The “spring” market kicked in early this year, with buyers actively out looking for property in early January, despite bouts of snow and frigid temperatures. Since inventory has only trickled on since the holidays,
many listings have had multiple bids, and prices seem quite strong. Interest rates have ticked up, as predicted, and are now in the 4.375% range for a 30-year fixed loan (conforming or jumbo), although adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) can still be had in the 3.25%-3.75% range, depending on the terms. More interest rate hikes are likely in 2018. Here’s to hoping more inventory comes on market soon so that buyers can lock in lower rates. Best Real Estate Agent
Best Real Estate Agency
New Listings
67 Church Street #2, Somerville
254 Summer Street #2, Somerville
107 Augustus Ave. Roslindale
This beautiful Union Square condo occupies the upper two floors of a renovated Victorian. The first level has a contemporary open plan living/dining area, gas fireplace, private front porch, bedroom/family room, chef’s kitchen, laundry, full bath, split system C/A. Top floor has office area, spa bath, and two bedrooms, one with walk-in closet and private roof deck. Private driveway.
Roomy Spring Hill 1 bedroom + study condo between Porter and Union Squares. Wood floors, exclusive garage and driveway parking spaces, and private basement storage and laundry. Lovely landscaped common front and back yards.
Dreamy Colonial SF with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms on a large double lot with great views. Beautiful mix of new and old including a gorgeous family room addition and commanding deck off the kitchen. Lovely foyer, staircase, and restored mouldings and doors. Large, lovely yard and driveway. Near Roslindale Village commuter rail.
$949,000
Commercial
Current Art Show
62 Bow Street Unit #60-b, Somerville
366 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
This highly visible, centrally located, street-level commercial condo is in the heart of Union Square with residential condos above it. Open room with exposed brick, picture windows onto the street, half bathroom, and separate area. Currently used by the owners as a small music lesson/performance space, previously used as a drop-off (no plant onsite) dry cleaner, it could be used for other retail or office purposes. (Buyers should review Somerville zoning code and condominium documents for any restrictions on use) Near restaurants, grocery stores, businesses, offices, residential neighborhoods, universities. Quick access to Boston and Cambridge by public transit, car, bike, or foot. On several bus lines, including the CT2, 85, 86, 87, 88, and 91. Steps from longawaited Union Square Green Line Extension subway stop (now slated to open 2021). Close to several highways, including Routes 93, 38, 28, 90, 16, and 2. Excellent opportunity at an exciting time.
Class A office space in prime Union Sq. location with 2 dedicated parking spaces in the parking lot next to the building. The 3,918 sq.ft. space is fully built out, consisting of most of the first (above ground) floor of an elevator building, including 3 large private offices, kitchenette/breakroom, storage room, and 2 bathrooms. Shared use of front reception area with bathroom and partial use of 33’x21’ conference room. Space is built out as offices; if tenant wants additional buildout, it can be done at tenant’s expense. Asking $35 per sq.ft. triple net. Initial lease term of 5 years with annual rent escalation of 2%. Option to renew for 3-year term. Available immediately. MBTA bus stop in Union Square include the CT2 (to Kendall, Ruggles, Sullivan); 85 (Kendall, MIT, Lechmere); 87 (Arlington Center); 91 (Sullivan, Inman, & Central Square); and 90 (Davis Square, Assembly Row, Wellington Station). Future Green Line stop nearby.
for sale at $299,000 or for lease at $2,800/month
$35 nnn
Stop by our office to see recent work by Somerville painter, Bill Grainge, through April 4th.
Coming Soon Cambridge condo – Classic 1 bedroom/1 bath with updated kitchen in charming Mid-Cambridge brick building between Harvard and Central Squares.
Medford condo – Roomy 2+ bedrooms, 1.5 bath condo on two levels. Garage and driveway parking. Somerville condo – Large 3-level townhouse with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, private deck, yard,
Thalia Tringo
President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
and driveway.
Free Classes
Niké Damaskos
First Time Home Buyers:
an overview of the buying process Tuesday, March 20th
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 and a loan officer from a local bank, it includes a 45-min presentation and 1/2 hour Q&A session. Handouts and refreshments provided.
How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time: for homeowners contemplating a move Wednesday, March 28th
6:30 – 7:45 pm
If trying to figure out the logistics of selling your home and buying a new one makes 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. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Eco-Friendly/Green Homes Thursday, April 5th
6:30 – 8:00 pm
If you’re dreaming of a home that’s the ultimate in energy efficiency, join us for a presentation about green homes, also known as passive homes. We’ll discuss the lingo associated with this technology, show various examples of homes that use the passive home design/standards, and the various programs currently available to retrofit your home. Presented by a local Architect/Designer, Tagore Hernandez with Group Design Build. 1 hour presentation and 20 minutes Q&A. Handouts and refreshments provided.
Mitigating Water Issues on Your Property Monday, April 9th
6:30 – 7:45 pm
Every year, homeowners struggle with the consequences of water infiltration through foundation, roof, siding, flashing, or elsewhere. Repairing the damage can be costly and time-consuming and can result in more serious issues, including mold. Join us to learn ways to diagnosis and prevent water issues before they occur, whether from street flooding, ice dams, poor drainage, roof damage, and other causes. Lead by our team and a local home inspector.
How Individuals Can Buy Property Together as a Group: a primer for non-traditional homebuyers Tuesday, April 10th
6:30 – 8:30 pm
When two or more people, whether or not they are related, buy property together, what are their options for taking title? How do you determine each one’s financial contributions, percentage legal interest in the property, and expense allocation? What kind of arrangements can be made in the event one or more parties want to move on but others want to keep the property? What type of financing is available? We will address these and other questions, followed by a Q&A session. Lead by our team and a local real estate attorney. If you are a first time homebuyer, please attend the First Time Home Buyers Workshop (March 20th) or make an appointment with one of our agents so you’ll have your prerequisites for this class. To reserve space in any class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate donations of canned goods for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.
Upcoming Event Annual Raise the Roof Gala
Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Jennifer Rose
Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.943.9581 cell/text Jennifer@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com
Lynn C. Graham
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.
to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition Saturday, April 7th
6:30 – 10:00 pm
Center for the Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville
Catered by Redbones BBQ (with a vegetarian option) Live music by The Loomers
For tickets, call 617-623-6111, email rbg@shcinc.org, or reserve tickets online at https://shcinc.givezooks.com/events/under-the-roof-benefit-2018-tickets All monies raised through this event will help shelter and feed homeless and hungry families and individuals. This event supports SHC’s programs, including: an adult shelter, a family shelter, food programs, and permanent housing programs. These initiatives involve homeless prevention and provide affordable housing with home-based support services to the most at-risk homeless individuals and families in our community.
Visit our office, 128 Willow Avenue, on the bike path in Davis Square, Somerville.
MARCH 12 - MAY 14, 2018 ::: VOLUME 31 ::: SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM
The Story Behind Graffiti Alley
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE 8 // WINNERS & LOSERS Cantabrigians are walking to work in droves and there’s a new public bathroom in Central Square, thanks to Participatory Budgeting. 10 // WHAT’S NEW? The city’s announced its Vision Zero action plan to eliminate traffic-related fatalities, plus there are some Congressional candidate switchups.
14 // NEWS: CITYWIDE COMPOSTING COMES TO CAMBRIDGE Curbside composting will launch citywide on April 2 as Cambridge strives to meet its goals of reducing trash by 30 percent between 2008 and 2020. 36 // CALENDAR 38 // SCOUT YOU
14 20
16 // ROOMING WITH ARTWORK At Harvard and MIT, students can take the universities’ art collections home.
24 // CONNECTING THROUGH THE LENS Meet Mark Ostow, renowned photographer, teacher, and owner of Cafe Zing.
20 // HOW CENTRAL SQUARE’S GRAFFITI HAVEN CAME TO BE The Wall, an ever-evolving art installation lining the corridor between Central Kitchen and Hilton’s Tent City, is a rarity—it’s the only place in the Greater Boston area where graffiti artists can paint without fear of being arrested.
28 // BLUEPRINT TO A NEIGHBORHOOD In East Cambridge, a community tells its story in churches. 32 // STAYING PUT: PLANNING A THOUGHTFUL RENOVATION IN CAMBRIDGE Want to stay in the city but feeling like your home’s a bit cramped? We’ve got tips from local architects on how to maximize your space.
Photo, top: Geoff Hargadon and Gary Strack. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, bottom: A composting truck. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. On the cover: Mark Ostow. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
In 1999, they were saying we should look into curbside composting. It just shows how long and how hard it is to get a program off the ground like this.”
