to the people behind Boston’s first self-driving cars—to share their secrets to startup success. 30 // TECH: IT’S WHAT’S FOR DINNER Café ArtScience has drinking and dining down to... well, a science.
32
Photo, top: Todd Maul vapes up a cocktail behind the Café ArtScience bar. Photo by Jess Benjamin. Photo, bottom: At the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, there are art classes for all. Photo by Jess Benjamin. On the cover: Wistia co-founder Brendan Schwartz is grinning because of how quickly his company is growing. Photo by Justin Muir.
scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
5
EDITOR’S NOTE
O
n February 19, more than 3,000 people gathered in Boston’s Copley Square for the Rally to Stand Up for Science. Yes, you read that correctly. These scientists and supporters weren’t coming together to prop up any controversial theories or publicize fringe ideas—they simply felt the need to defend the very idea of science, as a whole, under the current presidential administration. “Trump will be the first anti-science president we have ever had,” Michael Lubell, director of public affairs for the American Physical Society, told Nature magazine in November. Later that month, more than 400 MIT faculty members signed a letter to the president opposing his cabinet picks—people like climate change denier Scott Pruitt, who now heads the EPA. “Science is not a special interest; it is not optional,” their letter read. “Science is a foundational ingredient in how we as a society analyze, understand and solve the most difficult challenges that we face.” They’re right, of course. Science is part and parcel to our very existence, especially in Cambridge. The city is home to MIT and Harvard and to hundreds of biotech companies, medical research facilities and startups working to find solutions to everything from big-picture problems like heart disease and food scarcity to daily inconveniences like cluttered email inboxes. We felt there was no better time than now to highlight these innovators and crusaders, who are using science to develop Boston’s first self-driving cars (page 24) and the world’s very first completely soft robot (page 18). You have Cambridge scientists to thank for Facebook (page 22), HubSpot (page 20) and apps that help you get in shape (page 25). In Kendall Square, tech is even revolutionizing the restaurant industry (page 30). Maybe you’re unconvinced—maybe science stopped mattering to you the second your teacher had you dissect a frog in high school biology. If that’s the case, I’ll leave you with one of the scariest sign slogans from February’s rally: “No Science = No Coffee.”
Emily Cassel, Editor in Chief ecassel@scoutmagazines.com
230 DROP LOCATIONS
PUBLISHER Holli Banks Allien hbanks@scoutmagazines.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Emily Cassel ecassel@scoutmagazines.com emilycassel.me DEPUTY EDITOR Katherine Rugg krugg@scoutmagazines.com ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Jess Benjamin jbenjamin@scoutmagazines.com jsbenjamin.com BRAND AMBASSADOR Kate Douglas kdouglas@scoutmagazines.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jerry Allien jallien@scoutmagazines.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Matt Ellis, Rebecca Joy, Daniel M. Kimmel, J.M. Lindsay, Beryl Lipton, Kendra Long, Hannah Walters CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Paul Gargagliano paulgargagliano.com Justin Muir justinjamesmuir.com COPY EDITOR Amanda Kersey WEB HOST Truly Good Design trulygooddesign.com TECH SUPPORT Nate Tia nate@simplynate.com BANKS PUBLICATIONS c/o Scout Cambridge 191 Highland Ave., Ste. 1A Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutcambridge.com scoutcambridge
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March | April 2017 scoutcambridge.com
ABOUT SCOUT
We Can’t Spell Scout Without “U” I
mmigration bans. Threats to sanctuary cities. “Fake news.” This is a challenging, divisive time for America—one in which access to accurate information is crucial. We need Photo by Derek Kouyoumjian. newspapers and magazines telling stories that matter on a local level; we need reliable, trustworthy journalists at town halls and If you’re enjoying this issue of Scout, please consider supporting public forums in an era when municipal engagement is arguably our work. Whether you donate a few bucks a month at patreon.com/ more important than it’s ever been. scoutmagazines or volunteer your time at one of our That’s where Scout comes in. Since 2013, we’ve been providing events, there are tons of ways to get involved. community-driven coverage of people, places and politics in Cambridge. You can help sustain our magazines so that we And as this city continues developing and changing, we’ll be there, continue growing and covering the stories that holding institutions and organizations accountable, introducing you to matter to you. the people doing important work here. We need community media organizations that can do meaningful Learn more about who we are and what we do at work here, too—and you can help ensure Cambridge has an outlet scoutcambridge.com/support. doing just that.
2017 ONE VIBRANT WEEKEND ALL ACROSS CAMBRIDGE SATURDAY, MAY 13TH & SUNDAY, MAY 14TH 12–6PM EACH DAY PREVIEW PARTY Thursday, May 11th, 6–8pm Cambridge Art Association 25 Lowell Street
SMARTPHONE APP To explore studios on your phone: download the Yonward app and search for Cambridge Arts Open Studios.
MORE INFO cambridgeartscouncil.org
scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
7
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
SHOWING THE LOVE Even if you’re not a fan of Valentine’s Day, this might warm your heart: Seventh- and eighth-grade students at the Fayerweather Street School held a February 14 Children’s March to voice their concern about the “the direction the country” is heading, according to Cambridge Day. “Many of us can’t vote, so we need our voices to be heard,” the little leaders wrote on Facebook, inviting both the young and young at heart to join them and “rally for what love means to us.”
BUTT FLICKING Following what they called an “exhaustive” investigation, city officials concluded in January that the massive December blaze that ripped through a block of East Cambridge buildings was caused by the careless disposal of a cigarette butt or other “smoking material.” Investigators determined that the fire—which displaced more than 160 residents—started behind the building at 3537 Berkshire St., where the material set bins full of construction debris ablaze. Not cool.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING City Council is working on a plan that could dramatically increase the amount of affordable housing in Cambridge, nearly doubling the inclusionary zoning requirement for affordable units from 11.5 percent of units to 20 percent of the total unit floor area in new developments. “I think this is going to be one of those things we look back on and say we really made a difference, particularly for those most vulnerable in our community,” Vice Mayor Marc McGovern told Wicked Local Cambridge. The proposal has been sent to the Planning Board and Ordinance Committee, and debate and public hearings are ongoing.
HARVARD HOCKEY Harvard ended a 24-year Beanpot drought in February with a 6-3 win over Boston University. The Terriers, each year’s presumptive Beanpot champion (they’ve won the title 30 times) were no match for the Crimson this time around, falling to Harvard in what the Boston Globe called a “rout” while a crowd of 15,941 looked on from the TD Garden stands. Puck yeah!
BASIC BUILDINGS Could green buildings lead to greater productivity, better sleep and an overall improvement of our mental wellbeing? A new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health seems to say yes. Researchers found that employees who work in green-certified office environments with natural light and improved ventilation scored higher on cognitive function tests and had better sleep quality scores than those in noncertified buildings; they also reported fewer cases of “sick building syndrome.” WASTING YOUR DATA Thanks to a partnership between MIT, the City of Cambridge, the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA), Google and Boston Properties, there’s a totally open, totally free WiFi network in Kendall Square. The network serves the Newtowne Court and Washington Elms public housing developments and the new Grand Junction Park; and soon, it’ll cover even more of Kendall—which is especially important given a 2014 city study which found 30 percent of CHA residents don’t have internet access. “Projects like this can help fill that need,” Liz Schwab, head of external affairs for Google Cambridge, said in a release. “Access to the internet is critical, whether it’s to complete homework, search for a job or get important municipal updates.”
SOMEONE RUSTLE YOUR JIMMIES OR TICKLE YOUR FANCY? LET US KNOW AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/CONTACT-US, AND WE JUST MIGHT CROWN THEM A WINNER OR LOSER.
8
March | April 2017 scoutcambridge.com
NEWS FROM THE NORTH Here’s just some of what you’ll find in the March/April edition of our sibling publication, Scout Somerville.
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE Part house, part museum, all incredibly cool—we take a look inside a handful of Somerville homes like nothing you’ve seen before.
ACTUALLY, YOU CAN JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER In fact, Black Ocean publisher Janaka Stucky encourages it.
SKIP THE MUSEUM Not up for a trip to a gallery? You can always find incredible works in shared city spaces. Scout Somerville is available at McCabe’s on Mass, the S&S Restaurant and hundreds of other places throughout Cambridge and Somerville. Head to scoutsomerville.com/pick-upspots for a full list of locations!
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STACEY SIMON
Member FDIC Arlington • Belmont • Cambridge • Chelsea Member DIF Medford • Somerville • Waltham NMLS ID# 441396
1. Variable Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is subject to change. The APR will be based on The Wall Street Journal Prime Rate (Prime) published on the first Bank business day following the 24th of each month. As of 2/3/17, the Prime Rate was 3.75%. Minimum 3.24% APR; maximum 18% APR. If the monthly payment is automatically deducted from an East Cambridge Savings Bank (ECSB) checking/savings account, APR will equal Prime - .51%, currently 3.24% APR. If the monthly payment is not automatically deducted from an ECSB checking/savings account, APR will equal Prime + 1%, currently 4.75% APR. Minimum line $25,000; maximum line $250,000. Maximum combined loan-to-value based on satisfactory value of the property as determined by East Cambridge Savings Bank equaling 75%. Introductory rate subject for new HELOC with ECSB only. Early termination fee equal to ECSB closing costs (approximately $0 to $900) applies if the line is closed within the first 24 months. All lines will be assessed a $50 annual fee. Available for 1-4 family owneroccupied in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties only. Property insurance required, including flood insurance if applicable. Maximum term is 240 months. Minimum payment of interest-only during the 120 months of line access (draw period). Principal and interest payments during the 120 months of no line access (repayment period). Other restrictions may apply. Offer subject to change without notice. Subject to credit approval. Bank’s NMLS ID #441396.
