Social media was rife recently with photos of Charlie’s Beer Garden being cleared out, along with speculation about what it meant for the future of Charlie’s Kitchen, one of the oldest dining establishments in Harvard Square.
Charlie’s was devastated by a water leak earlier in January when a dishwasher malfunction spewed over a gallon of water per second, as restaurant owner David T. Oshima told the Harvard Crimson.
Charlie’s has remained closed during negotiations between the insurer and the building’s owner, Paul Overgaag. Both Overgaag and Oshima said the damage affected all four floors of the Harvard Square classic, ruining electrical systems, damaging walls and floors and more. Overgaag estimated it will cost several hundred thousand dollars to repair.
Clearing out the beer garden is a separate but related matter. Overgaag owned Charlie’s Kitchen, the building that Charlie’s occupies and the structure formerly known as the Red House, but he did not own the property that the beer garden occupied. That property is owned by the Banker Real Estate Company which leased the garden to Overgaag in 2010, when he first opened the outdoor patio. When Oshima took over the operation of Charlie’s from Overgaag in 2024, the beer garden was leased to him. Banker Real Estate said in an email that the garden area was cleared out because the business closed, and the lease was mutually terminated.
Oshima grew up locally and ran the Hawaiian infusion gastro pub, Cornerstone, in what had been R.F. O’Sullivan & Son. He closed that to seize what he saw as a dream opportunity to run Charlie’s, started by Charlie Lambrose back in 1951. The dream has become something of a nightmare. “It has not been an enjoyable time,” Oshima said. “I have had to dismantle things piece, by piece.” He said, though, he still has hope that he can restart Charlie’s.
He said the GoFundMe campaign posted on the front door of Charlie’s is not to defray the cost of the damage but to help employees who abruptly found themselves unemployed, some of whom had worked there for 20 years. To date the fund has raised over $20,000.
Prior to the calamity, Oshima had been pursuing a course of action similar to Overgaag’s when he bought the business and property back in 1996. Overgaag took Lambrose’s classic diner fare menu and added lobster rolls and craft beer, also making it into a nightlife go-to spot with live music, trivia and the beer garden.
Overgaag transferred the Red House to his daughter Molly and son-in-law, Ryan Lindbergh, who are reimagining it as the Cox Hicks Club. It’s named after former residents of the 200-plus year-old building, which was originally a residence. It’s currently being restored with a keen eye on historical preservation. They plan to open the club later this summer.
What happens next with Charlie’s remains uncertain. Banker Real Estate said there was no immediate prospective tenant for the garden space.
Other changes in the vicinity involve the IHOP in the 16-18 Eliot Street building owned Raj Dhanda’s Charles River Holdings. It has permanently closed, with signs posted in the window encouraging customers to visit its Soldier Field location in Brighton. Two other eateries in the Eliot Street building, Too Hot and Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ, remain open, though the Curry Chapter Indian restaurant still has a “temporarily closed” sign in its window and its windows are papered up. Dhanda also owns the adjacent Crimson Galeria building on Winthrop Street.
This story was updated to clarify which restaurants are in the Eliot Street building. It also corrected information in the captions.
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