EDITOR’S NOTE
I
’ve found that each of our issues allows me to connect with this city in a different way. I get fully immersed in the theme, and so over the last two months local buildings have seemed to jump out at me and I see art everywhere I go. Creating this edition only made me more aware of their always-present influences, though. This issue pays tribute to them by exploring how the city’s art and architecture are deeply woven into the fabric of Cambridge and into the lives of the people who live here. Art has always been a form of connection for Mark Ostow (p.28), a renowned local photographer and the owner of Cafe Zing in Porter Square Books. And at Harvard and MIT, students are encouraged to engage with art by borrowing pieces from the universities’ art collections to hang in their dorm rooms or Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. apartments (p.16). It’s not surprising, then, that a city like this is home to “Graffiti Alley,” the only place in the Greater Boston area where artists can graffiti without fear of legal consequences (p.20). On the architecture side of things, writer Nicholas Golden explains how immigrant churches shaped East Cambridge (p.24), detailing how their built legacy represents the history of a neighborhood. Our arts scene and our architecture are huge parts of Cambridge’s identity, and we enjoyed taking this deep dive into how they influence the lives of the people who live here. We hope you enjoy it too.
Reena Karasin Reena Karasin, Editor-in-Chief rkarasin@scoutmagazines.com
PUBLISHER Holli Banks Allien hbanks@scoutmagazines.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Reena Karasin rkarasin@scoutmagazines.com ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Adrianne Mathiowetz photo@scoutmagazines.com adriannemathiowetz.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jerry Allien jallien@scoutmagazines.com STAFF WRITER AND SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Tim Gagnon tgagnon@scoutmagazines.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Becca Leibowitz, Dana Forsythe, Eddie Samuels, Emily Frost, Hannah Walters, Nicholas Golden CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Dana Forsythe, Evan Sayles, Eddie Samuels COPY EDITOR Joe Palandrani BANKS PUBLICATIONS 519 Somerville Ave, #314 Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutcambridge.com scoutcambridge
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A special thank you to our photo director, Adrianne Mathiowetz, for all of her amazing work! Visit adriannemathiowetz.com to see more. 6 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
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It’s an art finding your perfect car.
Call John directly on his cell at
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181 Somerville Ave (across from Target)
johnsautosales.com
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7
W&L WINNERS
LOSERS
BREAKING WITH TRADITION Hasty Pudding finally answered significant pressure to abandon its 250-yearold tradition of not casting women. Mila Kunis, named 2018 Woman of the Year by the Harvard theater group, seemed to serve as a spokesperson of change during her ceremony in January, when acting Hasty Pudding president Amira T. Weeks announced that the group will begin accepting women during its next round of auditions, according to the Harvard Crimson. “To clarify, not just audition— will be accepted into,” Kunis clarified to E! Online, adding that she “wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
SUPER BOWL BETS We’re not looking to rehash the Pats’ rough Super Bowl loss, but hey, at least you (probably) didn’t make a newsworthy bet with a high-ranking member of the local authorities! After weeks of bragging and ribbing on Cambridge Police Commissioner (and recent Philly transplant) Branville Bard, Fire Chief Gerry Mahoney made a $100 bet that his Patriots would defeat Bard’s Eagles, according to the Cambridge Chronicle. Mahoney was a gracious loser after the Eagles’ 41-33 win, donating his $100 to the non-profit Cops for Kids with Cancer.
PUBLIC BATHROOMS Central Square is now home to a new public bathroom, the Portland Loo. Winning $320,000 of Cambridge’s Participatory Budget in 2015, the graffiti-resistant, ventilated, handicapped-accessible public bathroom was built last October, but took until late January to ensure its functionality, the Globe reports. While concerns of drug use in the facility were expressed in a WBUR op-ed last year, a spokesman for Cambridge Public Works said in a statement that the Loo’s location was chosen because of its “high visibility for passersby as well as police on patrol.” WALKING TO WORK You don’t need to tell us that Cantabrigians who walk to work through scorching summers and cruel winters are a resilient bunch … but, to be fair, some praise is nice. Cambridge’s Community Development Department reported that our city ranks number one in U.S. cities for employed residents walking to work, totalling 25.6 percent, according to the League of American Bicyclists. Cambridge is leading a national walking movement, according to the study, with over four million commuters choosing to walk to work in an uptick from the last study in 2011.
“OPTICAL ODDITIES” Data analytics company Kensho Technologies is facing some heat from bicyclists and pedestrians after installing a company sign with blazing-blue neon lights in its Brattle Street office windows. A pedestrian told the Cambridge Day that the sign was an “optical oddity” on a road with no other large neon signs or “stark illuminations.” The executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission says that the sign isn’t violating any rules, but Vice Mayor Jan Devereux posited that the Kensho sign calls into question the “standards for both exterior and interior signage,” the Day reports. A representative from Kensho said in a statement that the company hasn’t received any formal complaints. AIRBNB HOSTS Airbnb doesn’t seem to be checking out from popular travel culture anytime soon, but the City of Cambridge might’ve halted a few local hosts’ incomes with new requirements and inspections. Airbnb hosts now have to sign their building up for shortterm rental use with the Inspectional Services Department. In light of increasing citywide reports of parties and overcrowding at residences hosting Airbnb users in recent months, hosts can only rent out a maximum of three legitimate, legal bedrooms, and must adhere to “building code requirements for occupancy,” among a slew of other regulations.
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 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE ONLINE Check out these online-exclusive pieces on our website, scoutcambridge.com
TO BE BORN AGAIN IN CAMBRIDGE In 1968, Van Morrison found himself with a clean slate in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Local writer/musician Ryan H. Walsh set off to document the summer when Morrison finished “Astral Weeks,” but along the way may have found also himself a place in Boston’s obscure music history.
SUPPORTING THE ARTS, ONE MUSICIAN AT A TIME Passim’s Iguana Music Fund is designed to enrich local communities by supporting musicians and making it easier to be a fulltime artist. Meet the local musicians who received grants from Passim this year, whose projects include a multigenerational play about Rosie the Riveter and a new bluegrass festival. Know someone who you think is a real leader in our community? We want to hear about them! Email us at scout@ scoutmagazines.com to recommend people for our upcoming issue: Do-Gooders, Key Players, & Game Changers.
YOUR FUN, NEIGHBORHOOD PUB A few of your neighbors have taken over the space formerly known as On the Hill Tavern. We’ve updated the menu, brushed up the look and welcome you to come by and hang with us.
4 9 9 B R O A D WAY, S O M E R V I L L E
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
Best Comedy Show or Club
IMPROVBOSTON • 40 PROSPECT ST. CAMBRIDGE - IMPROV, SKETCH & STANDUP COMEDY + BEGINNER AND ADVANCED CLASSES, YOUTH PROGRAMS AND MORE! scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture
9
WHAT’S NEW?
MAKING THE MOVE INTO CAMBRIDGE HARVARD SQUARE
BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE
L
ooking to have that trademark, laid-back Californian attitude at your local coffee shop? We can’tCOMING promise the MOVED SOON West Coast-based Blue Bottle Coffee won’t gain a bit of New England grittiness as it makes its local debut in Harvard Square (with several more locations around Boston to come), but Boston Magazine notes that the chain’s “bright and modern” vibe has won a solid fanbase since it began in the Bay Area in 2002, including Nestlé, which became a major stakeholder last year. With a track record of “thoughtfully sourced, freshly roasted coffee,” Blue Bottle’s reputation heading into Cambridge seems hella good—unlike our co-opting of Californian slang. to kick it up a notch. Yes, we know, those free weights you found in your attic have been serving you well, but a gym membership isn’t as scary as you’ve been making it out to be, especially when Planet Fitness’s latest location within the Lesley University campus is slinging deals for area residents. The gym chain opened in the first few weeks of 2018 with a $1 down payment/$10 a month joining offer with no annual commitment, according to the Cambridge Patch … so yes, it might be in your and your resolution’s best interests to keep tabs on future deals and reconsider doing bench presses in the basement. CENTRAL SQUARE
LUCKY’S TATTOO
CENTRAL SQUARE
AMAZON MERCHANDISE PICKUP STORE
COMING SOON
Cambridge is getting a new Amazon location. No, the supermassive internet retail company isn’t putting its highly coveted/controversial second headquarters in Cambridge, although our neighbors in Somerville are still on the short list. Amazon will set up 10 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
a “merchandise pickup store” on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and River Street, the Cambridge Day reports. The One MOVED Central Plaza space, which has been vacant for over a decade, is looking at an estimated $480,000 renovation. No opening date has been announced. CAMBRIDGE CROSSING
PHILIPS HEADED TO CAMBRIDGE CROSSING Healthcare giant Philips is
moving its North American headquarters from Andover to the rapidly expanding Cambridge Crossing neighborhood in 2020, the Cambridge Patch reports. The company is leasing 243,000 square feet for the new development and bringing 2,000 employees along.
Northampton-based Lucky’s Tattoo has opened a new home in Central Square COMING MOVED for all your piercing, eyebrow SOON microblading, and ink-related needs. With an old-fashioned painted window welcoming passerbys with its wishbone logo, Lucky’s retro look already fits in like an old neighbor ... albeit one that’s covered head-to-toe in piercings and tattoos.
