Scout Cambrige May/June 2017 by Scout Magazines

2017 Spring Market

Spring has arrived! More inventory has come on the market, but not enough to keep up with demand. It’s a repeat of the last four spring seasons: multiple bids, high sales prices, and frustrated buyers. There are many factors that have contributed to this situation, including low interest rates, high demand (due to demographic shifts to urban areas and the lure of jobs in booming tech industries here), a strong local economy, and very little build-able land. None of those contributing factors are likely to change dramatically or soon, but if consumer confidence wanes, due to political or economic events, that will have a dampening effect.

Upcoming Events Somerville PorchFest

Art Show Opening

Enjoy free music outdoors on porches throughout Somerville between 12-6 PM. Go to www.somervilleartscouncil.org/porchfest/map/2017 to views bands and locations across the city. At our office, we’ll be hosting The Sorry Honeys from 4-6 PM in our driveway at 128 Willow Ave. Stop by!

Saturday, May 13th

Musical Mystery Tour: Photographs by Richard Pasley

12:00-6:00 pm

6:30-8:00 pm

As Porchfest winds down, head inside our office for a musically-themed art exhibit opening with food and drink. Musical Mystery Tour is a diverse exhibit of photographs of musicians by Richard Pasley from the 1980s through today, including many icons of Boston’s illustrious punk era (Scruffy the Cat, Los Lobos, The Replacements) to contemporary jazz greats (Danilo Perez, Lake Street Dive). Richard has enjoyed photographing musicians of all genres with the ultimate goal of translating their unique expressiveness from the aural to the visual.

Community Cooks Celebration: A Fond Farewell to Our Founder Saturday, May 20th

6:00-9:00 pm

MIT Media Lab

A fundraiser to celebrate Community Cooks’ retiring founder, Vicky I, and to help make places at the table for neighbors in need. Visit www.communitycooks.org/celebrate2017 to purchase tickets and learn more.

New Listings

123 Mt. Vernon Street #2, Arlington $399,000 Lovely, conveniently located top-floor 2 bed/1 bath condo with open plan living/ dining/kitchen area, private laundry, shared yard, and shared driveway

33 Summer #2, Somerville $TBD Loft-style Union Square 2-bedroom unit with exposed brick walls, oversized windows, oak floors, and in-unit w/d. Sleek, contemporary kitchen has grey cabinets, stainless appliances, and white quartz counters. Tiled full bath. Pet friendly. Views of field and dog park; steps to shops and nightlife.

Coming Soon

Thalia Tringo

171 Swanton Street #14, Winchester ~ $549,000 Tastefully renovated 2-level townhouse with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 tiled bathrooms, oak floors, fireplace, private patio with river view, 2 parking spaces (1 in carport), private storage room. Association amenities include swimming pool and tennis court. Walk to town shops and restaurants.

President, Realtor ® 617.513.1967 cell/text Thalia@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com

Niké Damaskos

38 Cambria Street #3, Somerville ~ $TBD

Residential Sales and Commercial Sales and Leasing 617.875.5276 Nike@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com

Spacious, renovated third floor Spring Hill condo on corner lot with 2 bedrooms, 1 baths, central air, storage, porch, and 1 unobstructed parking.

Magoun Square Single Family, Somerville $TBD Adorable single family with 2 beds, 1.5 bath, and fenced yard. Steps to great Magoun and Ball Square restaurants, near bike path to Davis Square.

Central Hill Single Family, Somerville ~ $TBD Spacious single family with 4 beds, 2 bathrooms, fenced yard, 2-car garage, beautiful light, and sweeping views.

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

Free Classes

How to Buy and Sell at the Same Time for homeowners contemplating a move Monday, May 15 OR Tuesday, June 27 th

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. Handouts and refreshments provided.

First Time Home Buyers Tuesday, May 3 OR Tuesday, June 6

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.

Get Ready to Sell and Boost Your Home’s Value Tuesday, May 9th OR Tuesday, June 21st

6:30-7:45 pm

Whether you sell in the next few months or a couple of years, this class will give you a checklist of things to do to get ready and maximize your sale price potential. From basic decluttering, updating, or finishing the basement or attic…this is the class to come to and ask those questions. Q&A with real estate professionals to guide you through your preparation process. Handouts and refreshments provided.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Your House but were afraid to ask!

Wednesday, May 24th OR Wednesday, June 28st

Residential Sales Specialist, Realtor ® 617.895.6267 cell/text Brendon@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com

Adaria Brooks

an overview of the buying process rd

Brendon Edwards

6:30-7:45 pm

Do you ever wonder what knob and tube wiring is? How to prevent ice dams? Should you worry about radon? What molds are dangerous? What is re-pointing and when does my foundation need it? When renovating, what questions should I ask the builder? Are these and other questions about your home on your mind? Q&A with a licensed home inspector to help you get those answers. Handouts and refreshments provided.

To reserve space in any class, please email Adaria@ThaliaTringoRealEstate.com. Admission is free, but we appreciate but we appreciate donations of canned goods for the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

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.

MAY | JUNE 2017 ::: VOLUME 26 ::: SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM

contents 6 // EDITOR’S NOTE

8 // WINNERS & LOSERS MIT wants to give you $250,000 for breaking the rules. 10 // WHAT’S NEW? City Council has had it with the developer of the long-vacant Harvard Square Theater site. 14 // NEWS: FINALLY, CAMBRIDGE RAISES AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS. NOW WHAT? Increasing inclusionary housing requiremets is a huge step, but not everyone is convinced they do enough to address the city’s housing crisis.

18 KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD 16 // MAKING SPACE FOR SELF-EXPRESSION Jaina Cipriano was struggling to find a place that offered an anxietyfree night on the town—so she turned her apartment into one. 18 // CABBIE CONVERSATIONS We spent an afternoon swapping stories with cab drivers.

30 // SCOUT OUT: LEGGO YOUR EGGOS A meal at Mass Ave Diner comes with a side of community and a waffle lot of love. 34 // SCOUT OUT: GETTING TO KNOW PAUL MARINER, THE VOICE OF THE NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION You have a soccer celeb hiding in your midst. 36 // CALENDAR 37 // MARKETPLACE 38 // SCOUT YOU

20 // MEET CAMBRIDGE’S CAPITALIST CANINES Is there anything like the joy of walking into a store and learning they have a shop dog? 24 // IN CAMBRIDGE’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS, YOU’LL FIND A DIVERSE BASKET OF INTERWEAVING CULTURES A local mom on what makes the Graham and Parks elementary school, where families speak 33 languages, so special. 28 // FROM RENT CONTROL TO RIOT SQUADS: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF OLIVE PIERCE Don’t think pictures of 1970s City Council meetings sound interesting? Think again. Photo, top: Cab driver Dan Mosher parks outside Checker Cab Co. Photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Photo, bottom: Children playing by the railroad tracks next to the Jefferson Park housing project. Photo copyright Olive Pierce. On the cover: Order up! Photo by Jess Benjamin.

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 â&#x20AC;¢ 40 PROSPECT ST. CAMBRIDGE - IMPROV, SKETCH & STANDUP COMEDY + BEGINNER AND ADVANCED CLASSES, YOUTH PROGRAMS AND MORE! scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

EDITOR’S NOTE

n a sunny Sunday morning in April, my friends and I are lined up on Sidney Street, stretching and laughing and fine-tuning our playlists as we ready for the Spring Classic 5K (and the beer that follows). Many of us don’t look like runners. We’re all heights and weights, all shapes and sizes. Our “training” for the race falls on a spectrum between “some” and “literally none at all.” We’re Honestly, we were in it for the Spring Classic koozies. wearing varying degrees of appropriate athletic wear. (I, as always, am in a gray crewneck sweatshirt, because while there are tons of better, futuristic, moisture-wicking fabrics out there, I like feeling like Rocky Balboa when I run.) Our ragtag team is a microcosm of the rest of the field, which is full of differentlooking bodies. Take away the running gear, the earbuds, the ponytails, and they’d look like any old group of humans milling about Central Square on a spring day. It shouldn’t have, but it surprised me when I finished my first-ever race last year. Now, I think it’s one of the coolest things about the sport. I think it’s one of the coolest things about the city, actually—there’s an opportunity to see and meet so many different kinds of people all the time that your expectations are always shifting. A kid from a small town, like me, quickly learns that whether it’s diner owners (page 30) or professional sports announcers (page 14), people don’t look—and often, act—like you expect them to. Maybe this is all perfectly obvious to you. It should be! But it’s easy to forget in our oddly insular world, where we build online and real-life communities that exist to reinforce our own worldviews. It’s why in this issue, we’re introducing you to some of the behind-the-scenes people in your neighborhood who keep the city humming. Maybe you love Uber, but cab drivers are still people—people with a unique view from which to watch this changing city (page 18). Maybe you’re a white, straight, cisgender dude; you can still learn from photographer Jaina Cipriano’s “Immersion” series, a place where women and gender-nonconforming people can express themselves (page 16). Plus, there’s no running required.