Accounting Consultant 617.335.7300 stacey@accountingforcreativity.com www.accountingforcreativity.com
Make a good impression on your friends, family, & co-workers.... ...not your couch. NEW TO IMPROV? Check out our 100% FREE Intro-to-Improv drop-in Every Saturday from 1-230PM. Find out more at improvboston.com
IMPROVBOSTON • 40 PROSPECT ST. CAMBRIDGE - IMPROV, SKETCH & STANDUP COMEDY + BEGINNER AND ADVANCED CLASSES, YOUTH PROGRAMS AND MORE! scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
9
WHAT’S NEW?
DEVELOPING STORIES CENTRAL SQUARE
MASS+MAIN
A
s of January, the long-in-the-works Mass+Main apartment development (415 Mass. Ave.) has officially been rubber-stamped by the Cambridge Planning Board. According to Curbed Boston, the Mass+Main complex will consist of two buildings—one 19 stories, one six stories—for a total of 285 new apartments, and it will also incorporate the nearby historic Apollo Building. The development will have ground-level retail space as well, and construction is slated to begin in August.
KENDALL SQUARE
VOLPE CENTER
MIT closed a $750 million deal to purchase the Volpe Center (55 Broadway) in mid-January, and at a February community meeting, the university announced its preliminary plans for the 14-acre site. The proposal includes eight new buildings which will house 1,400 residential units and 1.7 million square feet of office and R&D space. “MIT has been interested in this site for 60 years,” Israel Ruiz, MIT executive vice president and treasurer, said at the meeting, according to the Boston Business Journal. “This is a once-in-ageneration opportunity to have access to that site.”
CAFE CULTURE KENDALL SQUARE
CATALYST CAFE
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night could stop Catalyst Cafe from opening— it made its debut mid-blizzard on February 9. The Europeanstyle cafe (75 Binney St.) is the little sibling of Kendall Square’s Catalyst Restaurant, and it serves a breakfast and lunch menu full of sandwiches, smoothie bowls and grain salads. (Not so healthconscious? It also has a whole bunch of donuts and pastries made in-house.) COMING SOON
HARVARD SQUARE
BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE
Coffee snob? We get it. You’ll be happy to know that Blue Bottle Coffee, a Cali-based cafe chain 10
March | April 2017 scoutcambridge.com
that only sells coffee made with beans that have been roasted within the past 48 hours, will open up a Cambridge storefront (40 Bow St.) this summer. Eater Boston reports that Blue Bottle has plans to open five cafes throughout Greater Boston. NORTH CAMBRIDGE
NOCA PROVISIONS
The Season to Taste team, which operates Season to Taste Catering and the critically acclaimed restaurant The Table, has plans to open a cafe called NOCA Provisions (156 Rindge Ave.), according to Boston Restaurant Talk. The outpost will serve toasts, coffee and togo meals, and it should open up sometime this spring.
Mass+Main rendering, top left, courtesy of CBT Architects. Sonia photo, top right, by Harrison Searle.
BACK IN ACTION INMAN SQUARE
EAST COAST GRILL
CENTRAL SQUARE
SONIA
In February, Middle East owners Nabil and Joseph Sater officially announced that their restaurant and venue was expanding to 10 Brookline St. (the former home of TT the Bears). Sonia—named for the Saters’ sister—will be a “multi-genre nightclub,” according to a statement from the Middle East. “Sonia is a brand-new, fully renovated, state-of-the art 320 capacity room to host live bands, DJ nights, community events, private functions, weddings and more,” the statement continued. No opening date was announced at press, but Vanyaland has reported that the revamped venue could open as early as March 31.
New year, new ownership. After closing shop in early 2016, the much-loved East Coast Grill (1271 Cambridge St.) reopened on January 2 with Highland Kitchen owners Mark Romano and Marci Joy at the helm. You’ll be pleased to know that many of the restaurant’s spicy staples— including Jerk Wings From Hell— are still on the menu. KENDALL SQUARE
HUNGRY MOTHER’S NEW CONCEPT
Following a successful online petition, the team behind Hungry Mother have good news: the Plumbing Board is no longer requiring them to install a third bathroom in the space they’ve been working to renovate. The staff wrote in December that losing seating to add a third bathroom would “have a tremendous impact on the viability of the business,” but in a January 18 follow-up newsletter said that the board had granted a variance and would no longer insist on the addition. More updates to follow.
COME TOGETHER BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS TEAM UP
In January, the East Cambridge Business Association and Inman Square Business Association announced that the two were joining forces to form one organization, meaning the ESBA now represents commercial neighborhoods including First Street, Binney Street, Hampshire Street and One Kendall Square, according to Wicked Local Cambridge. “At one end of Cambridge Street we will be focusing on integrating a successful Northpoint development into the small business fabric of the street, and at the other end we will be reinforcing Inman Square as one of Cambridge’s great destinations,” Magee told Wicked
Local. “We’re lucky in that there’s a lot of owneroperator mom and pop stores in the area. It really feels like a truly authentic neighborhood in the city. We’re trying to maintain that the best we can.” INMAN SQUARE
OLECITO AND OLE MERGE
“It has been a wonderful experience working with my family, building our business, and exploring the world of rich Mexican food culture,” Ole and Olecito chef and co-owner Erwin Ramos wrote in a January Facebook post about his departure. He told Eater Boston that the two eateries would combine in the Ole space, while the new owners plan to open a burrito bar in the front of the restaurant.
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scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
11
What’s New?
FOOD FOR THAW HURON VILLAGE
T.W. FOOD
The bad news is that T.W. Food, the fine dining staple from husband-wife duo Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann, had its last-ever night of service on February 19. The good news is that T.W. Food is shutting down to make way for a “totally unique” concept from Wiechmann. “People still want luxury, but they want it to be faster, more accessible, and more easy-going,” he told Boston Magazine in February, adding that the fare at the new spot would be “much more international.” FRESH POND
FREEPOINT KITCHEN AND COCKTAILS
COMING Eater Boston reported in February that Matthew Gaudet— SOON formerly of the much-loved, deeply missed West Bridge in Kendall Square—will return to Cambridge to open a new eatery. Freepoint Kitchen and Cocktails will be located in the lobby of the Freepoint Hotel when it opens this April. According to Eater, Freepoint will serve globally inspired small plates like pistachio popcorn and some shareable dishes, plus plenty of bourbon and brown liquors.
KENDALL SQUARE
PHINIX GRILL
Belmont’s Phinix Grill opened a Cambridge outpost at 245 First St. during the first week of January, where you can now grab a kebab, help yourself to hummus or warm up with shawarma. Phinix also serves coffee, baked goods and more. PORTER SQUARE
THE ELEPHANT WALK
While it was initially reported that The Elephant Walk (2067 Mass. Ave.) was closed for renovations, and later, that it had closed “indefinitely,” it seems that the 25-year-old French and Cambodian eateryCOMING has ambled out SOON of Cambridge for good. Its outpost on Washington Street in Boston remains open. HARVARD SQUARE
&PIZZA
CENTRAL SQUARE
A4CADE BY AREA FOUR
G
reater Boston got its first barcade at the tail end of January thanks to the dream duo of Roxy’s Grilled Cheese and Area Four. And you can tell that people were hungry for one—a line has stretched out the door at A4cade (292 Mass. Ave.) just about every night since. In addition to skeeball, pinball and tons of classic arcade games, A4cade serves a serious selection of bar bites. The cocktails come in super silly glassware—think Looney Tunes thermoses and Tardis cups—and even the taps are decorated with arcade icons.
12
March | April 2017 scoutcambridge.com
&pizza, a chain of pizza purveyors based out of D.C., will soon expand into Cambridge, taking over both the former Tory Row space and the Crimson Corner newsstand (1394 Mass. Ave.). &pizza is known for personal COMING pizzas that are made to order via a conveyor belt system, SOON according to Boston Magazine. As for the iconic Crimson Corner, there may be hope— on February 14, the Boston Globe reported that Colliers International, which manages the newsstand’s building, had offered owner Chris Kotelly a lease just around the corner at 35 Brattle St. “I know they were asking a pretty substantial amount of money for that end of the square,”
Roxy’s Central A4cade photo, left, by Zac Wolf. Health Yoga Life photo, right, by Mae Hogan Photography.