PORTER SQUARE
PLANET FITNESS
If your New Year’s resolution to work out more is still going strong, maybe it’s time COMING SOON
MOVED
Photo, top left, courtesy of Blue Bottle Coffee. Photo, bottom left, courtesy of Lucky’s. Photo, top right, courtesy of Ayanna Pressley.
GETTING POLITICAL
You are selling a cherished home or buying your first condo. Being transferred to the Greater Boston Area or starting grad school. Moving on at the end of a relationship or moving in with a new partner.
AYANNA PRESSLEY’S IN FOR A CONGRESSIONAL RUN...
After months of buzz about a congressional run, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley announced her campaign against incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano, a fellow Democrat, for the 7th Congressional District seat. The district includes Somerville, Boston, and part of Cambridge. Named by Boston Magazine as one of “the city’s most powerful people in 2015,” Pressley has been a promising name in local political circles since her election as the first woman of color on the Boston City Council in 2009. Her opponent, the incumbent Rep. Michael Capuano, was the mayor of Somerville before being elected to Congress.
... AND NADEEM MAZEN’S OUT.
Days before Pressley’s announcement, former Cambridge city councilor Nadeem Mazen ended his run for Rep. Niki Tsongas’s 3rd District seat. The MIT graduate cited fundraising and health concerns, specifically his recovery from a pulmonary embolism late in 2017, as his reasons for backing out, according to the Boston Globe. The primary race
for the 3rd District seat has been heavily contested since Tsongas announced her retirement, topping out at eight Democratic candidates and two Republican candidates.
We are patient, experienced, resourceful, and successful. Here to listen carefully, educate you, and make your buying or selling adventure the best it can be. Your life. Our expertise. Together, let’s find a home.
THE TENANT RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL
The Cambridge City Council voted in support of a state bill giving Cambridge tenants a “right of first refusal”—letting them buy a unit they’re renting if a building’s owner plans to sell—but it was later referred to study, which essentially means it won’t move forward unless it’s reintroduced when the next legislative session begins in January 2019. Alanna Mallon was one of seven councilors who voted ‘yes’ to “anything that keeps units affordable and prevents displacement,” according to the Cambridge Day, but openly suggested further fleshing out the bill to “[make] sure we’re going to do this right.” One of the chief clarifications councilors wanted to see made was the size of the apartment complex this affects, specifically gearing it toward larger, owneroccupied apartment complexes instead of smaller apartment buildings with only a couple of units, the Day reports.
Liz & Ellie Real Estate Residential Specialists 617-444-9644 lizandellie@compass.com lizandellie.com
scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture
11
WHAT’S NEW?
NEWS FROM YOUR NEIGHBORS CENTRAL SQUARE
SONIA CAN (LEGALLY) GET ITS DRINK ON
C
aught in a lengthy liquor license acquisition process with Cambridge city officials because former TT The Bears owner Bonney Bouley still held a license at the address, Middle East Nightclub-offshoot Sonia finally earned the green light to stock its bar at the end of January, the Cambridge Day reports. According to Vanyaland, Sonia had been operating largely on all-ages shows, especially under-21 dance parties, for nearly a year before earning an extension tied to the parent restaurant/nightclub’s original license. With the clearance to serve, the venue management confirmed that Sonia will be able to accommodate more 21-plus shows as well as lower booking prices for all 18-plus shows. WEST CAMBRIDGE
TALULLA
COMING SOON
Conor Dennehy and Danielle Ayer, a husband-andwife restaurateur duo known for their work with fellow restaurateur couple Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann’s T.W. Food, have announced they’re taking over the Wiechmann’s old Self Portrait space. With April as a target opening date, Eater Boston reports that Chef Dennehy will design the food selection while Ayer handles the wine side of the menu. Talulla is named after the couple’s daughter. CENTRAL SQUARE
STAR MARKET
“Neglected, pricey, and shoddily stocked” were among a handful of common complaints collected againstCOMING the SOON Sidney Street Star Market in the Cambridge Day’s article on the supermarket’s closing. Still, the loss leaves MIT and residents of the Cambridgeport, Port, and Riverside neighborhoods without a large supermarket within 12 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
walking distance, which has city councilors pushing for another MOVED supermarket to occupy the building. Councilors agreed at a January meeting that an affordable replacement for grocery shopping in the area would be “imperative,” but considered placing it in a different, more affordable location. CENTRAL SQUARE/THE PORT
FLOW PROGRAM
From Graffiti Alley to the handful of venues, studios, and spaces letting live performance thrive in Central Square and The Port neighborhood, there’s certainly no shortage of art in the area. But would you believe there’s art to be found in the steam vents of an apartment complex’s laundry room? Thanks to Cambridge Arts’s FLOW grant program, MOVED color-filled clouds of steam and more will get their rightful artistic spotlight in the coming months and years. FLOW is funded by a $300,000 grant from the City of Cambridge’s percent-for-art ordinance, promising 11 cultural
projects related to a major construction project that will aim to block flooding between Central and Kendall Squares, according to the Cambridge Arts website. Keeping in mind concepts of rebuilding and “the flow of time” in the community, the projects include a Cambridge Youth Orchestra centered around steel pans and drums, the development of murals and mosaics around the Port neighborhood, and a sound engineering space called The Loop Lab that focuses on music production and workforce development.
down the hall from its main space. Lamplighter described the new room to Eater Boston as “darker, funkier, and more intimate,” christening the space with several Olympic-themed nights in February. Expect more food pop-ups in the coming weeks, housing Spoko’s Polish street food and Sulmona Restaurant’s pizza in late March.
CENTRAL SQUARE
LAMPLIGHTER BREWERY EXPANSION It feels like yesterday that Lamplighter Brewery made your 2017 Scout’s Honored list for best new business, coming off of a phenomenal first 10 months with plans to expand. Now, the brewery’s opened a second taproom
Photo, top left, by Nikhil Watson. Photo, bottom left, by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, top right, by Coby Rebecca Millette.
ON THE MOVE
Visit our newest room. Sonia now with a FULL BAR and ready to serve!
PURITAN TRADING COMPANY
Although a “ghost restaurant” sounds like a necessary dinnerCOMING date spot for MOVED SOON any goth and/or occult-loving couple in the area, Puritan Trading Company is not the kind of place that wants Syfy Network-loving dinner guests … or any guests, for that matter. The Puritan and Co. offshoot is delivery-only, so if you’re thinking of treating your crispy chicken sandwich-loving self, remain on your couch and place an order via the Caviar app between 5:30 and 8:30 any Monday through Thursday night. Add a plate of seared udon noodles, kung pao cauliflower, fried whole belly clams, or any of the other 12 menu options for a scary good evening, no seancé or Ouija board required.
GREEN LINE EXTENSION
In a huge financial step forward for the Green Line Extension Project, the City of Cambridge donated its first incremental contribution of $5 million on March 1. The city will donate $5 million by Nov. 1 of each year until 2022, totalling out at $25 million dedicated for “track infrastructure, seven station stops, platform canopies, elevators at select stations, [and] public art,” the Cambridge Chronicle reports.
THE VISION ZERO ACTION PLAN
The City of Cambridge released a fleshed-out Vision Zero Action Plan this winter, laying out its game plan to eliminate transportation-related fatalities. Along with lowering the default speed limit to 20 miles per hour, Cambridge’s Vision Zero steps include building three separated bike lanes in both fiscal years 2018 and 2019, installing green biker markings at 20 intersections, adding two Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons (RRFBs) at crosswalks, and restricting parking in 20 locations to enhance sight distance. EAST CAMBRIDGE
TOSCANINI’S
For a couple days in January, life was a sad, Toscanini’s-less wasteland. After the ice cream shop’s Central COMING MOVED SOON Square homestead temporarily closed for renovations related to the construction of a boutique hotel in the adjacent building, Scout can exclusively report that at least one of our writers was roaming the streets, crying out for the shop’s burnt caramel flavor (ahem…) Thankfully, Boston Magazine reports that the new location on First and Rogers in East Cambridge boasts about 40 seats and a display kitchen so you can hungrily hawk over your ice cream being made.
472 – 480 MASS AVE • CAMBRIDGE • 617.864.3278 scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture 13
NEWS
CITYWIDE COMPOSTING COMES TO CAMBRIDGE BY REENA KARASIN | PHOTOS BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
C
urbside composting will launch citywide on April 2 as Cambridge strives to meet its goals of reducing trash by 30 percent between 2008 and 2020. The city has run a pilot curbside composting program along the Monday trash route since late 2015 that serves 5,200 households in North 14 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
Cambridge, an expansion from a 600-household trial that started in 2014. The Monday trash route pilot took in about six to seven tons of compost per week, according to Recycling Director for the Department of Public Works Michael Orr. The program will expand to all residential buildings with
up to 12 units in April, a total of about 25,000 households. The Department of Public Works is hoping to extend curbside composting to larger residential buildings within the next year, Orr says. Cambridge will be the first city in the state to have free, citywide curbside composting.