PUBLISHER Holli Banks Allien hbanks@scoutmagazines.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Emily Cassel ecassel@scoutmagazines.com emilycassel.me BRAND AMBASSADOR Kate Douglas kdouglas@scoutmagazines.com ART DIRECTOR Nicolle Renick design@scoutmagazines.com renickdesign.com DEPUTY EDITOR Katherine Rugg krugg@scoutmagazines.com PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Jess Benjamin jbenjamin@scoutmagazines.com jsbenjamin.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jerry Allien jallien@scoutmagazines.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Bogosian, Nina Corcoran, Beryl Lipton, Sean Maloney, Tina Picz-Devoe, Hannah Villhauer CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Morgan LaForge, Tina Picz-Devoe COPY EDITOR Amanda Kersey WEB HOST Truly Good Design trulygooddesign.com

Emily Cassel, Editor in Chief ecassel@scoutmagazines.com

BANKS PUBLICATIONS c/o Scout Cambridge 191 Highland Ave., Ste. 1A Somerville, MA 02143 FIND US ONLINE scoutcambridge.com scoutcambridge

scoutcambridge @scoutmags

Office Phone: 617-996-2283 Advertising inquiries? Please contact hbanks@scoutmagazines.com. CIRCULATION 36,000 copies of Scout Cambridge are printed bimonthly and are available for free at more than 250 drop spots throughout the city (and just beyond its borders). You can find a map of our pickup locations at scoutcambridge.com/pick-up-spots or sign up for home delivery by visiting scoutcambridge.com/shop. 6

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

SCOUT’S HONORED: NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES UNTIL 6/10 AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/VOTE

ABOUT SCOUT

s Come in a a customer,

. leave as a friend

“Within two days, John set me up with three pre-owned vans to choose among, all in my price range. The van I chose has been fantastic. The way it’s handling, I expect it to last quite a few years. I’ve told my friends and family that I’ll never buy “brand new” again. I’d buy another car from John tomorrow, and I’d tell all my friends to go there too.” – Suzanne Fontano

Partnership With Purpose Y

ou know Scout—we’re a positive force in Cambridge telling the stories of the community. We celebrate our neighbors with narratives you want to read, highlight news that matters most and invite you to check out new, exciting places. Your feedback—and your support—means a lot to us. Seriously, we can’t do it without you. If you appreciate the work we do, please help us sustain it. You can invest in your community by investing in Scout. Partner with us for a purpose. BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR - Show your love of local media and donate a one-time gift on our Storenvy site: scoutmagazines.storenvy.com. BECOME A SUSTAINER - Contribute monthly on our Patreon page: patreon.com/scoutmagazines. BECOME A VOLUNTEER - Lend a hand. Email us at scout@ scoutmagazines.com. BECOME A ADVERTISER/UNDERWRITER - Align your business with a positive, community-aligned brand and show our readers your investment in the community. Contact Kate Douglas at kdouglas@scoutmagazines.com.

“My wife’s beloved old car finally died after 150,000 miles. With a limited budget, my wife and I headed to John’s Auto Sales. Our son had purchased his first car at John’s and was impressed with the selection, service and price. After discussing our needs and price range with John, we looked around the lot. We had already checked the extensive inventory on the website and had a few options in mind. Knowing we were looking for a dependable vehicle, John suggested a car that had just come in. In one look, my wife was set. The car was exactly what she had been thinking about but never expected to find. But there it was. We test-drove it and we were sold. John and his team handled everything from finance to plates, and they did it all right there at the office. Though it was very busy that day, the people at John’s delivered professional, courteous and personal service. Our experience was just like the one our son had described. Both experiences fit with John’s Auto Sales’ reputation for safety and quality in every vehicle. Now my only problem is getting my wife to let me drive the car once in a while.” – Stephen Mackey “My first encounter with John’s Auto was about 15 years ago. My son was 17 and looking to buy his first car. Driving past John’s Auto one day he saw a silver Chrysler convertible and without even taking it for a test drive decided that was the car he wanted. When we went down to look at it John spent an hour trying to convince my son not to buy it. He told us that the timing chains of these particular cars had a reputation of breaking after a few yars and that it was a very expensive item to fix. Although my son had saved the money needed to buy the car, John knew he wouldn’t have the money necessary to make a repair of that magnintude. In all my years of buying used cars and dealing with used car salesmen, this was a first – the salesman actually trying to persuade a customer not to buy a car. He bought the car in spite of John’s many warnings and pleadings and sure enough a little over a year later the timing chain snapped. Fortunately, John is the kind of man who cares about his customers even after it’s no longer his legal responsibility. He had his mechanics fix the car and set up a payment plan my son could afford. In a world where car dealers have terrible reputations, John’s Auto is the exception to the rule.” – Bruce Desmond

181 Somerville Ave (across from Target) johnsautosales.com QUALITY USED CARS BOUGHT AND SOLD FOR 40 YEARS

Learn more about who we are and what we do at scoutcambridge.com/support.

scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

W&L WINNERS

LOSERS

6.036 “What makes this the hottest class at MIT?” Boston Globe correspondent Scott Kirsner recently asked of the introduction to machine learning course 6.036. This semester, roughly 700 students signed up for it—so many that its creator, Tommi Jaakkola, had to “weed out” students with preliminary homework. Kirsner explains that machine learning, which is similar to artificial intelligence, is a rapidly growing field, one with applications from Netflix algorithms to fighting disease. And while “there are more and more people coming out of school with some kind of [machine learning] training,” Kat Bailey of the Bostonbased digital publishing software company Acquia told the Globe, “the demand is not being met.”

AIRBNB PETITION City councilors (and even a few Airbnb hosts) are not happy about the filing of a March petition meant to set rules for shortterm rentals. Cambridge Day reports that the petition, which was signed by roughly 30 people, drew skepticism from councilors who saw it as a trick to stall the passage of “legitimate regulations.” In addition, some said they believed that the document, which was presented as a citizens petition, was in fact a sham from Airbnb and the lobbying firm Novus Group. It doesn’t help that at a March 20 City Council meeting, not one person who signed the document showed up to speak to the council in its favor, according to Cambridge Day.

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF BOSTON On April 2, 16 Massachusetts mosques welcomed in their neighbors for Open Mosque Day, a statewide community-building effort meant to dispel misconceptions about Islam with tours, prayer and more. Hundreds of people attended the event at the Islamic Society of Boston on Prospect Street in Cambridge, much to the delight of executive director Amr Elfass, who told Wicked Local Cambridge that they were only expecting maybe 20 visitors.

WHIMSY Oh, bother. After more than 20 years on Hurlbut Street, the Winnie the Pooh House, a beloved public art piece from artist Mitch Ryerson, will be torn down to make way for repaving and other Department of Public Works projects. The sculpture drew viewers and visitors from all over, many of whom—kids and adults alike—signed a guest book affixed to the trunk. “Sad to see it go, but 20 years is a pretty good run for an old stump,” Ryerson told Cambridge Day.

MATTHEW DESMOND A huge congratulations to Matthew Desmond, who took home a 2017 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. The Harvard University sociologist was praised by judges for having written a “deeply researched exposé that showed how mass evictions after the 2008 economic crash were less a consequence than a cause of poverty.”

OBEDIENCE “You don’t change the world by doing what you’re told.” So says Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, which is giving out a totally first-of-its-kind Civil Disobedience Award. Applications for the award (and its accompanying $250,000 cash prize) opened in March, and it’ll go to an individual or group that’s taken a personal risk to impact change in fields including scientific research, civil rights, freedom of speech or human rights. The winner will be announced in July. Anyone up for a little bit of rule breaking?

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.

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

NEWS FROM THE NORTH Here’s just some of what you’ll find in the May/June edition of our sibling publication, Scout Somerville.

GREENTOWN GROWS Just a few years after moving to Somerville, the greentech incubator is opening a global innovation center that will more than double its existing space.

SHOP PETS OF SOMERVILLE There’s more four-legged fun to be had with the shop pets at Ace Wheelworks, Loyal Supply Co. and more.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Mike’s not the person running the show at Mike’s in Davis Square, and there hasn’t been a Jerry at Jerry’s Liquors in decades. 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!

Got Opinions? Good. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE 2017 SCOUT’S HONORED AWARDS.

Who’s Cambridge’s best bartender? Which bike shop do you trust with your two-wheeled ride? Where’s your go-to spot for a night on the town?

MAKE YOUR PICKS AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/VOTE Finalists will be announced in our July/August issue. Paper ballots are available upon request by calling 617-996-2283 or emailing scout@scoutmagazines.com. The deadline for nominations is June 10. scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

WHAT’S NEW?

complex, according to Boston Restaurant Talk. HARVARD SQUARE

LES SABLONS

Now open in Harvard Square: Les Sablons, the highly anticipated COMING concept from the team MOVED behind SOON Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34. The two-floor restaurant is situated in the historic Conductor’s Building (2 Bennett St.), and entrees include wild Alaskan salmon, grilled lamb loin and roasted monkfish. And while it takes its name from a Paris Metro stop, it’s not a place you’ll want to hustle through, according to Boston Magazine. “You walk in, and you definitely want to drink a cocktail in here,” chef and coowner Jeremy Sewall told the mag. FRESH POND

ON THE MENU

FREEPOINT KITCHEN & COCKTAILS

KENDALL SQUARE

LEGAL FISH BOWL

n April, Legal Sea Foods in Kendall Square debuted named Legal Fish Bowl, a fastCOMINGthe adorably MOVED SOON casual spot that took over part of the existing restaurant (355 Main St.). The new concept serves up six signature bowls as well as build-your-own options. It also gives guests the illusion of being inside a literal fish bowl thanks to floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a custom light fixture meant to make it look like you’re staring up at the bottom of a canoe.