COMING SOON
Kotelly told the Boston Globe in February. “I don’t know if they would lower that.” PORTER SQUARE
POKE CITY
A bright blue sign with a colorful pineapple logo welcomes hungry diners to Poke City (1722 Mass. Ave.), which opened in late January. Eater Boston reports that the shop serves up both signature and build-your-own bowls—and that you can get that seafood wrapped up in a burrito should you so choose.
HARVARD SQUARE
LES SABLONS
Details have been pretty scarce about the latest restaurant from the folks behind Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34 since they bought the historic Conductor’s Building at 2 Bennett St. last March, but as of February we have a little more info. The eatery will be called Les Sablons, and it will be a twofloor, “metropolitan” restaurant, according to Boston Magazine. The team also shared a logo on the new Les Sablons Facebook page in January, where more details should emerge over time.
FOR YOUR HEALTH COMING SOON
KENDALL SQUARE
HEALTH YOGA LIFE
Health Yoga Life in Beacon Hill has stretched across the river, opening a Kendall Square studio (181 Mass. Ave) in February. “Yoga and meditation are the perfect compliment for folks who have really stressful lives,” co-founder Vyda Bielkus told us in February. So when a space opened up in the new Novartis building, she says it just seemed like a great fit. “I really pick locations based on the pulse of the area. Every time I went over to that end of Kendall, start of Central area, I just felt so enlivened and excited.” HARVARD SQUARE
PRESSED JUICERY
RIPinkberry. The froyo chain’s Harvard Square location (1380
Mass. Ave.) is the latest to shutter, making way for a Californiabased pressed juice joint called Pressed Juicery. According to the Harvard Crimson, Pressed is slated to open in late spring. MID-CAMBRIDGE
SAGE THERAPEUTICS
Years after a ballot referendum approved medicinal marijuana in Massachusetts—yeah, that was way back in 2012—Cambridge’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened on March 1 at 1001 Mass. Ave., between Harvard and Central Squares. Sage has 20 strains of greenery, plus edibles, oils and concentrates—and even a commercial cookie machine.
ENJOY A FRESH MIMOSA FOR BUNCH! Mon/Tue: 6:30am to 4:00pm Wed/Thu: 6:30am to 10:00pm Fri/Sat: 6:30am to 10:30pm Sun: 7:30am to 4:45pm 906 Massachusetts Ave • Central Square www.massavediner.com • (617) 864-5301 scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
13
NEWS
BACK FROM THE DRAWING BOARD: THE ABBOTT PLAN INCHES FORWARD After months of four-hour hearings, multiple revisions and at least one mid-meeting snowball hurled by a frustrated citizen, the fate of a block of Harvard Square buildings remains uncertain. BY HANNAH WALTERS | PHOTO BY JESS BENJAMIN
O
n February 7, a group of concerned Cambridge-area residents milled about a gray-carpeted, garden-level room in a Harvard University building off Appian Way. The group perused posters provided by the development firm Regency Centers, which showed revised renderings of the plans for its three Harvard Square buildings: The Abbott, The Corcoran and 18 Brattle. In order for Regency (which recently purchased and merged with Equity One, the New York-based development firm that owns the buildings) to move forward with plans, the firm needs approval from the Cambridge Historic Commission, which it has been seeking since September. But before again seeking that approval at a February 16 hearing—the fourth for the project—the development firm organized this informal meeting to field public reactions. These hearings have occurred with something approaching regularity over the last several months, but public skepticism about the project has all but waned. Disapproval centers on a few key planning 14
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points, including the loss of the Curious George Store (which is housed in the Abbott Building), the disappearance of other independently owned shops due to presumed post-construction rent hikes and the erosion of Harvard Square’s culture at the hands of high-end development. There’s also concern about the disruption 27 months of construction would cause and—perhaps the greatest objection of all— resistance to the proposed glass infill that would create a connected, multistory pavilion extending from the back of the Abbott building, atop the Corcoran building. By February 7, the glass had vanished from the firm’s plans. Developers instead proposed a brick infill that would look more like a distinct, additional building on top of the Corcoran Building—an attempt to make the renovations more in tune with the colloquial design of Harvard Square. (In a December meeting, the commission had approved the idea of an infill in principle, but said the design needed to be refined. The shift to brick from glass is Regency’s attempt to satisfy that request.)
Among several other changes, Regency has trimmed down a proposed fifth-floor penthouse on the top of the infill so it would not appear so prominently from certain vantage points on the street. Still, even with physical amendments, the cultural and architectural affront seems to remain in the eyes of many who attended both the official and unofficial February meetings. At the first meeting, a Regency representative inadvertently used a term that would come back to haunt him, saying the penthouse addition would likely house a “celebrity chef.” Commenters said they felt Harvard Square did not need nationally recognized celebrity chefs, and later, at the Cambridge Historic Commission meeting, an audience member would interject, “for the celebrity chefs,” when the project architect took a brief pause during his presentation of the penthouse adjustment. There were a few icy moments at both meetings. At one point on February 6, a snowball splattered against the window looking into the meeting room, seemingly hurled by someone who left early. But it wasn’t all contentious. The attorney representing Regency, James Rafferty, thanked an audience member for his suggestions and questions throughout the process. At the February 16 Historic Commission meeting, a dissenter even complemented developers on their ability to adjust the plans so much. During hearing breaks, numerous residents— even those who had accused the firm of degrading the culture of their square—chatted with Regency representatives. The public comment portion of the February 16 meeting was lengthy, and people came prepared with slides and presentations. The first commenter opened with a video presentation based on data and analysis generated by Pete Cote of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In it, the pavilion was visible from multiple vantage points, including almost the entire walk up from the riverside at JFK Street. This time around, the penthouse pavilion became one of the most contentious aspects of the plans. Cambridge resident Francis Donovan took issue with its sustainability, saying that “the life span of even the best restaurant is a fraction of the lifespan of a building.” The penthouse addition could end up as a “9,000-square-foot elephant” in Harvard Square, he concluded.
Even with the proposed physical amendments, the design remains a cultural and architectural affront to many. “Some have said this is a fight for old Harvard Square,” another commenter said, explaining that an infill on top of the Corcoran building would degrade the integrity of its design. “That’s not what this is about. This is about the architecture. I hope the commission won’t allow our first Flatiron Building to be absorbed into something monolithic.” Ultimately, the commission had mixed opinions after presentation and public comment. Some expressed that the brick infill jeopardized the Flatiron style of the Abbott building, but thought if it was pushed back or differentiated it could be permissible. Some commissioners said that they liked the idea of the pavilion—that the penthouse would offer another exciting way to experience the square from up above. However, most commissioners hoped the pavilion would be made smaller. A few expressed interest in being on top of the pavilion to overlook the square, but many hoped that the developer could try to bring in the edges even further. Alas, after a nearly four-hour meeting, the commission concluded unanimously that the firm would need to resubmit plans once again for a later meeting (yet to be determined). Perhaps the fifth time will be the charm for Regency Centers.
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15
THE INNOVATION ISSUE
IN LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE, CITY OFFICIALS LOOK TO THE PEOPLE GOVERNMENT IS KNOWN TO BE NOTORIOUSLY SLOW. BUT IN CAMBRIDGE, THE CULTURE OF INNOVATION ISN’T LIMITED TO COLLEGES AND CONSTITUENTS—IT’S PART OF THE VERY WORKINGS OF THE CITY ITSELF. BY BERYL LIPTON
B
ustling down Broadway on a weekday afternoon, the sense of a space well loved is overwhelming. School’s out for the day, and packs of high schoolers are horsing around. Parents walk with toddlers in tow toward home, or into one of the shops that line the spacious street. It’s here, just north of City Hall in Central Square, where you’ll find the City Hall Annex—and inside, the people who work daily to dream up initiatives that will make Cambridge a better place to live. The key to 16
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their success going forward, they believe, will be harnessing the power of citizens, finding new, creative ways to tackle problems big and small. “Across the board, our community has been incredibly supportive— more than supportive,” says Iram Farooq, assistant city manager for community development (CDD). “They’ve pushed us to try and find solutions to problems that face not just Cambridge, but cities across the board.” What do those innovative solutions look like? Well...
EXPERIMENTS IN ENGAGEMENT
O
ne of the primary focus areas for the city today is encouraging citizen engagement in new ways. City employees see the richness of diversity here—immigrants, artists, intellectuals, lifelong residents and recent transplants—as a vital part of Cambridge’s strength and security going forward. But with more than 100,000 citizens from just about as many backgrounds, officials have to stay vigilant to ensure long-term plans include diverse voices and address a breadth of concerns. “Very often, there are a series of public meetings or presentations at city council or ordinance committee [hearings], which is not always the way that most residents want to engage,” Farooq says. “Oftentimes it’s not fun ... it can be intimidating.” So the city has developed other ways for people to get involved. There’s the “engagement station,” a model of Cambridge made with removable parts and a whiteboard element that lets people point to specific problem areas or places they’d like to see changes made. The station has made the rounds, popping up at local fairs, farmers markets, public housing buildings, community centers and other places to, as Farooq says, “get people where they are.” Officials have also worked ambassador-type programs into outreach initiatives. They’ve invited international speakers to visit groups that may feel limited by language barriers and are deploying street teams of student interns that can reach demographics that have a presence in the city but aren’t represented at its planning meetings. “I believe it absolutely is the municipality’s responsibility to try to engage people,” Farooq says, “to provide as many opportunities, as wide a range of opportunities, so that there’s a low barrier of entry to engaging with the community.”