The city expects that the composting program will reduce the city’s trash by 2,000 tons in its first year, according to Orr. Cambridge has already reduced its trash output by 23 percent— mainly by making recycling more accessible and by selling backyard composting bins—so this program will make the city meet
its 2020 reduction goal, Orr says. Cambridge currently creates about 14,000 tons of trash annually. Roughly 40 percent of residential trash is compostable food scraps, Orr says, meaning that with high participation the program’s impacts could be enormous. “There’s a huge potential to
drop the number a lot more,” he says. “The main thing is we need participation. Some people may be concerned, for whatever reason, and we’re asking residents just to give it a try. Start with your coffee grounds and your banana peel in the morning, start with your orange peels and your egg shells, start with something easy. Once you get into the habit, you’ll find that there’s more and more items you can put in there. Before you know it, you’re in love with the program and you’re contributing to reducing our climate change impact.” The Department of Public Works has taken steps to address two of people’s biggest concerns about composting: that the indoor container will smell and that animals will get into the outdoor bin. Residents of buildings with fewer than 13 units will receive an indoor bin, several months’ worth of bags for the indoor bin, and an outdoor bin (one per building) at the end of March. The bags wick away moisture and the bin is ventilated, which Orr explains will keep the indoor bin from smelling. The outdoor bin is made of thick plastic and has an easy locking mechanism, which will keep animals like raccoons from getting under the lid or chewing through the bin. The city’s compost will go to a state-of-the-art facility in Charlestown that is run by Save That Stuff and Waste Management. There, the oatmealconsistency compost material will be turned into fertilizer and create clean energy. The facility can take food scraps and food-soiled paper. “We’re able to take in dirtier compost material,” says Marc Galardi, sales and business development manager for Save That Stuff. “A lot of material is getting rejected at the farms due to plastic, even compostable plastic, things that don’t break down as quick as the food waste does. Package material, we can take that in.” Having such a high-tech plant nearby is one of the main reasons that curbside composting became a viable option for the city, according to Orr. But citywide composting has been discussed for years.
“I was going through some files and I saw a planning meeting that the director before the director before me had with her staff, in 1999. They were saying we should look into curbside composting,” he says. “It just shows us how long and how hard it is to get a program off the ground like this. Sometimes it comes down to the economics.” As local landfills are closing, making trash has become expensive for the city. “There’s just nowhere to put
should never go in the trash, because it is more expensive.” Orr also notes that the City Council was supportive in pushing the curbside composting program through. The FY18 budget approved four new Department of Public Works positions to support curbside composting. Some employees who currently work on trash trucks will switch over to composting collection. Residents can take advantage of the rich soil made in the
“Start with your coffee grounds and your banana peel in the morning, start with your orange peels and your egg shells, start with something easy.” the trash,” Orr explains. “Two of the three largest landfills are closing in the next year in Massachusetts, and that’s going to pinch the market, it’s going to put trash costs going up. If you were to look at a food item, a recyclable item, and think, what’s the best way to dispose of these items, financially for the city, the food item should go in the compost and the recyclable object should go in the recycling. They
composting process. Soil will be available at the Recycling Center from mid-April to mid-October. “There’s a lot of good reasons to do this, and I think we’re trying to be at the forefront of this before the trash costs get really high, but we do need to be proactive also about mitigating our climate impact,” Orr says. “This is a surefire way for residents to contribute to reducing their climate impact.” scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture 15
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
K R O W T R A H T I W G N I ROOM AT HARVARD AND MIT, STUDENTS CAN TAKE THE UNIVERSITIES’ ART COLLECTIONS HOME BY BECCA LEIBOWITZ
P
ablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Andy Warhol’s works line museum walls all over the world. But, thanks to MIT and Harvard’s art loan and rental programs, you can also find them hanging on the walls in less conventional places: students’ dorm rooms and apartments. As part of the universities’ art lending programs, undergraduate and graduate students can rent or borrow art from the programs’ collections for the academic year. Jessica Diedalis, curricular registrar at the Harvard Art Museums and head of Harvard’s Student Print Rental Program, stresses that it’s living with the art—not just viewing it at a museum—that gives these programs such value. “Students may select a piece of art, put it in their dorm room, and then over the year explore new details and learn the piece and get more comfortable with it,” she says. “A lot of students have expressed that it’s brought them joy on days that they’re feeling down, or if they’ve just finished a stressful exam, they might come back and look at their peaceful scene and just feel the stress drift away.” Ariana Webber, registrar at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, agrees that living with original 16 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
Rachel Thompson. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
art is a unique, hands-on learning opportunity for students. “What we really hope that students will get out of it is the appreciation for living with real artwork that was created by artists, and kind of what it means to collect art,” Webber says. MIT’s Student Loan Art Program began in 1969, years before the center’s establishment in 1985. Today, the Student Loan Art collection includes over 600 two-dimensional, framed works, which are loaned out for free to undergraduate and graduate students for the academic year. Harvard’s Student Print Rental Program began just a few years after MIT’s, in 1972—a “rental” program as opposed to a loan program, as undergraduate and graduate students pay $30 to rent an artwork for the academic year. This fee supports updates and improvements to the works for the following year, according to Associate Curator of Prints Elizabeth Rudy. The Harvard Art Museums had 271 up for rental through the program this academic year, Diedalis says. While the programs might not appeal to all students, it’s safe to say that both programs are popular: according to Diedalis and Webber, both lend or rent out every single one of their available works each year.
T
here are plenty of works by well-known artists available in the programs, but they both also contain works by local artists—a deliberate choice in an attempt to support up-and-coming artists while also exemplifying the types of artwork exhibited year-round at the museums. Emily Garner, campus and public programs coordinator at the MIT List Center, hopes that, by using the Student Loan Art Program as a way to expose students to contemporary art, the List will engage students beyond the pickup and drop-off of their prints. “The rest of the year, we’re a contemporary art gallery and showing cutting-edge new art and artists pushing the field of contemporary art, so [the Student Loan Art Program] gives us an opportunity to expose students to
what we do the rest of the year by collecting out of people that we exhibit,” Garner says. Rudy explains that an artist’s fame hasn’t been the top consideration in building the Student Print Rental collection at Harvard. “There are quite a lot of prints by local or just generally domestic artists … some of whom, really their careers took off and they really became quite well known, and some who did not, but the work is still meant to be fresh and have some connection in some way to our student body,” Rudy says. As the collection grew,
wall and all the walls are covered, and it’s amazing to see. And it’s such a varied collection, too. I always find something new when I’m walking through.” Those who don’t receive one of their top choices can choose from unassigned pieces before “Last Call” of distribution week, when people can pick from the works that are still not claimed, Webber explains. The rental days at Harvard are held on the fourth floor of the Harvard Art Museums, where students peruse works in bins or on easels and art ledges. Students enter a lottery that randomly
an Alexander Calder print in her Kendall Square apartment while she attends MIT for her masters degree in comparative media studies. For Thompson, the experience of choosing a print at Harvard—one of her first upclose experiences with original artwork—underscored the program’s mission of making art accessible to students. “Walking through a room with a bunch of artwork that you get to flip through, almost like records or books, I think that really brought it back to the ground for me,” she says. “It made
“A lot of students have expressed that it’s brought them joy on days that they’re feeling down, or if they’ve just finished a stressful exam, they might come back and look at their peaceful scene and just feel the stress drift away.” curators before Rudy intentionally sought artwork for the collection by artists that weren’t so wellknown—at least, not yet. One of Rudy’s predecessors set the purchasing limit at a mere 50 dollars per artwork. “It was sort of like this selfimposed limitation as a challenge,” she says. “What kind of great art could they find by contemporary artists, up-and-comers, or artists that they knew were going to be really established but just hadn’t been discovered yet by the rest of the academic community?” During a two-week exhibition period open to the public at the start of the school year, works available for loan fill the gallery walls of the List from top to bottom. MIT students can come view the artworks and enter the lottery to borrow one, ranking their top five choices. “It’s an amazing show,” Webber says. “To see all of the works hung salon-style, you don’t really see that too much in exhibitions nowadays. You just have works five or six high on the
assigns them a time to come choose a work to rent. Those who don’t receive a time slot can come the next day for an open rental period or enter into the lottery at the Harvard Art Museums’ kickoff event, Student Late Night, Diedalis says. Both programs’ collections continue to grow from both purchases and gifts. “[At the annual Student Loan Art Program exhibition] they always try to feature … some new acquisitions each year, just to allow people to know that it’s an active collection, that it’s not something we just did and then this is the finite amount of things that we own, that it’s continually growing,” Garner says.