PORTER SQUARE

NIRVANA: THE TASTE OF INDIA

On the very last day of February, Nirvana: The Taste of India COMING opened up at 1680 Mass.MOVED Ave. SOON (between Porter and Harvard squares). The eatery is open seven days a week and serves a broad menu packed with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.

KENDALL SQUARE

AL’S CAFE

Craving a classic sub? Get yourself to the new Al’s Cafe (600 Technology Sq.), which celebrated its COMING grand opening MOVED SOON April 3. This is the third Al’s in Greater Boston, and it marks 10

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

the sandwich shop’s triumphant return to Cambridge after a Harvard Square outpost closed to make way for renovations to Harvard University’s Holyoke Center last year. HURON VILLAGE

T.W. FOOD BECOMES SELF PORTRAIT

We’ve been waiting to hear what would become of T.W. Food after the well-loved, much-lauded eatery from Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann closed in February. The answer came in an April 25 newsletter, in which the duo announced that T.W.’s “sequel” would be known as Self Portrait. Now open at 377 Walden

St., Self Portrait is influenced by Tim’s time spent in France, with “a good, old fashioned dose of T.W. creativity” (and a full liquor license) thrown in for good measure. Stop by for the Sunday world music brunch! KENDALL SQUARE

B.GOOD

COMING

SOON Following its recent return to Harvard Square, B.Good is coming to Kendall in a ground-floor space of the Third Street Apartments building (301 Third St.). The latest location will be sandwiched (pun intended) between Barismo cafe and Abigail’s restaurant, which already have a home in the apartment

Satisfy your craving for bar bites and classic cocktails at Freepoint Kitchen & Cocktails, which opened inCOMING mid-AprilMOVED in the SOON Freepoint Hotel (220 Alewife Brook Pkwy.). The new menu from Matthew Gaudet is meant to be shared, reports Eater Boston, with delectable snackables like bacon roasted nuts, pistachio popcorn and a giant soft pretzel served with fondue and beer mustard. KENDALL SQUARE

BON ME

COMING SOON

In fast-growing fastcasual news, Bon Me’s empire continues to expand. Boston Magazine reported in April that the food truck favorite debuted two “custom-built, semiMOVED permanent” food carts in Boston and that it would add an eighth truck to its fleet in May. In addition, Bon Me’s getting two more actually permanent locations—one in Boston that’s slated to open near Copley in June, and one that’ll head to Binney Street in Cambridge this August. (Don’t worry—the flagship Bon Me in Kendall Square isn’t going anywhere. BoMag notes that the latest location will operate in addition to it.)

Legal Fish Bowl photo by Brian Samuels. Lanes & Games photo by Derek Kouyoumjian.

MOVE

DEVELOPING STORIES

Serving Mama Sater’s recipes for more than 40 years.

LANES & GAMES CLOSING TO MAKE WAY FOR APARTMENTS

Last August, news broke that beloved old-school alley Lanes & Games (195 Concord Turnpike) would likely shutter within the year to make way for apartments. The other (bowling) shoe dropped on April 4, when the Cambridge Planning Board approved a permit for The Residences at Alewife Station, a six-story, 320-unit building from Criterion Development Partners. Still, some residents are holding out hope that the building might be spared. Citing concerns about traffic and pollution, as well as flooding, a group has urged the Arlington Redevelopment Board to oppose the project, according to Cambridge Day. HARVARD SQUARE

THEATER SITE

The Harvard Square Theater shuttered in 2012 and was bought by billionaire businessman Gerald Chan in 2015, and since then… well, nothing has happened to the building, really. That doesn’t sit well with City Council, which voted on March 6 to give Chan 30 days to come up with a redevelopment plan for the 32,080-square-foot site at 10 Church St. or face potential forfeiture of the building. Following the ultimatum, Chan’s Morningside Group issued a statement that

said it has “many ideas” for the long-vacant space, but councilors don’t seem convinced, with one saying this is just “more lies” from Morningside, according to Curbed Boston. CENTRAL SQUARE

REZONING

Efforts to revive Central Square have been in the works for years—all the way back in 2012, one group submitted a restoration zoning petition aimed at constructing more housing in the square and supporting local business owners as part of a plan to revitalize the neighborhood. Finally, in late February, Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to approve the petition. What does that mean for the square? Taller buildings, for one, according to Wicked Local Cambridge, as well as more apartments and condos to both liven up the area and “ease the housing crunch.” In addition, rooftop decks could get the OK to stand in for open space requirements, which would let developers build denser buildings. And nightlife could get a boost, too. Wicked Local reports that currently, nightclubs are only allowed to open in very specific buildings: those that front Mass. Ave., Main Street or Prospect Street between Mass. Ave. and Bishop Allen Drive. Under the new rules, nightclub owners could open on additional side streets off of Mass. Ave.

estled within the Middle East complex in the heart of Central Square, ZuZu proudly serves sophisticated comfort food inspired by our Lebanese roots. Our kitchen crafts our mother’s recipes from scratch each day. When you come, you can expect a delicious experience of flavorful handmade meals that recreate the coziness of Mama Sater’s kitchen. It’s an honor to bring you the dishes our family has enjoyed for generations. And at ZuZu, we treat everyone like they’re part of the family. That means we prepare and serve our meals with the same love and passion that we would if you were a guest at our home. Plan an unforgettable dinner date or share plates with a group of friends. Have a special request? Contact Us. We’ll make it happen.

O ur famous P

uP u P latter

nce it gets dark, the Middle East Complex is the premier neighborhood destination for music, dancing, and socializing. We host weddings, private parties, corporate events and more. The beautifully renovated, Sonia is our newest room and is now open. 10 Brookline St, just around the corner and connected to Middle East.

472 – 480 MASS AVE • CAMBRIDGE • 617.864.3278 scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

What’s New?

MOVING ON HURON VILLAGE

HURON VILLAGE COMING SOON

MOVED

he bad news is that Local Root shuttered its Cambridge location (221 Concord Ave.) on April 23. But the good news is that you can still get your kitchen gadgetry and knife sharpening needs met at the shop’s new, bigger location in Belmont Center, which will open this summer. Local Root’s Newton location also remains open.

HARVARD SQUARE

CRIMSON CORNERCOMING SOON

MOVED

In early April, Crimson Corner moved into a new Harvard Square home (35 Brattle St.) to make way for the D.C.-based pizza chain &pizza, which will soon take over its former building at 3 Brattle St. But as Cambridge Day notes, one thing is notably absent in the newsstand’s new storefront— namely, news. Gone are the wide magazine racks that once lined the street; the 35 Brattle iteration emphasizes gifts over print, with just one rack of newspapers nestled amongst the Harvard memorabilia and

novelty items. “Magazines could come back, I just don’t know how that’s going to fit,” owner Chris Kotelly told Cambridge Day. “So I don’t want to give the impression that they are coming back, because they’re not right now.” INMAN SQUARE

BOUTIQUE FABULOUS

“Our mantra is, ‘You can’t fight evolution,’” the BF team wrote on Facebook in midCOMING April after announcing an everythingSOON must-go sale, adding in a comment to one customer that sales took a sharp “turn

downward” after last October and that things hadn’t been sustainable over the last several months. CAMBRIDGESIDE GALLERIA

PIZZAREV

Well, that was fast… but not in the way PizzaRev hoped it would be. The fast-casual COMING pizza place, which served fully customizable SOON ‘za cooked in a speedy three minutes, only opened in August but closed up shop at the end of April. No word yet on what will take MOVED its place.

TOKE TALK CITYWIDE

HIGHSPEED DELIVERY

Recreational weed use is legal in Massachusetts following a November ballot referendum, but selling it isn’t. Gifting it, though? That’s A-OK, and that’s where HighSpeed comes in. HighSpeed Delivery is a juice company that’ll bring pressed juices to your door for $55 a bottle. If that sounds a little pricey, perhaps that’s because said juices are delivered with the gift of marijuana. The service is currently available within a seven-mile radius of TD Garden, according to the HighSpeed website, though people located outside of those limits can opt to 12

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

SCOUT’S HONORED: NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES UNTIL 6/10 AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/VOTE

pick up their… “juice.” Nothin’ like a good loophole. HARVARD SQUARE

DISPENSARY

Cambridge’s first medical marijuana dispensary—Sage Cannabis—is now open at 1001 Mass. Ave., and a second dispensary could be on its way soon. In March, the Boston Globe reported that Healthy Pharms Inc. is looking to set up shop in a portion of the Red House in Harvard Square (98 Winthrop St.). The rest of the Red House would remain a restaurant and would continue to serve food, according to the Globe.

MOVED

WHAT’S BREWIN’

Creative. Innovative. Landscapes. LAMPLIGHTER WANTS TO EXPAND

On any given night, Lamplighter Brewing Company’s taproom is pretty packed; lines have been commonplace outside the beloved barroom since it opened in November. The Lamplighter team is seeking to change that by transforming the middle of the brewery into taproom space; they’re petitioning the Cambridge Zoning Board to make renovations that would let them install 35 additional seats and ideally house up to 70 more people overall. HARVARD SQUARE

CLOVER

COMING SOON

In April, Boston Magazine reported that Clover will soon open a second Harvard Square location—its 11th overall—inside the Cabot Science Center at Harvard University. This Clover will serve the usual vegetarian and vegan offerings, but it’ll also have a new concept— Clover Coffee Bar, a pour-over coffee counter by the entrance of the Cabot library.