A CAMBRIDGE FOR THE FUTURE
A
complex, changing world requires a well-considered, aspirational plan that looks ahead. Way ahead. That’s where the aptly named Envision Cambridge program comes in. Now in its second of three years, Envision Cambridge brings together Cantabrigians to identify strategies and initiatives in housing, mobility, environment, economy and more that will become a citywide plan in decades to come—for a Cambridge of 2030 and 2070. “I know it’s a long time in the future, but when you think climate change, you have to be thinking those kinds of horizons,” Farooq explains, referencing the city’s Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience Plan. Such evaluations and planning will allow the city to make more efficient decisions about how to deal with flooding in
Alewife, for example. “It’s hard to think about the future of the city without thinking about the impacts of climate change and how we will build resilience to them.” The breadth and depth of such processes come with a price tag in the millions—the sort of costly endeavours that many municipalities don’t have the resources to tackle—but Cambridge won’t be the only city to benefit from the expense. These efforts have included collaborations with the state, resulting in the creation of models and methodologies for the whole region that have been made available to inform others’ municipal planning processes. Not all of Cambridge’s innovative efforts rely on far-reaching projections of unknown terrain or the expertise of consultants. Other, smaller-scale (but still ambitious) efforts include the Net Zero Action Plan, which would eliminate building-based carbon emissions, and a commitment to Vision Zero, a national, multicity initiative to end traffic crashes entirely. Officials have introduced a series of grants and competitive programs to encourage citizens, students and business owners to participate in the sorts of city improvements that matter to them, whether it be through the Storefront Improvement Program or Small Business Challenge, adding flower boxes, signage and handicapaccessibility to their own blocks, or through the Glocal Challenge, in collaboration with Education First, developing new solutions for food waste. The plan for the future is to use the literal human resources the city has at its disposal, encouraging and generating ideas for community improvement from people with varied interests, expertise, socioeconomic positions and educational backgrounds with a common goal: creating a future built on the common foundation of caring for the city in which we live today.
MAKING A MODEL CITY
T
he sorts of undertakings Cambridge has embarked upon require well-organized, regular accountability checks and meetings with shareholders across departments. With cooperation needed from Public Works to Public Safety, from the finance department to the CDD, communication and coordination are key to ensuring that core goals like livability and sustainability are threaded throughout whatever course the city takes. Efforts like harnessing heat energy generated by MBTA subway cars, for example, require a coalition of area shareholders to make a reality. “Usually you don’t think of cities as small as Cambridge as being leaders in bringing solutions, but our community has really pushed us to do that, and we’ve taken up that challenge,” says Farooq. “It’s one of the things that makes it really gratifying to be a part of the city of Cambridge workforce in crafting those kind of solutions. We always see ourselves as being in that leadership position and having the responsibility of crafting solutions ... that other people can also use, which is also why we try to be as open source as possible and put out as much information as possible.” They’ve even open-sourced some of their capital spending budget, introducing participatory budgeting—a yearly call for city-improving ideas and innovations that lets residents decide directly how their tax dollars are spent. The most recent round divvied up nearly a $1 million to projects selected by citizens age 12 and up, including changes to the Moore Youth Center, solar panels on the public library and electricity-generating kinetic energy tiles that will be installed in front of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. “Aside from the fact that it’s an opportunity for people to weigh in on how city taxes are spent, it’s also a way for people to connect with municipal government in a very tangible and meaningful way and feel like they have agency and are impacting what they care about,” Farooq says. With the tone-deaf chamber of national politics, it’s something of a small revolution to really listen to the people, let alone give them the power to directly allocate spending. But it’s a revolution that’s beginning—where else?—here in Cambridge. scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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THE INNOVATION ISSUE
THE FUTURE OF TECH IS
SQUISHY
AND
PLANT-BASED
In designing the blobby bots and furry fibers that tackle today’s health and environmental issues, researchers are finding inspiration in unexpected places—like octopuses and otters. BY KENDRA LONG
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1. Photo by Lori Sanders. 2. Photo by Ellen Roche.
1
Harvard researchers have created something called the octobot—a completely soft, tetherless robot fueled by the chemical reaction between hydrogen peroxide and platinum pulsing through its flexible little legs. Inspired by actual octopuses, the 3D-printed invention uses materials commonly found in a microfluidics lab—silicon, ink and a soft chip called a microfluidic controller—in a totally new way. The first-ever soft robot debuted in August, so the applications of this type of tech are still in their infancy, much like the cord-free, gas-powered, tentacled robot industry as a whole. But one piece of tech has already made use of this squishy science... In January, researchers at Harvard and Boston Children’s Hospital announced that they’d created a soft, customizable robotic sleeve that fits around the human heart and supplements functions that have been weakened by disease or heart failure. The sleeve can be fine-tuned to suit a variety of needs, and because it doesn’t come into contact with blood, there’s minimal risk of clotting or infection for patients.
4
A lab at MIT has created a filament that can be strung together to create muscle-like fibers. The simple-to-make, affordable fiber makes a movement that’s a lot like a muscle contraction when heated, and it could be the first step toward making more realistic, flexible artificial limbs. Researchers have also considered its potential applications in robotics, as the filament responds to anything from lasers to electricity—which means, as Gizmodo pointed out in April, we might just be one step closer to the Westworld-style hosts you’ve watched on HBO. That’s not the only smart fiber coming out of MIT. Inspired by the way sea otters stay warm, university researchers developed a thin, flexible material with millions of hairlike strands on the surface that trap air to keep the body warm. The creation would solve the issue of bulky neoprene wetsuits—which are heavy and reduce the range of motion—while still keeping swimmers comfortable in cold waters.
5
MIT has designed a self-healing solar cell that can build and repair itself using the same mechanism plants use to harness the sun’s energy, as well as repair damage caused by the sun. Scientists took to the lab to identify, simplify and imitate the molecules that do this work in plants. Eventually, engineers may be able to build solar panels that fix themselves and could potentially work indefinitely.
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Goodbye bomb-sniffing dogs, hello bomb-detecting spinach? In October, MIT engineers announced they’d embedded spinach leaves with carbon nanotubes, allowing the plant to use its natural ability to sample groundwater to sense things like pollutants and explosives. When certain chemicals are detected by the roots of the plant, the nanotubes in the leaves emit a fluorescent signal that can be read by an infrared camera. This can be transmitted to humans by email or via phone, keeping inspectors safely away from the danger. scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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THE INNOVATION ISSUE
OFFICESPACE No flickering fluorescent lighting or drab gray cubicles here—innovators need workspaces that are as dynamic, adaptable and open to collaboration as they are. BY MATT ELLIS
HUBSPOT
25 First St. | hubspot.com
H
ubSpot’s Cambridge headquarters is a sprawling compound—it would have to be, since it houses 1,100 employees. The central office is in the Davenport building, a former furniture factory built in 1860 that was repurposed as offices in 1987. The main attraction is the atrium, with its exposed brick and enormous skylight four stories up—so high up, it feels like it’s not even there. Despite its 1,000-plus staffers, the offices have the feel of a sleepy college apartment building. As you venture around the grounds, you’ll find workers sprawled out in cushioned booths, huddled in meeting rooms or hanging out in one of the numerous kitchens. Any space has the potential to be used for brainstorming. That’s all part of HubSpot’s plan, according to public relations manager Ellie Bothello. “We want to make sure people are getting out of their element so they can talk to other team members or people who aren’t even on their team,” she explains. It’s easy to see how employees would bump into someone and settle into small talk that becomes a productive planning session—even if it happens to be in the office’s beer garden. HubSpot’s trademark orange dominates the design. You’ll find orange couches, orange soda machines, orange beer taps and even orange phone booths. Because while there are a ton of amenities available—dry cleaning services, a dog-friendly environment, a camping room, a nap room, “Waffle Wednesday”—it’s all to help in HubSpot’s quest to reimagine and enhance the tools marketers use. Bothello says when employees feel comfortable in the space they inhabit, they do their finest work. “Having the ability to move around in the office and change your own context really fits well with what we’re trying to do with our technology,” Bothello explains. “We really make it easy for people to work however they work best.”
HubSpot’s Camping Room: all the inspiration of the great outdoors, none of the bugs or bears.