R
achel Thompson grew up in a rural part of Texas. There were no art museums in her neighborhood; the first museum she ever visited was the Museum of Fine Arts when she came to Harvard for her undergraduate education. Now, thanks to the Student Loan Art Program, she has
it seem really accessible, and not out of reach, which is a lot of the point of a university gallery, to make students feel comfortable.” For a university gallery, Thompson argues, it is only fair to give students full access to the art. “I always heard the phrase, ‘It’s the students’ art.’ The university gallery exists because there’s a university, and there’s a university because there’s students,” she says. “So why wouldn’t we let students have the artwork and actually experience it in a way that isn’t just in the museum? That is like, late at night when you’re trying to finish a final,” she says. Thompson was a member of the Harvard Art Museums’ student board while she was an undergraduate, where she helped spread the word about the Student Print Rental Program as it relaunched in the 2015-16 academic year, following the six-year-long renovation and expansion of the Harvard Art Museums. Students who Thompson spoke with at the time were scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture
17
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
Rooming With Artwork
surprised that a program like this could exist. “I was like, ‘You can have a print on your wall,’ and people were like, ‘Oh, do you mean like the Monet water lilies that you print out on … nice paper and hang it up?’ and I was like, ‘No, it’s a real original artwork.’” Thompson says. “I had to keep reiterating how they were defining the word ‘print’ because people just couldn’t fathom having something like that on their wall.”
A
t both Harvard and MIT, students have to sign a contract at the beginning of the loan or rental period, but neither university has ever had an issue with students damaging works, according to Diedalis and Garner. Diedalis says that student appreciation for the art itself may be one reason why. “They take this responsibility very seriously,” she says. “They really grow to love this piece and appreciate it, and it becomes a very personal experience for them.”
18 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
Garner draws a parallel between students’ stewardship of these artworks and their respect for the MIT community as a whole. “They’re very invested in the MIT community, what it has to offer,” Garner says. “They’re … exposed to the top-notch lab equipment in the world and producing things, and so we’re trusting them with a large amount of different types of technologies and so forth, and exposing them to that, and they take real pride, I think, in what they’re part of. So I think that’s a large part of the reason why we haven’t had any issues.” According to Diedalis, there are a total of 11 colleges and universities across the country with art loan or rental programs for students. While each runs its program differently, their experiences with students’ respect for the artwork is the same. “They really have had the same experience, that students have been wonderful as renters and borrowers,” she says. “So
when people reach out, it’s nice for them to hear, too, that … these are our experiences, and it’s been a very positive one from both our standpoint as well as the students’ perspective.” By participating in these programs, students become part of a larger web of people who have rented or borrowed these works, Webber explains. “It kind of creates networks of students who do receive art. They get in touch with each other and they’ve kept track of who’s gotten which artworks, they all share around with each other and get really excited when they find out who won which artwork in the lottery,” Webber says. Staff at both programs are working on strengthening their student networks. Garner has created a Wiki page for MIT students to share reflections on living with the art for future borrowers to read. Diedalis began a similar program last year in which each Harvard renter is able to leave a message for whoever
rents the work the following year. Garner says that this student network adds an exciting element to the program. “You never know where these students go, so there’s an interesting kind of history that can be built there. You see this person’s name and 25 years from now they could be a CFO in a different company and you just never would’ve known that they lived with that artwork when they were a college student,” she says. “And so it’s about building that history of like, where are these pieces living and who are they living with?” Thompson has noticed labels on the back of her artwork that name its previous borrowers. The loan art program helps students truly engage with the art of their schools and communities, she says. “I really appreciate … the idea that it’s putting [the artwork] back in the students’ hands,” she says. “And I think that’s an empowering thing [and] that there’s not really another way to do it.” Photo courtesy of MIT List Visual Arts Center.
Spring Session Enrolling Now
J
enn Falk’s book project, Lunar Love Flow: practicing yoga with the Moon is both a way of moving with nature’s rhythms and also a love letter to Iceland. She collaborated with arts photographer, Liza Voll, to capture the images and set the proper tone. You can find Liza’s landscape nature photos of Iceland on exhibition at Bloc Somerville through April. Then it will move to the Scandi Center in Newton. Jenn’s book can also be found at Bloc, and will be available at various locations as well as online this Spring.
WWW.LIZAVOLL.COM @LIZAVOLL WWW.YOGINIJENNFALK.COM @JENNPFALK
Designing for the Arts: Architecture Workshop Grades 6-8 • April Vacation Week • Tuesday, 4/17-Friday, 4/20 This hands on class will give students insight into the professional architectural world. Students will learn the foundation of architectural concepts through material prototyping, scaled drawings and model building. Infusing art and architecture as well as real word applications of projects within the built environment.
ar d Ne r var 20 Sacramento Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Ha uare www.MaudMorganArts.org | 617.349.6287 Sq MMA is a program of Agassiz Baldwin Community scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture 19
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
How Central Square’s
graffiti Haven Came to Be
20 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
BY DANA FORSYTHE
O
n the first day temperatures rose above 40 in January, clusters of street artists arrived at “Graffiti Alley” in Central Square, staking out a space among dozens of colorful spray cans. They had come out to contribute to The Wall, an ever-evolving art installation lining the corridor between Central Kitchen and Hilton’s Tent City. The Wall is a rarity—it is the only place in the greater Boston area where graffiti artists can paint without fear of being arrested. Street artist Merkaveli, who grew up a few blocks away from Central, says he’s been painting in the alley at least twice a month since it opened in 2007. “Whenever I have some free time or leftover colors I try to stop by,” he says. “It’s the only place around here that is open.” It’s so well known these days, he says, that friends from out of town and even out of the country make the trip to Cambridge to paint. And his work crossed international boundaries last year when one of his works stayed on the wall untouched for almost 11 months. “It’s kind of crazy because some people won’t even wait for the paint to dry on a piece before painting over it,” he says. That piece, a cartoon-style woman, became so popular that a girl in Japan sent him a photo of a likeness painted on her fingernails. “She saw a picture from the wall and used it as inspiration,” he says. “The Central Wall is amazing, and I think it’s opened up the artform around here.” He points to a younger artist who paints under the name ‘Wake.’ “He’s 12 now and he only started because he had a place to paint,” Merkaveli says. “That wouldn’t be possible if there was no wall.”
THE ORIGIN STORY
C
o-creator of the wall and local artist Geoff Hargadon says the idea for an open space for artists to display their talents came to fruition over a few beers with restaurateur Gary Strack, the owner of Central Kitchen and its upstairs neighbor Brick and Mortar. In the 25 years the two have known each other, they’ve curated several art pieces around Cambridge—some more off-the-books than others—including, most recently, the IDEO building on Prospect Street. Hargadon and Strack invited over 30 artists to come to Cambridge and paint in the alley next to Central Kitchen in October 2007, according to
Photo by Dana Forsythe.
Hargadon. Artists came from all over, he says, including New York, Baltimore, and even Canada. Hargadon and Strack paid for travel, put several artists up, and supplied some of the materials to get the graffiti started. In those first few days of painting, Strack says he and Hargadon just sat back and enjoyed the art as it was sprayed onto the walls. “Since then it has become a place for many others to express their ideas nearly without constraints,” Hargadon says. “Gary had this boring, beige wall on the side of his restaurant, and we thought it would be cool to open it up.” “It’s hard to imagine, but 10 years ago, street art or graffiti was not a well recognized form of art,” Strack says. “There was no celebrity status attached and Geoff and I just shared this love for the art, although we pursued it in different fashions.” Since its inception, The Wall has drawn internationally known artists— think Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Stikman, Michael De Feo, Gaia, MOMO, Judith Supine, and Matt Siren—and amateurs alike to Central Square.
