Davis Square 1997 vs. Davis Square 2007

[cvs-is-king.livejournal.com]

which do you prefer?

Comments

Utne Reader article

[ron_newman]

I found it online again (it was gone from the web for a while):

Hip Hot Spots, by Jay Walljasper, from the November/December 1997 Issue. The Davis Square section is short, so I'll just quote it in full here for posterity:

Out in Somerville, a blue-collar suburb of Boston awash in artistic energy spillover from Cambridge, something is happening. Two of the 20 promising young fiction writers lauded in a special issue of Granta last year hail from humble Somerville, and a lively cultural milieu has popped up around the subway stop at Davis Square. With its solid bookstores, Irish pubs, the best blues joint in town, and adventuresome programming at the Somerville Theater, it's an alternative to franchise-filled Harvard Square.

Funny thing is, we didn't have any bookstores here in 1997 (Buck-a-Book doesn't count for me).

Re: Utne Reader article

[turil.livejournal.com]

McIntyre and Moore wasn't there in 1997? I thought it was... And Buck-a-book was defnitely a book store - they sold books! :-)

Re: Utne Reader article

[ron_newman]

M&M's website says they came to Davis in 1998.

Re: Utne Reader article

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

It's interesting because I often hear people say that the UTNE Reader also said Davis was the "Paris of the 90's" but I didn't see that in the article. Maybe they came from somewhere else like some other article about the UTNE article.

Re: Utne Reader article

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

Ah. Just answered my own question:
http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/03106469.asp

Must get back to work. Must stop googling.

Re: Utne Reader article

[ron_newman]

Craig Swanson blames the Phoenix for that.

Re: Utne Reader article

[ron_newman]

It definitely didn't come from Utne, despite what the Phoenix article you linked to says.

I can't find anything on the Phoenix web site with that phrase that's actually from the mid-90s, so I can't substantiate Craig Swanson's claim.

A Google Groups (i.e. Usenet) search finds this apartment ad using the phrase, posted way back in July, 1992.

The person who would really know is Cecily Miller, who ran the Somerville Arts Council back then. She's now in charge of arts programming at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain.

Re: Utne Reader article

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

I wasn't around in 1997, but I like Davis now. I'm not opposed to the new CVS/BSC building. I think it'll be nice to have a gym in the square, and the new building is a lot better than that old rusty neglected building. I'm sure there were some nice restaurants back in 1997, but there are a lot of options in 2007.

The old Someday sounded like it was cool, but my experience with the 2006 Someday was anything but. It's not like CVS/BSC is the reason that the Someday Cafe is closing down. It's that the place was crummy and neglected. If management had cared at all, I believe it would be thriving today like Diesel.

Re: Utne Reader article

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

Do you remember what years there was a book store in what is now Goodwill?

Re: Utne Reader article

[ron_newman]

No, but I do remember that it was called "Boston Book and Record Warehouse". Then it moved to Brattle Square where it became "Barillari Books". That closed quite suddenly a few years later, without any warning.

In the 1980s, there was also a short-lived bookstore called "Chapter Two" which occupied part of what's now Mike's.

Re: Utne Reader article

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

I don't remember Chapter Two, but Boston Book and Record Warehouse was my favorite of the Davis Square book stores. I spent much more time and money in there than either M & M or Buck A Book.