In something of a forest-for-the-trees situation, a Cambridge Day report on some of the continued residential development around Fresh Pond missed the $38.4 million purchase of the 10-acre, six-building Fresh Pond Technology Park announced Tuesday by The Davis Cos. Fortunately, The Boston Globe’s Casey Ross was on the job, noting that “West Cambridge has begun to attract considerable development activity in recent years as large technology companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. snapped up prized real estate in Kendall and Central squares.” (His article also notes Equity Office Properties buying on CambridgePark Drive and the Archon Group picking up five buildings leased by Raytheon Co. in January.) Northrop Grumman is already a tenant in the technology park, which is to be redeveloped from its state under the ownership of A/O Wilson/Spaulding & Slye Investments.
The Globe also also had an item Saturday that should spark some pride around town: an opinion piece by columnist Lawrence Harmon comparing the diversity of Cambridge’s nightclubs with the “Nightclub apartheid” of Boston. “Asked to identify night spots in Boston that feel truly inclusive, event planners could only name a few,” Harmon writes. “Style setters in Boston mostly pointed across the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge to Cambridge. That’s where they go to relax on their nights off.” He goes on:
On Tuesday night, several Boston producers and event planners were gathered in the Middlesex Lounge near Central Square to hear popular DJs Moe D and Serge A spin records for an integrated crowd that included college students, hip-hop enthusiasts, retro disco fans, assorted hipsters and a British soldier on leave thrown in for good measure.
“You’ll never see this in Boston,’’ said Bob Diesel, who has worked the Boston party scene as a DJ, musician and event planner for decades. And tension-free, no less. A brawny bouncer, who usually works in downtown Boston, said manning the door in Cambridge is “like a night off.”
But the city is not perfect. Boston resident Thomas A. Gibbs certainly didn’t get the racial harmony vibe Thursday morning, when he tweeted that he was drawing stares and felt uncomfortable in town. “Dear white people of Cambridge: Black people do exist,” he said — drawing three retweets by the evening.
GQ magazine’s June issue takes a page to visit Cambridge via writer Mark Byrne, who surely isn’t responsible for the execrable headline “The Smaht Man’s Guide to Cambridge.” (The magazine doesn’t have the post on its website yet, but The Charles Hotel, which is included in the piece, linked to an image of the page.) Craigie on Main and Bondir get honors for dinner; Area Four and Brick & Mortar seem to have arrived; and of course Harvard Book Store and J. Press are cited. More surprising, and nice, is that Oona’s and the lesser-known Concepts are recognized as well.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.