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The Innovation Issue
Office Space
HOPPER
275 Third St. | hopper.com
W
ere Edward Kendall—the namesake of Kendall Square—to set foot in the building that once housed his Kendall Boiler and Tank Company, he’d likely have a laundry list of questions about the company that now calls the charming brick structure home. But if he could wrap his mind around the open-office concept—not to mention the concept of commercial flight and the use of big data to improve the consumer flying experience—he’d find some old remnants of his business that would make him feel at home. Hopper moved to 275 Third St. in 2012, and it’ll soon take over the entire building. The office retains the old wooden rafters from the tank company’s original design, and you’ll find some old, rusted gears around the space. “Being in this office is super cool,” says director of communications Brianna Schneider. “There’s so much history.” But the work Hopper does is decidedly concerned with the future. Thanks to an archive of more than 1 trillion flight prices, Hopper offers travelers predictions of when they should buy and fly. “We can predict with 95 percent accuracy when you should buy your flight, up to a year in advance,” Schneider explains. Peering into the crystal ball of the byzantine airline industry takes a lot of teamwork, so Hopper’s office has an open floor plan that lets its tight-knit 25 employees collaborate easily. Each day, the whole staff breaks to have lunch together. The closeness of the team and the amenities—movie screenings, a working Atari, a kitchen packed with more treats than a freshman’s dorm room—have lead to an incredibly low turnover and high morale. In a building that is on the National Register of Historic Places, Hopper is flying into the future.
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1 Broadway | facebook.com/fbboston
T
here’s always the one that got away, and for many years in Cambridge, that special someone was Facebook. The world’s largest social media network was birthed in the dorm rooms of the city’s most famous institution of higher learning, but fled for the sunshine of Silicon Valley in 2004. It seemed like a great opportunity to nurture a homegrown phenomenon had been lost. But a decade later, Facebook returned to its old stomping grounds and opened the Facebook Boston office in Kendall Square. In the nearly three years since its opening, the office has grown from just seven employees to over 100 and now owns the entire eighth floor. Ryan Mack, Facebook Boston’s site lead, says the growth is due to the uniqueness of the area. “Boston continues to be one of the best markets for hiring talented senior engineers as well as all of the wellestablished universities in the area,” Mack says. Asked if there was any sentimentality about returning to Cambridge, he insists that the decision was primarily based on the depth of the area’s talent pool. The Facebook Boston team focuses on engineering, and their stated goal is to build infrastructure that makes development at Facebook more efficient. They do this through three areas: networking, product infrastructure and development infrastructure. The physical space blends the classic startup feel with hints of Boston. Meeting rooms are adorned with names like “P-Town” or “Dunkin’ Donuts.” At the center of the office is a replica of the bar from Cheers, complete with a cut-out of Woody Harrelson. The startup aspects include exposed ceilings, glossy cement floors and soft-seating areas all over the place. Why does the office of one of the biggest companies on earth—an office that includes a full-size, cafeteria-style kitchen—want employees to feel like they’re still toiling away in a garage? “The goal is to get to the next few billion people,” Mack explains. “In that respect there’s actually a lot of work left to do. We try to keep this ethos that we’re still in that start-up mode. It’s an unfinished project.”
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23
THE INNOVATION ISSUE
START ME UP THE PEOPLE BEHIND 10 TECH STARTUPS TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE AND HOW THEY DID IT.
BY BECCA DEGREGORIO
W
hether they make solar-powered benches or develop applications that help you organize your inbox, Cambridge’s emerging entrepreneurs seem to agree on one thing: The key word in “startup” is just plain “start.” But putting your idea into practice can get a little messy, especially here in the Silicon Valley of the East Coast. In 2015, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development recorded an estimated 4,800 individual businesses in the city—and that’s not accounting for the more than 3,000 Cambridge residents who file taxes as self employers or “unincorporated businesses.” Essentially, it’s a sea of emerging ideas. Luckily, that means there are a lot of brilliant brains to pick here, too. We enlisted the help of the people behind 10 already flourishing local startups, who told us what they built and why they’ve been successful. Come for the certifiably cool products. Stay for the advice.
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WHO’S THIS? Justin Stanizzi co-founder of Sonic Bloom. WHAT’S A SONIC BLOOM? Sonic Bloom provides a
number of digital tools for getting to know music better. Whether that’s music for podcasts, music for videos or music for music’s sake, Stanizzi says making tunes more accessible is the company’s mission. “Cambridge is at its best when we blur the lines between technology and art,” Stanizzi says. “Sonic Bloom is building the tools necessary to make the complexities of music more accessible to the people who want to build experiences with it.”
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? Stanizzi and his co-
WHO’S THIS? Karl Iagnemma, CEO and co-founder of nuTonomy.
founder-in-crime Eric Robinson started thinking about the gap between technology-creation and music-making in high school. They played the same video games, but had vastly different music tastes. After going to work for separate gaming companies, the two eventually landed in Cambridge, where they met up and got to work.
WHAT’S A NUTONOMY? As the
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Sonic Bloom
leading developer of software systems for self-driving vehicles, this startup is a clear reminder that the future has arrived. Last summer, the company launched the world’s first public trials for a driverless car service, and its autonomous cars hit Boston’s streets just this January.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? Iagnemma met his
business partner, Emilio Frazzoli, at MIT. Both worked in robotics, and after Frazzoli put the first prototype of autonomous vehicles on the streets of Singapore, the pair started developing nuTonomy from there.
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Since it was
was launched in 2014 and has since developed its search tools from game-centric content outward to music for advertising, instructional videos and more. “We hope to change the way people find, license and use music,” Stanizzi says.
ANY ADVICE? “Fail gracefully,” Stanizzi says. “Fail
smartly. If you want to break into the game industry, it’s a competitive, creative industry. You have to wear that creativity on your sleeve. Be the best designer, engineer, artist or musician, and start creating.”
WHO’S THIS? Jacob Rothman, CEO of Perch and current graduate student at MIT.
WHAT’S A PERCH? Perch is a 3D camera system that
quantifies and coaches movements as you lift weights and perform other “functional use” exercises. It’s a mathematician for your athlete-ician.
founded in 2013, the company has expanded to two offices— one in Cambridge, and another in Singapore. Their cars have also been tested in Europe.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? Rothman and other
ANY ADVICE? Simply put: Find
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? This young
an unmet need, and meet it. “For example, nuTonomy’s approach to building software for autonomous vehicles is unique because it is rooted in robotics,” Iagnemma says.
MIT athletes caught wind of today’s workout tech boom and ran with it to fit their own needs. The market is full of gadgets measuring heart rate, but there are fewer tools to measure strength, form and flexibility. Enter Perch. startup was born in the summer of 2016. “We have made a lot of progress since our inception,” Rothman says. “We currently have prototypes in MIT’s weight room and have interest from many college programs, commercial gyms and weight lifters who are interested in beta testing.”
ANY ADVICE? As a student, Rothman highly encourages
getting into the business world early. “You need to get out there to find people who are passionate about similar problems,” he says. “You need to get out there to uncover problems you didn’t know existed, and you need to get out there to get feedback on your ideas and your prototypes.”
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The Innovation Issue
Start Me Up
WHO’S THIS? Christina Bognet, CEO and founder of PlateJoy. WHAT’S A PLATEJOY? It’s basically a nutritionist on your
computer screen. Like a human being, it asks about your lifestyle. But like a computer, it won’t judge you.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? Bognet ditched plans
to go to medical school after graduating from MIT and set her efforts in the direction of disease prevention. “For most chronic conditions, diet change—not medication or surgery—is the number one treatment,” Bognet explains. She also pulled inspiration from her own weight loss endeavors, which she wished would have been easier. “I wanted to create something that would take two minutes.”
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Just a few years
old, PlateJoy has officially moved to San Francisco and is collaborating with physicians to create even more personalized meal plans.
ANY ADVICE? “Work on whatever you’re most enthusiastic about,” Bognet says. “Period.”
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WHO’S THIS? Ed Krafcik, first hire at Soofa. WHAT’S A SOOFA? Soofa is a startup providing “smart urban furniture” both throughout the
states and internationally. Most notable are Soofa’s solar-powered device-charging benches, which can be found all over MIT’s campus and beyond.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? “For us, the goal has always been—and continues to be—to really make sure that when you’re thinking about smart cities and bringing technology into public space, there’s always a connection to the people who live there,” Krafcik says. This call to involve the public in “smart cities” growth is what led to the invention of the original bench.
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Soofa has installed furniture in over 50 cities across 23 states since 2014, and the company now offers a new product called the Soofa Sign, which shows transit information via a solar-powered display.
ANY ADVICE? “The number one thing that we’ve learned working in a government market is
that persistence is the key word. The reality is that it’s such a risk-averse market,” Krafcik says. “The government doesn’t traditionally move fast. We’ve been successful largely because—one— we really believe in what we’re doing, and—two—it’s a matter of making sure that you don’t give up just because the first response might not be as favorable.”
WHO’S THIS? Ted Chan, CEO and founder of CareDash. WHAT’S A CAREDASH? Think Yelp, but for physicians. Unlike other sites of its kind, the folks at
CareDash don’t accept money to take down bad reviews. After all, as Chan puts it, “If you have a bad meal at an Indian restaurant, that’s not ideal. But if you’re selecting your healthcare providers based upon information that’s not accurate or fully representative, then that’s an issue.”
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? Chan has been a social entrepreneur ever since
graduating from MIT’s Sloan School of Management in 2009, where he worked with health IT systems. “That was what got me looking at the whole ecosystem,” he explains. His overall goal is to narrow the gap between patients and their medical providers.
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? In just six months, the site has curated approximately 30,000 reviews.