KENDALL SQUARE

CAFE LUNA MOVES

In March, Cafe Luna made the move from Mass. Ave. to 612 Main St., an expanded space in which the team hopes to offer an expanded menu. In addition, Eater Boston reports that Cafe Luna has taken over the former home of Verna’s Donut Shop (2344 Massachusetts Ave.), where they’ll serve coffee, sandwiches and salads out of a small storefront cafe and run their catering operations. EAST CAMBRIDGE

HAUTE COFFEE

Haute Coffee (1 Canal Park) was just about ready to open when this magazine went to press at the tail end of April. The second outpost for the Concord cafe, Haute’s East Cambridge spot will serve up coffee drinks, galettes, sandwiches and more near the Lechmere MBTA stop.

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NEWS

FINALLY, CAMBRIDGE RAISES AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS. NOW WHAT? BY DAN BOGOSIAN

or the first time since 1998, Cambridge City Council voted on April 3 to increase mandatory affordable housing requirements for new developers. Beginning June 30, developers will be required to make 20 percent of total new units built affordable units, up from 15 percent. The measure comes after years of effort from activists and council members alike and follows similar increases in neighboring cities; Somerville, for example, raised the requirement to 20 percent in May 2016. Originally launched after a 2014 housing study (and encouraged by another report that came in 2016), City Council voted to increase the zoning requirements after initial drafting took place in November. “It’s going to be a financial hit to developers,” Vice Mayor Marc McGovern says. “But according to the consultant’s report we have and our own analysis, it’s something we feel they can absorb. We haven’t changed the inclusionary percentage in 19 years. It’s time.” 14

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

The change has been almost universally hailed as a positive step toward fighting the rising rents—McGovern calls it a “momentous accomplishment”—and other councilors agree. “It’s a great first step in the ongoing [housing] crisis,” says Councilman Nadeem Mazen. He says he originally approached City Council about raising inclusionary standards in 2013, but was thoroughly shot down before the council saw the consultant’s report supporting him. Developments built or approved before June 30 will still go by the old percentage of 15, a figure many housing activists have pointed out as being false due to what’s referred to as a density bonus—essentially, that so long as a plan meets the affordable housing requirements and crams enough people into a certain amount of space, developers are allowed to build an additional number of apartments that aren’t

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counted toward the figure, lowering the actual percentage of affordable housing per development to around 11.5 percent. The density bonus was not raised with the affordable housing increase, which some developers haven’t been thrilled about. The new amendment also requires developers to make family-sized units with three or more bedrooms. “The original recommendation was that we request developers provide affordable three-bedroom units,” McGovern says. “We made it so it’s actually required that developers build and provide affordable three-bedroom units. We’ve long had studios and two bedrooms, but families often got left off the inclusionary program because there factually wasn’t enough room. This should be a huge gain for the city.” All of the requirements, new and old, will be reviewed regularly, as the council mandated the topic be revisited in five years. This appears to be the only fix with regard to new units until then, but there’s hope of addressing the struggle in other ways. “In terms of inclusionary zoning specifically, this is kind of it for now,” McGovern says. “In housing in a broader sense, we have meetings coming up; we’ll be talking about strengthening tenant protections and condo conversion rates, and we’ve used eminent domain to build affordable housing before. We’re always trying to improve in the areas we can.” When the topic is re-addressed, it’s likely to be another showdown between those who want to keep the inclusionary housing rate the same and those who want it raised. Some already fear the increase could scare off developers, a notion others dismiss. “Maybe housing and developing is going to slow down because of the interest rates,” Mazen says. “Or maybe it’s going to slow down because it’s harder to find new land to develop, but it’s certainly not going to slow down because affordable housing increased to 20 percent.” Both sides agree this is not the be-all and end-all solution to the crisis. After four years of research and frustration, the City Council agrees that this is a good step—but not the whole solution. “We need to be more creative with fighting this crisis,” Mazen says. “This alone isn’t going to solve the problem, and if we don’t get very serious about this in the next few years, it could get worse.” So long as the city of Cambridge is still growing and people continue

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“We need to be more creative with fighting this crisis. This alone isn’t going to solve the problem, and if we don’t get very serious about this in the next few years, it could get worse.” moving here, the housing crisis will be ongoing. The city’s population is approaching its historic peak of 120,740, according to data released by the city as part of the Envision Cambridge project last year. The same study found that housing prices and rents are skyrocketing and that it takes a salary of $100,000 to live in a market-rate one bedroom apartment here. City Council is already trying to figure out additional ways to create a sustainable and affordable housing market. “Are we doing enough to offset luxury development in our city in order to create equity? Well, no,” Mazen says. “Twenty percent is not enough, but 20 percent inclusionary housing is not our only tool. We have to have more co-ops—which is a bank credit issue, not a city government issue—we have to have more creative solutions, more public land trusted, more city-funded nonprofit housing and nonprofit housing construction.” “And why didn’t we do this sooner?” Mazen asks. “The answer is unclear to me. An onlooker could look and say Cambridge has always been behind, compared to Somerville or Boston. Cambridge has been suspiciously far behind. This could’ve passed in 2013, but we missed out on it. I see that. It begs the question: What are we missing out on now?”

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KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

SelfExpression A S PA C E FOR

Jaina Cipriano is making magic (and a little bit of a mess) in her Cambridge apartment.

BY EMILY CASSEL | PHOTOS BY JAINA CIPRIANO

t’s tough to define Jaina Cipriano’s “Immersion,” but here’s the gist: Last summer, she started hosting and photographing women-only gatherings—she describes them as “three-dimensional, immersive photo shoots”—out of her home. The idea was to make a place where people could really let loose without feeling pressured to act a certain way; all the fun of a night on the town, without the anxiety and stress that can accompany it. The nights have gotten bigger and messier—think paint, balloons, streamers and sparklers—but they’re still a safe (and sober) space for self-expression. We asked Cipriano to tell us about building a community through photography and why selfie culture actually rules. Scout Cambridge: The phrasing you use to describe this project is a little vague. Is that intentional? Can you tell us a little more about what Immersion is? Jaina Cipriano: It is kind of intentionally vague; I’m trying to give it space to let it grow into whatever it wants to grow into rather than putting a box around it. At first I was saying it was a space for women, but now—how did I put it?—it’s for non-normally-gendered humans. It started as a way for me to connect with a lot of people in my life who I knew had a lot of social anxiety, because there are a lot of people who I wanted to see or who wanted to see me, and I could feel a lot of this anxiety around us seeing each other. So I was like, “Why don’t I take this into my own hands?” I’ll create a night that carries itself, so nobody has to feel stressed about how they’re portraying themselves or what they’re bringing to the scene. It was such a big hit, and it was so much fun for me, because I’m used to being more passive and being behind the camera. Making a space—delving into a different type of art, really working with my hands and creating—was so cool for me. It was such a big success that I reached out beyond my circle of friends, and now it’s getting quite large for my small apartment, actually. SC: Do you like that about it? JC: I’m not sure if I like that or not! It’s also a sober space, which is really important to me for a lot of different reasons, but that’s a difficult thing to enforce as things start becoming less intimate and bigger. It’s 16

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

hard to create a space of we’re making a mess, we’re letting loose, we’re having a party, but not having substances involved because that’s not productive in this environment right now. SC: Where did the idea come from? JC: I’ve always had a flair for big parties, ever since I was a kid. I would decorate my little-kid birthdays to the extreme—balloons, streamers— even my mom would be exhausted. I’ve tried to create that kind of atmosphere, an atmosphere that’s almost childlike but still adult. And very messy. One of the last parties I threw I actually filled my entire apartment with balloons. If we’re going to make a little bit of a mess, it might as well be a huge mess. I really like that feeling of being surrounded by whatever thing I’m going to create a mess with. SC: What’s been most rewarding for you about Immersion?

JC: It’s become a place where people can network, actually. I can watch photographers who are younger than me and less experienced than me grow in their work, and I love watching that. I love being able to support people who are in that stage—a place where I used to be. Photography can be such a man’s world, a place where if you don’t know all the technicalities of your camera you get laughed at. That used to happen to me all the time. There’s an idea that if you’re not “TO SEE PHOTOS technically perfect then nothing you do matters, and I don’t think OF YOURSELF IN that’s true at all. It’s OK to not AN ENVIRONMENT know what your camera’s doing; just have fun and explore. WHERE THINGS I also think it’s really important SEEM KIND OF for women to see themselves. I it’s important for me; I do a MAGICAL AND OUT know lot of self-portraiture to help me OF THE ORDINARY, through things. There’s a lot of stigma around “selfie culture,” as I FEEL LIKE THAT if it’s vain to see yourself looking good or see yourself not from the CAN BE A REALLY vantage point of your eyes looking BEAUTIFUL THING down. Which is a weird way to see yourself! To see photos of FOR A WOMAN.” yourself in an environment where things seem kind of magical and out of the ordinary, I feel like that can be a really beautiful thing for a woman. To be like, “Wow, I look beautiful. I look happy. That’s who I am. That’s what I look like.”