LAWS OF THE LAND
G
raffiti artists are often very territorial, Strack says, a tendency that has continued even with an open and free wall to paint on. Buffalo transplant and street artist Disco Rico staked out a spot along the wall just off of Mass. Ave. to work on two pieces: “a nondescript human expressing the idea of a beautiful mind” and a Lego minifigure lifting off his own head. “It’s great to have a place where we can express ourselves and just enjoy the art,” he says. “I love it as a patron and producer. I like to come on off days, and I try to be strategic if there’s something cool I want to say, so the weekend crew can come and check it out.” “The unspoken rule is if you can’t make it better then leave it alone,” he says, adding, “I know that’s subjective.” Another unspoken rule, Hargadon says, used to be that you couldn’t paint on the opposite wall, but that unofficially ended last year. “That property was vacant for so long, people just started painting and it hasn’t really stopped since,” he says. There’s also no painting after scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture 21
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
How Central Square’s Graffiti Haven Came to Be
geoff Hargadon & gary Strack 5:30 p.m., so as to not negatively affect the restaurant, Strack says. Finally, no ads are allowed. Strack says that while there was an effort at the start to curate the wall and bring specific artists in, that has given way to the more free-form management of the wall today. “We’re always talking to different people and there are a few big names but this is really a passion project for me and Geoff,” Strack says. “We like to keep it a bit guerilla.” While graffiti has become more mainstream in recent years—“It’s not uncommon to see a first grade class in the summer out there looking at the art,” Strack says—Hargadon hopes to bring more artwork to Cambridge, especially in Central Square. “We have a few things up our sleeves, but nothing definite yet. It’s too early to talk about it,” he says. “Central is the more openminded neighborhood in Cambridge and we’re happy to have The Wall here,” he says. “The cool thing is it’s always changing, growing, and that brings people back.”, Street artist DISM, a New Jersey transplant, says he arrived in Cambridge two years ago and has tagged the wall at least 100 times since the move. Admiring his most recent work, a large name tag on the wall, he says he’s appreciative of the Central Wall and its unique setup. “I wish there were more spots like this,” he says. “Even though this wall is a free-for-all, it’s still about respect. If you can’t do something better then you don’t go over it.” 22 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
Photos by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
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ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
CONNECTING THROUGH THE LENS MEET MARK OSTOW, RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER, TEACHER, AND OWNER OF CAFE ZING BY HANNAH WALTERS
M
ark Ostow has always felt comfortable connecting with people through a camera lens. “When I was a child I spent a lot of time by myself,” the renowned photographer and longtime Cambridge resident explains. Growing up in Long Beach, N.Y., 10-year-old Ostow found solace in a camera his grandfather gave him. “I spent a lot of time wandering the boardwalk taking photos of people,” Ostow remembers. “I would take the film to the drug store and it would take a week for it to come back, and those weeks … there was so much anticipation.” Ostow, now 60, has photographed some of the most powerful, influential, and even infamous figures in national politics and culture. Eliot Spitzer, actor David Leary, and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin are all former subjects. In 2016, Ostow shot a set of portraits of the Obama cabinet for Politico and a series of the presidential candidates for the Atlantic.
24 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
But despite Ostow’s early affinity for photography and his tendency to share it with those around him—he started a photography club at his high school and taught photography at the local Boys Club—it wasn’t his career until his early 30s. For much of Ostow’s life, his father was not supportive of his artistic pursuits. Photography wasn’t practical and it wasn’t the way to support a family. Instead, he owned a typesetting business as a young adult, maintaining his photography on the side. It wasn’t until personal tragedy struck that Ostow finally made the leap to professional photography. The day after Ostow’s father passed away, he answered a phone call from his wife saying that a family friend wanted him to do a shoot. “She said ‘I know this is a terrible time,’” Ostow recalls. “I’m crying, and I say to my wife through my tears, ‘Tell her yes.’” Ostow looks back at this moment of concurrent destruction and creation as an epiphany: “I was free in some way to say ‘yes’ to being a Photos by Adrianne Mathiowetz.
photographer. It was cosmic.” The beginning wasn’t easy, however. Ostow remembers the way his wife, who passed away five years ago, described the workflow of his early days: autumn is calm, the winter is slow … and so are spring and summer. Ostow, who proudly describes his children as “powerhouse individuals,” credits his family for his perseverance: “Having four kids is a strong motivator—I couldn’t fail.” He also credits the Boston Phoenix for sparking the positive
feedback loop that is critical for freelancers to achieve solvency. After shooting for the Phoenix, publications including the Boston Globe and the Atlantic began to notice Ostow. Today, Ostow has successfully put all of his children through private universities and is considered one of the mostbooked photographers in Boston. I visit Ostow’s studio on a snowy, quiet Monday afternoon. It’s the sort of space one would imagine for an independent photographer—high ceilings, streams of natural light, and a
long wooden table in the center of the room. Black and white photographs of all sizes adorn the walls, while a few framed prints sit gently on the ground, leaning against table legs. He guides me through the stories behind some of those shots. Each photo, no matter how different the circumstances of its creation or its subject, reiterates a near constant in both Ostow’s life and work: connection and serendipity are a must. “He has sort of a strange face. How do I work with that
face?,” Ostow says as he recalls his afternoon trying to photograph Eliot Spitzer. Ostow met with Spitzer to take shots for the Atlantic as the politician was preparing to run for governor (pre-prostitution scandal). He and Ostow were hitting it off well: “I set up this black backdrop. I had two hours with him. At that point, we were having such a great time, but I’m getting nothing that’s interesting.” After numerous lackluster shots, Spitzer suddenly looked over his shoulder at Ostow, who had moved off to the side. In that moment, Ostow saw a slice of bright light coming in from a side window and a jumble of books to the right of the black curtain. He incorporated those completely unintentional items into the shot and changed his perspective on Spitzer entirely to create a fascinating image of what would become an infamous man. “It was a Hail Mary at the last minute,” Ostow says. Following his intuition in split seconds like these has made for extraordinary photographs, as has his ability to bond with almost anyone. “I have to give myself 30 seconds to connect. I have to get people to forget about where they are and what they have to do. Sometimes it’s impossible, but often it’s not,” Ostow explains. His skillful connection was crucial in convincing Hakeem Jackson—a young former gang member—to be photographed. He met Jackson at Roca, a nonprofit that provides support to young people at risk of violence or recidivism. Jackson had spoken to a reporter for a story on Roca in Commonweath Magazine, but wasn’t aware he might be photographed and was very hesitant to have his face placed next to his comments. “I talked to him about how I’ve been interviewed, and I’ve been unhappy with how I’ve been portrayed. It’s just a risk you take,” Ostow recalls of their meeting. “I said, ‘I will work with you to get the best photograph of you I can if you give me a little bit of time.’” Jackson agreed after talking to both Ostow and his Roca social worker. scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture 25
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
Connecting Through the Lens
In the end, Ostow not only photographed Jackson, but became acquainted with his friends, who allowed him to photograph them in class that day. Ostow says that Jackson even asked him if he could work for him in some way—a request that Ostow found particularly moving. Jackson’s portrait shows a steady, intense side-eye. A heavy, angular shadow obscures half of his face and all of his body, the darkness punctuated only by the bright white of his T-shirt in the foreground. The shadows make his stare more 26 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
“I HAVE TO GIVE MYSELF 30 SECONDS TO CONNECT. I HAVE TO GET PEOPLE TO FORGET ABOUT WHERE THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO. SOMETIMES IT’S IMPOSSIBLE, BUT OFTEN IT’S NOT.” powerful in its illumination—it also seems to be an artful, even if possibly unintentional, gesture to Jackson’s hesitance to share himself with the camera. The intimacy of Jackson’s
portrait seems inescapable, as in many of Ostow’s portraits. Walking through his studio that afternoon, I look at dozens of faces. It’s difficult to break your gaze from each captured
moment—every aspect of the photo feels powerfully irreproducible: the light, the context, the thought, the fleeting expression. The stories he shares are only a handful of the tales that have come out of his shoots. Multiple photographers he’s worked with, including current studio manager Marissa Fiorucci, can attest that Ostow has a habit of tossing $3,500 camera lenses over his shoulder. This playful test of his colleagues’ reflexes usually doesn’t go awry, unless the person behind him is unexpectedly eating
Photo, left, by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, top right, “Hakeem” by Mark Ostow. Photo, bottom right, “Spitzer” by Mark Ostow.