ANY ADVICE? For aspiring savers-of-the-world, Chan advises taking on a sustainable idea.
“Think of an organization that gives away rabbits to families,” Chan says. “You give them two breeding rabbits, and a year later you have 100 breeding rabbits. I think of my investments of time, money and effort in that way. I think you can build a company that does tremendous social good and have a huge impact, but it can also be a scalable, profitable entity.”
WHO’S THIS? Ken Smith, co-founder and head of product and operations for Rejjee. WHAT’S A REJJEE? Rejjee is a national recovery network that tracks down stolen bikes and
other lost items. By working with law enforcement agencies around the country, the free mobile app finds and returns stolen bikes at seven times the national average. “You report it straight from your phone, and the notice goes straight into the cloud, where all the local bike shops and all the local police can see it,” Smith says.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? “The company was founded about three years ago when I was teaching a class on entrepreneurship at the MIT Enterprise Forum, and one of my students came up to me after class and said, ‘I’ve got an idea for a business!’” An avid biker himself, Smith was interested, and development for Rejjee began soon after.
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Aside from the numbers, Smith and others at
Rejjee have been invited by former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and current Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to the regional cycling event HUB On Wheels. Rejjee was also chosen as the official bike registry of USA Cycling, which Smith calls “the NFL of bikes.”
ANY ADVICE? Smith’s motto: “Pay the mortgage first, change the world second. And my second piece of advice is to double your price.” Ted Chan photo by Christopher Padgett.
scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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The Innovation Issue
Start Me Up
WHO’S THIS? Brendan Schwartz, cofounder of Wistia.
WHAT’S A WISTIA? “I would say the
shortest description is that it’s a video platform built for businesses,” Schwartz explains. His company develops easy-to-use tools to help businesses stay current and keep track of who’s viewing their content in these visually-driven times. “A lot of people just put a video up somewhere, and they’re not sure exactly what it does for them,” Schwartz says. “We’re all about measuring that and using it to actually drive business results.”
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM?
In 2006, Schwartz met co-founder Chris Savage at Brown University. “We used to do a lot of film stuff in college, very video-centric,” Schwartz says, adding that the company took a couple different forms before arriving at its present iteration. “Unlike the startup trope, we didn’t know what we were going for,” he says. “We built a portfolio website for artists. That was where we started, despite our friends and family asking, ‘Aren’t you guys starting a business?’ Sure enough, we did.”
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Schwartz admits that growth
was slow in the beginning but says people are becoming “much more fluent” when it comes to making videos and using them in different ways. Wistia has gotten bigger and better, and it isn’t done growing just yet; the company now boasts a team of about 80 employees, and they’re actively hiring.
ANY ADVICE? Schwartz’s advice is
a classic—“just do it”—but he adds a caveat: “especially if you’re young.” He doesn’t see having loose strings and just a little money in the bank as a sign of inexperience. Instead, he says that’s an open door. “When we first started, our calculation was that if this crashes and burns, we will have learned a lot and met a lot of cool people along the way,” Schwartz says. “That is a really good position.”
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WHO’S THIS? Fred Goff, CEO and founder of Jobcase.
WHAT’S A JOBCASE? Coined the
only social media site dedicated to empowering America’s workforce, Jobcase is essentially a Facebook page for your career. It’s openaccess, free to use and inclusive for all levels of the U.S. job market. Goff says it’s unique from industry giants like LinkedIn because of its natural, community base. “We’ve got an awful lot of folks here in Kendall Square with advanced computer science degrees, but the reality is that we don’t know how to get a job at Walmart or how to get a promotion at Target or how to get onto the path of becoming a nurse,” Goff says. Jobcase’s technology can connect people with the experts around the country who have the answers.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? Jobcase ultimately came out of a
hedge fund that Goff started years back, one “that had a lot of success— until it didn’t.” The 2008 economic crash happened, and Goff decided to take the opportunity to do something with his existing technology. “This system, we realized, doesn’t support modern worklife ... everyone has to be a free agent now.”
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Jobcase has 70 million
members across the U.S., which is pretty impressive, given that it all started with three guys in a small MIT classroom.
ANY ADVICE? “I think it’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur in this sort of company,” Goff says. “It’s easy to get resources. For a few bucks, you can get the best accounting systems, the best CRM systems. And at the end of the day, it’s all about the people.”
WHO’S THIS? Raffaele Colella,
founder of My Blend (a new application out of Cannonball).
WHAT’S A MY BLEND? My
Blend turns your messy email inbox into a sleek, personalized online magazine. The app’s mom, Cannonball, is a similar content organizer.
WHERE’D THAT IDEA COME FROM? The inspiration for these
email curation tools was born out of the mobility of email. “We are consumed by email, but we also run away from it when we’re on the go,” Colella says. “What the app does is it turns a chore into a pleasant experience.”
COOL, BUT HOW’S THAT WORKING OUT? Cannonball and My Blend have stacked up more than 200,000 downloads combined.
ANY ADVICE? Colella advises taking a step back and getting to know an industry before jumping in. Consider where the field is going and what the problems are, and talk with users and potential future customers. “You can always know better or more beforehand,” Colella says.
Brendan Schwartz photo by Justin Muir.
Crêperie & Café Get a taste of European lifestyle in the heart of Davis Square. Thank you for being part of this 10 years. Monday-Friday | 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Saturday | 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Sunday | 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Davis Square, Somerville scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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THE INNOVATION ISSUE
TECH: IT’S WHAT’S
FOR DINNER Café ArtScience has drinking and dining down to... well, a science. BY REBECCA JOY | PHOTO BY JESS BENJAMIN
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n any given night, the Café ArtScience bar is bubbling—and often, vaporizing or smoking—with one-of-a-kind concoctions. In their Kendall Square restaurant, inventor and scientist David Edwards and bar director Todd Maul put technological gadgetry to gastronomical use for an altogether more delicious dining experience. Inspired by Modernist Cuisine, Maul started toying with centrifuges and blast freezers on the beverage menu at the critically-acclaimed Clio in Boston before partnering with Edwards. It sounds Wonka-esque, but the rise of the machines is rooted in practical progress. “I started looking at tech,” Maul explains, “and saying, ‘How can we integrate it into an antiquated trade like bartending to make it more consistent, more sustainable and more efficient—time- and material-wise?’” Café ArtScience opened in October 2014, and today, Maul and new executive chef Brandon Baltzley test the limits of cocktail and culinary arts, challenging the bar and restaurant status quo. Of all the tools at his disposal, Maul says the centrifuge is his favorite, and he credits it with unlocking new levels of cocktail creativity. “I really think that centrifuges will be integrated, in some way, shape, or form, into bartending,” Maul says of the future. “It’s the next step, because of the ability to repurpose materials from the financial side of it, from the carbon footprint side of it, and really, from the imagination side of it.” Consider, for example, a bar staple like lime juice. The bartenders at your favorite local haunt are squeezing fresh lime juice
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every day. But squeeze too much, and the citrus just goes bad, which is no good for a restaurant’s bottom line and bad for the planet. Maul says he found that clarifying the juice by spinning it out in a centrifuge nearly triples its shelf life and presents a new flavor profile, stripping away the low acid note so that rather than holding the lowest note in a drink, the clarified lime juice holds the highest one. It’s not unusual to hear Maul describe drinks in such musical terms. As a former furniture maker, English major and self-described “really bad guitar player,” he’s always been creative beyond the bar, and he applies cross-disciplinary thinking to his methods behind it. He compares drink ingredients to different types of wood, literary themes or musical movements. His scientificallyminded cocktails are rooted in chemistry and physics, but it’s this ability to find inspiration in the arts that elevates them to something truly beautiful. In a recent collaboration with Edwards’ neighboring culture lab, Le Laboratoire, Maul was tasked with pairing a beverage with a piece of music. “I thought about the idea of moveable scales and moveable chords. Would the flavor notes be in the same key?” he asks. “Could I move that piece from here to there?” A playful approach to form shakes up stuffy bartending conventions. “There comes a point in any system when the system becomes weirdly concrete, and systems are meant to be fluid—all puns intended with bartending,” he jokes. “You have to think, how can I overcome the historical barriers applied to a system through technology?” Take a cocktail like the Whaftiki, for which Maul employs an Edwards invention to breathe new life into Tiki tradition. Using a vaporizer known as Le Whaf, the bar team changes liquid cachaça into a fog that acts on the taste buds like an intangible garnish. Here’s how it works: The vapor floats over ice cubes crafted from almonds, amaretto, mango juice, orange juice and pineapple juice, which is clarified in the centrifuge and formed in a blast freezer. A sugar and bitters chip seals the snifter of vapor and ice cubes. Guests pop the chip themselves and inhale the vapor, which stimulates the palate to salivate, so that when the glass is filled with a blend of rums, the first sip tastes sweeter than expected. As the ice cubes melt, the cocktail actually changes, revealing more layers of Tiki flavor. “I wanted to create a starting point before you actually interact with the liquid,” Maul explains, “and have the drink itself tell a story with a beginning, middle and end.” Thoughtful appreciation for the scientific properties of ingredients informs the Café ArtScience process. In order to maintain a drink’s precise temperature and dilution rate until the last sip, your bartender will use ice that’s been frozen to negative 40 degrees in every cocktail served on the rocks. Wood and spices like oak and cinnamon are asphyxiated inside glasses for drinks like “Flying Blind” and “The Ardbeg Drink,” coating the surface with aromatic oils. “We smoke things,” Maul says. “We compress flavors and scents into garnishes so that when you hold your face closer to the drink, your olfactory sense is engaged. It’s purposeful. The aesthetic is part of the actual design.” And that prismatic, multisensory style characterizes the overall Café ArtScience philosophy, both in front and back of house. Chef Baltzley joined the team in December, bringing his own personal sense of adventure to the kitchen. With passport stamps from Scandinavia to Scotland, Baltzley is pulling from his travel experiences to create a menu with global sensibilities. He rattles off his worldly inspirations—“Asian elements, Scottish elements, sausage-making, Nordic philosophy, a focus on simplicity, fermentations, miso-making, natural pickles and natural vinegars” are just a few of the ideas for upcoming dishes. He aims to
“
Systems are meant to be fluid—all puns intended with bartending. You have to think, ‘How can I overcome the historical barriers applied to a system through technology?’” — Todd Maul
match Maul’s approach with inventive bar bites, like bergamot and black tea fried chicken served with a buttermilk dipping sauce and fresh herbs. “It’s a good place to fall down the rabbit hole of flavor combinations,” Baltzley says of the restaurant, “to abandon culinary dogma and see what we can make happen without pre-set rules.” Though the bar and kitchen push at staid boundaries of their trades, Café ArtScience remains dedicated to good, old-fashioned hospitality. The restaurant is, in many ways, a neighborhood spot—though of course, it draws guests from nearby pharma and tech offices for after-work cocktails, many of whom are scientists themselves. But often, those who come to the creative café venture over the river from Boston and beyond. When hiring bar staffers, Maul looks for inquisitive, genial folks. “You can teach anyone to tend bar, but you also need the hospitality end of it,” Maul says. “In the last five years, there was this sense of these leather-clad hipster guys talking at you with these really fantastic mustaches. Most people that come in don’t want a recitation on drinking; they just want a cool drink.” At Café ArtScience, that’s exactly what they’ll get—down to the very degree. scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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SCOUT OUT!