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SC: It’s striking to me, looking at these photos, how that happiness seems really natural. But also, all the emotions seem genuine; there’s a great shot of a woman surrounded by balloons looking totally uncertain, and you get a sense that during Immersion people feel comfortable just being themselves.

Compassionate

JC: It’s funny, there are people I’ve tried to get to come to several of them, and finally they’ll come and be like, “Oh, it wasn’t anything like I expected at all. I expected to feel so stressed and out of my element, but I could kind of do whatever it is that I wanted to do.” That’s the point: It’s supposed to be, in a gentle and vague way, a therapeutic space for people to feel how they’re feeling. I feel like so often when you go to a big event or a party, there’s a pressure to be something or to feel something or to experience the night a certain way. I don’t want that. You can find more from this magical, messy night at jainaciprianophotography.com/immersion.

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KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

I prefer Harvard Square myself. People from all over the world aspire to come and visit Harvard. People ask about restaurants–a lot of different things. A history of the old days, the old gangs in the ’60s and the ’70s and the ’80s. Cambridge and Somerville kind of had a lot of that back in the day. I think it’s changed for the better. I remember when the train stopped at Harvard. I remember in the ’80s when they built the new tunnels up to Davis and Alewife. There have been a lot of changes, but I just feel like the more it changes, the more it stays the same. My family has been here forever. My dad grew up in East Cambridge over 100 years ago. They all moved away; I’m one of the few left in the area. I think it’s price, affordability.

– Dan Mosher

Cambridge resident for 50 years

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

CABBIECONVERSATIONS BY BERYL LIPTON

nyone can tell you that Cambridge is a rapidly changing city, but few people are so attuned to that change as its cab drivers, who have a literal front-row seat from which to watch its development as they shuttle fares from MIT to Porter Square, from Harvard to Huron Village.

We hailed a ride with a few Cambridge cabbies to learn a bit about the job and to find out what’s changed and what hasn’t during their years stuck in Mass. Ave. traffic.

I like all of Cambridge. It’s a small city, very nice. People say, “Take me this way, this way. I want to see this, I want go by Memorial, I want to see the water.” A lot of people from Europe, or tourist people. But people from here, they just want to save time and money.

– Abdal Gabbour

Four years as a Cambridge Cab Driver

Now, it seems like there are too many cars, big buildings. The city is more congested, more expensive. That’s Cambridge. The students bring a lot of business to the cab business and also to the local community: restaurants, bars, shopping. You see buildings everywhere now. There’s no more land. It’s sad, but the City of Cambridge is not doing enough to provide affordable housing. We see a lot of homeless in Central Square. The number has increased and multiplied. I think the city should do more about the homeless issue.

– Hamid Elmaksoud

11 years as a Cambridge Cab Driver

The smartphone thing has changed the culture. Now people can work in the car, they’re on their phone, whereas before they would be more talkative. That’s changed the interpersonal relationship between the drivers and the customers. I do a lot of trips to Longwood Medical. That’s a common destination. And, of course, the museums over there—the Museum of Fine Arts. Monday’s a slow day. It gets busy around here toward the latter end of the week, when people are concluding their meetings and going back to where they came from. Thursdays and Fridays are airport trips.

– Ken Levin

28 years as a Cambridge Cab Driver

Dan Mosher photo by Adrianne Mathiowetz. Adal Gabbour, Hamid Elmaksoud and Ken Levin photos by Beryl Lipton.

scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

s ’ e g d i r b m a C t e e

s g o D Shop BY HANNAH VILLHAUER

ike so many in Greater Boston, the majority of Cantabrigians rent their homes. While this cuts down on some headaches like property taxes and landscaping, not all landlords welcome our furry friends as residents. To satisfy your thirst for canine cuddles, we’ve collected a smattering of shops around town where friendly dogs help cash out customers. Keep your eyes out for them, and maybe stash some Milkbones in your pockets when you’re hitting the town with money to spend.

20 May | June 2017

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SCOUT’S HONORED: NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES UNTIL 6/10 AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/VOTE

XO and Shogee OUT OF THE BLUE TOO ART GALLERY & MORE • 541 MASS. AVE. XO (pronounced Ex-Oh) and Shogee (short for Shogun) may seem like an odd couple, but these two run the best dog cuddling racket around. If you’ve walked through Central Square on a sunny day, you know XO. He’s the big dog! Yes, that big dog. The majestic malamute lounging across the entire sidewalk, imploring you to pet him, admire him and bask in his presence. Though he looks like a modernday dire wolf, he’s the sweetest guy around— when this reporter sat down for our interview, he promptly appropriated my foot as a pillow. Did I mention one of the gallery owners weaves feathers and beads into his hair? He doesn’t mind, and honestly, he pulls it off. Not far off but a bit tougher to spot is Tibetan spaniel mix Shogee. Little Sho spent his early years in a puppy mill, but as soon as he got out, he took on the task of being a patient, loving pal to his owner’s young kids.

Now he has but three teeth, so he rarely nips, even when his best pal XO is getting too bouncy. They both love the street sweeper—that guy always brings them the best treats. Neither care much for rainy days, and XO thinks the African drum class at the art collective/gallery is too loud. He huffs and grumbles through the entire class every week. Nothing much else seems to bother him. To quote his dad, gallery owner Tom Tipton, XO is “unusually chill” and always has been, even from pupdom. Since Shogee is short on teeth, and XO is maybe just a tad husky (lowercase, of course), plain Milkbones go a long way to win these handsome dudes over. XO somehow manages to eat a lot of Big Macs and fries, too… with those hypnotic eyes, it’s hard not to imagine how he talks people out of their McD’s on a balmy day in Central Square. Stop by, won’t you?

He might look like a modern-day dire wolf, but XO is the sweetest guy around. (Plus, jury’s out on whether or not dire wolves like McDonald’s.)

Maxie

PORTER SQUARE BOOKS • PORTER SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER • 25 WHITE ST.

Maxie knows how to sniff out PSB’s next best-seller. Maxie and XO photos by Jess Benjamin.

“My name is Maxie. I don’t know how old I am, but I came to Cambridge in April of 2005. The vet who looked at my teeth said I was probably between 1 and 2 then, so I’m guessing that I’m 13 or 14. My family decided that my birthday was December 3, 2003, so that’s when I celebrate. My parents bought the store in August 2013, and I took over immediately. They are both very good employees, and I have given them positive performance reviews every year since. I don’t usually get treats from customers—I give them out. Behind the counter, we have the best selection of dog treats in town (other than the pet

store), and the dogs who visit come back there to get one. The best treats I ever got were the homemade dog biscuits that our customer Richard brought me. Important skills include laying on my back and looking so adorable that people want to come over and rub my belly. Oh, and also I can read! I have a great ability to pick out what’s going to be the next best-seller. Pet peeve: I’ll be honest with you, I’m not crazy about it when humans put their faces right in close into my face. (It’s OK when dogs do, though.) We welcome all dogs here, and we won’t ask to see your papers—make sure you’re potty-trained, though.” scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

Know Your Neighborhood

Meet Cambridge’s Shop Dogs

ZIGGY

Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers 1780 Mass. Ave. Age: 9 years old How long have you managed this shop? Eight and a half years What is your preferred treat from customers? I won’t take food from anyone unless they come in about 50 times. Any special tricks or talents? I’m a great doorbell. Pet peeve? People in general. I don’t know why they all love me so much since I always bark at them. What would you like to tell Cantabrigians about your shop? I don’t get to eat unless you buy my dad’s beautiful jewelry—so come in and shop more! (And I really like the couch downstairs.)

Teddy

BOSTON DOG COMPANY • 555 CAMBRIDGE ST. Let us tell you about Teddy Bear, the Sheriff of Cambridge Street. Teddy is a boss. Well, Teddy is the boss of Boston Dog Co. (Just don’t tell his dad/company founder, Kent Leung). Even when he’s not at work, his striking portrait watches over the outside of the East Cambridge storefront. (His beauty secret? Coconut oil. You’re welcome.) This handsome seven-year-old German shepherd has been managing Boston Dog Co. since its launch in 2011, and before that, he was the inspiration for its inception. After Teddy was involved in a very bad accident at doggy day care, his human was motivated to start a different kind of day care—one with more particular qualifying standards for admission than, “has four legs, says ‘bork,’ is a doggo.” Six years and five locations later, Boston Dog is known for having the most stringent application process in the US; only 5 to 10 percent of applicants are accepted. In a college town like Cambridge, that’s got to be a draw for academics and artists alike. High standards aside, Teddy takes his day-to-day responsibilities seriously. He knows three different languages (English, Cantonese and German), so he can even chat up multilingual puppers! He has tasted and tested each treat in the storefront that serves as a lobby to the day care. He loves children and will give his visitors a big kiss if they’re sweet to him. He’s good not just to little humans but to little dogs—when they play tug of war, Teddy lets them win for a bit before finishing strong. He never goes to sleep without his favorite stuffed animal, and he hates to walk over sewer grates. If you’re starting to think you and Sheriff Ted have some things in common, stop in for a pet!

Teddy’s beauty secret? Coconut oil. You’re welcome.

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

Ziggy photo by Flash Flood Studios. Teddy photo by Emily Cassel.