an orange (although Fiorucci miraculously still managed to catch the lens that time). It seems only natural that Ostow is fascinated with all manners of human connection. In 2003 and 2004 he began several projects to enrich Cambridge and the surrounding area, some of which had nothing to do with photography—namely, Cafe Zing within Porter Square Books. Ostow was at Porter Square Books to celebrate a “naked calendar” Ostow shot for Cambridge Community Television when the owner of Porter Square Books lamented that the space was
too small for a cafe space. Ostow leapt at the challenge. “I talked to my wife, and I wrote a proposal … the bookstore owner liked that I had so many community connections, and so they let me [open Zing],” Ostow says. Thirteen years later, Cafe Zing has been a beloved fixture in Porter Square, and now even has a sister cafe—Kickstand Cafe, also owned by Ostow—in Arlington Center. Around the same time that Ostow was becoming a firsttime cafe owner, the war in Iraq was imminent. In response, Ostow searched for veterans to photograph and interview. He approached New England Center and Home for Veterans with the idea of featuring veterans, but he unexpectedly came out of the interaction with a teaching gig. Ostow initially taught a weekly photography class to a group of veterans at the NECHV in downtown Boston, but over time he transitioned to teaching a smaller group within in his studio space with Fiorucci. Ostow also began a summer photography class for teens around that time. The idea was inspired, in part, by his family friend, Rose Friedman of NPR. She remarked that Ostow would be great at teaching young people. Fifteen years later, he’s still putting on summer teen workshops. “I learn so much from the kids, because everything is so fresh and new … it gives me energy.” Ostow says. The two-week day camp includes adventures around the city and photography projects. Much of the work focuses on basic principles, such as composition, but also the finer details of how to be a good photographer: never ask the subject to “relax,” or “smile”—they’ll simply do the opposite, Ostow explains. What’s next for Ostow? Maybe standing behind a different type of lens. At this point, Ostow envisions creating a documentary-style independent film, much like 2015’s “Tangerine.” “I just want to make one film and see what that’s like,” he explains. scoutcambridge.com | Arts & Architecture 27
ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART
BLUEPRINT TO A NEIGHBORHOOD BY NICHOLAS GOLDEN | PHOTOS BY EVAN SAYLES
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I
n East Cambridge, a community tells its story in churches. It’s hard to get a proper sense of East Cambridge as a neighborhood without taking the walk from Lechmere to Inman Square down Cambridge Street. The impact of the many immigrants is apparent in the architecture every step of the way. “Basically, East Cambridge developed into a community of Irish, Polish, Portuguese, and Italian immigrants,” says Sarah Boyer, formerly the City of Cambridge’s oral historian and now an author of historical nonfiction, including “All in the Same Boat,” a book about East Cambridge. Those communities and the others that made up East Cambridge left a built legacy with a strong sense of pride in the forms of their churches. The various immigrant churches still stand as beautiful testaments to the communities that built them. “Instantly visual—it really does stand out,” Boyer says of the street’s architecture. “Of course the church was the center of things [for immigrants] because, with the exception of Sacred Heart, all the churches were Polish, Italian, and Portuguese, and I would assume the priest spoke the native language when they were doing the masses.” ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH, at 325 Cambridge St., wasn’t always the site of a brick church, or even a Catholic one. But its impact on East Cambridge was in helping set the tone for a community of world churches. St. Francis was one of the earliest signs of a neighborhood pattern developing in East Cambridge, according to author Susan Maycock’s book “East Cambridge.” Its 175 years of history trace a journey from its Protestant beginnings as the wooden, Second Baptist Church in 1827, to its distinctly Italian, brick style today. The Baptist congregation moved on from the church as the neighborhood changed and it fell on hard financial times. It ended up in the hands of the Franciscans in 1917, according to Archdiocese documents, and became a parish of Italians from the cities of Avellino and Potenza, Boyer says.
The brick upper portion was added in the ’30s, long after fire had damaged the wood. From a triangular pediment that today hosts a statue of St. Francis himself to the simple symmetry of windows, the church’s classic face and tower are immediately recognizable. The church still has the symmetrical openings and doors it inherited from its Baptist forebears. Today, its tower, an Italian campanile, echoes its many ancestors in the home country, while the front of the church displays the patron saint proudly. It was home to the likes of Cambridge’s Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci and mosaic artist Luigi Totino, who designed the floor of the State House’s Hall of Flags, according to “East Cambridge.” In the decade after, the church community would raise funds for Sacco and Vanzetti and be the starting point for a march after their funeral that
“The story of a parish really embraces many stories. It embraces the stories of peoples and traditions, of priests and parishioners. It is a story of progress and decline, of newness and renewal.” stretched from East Cambridge to the North End. “The story of a parish really embraces many stories,” reads one Archdiocese summary of St. Francis’s “Golden Jubilee,” its 50th anniversary. “It embraces the stories of peoples and traditions, of priests and parishioners. It is a story of progress and decline, of newness and renewal.” “It’s really the way [immigrants] were welcomed
into the community, and it was their anchor,” Boyer says, noting the legacy of parish clubs and associations that bonded immigrant communities together, including in East Cambridge. “If they didn’t know English and they were still learning it in schools, they could speak it in the churches, they’d have their
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH
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ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
Blueprint to a Neighborhood
own people in the church to do different things with.” Entirely different from St. Francis, just down the road on 6th Street, is the CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART, founded by the area’s Irish community. With a corner tower, ornate trimming, and original use of blue granite from nearby Cambridge
by the prolific Patrick W. Ford, according to Cambridge Historical Commission documents, whose list of churches designed runs the gamut of Massachusetts mill towns from Lawrence to Clinton. Sacred Heart, built in the 1870s, was the largest and most expensive church constructed at the time in East Cambridge. The rapid dispersal
“[The immigrant churches] just reinforce the pride and love that people have for their home country … They really strengthened the neighborhood, because people in that neighborhood had just about nothing.” and Somerville quarries, the church is representative of the Victorian Gothic Revival, a style with aims both religious and naturalistic in form. Gothic churches frequently reach to the heavens with towering spires. And although the church eventually had to trim down its tower, the building still looms tall. Sacred Heart was constructed
ST. HEDWIG’S
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of Ford’s work, reported in the Cambridge Chronicle, may have been due to a quickly expanding Irish population. For a successful Irish parish, their church was the apple of their eye. “As an edifice, the church is an addition to the architectural triumphs of the diocese, and as a temple of God, it is at once a monument and a wonder of Catholic faith and endeavor,”
explains one Archdiocese of Boston treatise from the time. Sacred Heart includes an altar constructed in Cheltenham, England. Designed by an artist named Peter Pugin, son of an Augustus Welby Pugin, an English architect who was central to the design of the English parliament’s Gothic details and interiors, the altar is practically unique in New England for its connection back to the parliament, according to art historical analysis in the Cambridge Historical Commission’s files. Over the past decades, notable East Cambridge churches—including St. Hedwig’s and Our Immaculate Conception, Polish and Lithuanian churches, respectively—have been converted into condos after protracted debacles in the community. Both closings were met with resistance, anger, and deep sadness. Old articles in the Cambridge Chronicle make a point of highlighting the community’s sentiments. “It felt like a wake,” Phyllis Nowiszewski, a St. Hedwig’s parishioner who had been married there in 1956, told the Cambridge Chronicle in 1995. “You tried to think of the past,
of the good memories, and you felt sad.” OUR IMMACULATE CONCEPTION was one of the last homes to the Lithuanian community in Greater Boston, where ties to both language and culture could be preserved. Designed by the firm Maginnis and Walsh, the church was said to be just the second Lithuanian church in the nation at the time, although independent verification of that is difficult, according to the Cambridge Historical Commission. Lithuanian immigrants arrived in great numbers from the Russian Empire toward the end of the 19th century. The church opened the first Lithuanian parochial school in the archdiocese in 1926, approximately 15 years after its founding. A thin, flat bell tower makes the face of the church taller than any other part, topped off with a borderline quaint tile roof and a gold cross. The tiles are almost Spanish, but its brick spire is deeply reminiscent of medieval Lithuanian architecture. The Draugus news, a Lithuanian worldwide news outlet, suggests that the architects found postcards depicting the 14th century Lithuanian Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Vilnius. Inside, the heritage was clear: in stained glass, a depiction of Our Lady of the Gates of Dawn, a pilgrimage site in Vilnius, the nation’s capital. Toward the end of its tenure as an active parish, Immaculate Conception faced conversion into condos as the Lithuanian community dispersed into the suburbs and developers sought spaces to convert into homes— alongside St. Hedwig’s, the local Polish church. ST. HEDWIG’S, which sat on Otis Street, saw far more architectural change
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since its construction—it, like St. Francis, changed hands from a wooden Protestant church to a brick Catholic one. Its community had its fair share of input in the building, especially after the Hurricane of 1938, when the wooden structure was rebuilt with brick. What had been a tall, white, steepled church became a modest, round-roofed community center. The hurricane of 1938 spared the altar and the pews, and less than a year later, the parishioners had raised enough funds to host services once again. Cantabridgians of all stripes came together to celebrate when the church reopened on Thanksgiving Day. Today, its symmetrical fenestration certainly feels almost
Italianate, but without a tower like St. Francis. “Our parents didn’t have much money, but when the hurricane came, they donated to build the new church,” one parishioner told the Cambridge Chronicle at the time of St. Hedwig’s closing. “They all got together and bought the bricks for the new church.” “[The immigrant churches] just reinforce the pride and love that people have for their home country … they would invite friends who were not of their background to come and participate,” Boyer says of these community buildings. “They really strengthened the neighborhood, because people in that neighborhood had just about nothing—they came over and had so little.”