FINDERS, GIVERS MICHAEL DEVNEY MIGHT JUST MAKE YOU RICH BY DANIEL M. KIMMEL | PHOTO BY JESS BENJAMIN
P
eople of a certain age might remember a TV show called The Millionaire, in which the mysterious John Beresford Tipton would send out his aide Michael Anthony to give a million dollars—no strings attached—to a random person. One of the the show’s regular viewers was Michael Devney, who watched it as a child and eventually used it as the inspiration for an unusual hobby. Today, Devney finds money for people and organizations, and doesn’t ask for anything in return. Over the last 10 years, he estimates that he done this more than 1,000 times. It’s no secret how to do it. In fact, he’s happy to share what he does, so you can do it, too. “You have a name, and then you go to unclaimed.org,” he explains from his apartment near Central Square. This is the website for the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, or NAUPA, and it provides access to the registries of unclaimed property in all 50 states and several foreign countries. 32
March | April 2017 scoutcambridge.com
For Devney, who spent 32 years at Harvard in the Alumni Affairs and Development Office, researching people online has become second nature. He’s found money for charitable organizations, friends, family members and total strangers. He’ll look up where they’re located, where they’ve worked and other related information, then go to the NAUPA site and dive into the listings. Many states won’t reveal the amounts—Massachusetts will only say if the figure is over or under $100—but if there’s a forgotten bank account, a payment that went astray in the mail, a security deposit that was never returned or one of countless ways money gets mislaid, he’ll find it. If the money remains unclaimed after a period of time it’s turned over to the state, and then just sits, until it’s claimed by the person or organization or someone is able to prove they are the heir or successor to it. Devney became interested in what he calls “random acts of
kindness” when he learned that these offices have no one to seek out the owners of the funds, but instead passively list them and wait to be contacted. There are professional finders who want a percentage of the recovered funds, but Devney asks for nothing. And what he gets in return ranges from thank you hugs to outright skepticism. “People are always a little suspicious,” he says. He recalls how actress Chase Masterson, who appeared on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was at first concerned Devney might be a stalker. She was relieved when he showed her that he had brought envelopes with information about missing funds for all the actors at that particular fan event. Entertainers—and anyone who regularly transitions from job to job—may have payments fall through the cracks through no fault of their own. When Devney handed Masterson the information on how she could recover $8,000 and explained he wanted nothing in return, she wrapped him up in a hug. And after recovering from his surprise that Devney found him money in California, another Star Trek actor, Rene Auberjonois, responded with a quip: “Why didn’t you check the other states?” How he decides to research someone reveals a lot about his own interests, which include theater, television and music. “All of these people entertained me,” he says. This is his way of thanking them. In one case, he found unclaimed money belonging to Harry Chapin Music, the publishing company of the late musician who famously sang “Cat’s in the Cradle” and “Taxi.” Devney notified the Harry Chapin Foundation of the account. Devney knows people think his hobby is odd, and he sometimes has to go to intermediaries who will vouch for his legitimacy—and his sanity. When he discovered that the Japanese Cemetery Society of Honolulu had $114,000 in abandoned accounts, he took a somewhat circuitous route to get the information to them. His friend has a brother who’s a former congressman from Honolulu. He had the friend explain to her brother what he does so that Devney could then send the information to him. The former congressman, in turn, contacted the society. In another instance, he found $89,000 for a defunct puppet theater in Australia. In that case, he called a friend in New Hampshire who is a professional puppeteer with contacts in Australia. The information eventually made its way to a museum there that was housing the puppets. He’ll cast his net wide when finding information about a person. When he met Sean Astin (who you know as Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings) at a fan event, Devney presented him with an envelope with information not only about money due to him, but also amounts that belonged to his parents Patty Duke and John Astin. Before Devney goes to the theater he’ll research the cast, including spouses and charitable organizations they’re involved with, and leave envelopes with the stage manager. While he likes to do it in person, he’ll also rely on the mail, such as when he was researching the von Trapp family and found several abandoned accounts. Not knowing where the individuals might be, he sent the information to the family business, the Von Trapp Lodge, in Stowe, Vermont. States don’t charge to search their online listings, and Devney encourages people to look up their own names and those of family members every year or two. He also suggests people search for organizations and clubs they belong to. One time, in discovering an actor had an interest in California charities dealing with Down syndrome, he found some $42,000 that belonged to the Down Syndrome Association of Oakland, which no longer was in operation. He notified sister groups in Los Angeles and San Francisco to make them aware of it. So if you meet Michael Devney and he tells you he’s found you some money, there’s no cause for alarm and no catch—it’s not a scam. “Random acts of kindness are suspect,” he admits, but that’s not stopping him. He’s plans to continue tracking down funds for everyone from celebrities to his late father. Ironically, Devney has never found any money for himself. Scout contributor Daniel M. Kimmel is a movie critic and the author of seven books. His most recent is Time on My Hands: My Misadventures in Time Travel.
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scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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Scout Out Drawing, Dancing, Drama & Even Dream Journaling
DRAWING, DANCING, DRAMA & EVEN DREAM JOURNALING If you’re the curious kind, this Harvard Square hub can teach you to do just about anything. BY J.M. LINDSAY | PHOTOS BY JESS BENJAMIN
S
o you’ve been thinking about brushing up your knife skills or picking up another language. Perhaps you want to learn to swim, or maybe you’ve been wondering about, say, estate planning. At the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, you can do any (or all) of the above, plus a whole lot more. With classes that range from “Law Topics for Everyday Life” to “Dream Journal: Awakening the Night,” the CCAE exists to provide “an informal kind of social educational experience,” according to its nearly 80-year-old mission statement. The Harvard Square nonprofit has existed in its current form since 1938, when it moved to Brattle Street. In 2017, its mission remains the same, according to assistant director Michael Goldman. “While some of our courses like [English as a Second Language] and some technology courses can be platforms for students to improve their employment opportunities, most of our students are curious learners,” Goldman says. Cambridge regularly posts unemployment rates at half the figure for Massachusetts at large (which itself is generally lower than the rest of the country, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics). So without catering to job-seekers, and without the resources of Harvard or MIT, it only makes sense that the CCAE focuses on providing a unique social and learning experience. “Traditional adult education isn’t an easy business these days,” Goldman says, noting that most of the CCAE’s income is from tuition and individual donations. “Coming to class requires a commitment on 34 March | April 2017
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the student’s part and an appreciation for the kind of educational and social rewards one gets from place-based learning.” Katrina Dzyak, a recent graduate of Tufts, typifies this approach among the center’s more than 11,000 yearly enrollments. She’s currently taking a drawing class, her first at the CCAE. As an English major, Dzyak says she’s always been interested in how literary images are rendered in a reader’s mind, but she admits she had “no idea how to render the images with my own hand.” That’s where the class came in. “The brevity and intensity of the center was ideal,” she says. The once-a-week frequency and eight-week length of the course fits her schedule well, and she says the caliber of the class is similar to what you might find on a college campus. Dzyak’s instructor is artist and retired elementary school art teacher Ellen Stutman, who has been teaching at CCAE since 1974. From her very first course, “Art for People Who Can’t Draw Straight Lines,” she’s successfully embodied the center’s ethos of providing a social learning environment for curious locals. Stutman says she does her best to create an “essentially noncompetitive situation, so students feel free,” and her other classes have included “Who Says You Can’t Draw?” and “Painting as Self Expression.” More than 40 years in, she still revels in the teaching experience. “I love seeing people—all the sudden—say, ‘Oh my god I can do this!’” she says. “I mean, that’s just wonderful.”