Got Opinions? Good. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE 2017 SCOUT’S HONORED AWARDS. Who’s Cambridge’s best bartender? Which bike shop do you trust with your two-wheeled ride? Where’s your go-to spot for a night on the town?

scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

PUBLIC E G ID R B M A IN C DA IN F L ’L U O Y , SCHOOLS

e s r e Div Basket

Interweaving s e r u t l u C

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

SCOUT’S HONORED: NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES UNTIL 6/10 AT SCOUTCAMBRIDGE.COM/VOTE

A LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHER SHARES WHAT MAKES HER DAUGHTER’S CLASSES SO SPECIAL. WORDS AND PHOTOS BY TINA PICZ-DEVOE

hat does our city look like? Who lives here? How does diversity play a role in our city’s schools—and what are the schools teaching about acceptance, equality and the value of diversity? My daughter attends Graham and Parks School, a public elementary school that boasts a population of children whose families speak 33 different languages (last year, that number was 42) and who come from every continent except Antarctica. Sharing from each of their cultures— whether it be food or family traditions—these young classmates learn firsthand what it’s like to be part of a globalized community that’s an accurate representation of the world they’ll live and work in as adults. In the three years my daughter has been learning here, we’ve met families from more than 20 countries and have shared traditions and cultural meals from around of the globe. During a recent spring concert, first- and second-graders sang songs in five different languages. Our family’s favorite unit so far was one called “E Pluribus Unum,” which is Latin for “From Many, One.” We are all one; one global community which has come together to create an inclusive, accepting, culturally diverse group of humans who respect and value one another simply for being who we are. Our collective ability to bring a wide range of perspectives to the proverbial table has greatly enriched our children’s learning experience from a young age, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to raise our daughter in a place where celebrating our differences is so deeply valued and embraced. I asked my 8-year-old the other day what she likes most about having classmates from so many backgrounds, and her answer was simple: “Oh, I don’t even notice that kids are from different places, because we’re all just together every day.” “That makes sense,” I replied. “We’re all just humans learning, and the more we’re with others, the more we see that we’re all similar, despite our varied races, religions or cultural differences.” To her, there is no separation, which reminds me just how much we as parents—and as a community of adults—have to do with the conditioning of our children and their views on equality. The more varied and consistent their cultural exposure is, the more naturally they may become open to perceiving and respecting each human as equal. By opening their minds and worldviews to a wide range of experiences, we hope to break down the walls and barriers between “us” and “them,” between “self” and “other.” In so doing, the more we realize that we, as a human race, all have quite a common goal: to live and learn, preferably

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Know Your Neighborhood

Say Hello The families at Graham and Parks elementary school speak 33 languages. Here’s how you can say “Hi!” in all of them! Amharic: Iwi selami newi Arabic: Marhaba Armenian: Barev Bengali: Hyālō Chinese (Mandarin): Ni Hau Creole: Alo Croatian: Zdravo Danish: Hej Dutch: Hallo English: Hello Estonian: Tere French: Bonjour German: Guten Tag Gujarati: Hēlō Hebrew: Shalom Hindi: Namaste Japanese: Konnichiwa Korean: Ahn-Young-Ha-Se-Yo Malay: Selamat pagi Nepali: Salāma Norwegian: Hallo Portuguese: Olà Pashto: Salaam Russian: Privyet Somali: Subax wanaagsan Spanish: Hola Swedish: Hallå Tamil: Vaṇakkam Thai: S̄wạs̄dī Tigrinya: Selam Turkish: Merhaba Urdu: Āssālam’alaykum Vietnamese: Chào bạn 26

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

Nyla’s family is from Barbados and Lithuania

Tenzin’s family comes from Tibet and India

in peace and without discrimination. As part of the second-grade unit on immigration, along with many parents and grandparents of students, my mother was able to visit and share her story of immigration from the Philippines to the U.S. in 1980. My daughter was so proud to share her favorite Filipino dessert—champorado (chocolate coconut rice)—with her classmates. The families who came shared stories, food and photos from their native countries, and it was a fantastic learning experience for children and for parents as well. We attended a family breakfast at which kids displayed a huge painted world map with photograph stickers of themselves placed on the area their families originated from. They sang Native American songs to us and showed us the unique baskets that they had each hand-woven as they learned about folk art of indigenous tribes, which was a wonderful surprise, as my husband’s ancestors are Native American, and we love sharing this heritage with our child. Cambridge City Hall is displaying “quilts” that students made, showing their family traditions, photos and poems they’ve written about their backgrounds. Second-graders were also able to take field trips to eight local restaurants—all within walking distance of school—that offer global cuisine: Vietnamese, Thai, Moroccan, Indian, Japanese, Lebanese, Korean, Mexican and Chinese. They then wrote reviews of what they had eaten in order to encourage others to branch out and try new types of food. Sharing a meal may seem a simple activity, but when we engage one another in the sharing of our ancestral traditions and flavors, we may more deeply understand others’ way of life.

Harmony’s family is Filipino, Norwegian, Polish, Irish, French and Native American Nipmuc

As we’ve recently seen quite an upheaval in our nation’s political climate regarding race and xenophobia, I’ve greatly appreciated the ongoing, inclusive outreach and reassurance our school staff has offered. It’s been encouraging to receive messages from Superintendent Kenneth Salim stating that “bigotry and intolerance have no place within Cambridge Public Schools’ educational environment and workplace.” In a time of great uncertainty— and for many, fear of the repercussions of new government policies—it’s been helpful to know that we, at least here, can hold out hope for our children being educated by a staff that is urging them to grow into accepting humans who are open-armed and respectful toward those who may not look like them or perceive everything exactly the way that they do. On the Monday after President Donald Trump’s first travel ban, Graham and Parks staff stood outside with signs and sang songs and chants welcoming the student body into the building so that no one felt fearful or outcast for being of a different race or religion. It was a beautiful, heart-warming display of Cambridge Public Schools’ core values of offering an educational environment founded on respect, diversity and opportunity for all members of the community. In Salim’s words: “Social justice is woven throughout our curriculum—from the books we assign to the topics students explore. Our highest aim is to teach CPS students to think critically about themselves, their cultures, community, environment, and world. Now more than ever, this work is critically important.”

In a time of great uncertainty—and for many, fear— it’s been helpful to know that at least here, our children are being educated by a staff that wants them to grow into accepting humans.

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scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

From Rent Control to Riot Squads C

BY EMILY CASSEL ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT OLIVE PIERCE

Olive Pierce’s photographs captured a particularly turbulent and oftforgotten time in Cambridge history.

Civil rights lawyer William Homans (top left), Saundra Graham (bottom left), and Joanne Pelham (bottom right)attend a January 1971 Cambridge City Council police brutality hearing. 28

May | June 2017 scoutcambridge.com

ambridge Public Library archivist Alyssa Pacy knows that 1970s City Council meetings might not be particularly interesting to the average person in 2017. They certainly don’t sound like the most engaging subject for a series of photographs, right? “But they were,” Pacy insists. “It was such an explosive time. There were hearings on rent control, on police brutality. A 17-year-old boy died in police custody for doing something very, very minor. He smashed a window in Inman Square, and the police picked him up—and then he was dead.” The death of that student, Larry Largey, in 1972, sparked protests throughout the city; the high school even shut down. And activist and documentary photographer Olive Pierce was there with her camera through it all, photographing police in their riot gear and the dramatic, packed-to-the-rafters hearings at City Hall. Pierce, who passed away at age 90 last May, began taking photographs while stationed in Poland with the UN during the end of World War II. She later came to Cambridge and began committing to film an especially turbulent time in city history. “It’s a side of Cambridge we don’t often see,” Pacy says. “She’s revealing our city to us in a new and touching way.” Pierce would eventually found the photography program at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, where she taught for a decade. Throughout this tense, post-desegregation era, she took portraits of and collected oral histories from students at the school. Her photos—from a City Council hearing that was attended by more than 1,200 people following the firing of City Manager James Sullivan in 1970 to street stills that captured the day-to-day lives of children in the Jefferson Park housing project in North Cambridge—are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Addison Gallery of American Art. But they’re also available online, thanks to a renewed effort from the CPL to digitize its print collections. The photographs are far from the only glimpse into Cambridge history that’s available in the library’s online archives. Pacy and the CPL staff have been working to digitize massive parts of their collection, including decades of news from now-defunct Cambridge newspapers that stretch as far back as 1846. And Pacy says the initiative has been wildly popular. “It gets an enormous amount of views,” she says, adding that in a given month, roughly 10,000 people check out the online archives. “Which is quite incredible—10,000 people weren’t coming in every month to look

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Top left: Hanging Out in Jefferson Park, 1973 Top middle: Police block the doors to keep people from a meeting abolishing rent control , December 1971. Top right: Sabrina and the Wheel , Cambridge Housing Project, 1975. Botton left: Students and residents of the Roosevelt Towers Housing Project gather in the Rindge Technical School auditorium to protest the death of classmate Larry Largey, who was killed while in police custody. Bottom right: From left, Cambridgeport resident Janet Rose, a Bay Street resident and Byrle Breny of the League of Women Voters attend a 1970 City Council meeting.

at the microfilm. Once you make something available, and you make it freely available to anybody, people will look at it and use it.” There’s even a chance for residents to get involved in the archiving. When text moves from microfilm to a digital form, the words can get garbled and often need to be updated to reflect an accurate reading. Thanks to a sort of crowdsourcing component, Pacy says that to date, 400,000 lines of text in the database have been corrected by average citizens. Pacy and co. are working to digitally archive city directories and materials from other special collections, and each time a new collection comes in, they’re digitizing what they can. It’s in line with the library’s enduring, ongoing goal: to provide people with access to free information.