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ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
LOCAL ARCHITECTS’ TIPS FOR
MAXIMIZING YOUR SPACE BY EMILY FROST | PHOTO BY ADRIANNE MATHIOWETZ
1. GET CREATIVE Before thinking about adding to a home’s footprint, local architects advise residents look to their attics and basements. Adding dormers—windows that project out from a sloped roof—to an attic is a great way to open up the space, says Somerville architect Jai Singh Khalsa of Khalsa Design. Similarly, adding lightwells makes a basement more usable, he explains. Basement windows have to be large enough for a person to crawl out of in order to qualify as a point of egress under the building code, says Edrick vanBeuzekom of Somervillebased EvB Design. “In basements, often what we’re doing is making a family room or a playroom or a home office or a workshop,” rather than a bedroom, he says. Mechanical systems like an energyefficient ventilator can help homeowners meet the light and air requirements for those kinds of uses, according to vanBeuzekom. An open concept floor plan is also a popular option for homeowners who want to create a more spacious feel without adding square footage, explains Bill Boehm of Somerville firm Boehm Architecture. But knocking down dining and living room walls risks creating a “generic open space,” without specific zones, he says, making it hard to figure out where furniture should go. Built-in shelves and drawers, a partial wall, or a vaulted ceiling can help distinguish different sections of the space, he says. By hanging a light from a vaulted ceiling, “suddenly it feels like this is the dining room,” says Boehm. Boehm and his colleagues look to European designs for inspiration for optimal space utilization, he says. They design many family bathrooms, where a shower and toilet are placed behind a pocket door with double sinks on the other side. This design can decrease the need for multiple bathrooms. “You have someone inside using the 32 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
shower and someone outside brushing their teeth,” Boehm explains. Homeowners should also consider what they can live without, says Christopher Chan, of Cambridge-based Chan Mock Architects. He suggests removing seldom-used chimneys, and vanBeuzekom offers up reclaiming a sun room that’s not insulated by weatherizing it. Multi-use furniture has become more popular too, like a table that’s used as a desk and a dining room table, says Annie Mock, Chan’s partner. One of Mock’s clients combined their kitchen island and dining room table to make space for an extra large dinner party, she says.
2. DON’T GET FOOLED BY REALITY TV The continuing popularity of design TV shows, where homes are seemingly transformed over the course of a weekend, has fostered unrealistic expectations, says Marc Maxwell of Somerville’s Maxwell Architects. “DIY shows are not our friend,” he says. “They make [renovating] look impossibly simple, inexpensive, and quick.” While his firm gets calls from clients all year, vanBeuzekom says the best time to start plotting a renovation is the fall. Contractors make plans to work in the best weather—in spring and summer—and their time fills up quickly, he says: “By January, you want to have your contractor lined up.” Don’t get seduced by the internet either, Maxwell cautions. Ordering materials online doesn’t pay off if the parts arrive broken, are the wrong size, or too heavy for the homeowner to lift, he says. Instead, it’s better to trust the professionals on your renovation team, he says. It’s important to consider moving out for any work beyond a small addition, and to have room in your budget, he advises. “Renovation is painful. It takes more time than you think and it takes more money than you think,” Maxwell says.
Rather than having an architect draw up plans that fulfill your wishlist but don’t fit your budget and then get disappointed, vanBeuzekom advises being realistic about what you can afford before the drafting begins. “In general the rule of thumb is around $250 a square foot for a renovation. It depends on the level of quality and type of builder. $300 is not unusual anymore,” vanBeuzekom says.
3. GET YOUR PERMIT APPLICATIONS IN EARLY Residents should keep the permitting process in mind when considering the timeline of a renovation, architects advise. “Even if what you’re doing seems very reasonable and minor, you’ll be asked to apply for a zoning variance,” Boehm says. “It’s rare to have a project that doesn’t need a special permit or a zoning variance,” says Maxwell, which vanBeuzekom explains can set “your project back a chunk.”
4. MAKE NICE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS After determining that your renovation will need a special permit, it’s time to involve your neighbors in the process, says Boehm. “Neighbors have quite a bit of say in what’s allowed and what is not allowed … It’s surprising how many times you think ‘this isn’t going to bother anybody,’” but it does, Boehm says. “It can really throw a wrench in the works.” By talking to your neighbors early in the process, you can potentially negotiate with them, Boehm explains, noting that getting a letter of support from them is even better than having their tacit buy-in. Another way to keep on good terms: Collect your neighbors’ emails and offer to keep them updated on your progress and upcoming work that will generally affect their quality of life, Zaslaw advises. Home redesigned by Bill Boehm.
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CALENDAR MARCH 20 Photo by Alan Levine.
MARCH 22-25
Photo by Tara Arseven.
Photo by Evan Sayles.
| MUSIC
PASSIM IGUANA FUND SHOWCASE 7 p.m., Free Club Passim Passim doled out $42,000 this winter to musicians with ties to New England as part of its annual effort to help artists advance their careers. The Harvard Square-based nonprofit’s Iguana Music Fund is designed to enrich local communities by supporting musicians and making it easier to be a full-time artist. At this event, all of the grant winners will put on a showcase highlighting their projects.
36 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
| FOOD
SAP ON TAP MAPLE BRUNCH 11 a.m., Starts at $13 Aeronaut Brewery Groundwork Somerville and Aeronaut Brewing Co. are hosting a maple beer and waffle brunch to wrap up Groundwork Somerville’s 15th Maple Syrup project. The organization is tapping maple trees at Tufts University as part of the project, as well as teaching classes on maple syrup to secondgraders across the city.
APRIL 26 - MAY 13 Photo courtesy of “Wig Out!”.
| COMEDY
THE ANTI-IMPERIALISM NATIONWIDE COMEDY TAKEOVER 8:30 p.m., $7 in advance, $10 at the door The Center for Arts at the Armory If “socially conscious comedy” sounds like your ideal Saturday night, head over to the Armory for a show from Krish Mohan and Andrew Frank. Mohan travels all over the country delivering comedy on war, immigration, and race with “an optimistic philosophical and sociological twist,” while Frank explores subject areas including anthropology, cosmology, and sociology.
APRIL 9
Photo by Rebecca Siegel.
| SCIENCE
CAMBRIDGE SCIENCE FESTIVAL Varies Various locations throughout Cambridge What better way to celebrate Earth Day (April 22) than by diving into science? The Cambridge Science Festival aims to make STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) accessible to people through concerts, debates, plays, workshops, and more. The festival’s collaborators include branches of the city, Harvard, MIT, and the Museum of Science.
APRIL 22
| POETRY
BOWERY BOSTON PRESENTS: NEIL HILBORN 7 p.m., $18 in advance or $20 at the door The Center for Arts at the Armory Slam poet Neil Hilborn claims to be the mostwatched poet ever, accumulating over 150 million views of his poems. He’s most well known for his poems on mental health, especially his poem about dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder, and is the author of the poetry collection “Our Numbered Days.”
MARCH 31
Photo by Horia Varlan.
| FILM
IRISH FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON Varies, $10 to $85 Somerville Theatre Did you know that the Somerville Theatre is home to the biggest Irish film festival outside of Ireland? Now in its 18th year, the festival includes several awards for filmmakers.
MARCH 25
APRIL 13-22
| NATURE
WINTER TREE & SHRUB IDENTIFICATION AND SIGNS OF SPRING 2 p.m., $12 Mount Auburn Cemetery Looking for the first sign of the ever-abysmal winter coming to a close? This program will help you see the changes in Mount Auburn Cemetery’s trees and shrubs as spring descends, and participants will learn how to identify trees based on their bark, twigs, and buds.
APRIL 28-29
Photo by Anders Lejczak.
| THEATER
“WIG OUT!” Varies, Starts at $25 OBERON This show will take you inside the world of competitive ballroom drag performance. Written by the author of the play from which “Moonlight” was adapted, this show promises to bring “the riotous, defiant drag queen sub-culture of the early 2000s to glorious, vivid life.”
| ANIMALS
BOSTON INTERNATIONAL CAT SHOW 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. & 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., $10 Simoni Skating Rink Are you one of those people who lives for cat memes? If so, you’re in luck, because cats from all over the world are coming to town. Check out sphynx, Persians, Bengals, and more as they compete for the judges. You can even speak with breeders to learn about different kinds of cats.
MAY 5 & 6
| ART
SOMERVILLE OPEN STUDIOS 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Free Throughout Somerville How could we have an Arts & Architecture Issue calendar without including Somerville Open Studios? Take a peek at artists’ studios and the art being created in your city during one of Somerville’s most exciting weekends of the year.
10TH ANNUAL / 2018 ANNOUNCING A VIBRANT NEW SEASON FOR OPEN STUDIOS THIS FALL IN CAMBRIDGE SATURDAY & SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 29 & 30 12–6PM EACH DAY MORE INFO cambridgeartscouncil.org
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SCOUT YOU
Photos by Evan Sayles
Life’s a beach in Porter Square Books, where Melissa Welling Cambridge Rindge and Latin School senior Andrew Anilus races past was spotted reading Jennifer Egan’s latest novel. defenders on Feb. 16’s game against the Lincoln-Sudbury Warriors.
The 70-degree weather on Feb. 21 brought Emily Posada to the front lawn of City Hall for a fun afternoon. Gabe Taylor enjoys a walk down Fayerweather Street on Feb. 7.
A group of students, interns, and volunteers, Ashley DiFraia, Troy Harris, Taylor Chef Wonder Fernandez flips some flapjacks Rapalyea and Lauren Siebal (clockwise from upper left) enjoy a lunch in the sun. (chocolate chip!) at Mass Ave Diner on Feb. 21. 38 Arts & Architecture | scoutcambridge.com
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