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Lawyer Kris Butler teaches craft beer appreciation at the center. Her most popular course is “Beer and Art History,” which Butler created by combining her love of beer with her admittedly “unused” undergraduate degree, and it sells out regularly. Her latest class, “The Cartography of Beer,” only started in March but was sold out by January. (She says it will be available again in the summer.) Butler estimates she has about 100 different students in a given year, including a few in each class that have taken some of her previous courses. “At CCAE, people are interacting with their neighbors—and not just about shoveled parking spaces,” she says. “I know it sounds corny, but some kind of magic happens there.” Butler, who claims to take as many courses as she teaches, says her lessons aren’t for anyone thinking of starting a brewery themselves, but rather for people who want to learn “how to get a better handle on all the beer choices available today, and to identify why people like something, so that when the next new beer comes out they’re more prepared to make a decision about trying it.” In praising the student profile, assistant director Goldman touts what he calls the eclecticism of the center, and notes that both the staff and student body represent a wide array of ages, interests and cultural backgrounds. Butler agrees. “My students are over 21, curious and usually live nearby,” she says. “Otherwise, it’s a rich mix of people. I’ve even had a person who didn’t drink take my course.”
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At CCAE, people are interacting with their neighbors—and not just about shoveled parking spaces.”
The CCAE’s annual fundraising party is scheduled for April 29 at the center’s main building. “Every year, we have to reach out to the community to provide a certain level of fundraising income to supplement our income from tuition,” says Goldman. Tickets are available at ccae.org/ofcourse.
The Dumpling Room | 907 Main St. CamBridge, MA 02139
617.491.6616 scoutcambridge.com March | April 2017
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CALENDAR FITNESS | March 12
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FUNDRAISING | March 31
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THEATER | Through March 18
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SCIENCE | April 14-23
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FOOD | March 21
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MUSIC | April 15
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NATURE | April 23
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ARTS | April 27-30
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CRAICFEST 5K 9:30 A.M., $42.50 CAMBRIDGESIDE GALLERIA, 100 CAMBRIDGESIDE PL., CAMBRIDGE Winter is so close to being over—what better time to get outside and go for a run? Pound pavement and pregame for Saint Patrick’s Day with the annual Irish-themed “Craicfest” from Cambridge 5K. Your ticket gets you a tee and all the post-race food and booze your heart desires from Notch, Slumbrew and Bantam Cider. THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA SHOWTIMES VARY, TICKETS FROM $25 LOEB DRAMA CENTER, 64 BRATTLE ST., CAMBRIDGE James Earl Jones—yes, Darth Vader himself—stars in this adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play The Night of the Iguana. Set in the Mexican jungle, the play follows a ragtag group of travelers that includes a portrait artist, a troubled preacher and a party of vacationers as they seek shelter from a storm. FEEL THE FUNK! AN EXPLORATION OF STINKY CHEESE 6:30-8:30 P.M., $55 FORMAGGIO KITCHEN CLASSROOM ANNEX, 67 SMITH PL. UNIT 13, CAMBRIDGE “Do you yearn to have your house filled with the aroma of barnyard animals and sweaty feet?” So begins the Eventbrite listing for this funky class, which takes you on an eight-course tasting of all degrees of smelly cheese. Formaggio’s staff will perfectly pair each cheese with wine and condiments, and they say you’ll leave understanding why the smelliest cheeses are often their cheesemongers’ favorites. Hopefully, they’re right.
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FILM | March 23-25
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LITERATURE | March 29
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IRISH FILM FESTIVAL: BOSTON SHOWTIMES VARY, $10-$85 THE SOMERVILLE THEATRE, 55 DAVIS SQ., SOMERVILLE Don’t be sheepish—grab tickets to the 2017 Irish Film Festival! Now in its 17th year, the festival celebrates the best of Irish cinema, with screenings, receptions and discussions of everything from documentaries to animated shorts. Find the full schedule at irishfilmfestival.com. GROWN-UP STORYTIME: HIBERNATION HIJINKS 7 P.M., FREE (BUT A $5 DONATION IS APPRECIATED!) AERONAUT BREWING CO, 14 TYLER ST., SOMERVILLE You’ll hear funny, quirky, heartwarming and wonderful stories at Grown-Up StoryTime when it returns to Aeronaut in March. Grab a beer and lend your ear as readers tell true personal stories, spin wild yarns—or do a bit of both—throughout the evening.
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BARN DANCE TO BENEFIT DANA FARBER 7:30 P.M., $30 MINIMUM DONATION ARTS AT THE ARMORY, 191 HIGHLAND AVE. Somerville’s Michele Kaufman is running the 2017 Boston Marathon to support the DanaFarber Cancer Institute, and before she hits the streets, she’s inviting you to hit the dance floor. The aptly named local bluegrass band Mile Twelve is soundtracking this familyfriendly evening, and there will be food, drinks, games and plenty of raffle baskets. CAMBRIDGE SCIENCE FESTIVAL CITYWIDE This 10-day extravaganza of mathematics, engineering, technology—and the arts!—is back, and it’s more relevant than ever in a “fake news” era where scientists have to schedule a march to defend, you know… science. Whether you want to check out the “robot zoo” or explore the question of whether or not we’re alone in the galaxy, there’s something here that will inspire your inner researcher (or your inner Fox Mulder). YOON-JI LEE 8 P.M., $10 NEW SCHOOL OF MUSIC, 25 LOWELL ST., CAMBRIDGE The Equilibrium Concert Series Commissioning Project Presents Yoon-Ji Lee, who will debut a new piece in which “the lines between fiction and nonfiction will continuously interact in sonic space.” Here, traditional musical elements like timbre, pitch and harmony are the fictional sounds; on the nonfiction side, you’ll hear field recordings made in the Boston area. These sounds will be juxtaposed against each other, asking questions about “what is meaningful and what is meaningless.” THE TINY GREAT OUTDOORS FEST FREE QUINCY STREET OPEN SPACE BETWEEN SOMERVILLE AVENUE AND SUMMER STREET Celebrate Earth Day, Arbor Day and the urban wild with walking tours and more in Somerville’s tiniest park! Speakers haven’t been confirmed yet, but festival organizer Greg Cook says the plan is to have scientists, poets, comedians and artists on hand to discuss everything from insects to coyotes to global warming. THE 25TH ANNUAL ARTS FIRST FESTIVAL HARVARD UNIVERSITY Harvard’s longest-running arts festival celebrates a quarter-century this year, with more than 100 discipline-spanning performances in music, dance, theatre, public art and more. Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor John Lithgow will be in town to receive the 2017 Harvard Arts Medal (thanks to the timeless classic Harry and the Hendersons, we can only assume). Nearly everything is free and open to the public.
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SCOUT YOU
Photos by Paul Gargagliano
John “The Dog” shovels snow in front of the Middle East in Central Square.
Perfecting the window display at Cheapo Records. John, a bartender at Loyal Nine in East Cambridge, sorts homespun coasters before the dinner rush.
America SCORES New England Executive Director John Maconga greets student poet-athletes during a reading at Microsoft’s NERD center.
Revelers dance quietly through the streets of Harvard Square for a “silent disco” powered by local startup EchoMe. Museum-goers inspect the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Central Square Florist tips its hat to the Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback. 38 March | April 2017
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Sulmona / Sul-mon-a /
Sulmona is an Ancient city of the province of L’Aquila (AQ) in Abruzzo, Northern Italy, Population 24,854, coordinates 42°02’ N, 13°56’ E
www.sulmonacambridge.com
Sulmona Restaurant / Bar
Sul-mon-a / / Res-tau-ran-t / / Bär / Kendall Square restaurant, serving handcrafted food & drinks, rustic, lively local gathering place; see also to convene here.
RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS
Classes designed to introduce the amateur chef to the world of specialty cooking. Students prepare recipes in a hands-on environment with assistance from our professionally trained chef instructors. Impress your friends and family with a gourmet meal, perfect pie crust, or well-seasoned sauce. Many classes to choose from or create your own!
PROFESSIONAL CHEF and PASTRY PROGRAMS
From basic techniques, principles, and theories to concentration on regional cuisine, these programs are great for both the experienced chef looking to fine tune their craft to the novice ready for a career change.
JOIN US AT OUR OPEN HOUSE! Sunday, March 19 11:00am-2:00pm
2020 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE PORTER SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE 617.354.2020 www.cambridgeculinary.com