“Specifically in archives and special collections, there’s this idea that we’re hunkered down in the back with our dusty old material, and we never emerge into the sunlight,” Pacy laughs. “We’re really working with emerging technologies … trying to get all the material we can out and accessible. It’s an exciting time in archives and libraries.” This story originally appeared on scoutcambridge.com. Looking for more local news between issues of Scout? Follow along: @scoutcambridge scoutcambridge scoutmags

TAKE A TOUR OF HISTORICAL CAMBRIDGE WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE

nspired to reconnect with the history she never got to see, Asma Jaber, a Jordanian-born graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, developed PIVOT, a “Point of Interest Visual Optimization Tool.” It’s an app that lets you see through history; when held up to certain locations— “PIVOT Points”—it shows photos, videos and information about significant events that occurred there. You can even walk around with it, and the app will give you a guided tour of the area. “People don’t learn about places via books,” Jaber, who co-founded the company with VP of Product Experience Sami Jitan, told the Boston Globe last year. “They do it via smartphones or iPads. We wanted [to be] a one-stop shop for archival images, interposed with a timeline of people’s images.” You can see PIVOT’s tech in action with the “Harvard Official Mobile Tour” app, available in the app store, which lets you learn about university buildings and landmarks dating back to 1860. scoutcambridge.com May | June 2017

SCOUT OUT!

LEGGO YOUR EGGOS 30 May | June 2017

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Mass Ave Diner serves meals with a side of community and a waffle lot of love.

BY NINA CORCORAN | PHOTOS BY JESS BENJAMIN

alk from Central Square toward Harvard and you’ll pass Mass Ave Diner, an unassuming, bare-bones, hole in the wall diner. Inside, the chairs sparkle with squishy red seats. A chalkboard promotes new beers and daily specials. Two tall windows let customers eat with the perfect street-watching view. But most importantly, a slew of people are perched at the bar, conversing with cooks and laughing with owners Karolina Zeledon, 27, and David Barlam, 31. Since 2010, the pair have run their restaurant with two things in mind—preserving the community and providing affordable, fresh meals—things that feel increasingly hard to find in a city that’s reshaping itself into a trendy tech and student haven. “Cambridge is a city of ‘foodies,’” Barlam says. “I feel we strike the balance between the high expectations people in the city have for their restaurants—cool vibe, fresh veggies and fruit, scratch cooking, catering to vegans, gluten allergies—while being affordable enough you can come eat a few times a week and not break the bank.” But had you asked Zeledon and Barlam back then if they thought they would open a business together, they would have laughed. Even if you ask them now, they giggle nervously. And who can blame them? The fact that they successfully rescued the restaurant at 18 and 21 years old, respectively, is hard to believe. Mass Ave Diner has been around for nearly 20 years, near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Hancock Street. Back then, it was a different restaurant entirely. The walls were a bright green. The metal chairs had dolphin cutouts on their backs. The chefs hastily prepared the food. Zeledon joined the staff as a hostess in 2009 and couldn’t believe it was still operating. “I thought it would be fine dining, so I came dressed up all nice,” she says, laughing. “The owner then was a character. He was older—in his fifties—the old cook that took it over from the original Greek owners. He bought it, sure, but it was going to shit.” Two months after she joined the staff, her prediction came true when he announced he was going to sell the restaurant. Immediately, Zeledon knew it was her time to step up even though she was young. Barlam saw her furiously sketching plans into a notebook one day and asked what was going on. She told him she was overworked, couldn’t put her ideas into the future she wanted, and wanted to open a restaurant. She was designing a plan to redesign it under her own ownership. Barlam was wrapping up business school, and he knew it was important to join her, but the duo was up against one tricky fact: their age. “The locals? They were tough on us at first,” says Zeledon. “They didn’t accept us because we weren’t from that neighborhood, and we were so young.” “We had to make sure to make it look better and cooler—without losing the people that made us love it to begin with.” Zeledon has a long history of proving herself to naysayers. She moved to Boston from Costa Rica in 2005, when she was just 15. “I didn’t want a quiñceanera or anything,” she says. “I just wanted to go somewhere, and my mom suggested Boston because she knew people there.” She got a job as a hostess at the high-end steakhouse Smith and Wollensky’s right off the bat, despite never having worked a restaurant job. Her father worked as an artist and her mother as a hairdresser, both leading a bohemian lifestyle where rules were rarely enforced, which she accredits to building her confidence at a young age. She met Barlam at Smith and Wollensky’s, where he was a food runner. At first, she hated him because he made fun of her accent, but his teasing eventually led to a date at the bowling alley and, now, a relationship that’s nearing 10 years. “It was an intense environment, and Karolina trained me initially, so I was already comfortable having her as my boss,” he says. “It actually only helps our business from the perspective that the ultimate trust we have in each other allows us to be in multiple places at once while ensuring the business is running as it should.” After successfully buying the diner from

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Scout Out Leggo Your Eggos

“

We don’t know their names, but we know people by their orders.”

the previous owner and getting licenses sorted, Zeledon and Barlam got to work. In less than a year, they renovated anything they could. They painted the walls red. They redid the flooring. They spruced up the kitchen equipment. They bought new chairs. “It’s an entirely new restaurant in almost every way from when we bought it in 2010,” says Barlam. It took time to gather the money, but they had the patience to pool it together and make adjustments as it came in, and the modifications happened subtly over time. “We didn’t want to lose that community,” explains Zeledon. “We loved them. The changes we made were to spruce things up and make it inviting, not to change what they loved. It’s just under new management… but better!” The biggest change in ownership was the food. The Mass Ave Diner of old offered the usual plates—short stack of pancakes, egg sandwiches, cozy lunch items—but lacked spirit. Ever since the duo took over, there’s been a noticeable prioritization of freshness and authenticity. The way Zeledon and Barlam see it, buying fresh ingredients may be expensive, but by spending a little more, the food tastes significantly better and draws customers back in the long run. It’s what makes staples like chocolate chip cranberry pancakes or chilaquiles taste so fresh. “Back home, I remember breakfast as all this good fruit, rice and beans, and healthy food that isn’t expensive,” Zeledon says. “Here, you have to spend $40 to get a decent breakfast. We wanted to make meals that are cheap but still taste good. It shouldn’t be complicated, especially breakfast.” “I remember deciding to make grapefruit juice ourselves,” she adds. “It took a while to figure out how to make it. We bought a machine, and I broke it all the time. It was difficult, but that was important to us.” As the years passed, the duo needed to find a new way to bring people in. The answer revealed itself with ease: alcohol. Because Mass Ave Diner stays open until 10 most nights, it’s a no-brainer in terms of getting customers to stay longer and brightening the atmosphere all at once. Technically, customers can drink at whatever hour they want as long as they order something to eat, and it doesn’t 32

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get wild because they’re bookended by a liquor store and a bar. Though they got their liquor license in 2014, it was both a struggle to get and a struggle to advertise. “People don’t tell you how hard it is to keep a business going,” says Zeledon. “You have to know people in the city. You have to have relationships with everybody. We’ve had to put up a bit of a fight to prove ourselves because we’re young and outsiders.” The more you look around, the more Mass Ave Diner seems like a hidden gem among local establishments. Art by area artists hangs on the walls: tiny clay earrings shaped like bacon and eggs, paintings of a skater standing in front of The Middle East, a pop culture homage that depicts Eeyore with a can of Narragansett in hand. Zeledon goes to art shows and asks artists if they want to hang their work there, and the works rotate out every three months of so. Everything is under $200; the diner never charges a commission. The way they see it, their business is about and for the neighborhood. Charging artists money doesn’t make sense. From its inception to new ownership to where it stands today, that community has been what sets Mass Ave Diner apart. The restaurant has never had more than 10 people on staff at the same time. The customers that filter through are quintessentially Cambridge—a combination of scholars, musicians and tech start-up geeks—but the place buzzes with a sense of unity, like everyone can be themselves, no matter how groggy or drained they feel. “It’s people who’ve been living there for 20 years who’ve seen the neighborhood change: students from Harvard, politicians, [author] Junot Díaz, the owner of the Celtics,” Zeledon says. “We don’t know their names, but we know people by their orders.” Perhaps Mass Ave Diner’s most appealing trait is that everyone talks there, even those eating alone at the counter. They aren’t on their phones (though some read the paper). They chat with the cooks. They strike up conversations with their neighbors. Ask any customer, and it’s clear: by reshaping the diner, Zeledon and Barlam are rescuing the communicative culture of Cambridge from the grasp of gentrification, one fried egg at a time.

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Scout Out Getting to Know Paul Mariner: The Voice of the New England Revolution

, R E N I R w A o M L n U A K P o t LUTION O g V E R n D i N A t L t G N e E W G THE VOICE OF THE NE More often than not, the soccer—er, football—fanatic is hanging out with Iron Maiden and AC/DC. But on this Wednesday afternoon, he’s stuck with the Scout staff. BY SEAN MALONEY

“H

ere’s the beauty of what we do,” explains Paul Mariner, British soccer legend, New England Revolution color commentator and ESPN analyst. “We’d be doing this anyway.” It’s a weekday afternoon and we’re camped out in Porter Square, beers in hand, watching soccer as Mariner explains the finer points of… well, drinking a beer and watching soccer. He and his cohort/cohost Brad Feldman have just gotten back from a Revs road trip and are about to head out again, and you get the feeling that this is a rare moment of respite—that these two are in a kinetic state from sunup to sundown seven days a week. 34 May | June 2017

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Not that they mind. “I’m lucky that this is my livelihood,” continues Mariner. “This is my job—my job with the Revolution, my job with ESPN.” Even when Mariner and Feldman are sitting at the bar—that magical place where work shouldn’t exist—their eyes are darting from TV screen to phone screen and back again, all while they maintain indepth, analysis-driven, statistics-filled conversations. We’ve had a lot of discussions with a lot of nerds here in Cambridge and listened to a lot of descriptions of things that go way over our head (love you, smaht kehds, don’t evah change!), but rarely have those conversations had such animated elegance and savoir faire. Photo, top, by Jess Benjamin. Photo, bottom, courtesy of David Silverman, NE Revolution.

“It’s not all day, every day… only when games are on,” Mariner laughs. “He has to keep track of MLS and all the English and European leagues,” Feldman says. “I used to, and now just do it as a matter of course. He’ll catch me at 10 o’clock watching a re-air of the Paraguayan First Division, and he’ll tell me turn it off, you have a family.” As the conversation flows and stories of international adoration bubble up through the stats and float through the play-by-play, it dawns on us that this—a low-key afternoon at the bar where nobody recognizes Mariner—is a rare thing indeed. While he’s been a local since he came to coach at Harvard in 2003 and is the voice of New England soccer, this is still America, and the sport is, well, still soccer. But anywhere else in the world, Mariner’s treated like the rockstar footballer he is, having spent years with Arsenal’s Premier League team and a decade on the English national team. Heck, anywhere else in the world, he’s probably hanging out with rockstars. “I’ve been lucky, you know, when you play [professional sports] to find a few people in the music world,” Mariner explains. It’s a profoundly humble statement, considering what comes out of his mouth next. “I’ve been mates with Brian Johnson from AC/DC, Ian Gillian from

“He’s hiding in plain sight here in Cambridge. In London, it’s a different story.” Deep Purple, Steve Iris from Iron Maiden. I think the best moment I’ve had—and I’ve had some really good moments—was when we were living in Phoenix and Iron Maiden came to town. [Nicko] McBain, the drummer for Maiden, says, ‘Hey where are you watching the concert?’ On the side of the stage, I guess. He says, ‘Come sit with me.’” “And, you know, he has a massive drum set, so he’s banging and he’s right there,” Mariner laughs, motioning his arms as if he’s behind the kit, “just smashing away.” Mariner is full of stories like this. Bad Company gave him a drum set when he was in Ipswich (that’s Ipswich, England, not Massachusetts). He once performed—yes, performed—with Deep Purple at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. When Purple played the Hatch Shell a few years back, they dedicated “Smoke on the Water” to him. “That’s a different level,” he remembers. “When the band says, ‘This is for you, Paul,’ that’s something!” And it’s not all classic rock heavyweights. After a quick discussion of a recent gig by the Cult, Feldman chimes in to relay the story of when, thanks to Paul, he met Adam Franklin, lead singer for shoegaze pioneers and indie cult heros Swervedriver. (“There was a crowded pub, a bunch of punters chanting Paul’s name, it’s crazy.”) And it’s here we see the essential New England-ness of the Revolution’s announcing team, their balance of encyclopedic knowledge and stoic enthusiasm blurring the lines between art and athletics. “I ended up backstage at U2 and the Police because of him,” Feldman says, pointing at Mariner. “I was just along for the ride. That’s why I say he’s hiding in plain sight here in Cambridge. In London, it’s a different story.” As Feldman and Mariner share musical memories, something happens on a TV screen—which screen, we couldn’t tell you—and the bar erupts in equal parts excitement and indignation. Their conversation turns to strategy and to the machinations of far-flung teams and player prospects, then swings back to music, and back again to the action. It all blends together, another hazy afternoon with a rockstar footballer, all of us just along for the ride.

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CALENDAR

HISTORY | Every Day Through June 30

BEER | June 9 and 10

THEATER | MAY 4–21

MUSIC | June 1 and 2

FITNESS | June 4

BIKES (PLUS BEERS!) | June 7

FOOD & DRINK | June 14

“WE WERE HERE: MEMORIES OF CAMBRIDGE COMMON” ALL DAY, FREE CAMBRIDGE COMMON PARK, WATERHOUSE STREET AND MASS. AVE. For the past several months, people have been sharing their Cambridge Common stories with artist Kelly Sherman. Now, their words come to life thanks to a park-wide installation that takes those tales and transforms them into beautiful banners.

“YELLOW BIRD CHASE” SHOWTIMES VARY, $10–$25 BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 527 TREMONT ST., BOSTON You’ll have to cross the Charles to catch this production from Cambridge-based theater company Liars & Believers and Somerville icon Johnny Blazes, but it’ll be worth it; “Yellow Bird Chase” combines puppetry, physicality, masks and more to create a production that’s fully accessible for audience members who are deaf and hard of hearing. (Plus, there’s a free puppetry workshop for kids after matinee showings!)

FUN & GAMES | May 19

BOOKS | May 20

36 May | June 2017

OLD SCHOOL GAME SHOW’S WRESTLING SMACKTACULAR 8:30 P.M., $25–$35 OBERON, 2 ARROW ST., CAMBRIDGE The Boston League of Women Wrestlers join the Old School Game Show Crew for a wrestlingthemed installment of their one-of-a-kind live trivia competition.

AN AFTERNOON WITH GRANTA MAGAZINE: BEST OF YOUNG AMERICAN NOVELISTS 2 P.M., FREE CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 449 BROADWAY, CAMBRIDGE Just once a decade, Granta publishes an issue of collected fiction by America’s most talented onesto-watch age 40 and under. This panel discussion is a can’t-miss; so are the authors whose works appear in the issue.

NATURE | June 3 and 4

HERBSTALK 9 A.M.–5 P.M., FREE–$30 ARTS AT THE ARMORY, 191 HIGHLAND AVE., SOMERVILLE The sixth annual Herbstalk festival invites herbal educators to impart their wisdom with nature walks and classes on holistic health. Don’t have time to take a course? There’s always the marketplace; it’s free to enter, and dozens of local artisans and farmers will be on hand to share their wares. scoutcambridge.com

THE SIXTH ANNUAL HYPERLOCAL CRAFT BREWFEST ARTS AT THE ARMORY, 191 HIGHLAND AVE., SOMERVILLE Not just local but hyper-local, this annual brew bonanza lets thirsty ticket-holders sample beverages made in New England with New England-sourced ingredients, from hops to apples to grapes and even oysters. Features demos, live music, unlimited tastings and more.

FEIST 7:30 P.M., $15–$55 MEMORIAL HALL, 45 QUINCY ST., CAMBRIDGE If all you know of Feist is the delightfully twee hit “1234,” it’s high time you checked back in with the multifaceted musician as she tours in support of Pleasure (her first new record since 2011’s Metals). Queue up that title track, lose your mind at its fiery, explosive climax and get your tickets to this show, like, as soon as possible.

EAST CAMBRIDGE FREEDOM RUN 9:30 A.M., $42.50–$50 CAMBRIDGESIDE GALLERIA, 100 CAMBRIDGESIDE PL., CAMBRIDGE Don your stars and stripes and bust out the red, white and blue facepaint—it’s time for another Freedom Run from Cambridge 5K. Feel good about waking up to run on Sunday morning… then enjoy an after-party sponsored by Bantam Cider, Notch and Slumbrew.

BIKE TALK SOCIAL HOUR 6 P.M., FREE AERONAUT BREWING CO., 14 TYLER ST., SOMERVILLE Once a month, the Somerville Bicycle Committee pedals on over to Aeronaut to chat about bikes over beers. Meet advocates, activists and assorted other two-wheeled travelers and learn what’s going on in the cycling community!

TASTE OF SOMERVILLE IN THE PARK 5–8 P.M., $50–$75 NATHAN TUFTS PARK, 850 BROADWAY, SOMERVILLE You know the drill: 60 of Somerville’s best restaurants serving up bites to benefit area nonprofits. Oh, except this year it’s in the park! That means cornhole, bocce and a popup playground for kids.

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SCOUT YOU

Photos by Emily Cassel

Jim (left) and Jaime hold it down at the new Crimson Corner location (35 Brattle St.). The shop moved in April after more than 50 years at the intersection of Brattle and JFK streets.

Spray paint artist Antonio Maycott, hard at work on a sunny afternoon in Harvard Square.

Eric serves up pastries at Mariposa Bakery on Mass. Ave.

38 May | June 2017

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Sonia prints tickets at the Middle East’s brand-new street-side box office, open from noon to 7 p.m. every day at 10 Brookline St.

Angela (left) and Ike get work done at Capital One 360 on JFK Street.

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