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Harvard Square landmark is turned off forever

By adamg on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 6:07pm

Wicked Local Cambridge reports Cardullo's has removed the large-screen TV in its storefront. Seems the owners got tired of people sitting in front of the store watching Sox games instead of looking at window displays promoting the consumption of cheesey comestibles.

"A slap in the face," one disgruntled member of the chair club harrumphed.

Neighborhoods: 
Harvard Square
Cambridge


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Comments

By Ron Newman on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 6:16pm.

I'm not understanding the problem here, as the TV was generally on during hours when the store was closed (and thus the chair club was not interfering with people going in and out of the store).

Sometimes the TV was on for other sports events, such as Patriots games or Celtics playoffs.

I'll miss stopping here for a half hour on my way to or from some Harvard Square errand or event. It was a unique Cambridge experience.

By anon on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 8:20pm.

The store is open until 9:00 most nights so for two hours it definitely impacts people's ability to get in the store. I know I have had to ask people to move so that I could get in the store.

That said, I thought it was a cool tradition and am sad to see it go. It felt like the old Harvard Square ...

By meshell on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 9:06pm.

Bums on the sidewalk was all they were. Drug addicts and Drunks getting some free entertainment-little did they know-they were the entertainment.

By Ron Newman on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 11:47pm.

Seemed like a good Cambridge cross-section the times I stopped there -- some students, some yuppies, some old-time townies.

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 8:55am.

The worst you can rationally call the chair group is moochers. Got it?

Get back on your meds. The doctor never said you could stop taking them.

By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 10:01am.

is the new retarded?

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 11:07am.

And self-righteousness is the new mental illness. Congratulations, you've won!

By SwirlyGrrl on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 1:29pm.

And ignorant bigotry is ... the new Republican Platform for America!

What office you running for?

By anon on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 9:50pm.

in Harvard Square. Cardullo's has been there for sixty. They're an anchor. I was shopping there in 1973. I can't imagine why they put the TV in the window to begin with. I can certainly understand why they're removing it now.

By pierce on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 1:15am.

in an area where most people turnover in 4. That TV has been around longer than most of the businesses around it

By roadman on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 12:20pm.

are two of the most overused and mis-applied words in the English language.

And to argue that a TV placed in the window of a private store for seven years somehow falls under either category does a real disservice to legitimate preservation efforts.

By pierce on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 1:44pm.

who called it historic? And "landmark" doesn't necessarily mean of any great significance. "Landmark legislation" is, yes, but an "area landmark" merely implies that it is somehow noticeable and distinguishable from context. Landmarks often take on a historical significance, but lets not get our preservationist panties in a bunch just yet, no one is trying to put this thing on the national register or add it to the freedom trail, theyre just bummed about one of Harvard Square's [few remaining] quirks disappearing

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 6:07am.

I can only imagine how empty and trivial these people's lives are that they take a private business's decision to change a window display so strongly and so personally.

Sheesh! If you want a sense of community, don't rely on a business to give it to you. They are only interested in profit. Make it yourself.

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 7:47am.

The "can't stop crying" bit sounds like someone with unusual emotional response.

By Jon Birch on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 9:52am.

>They are only interested in profit.

And there you have, in a nutshell, the complete problem and failing of Capitalism. Complete shortsightedness.

I moved here two years ago. I remember going through the Square and encountering this. It was unique in my experience. I remembered the store. I talked about the experience with other people. They remembered the store.

I also remember a good cross-section of people watching the game - not drunks and bums (One cop, actually, if I remember correctly!)

The business had a distinct feature that made people remember them. Now, in usual capitalistic shortsightedness, they've turned this off. They will not fade into all the other faceless businesses of this type in the square. Unless they reverse this decision, I give them about 5 more years to live.

Sad. What businesses need to learn is that if they are only interested in profit, they shouldn't exist. While they shouldn't be relied on to create community, I'd tend to agree, it is incumbent upon them to HELP create it. This business was doing that. Now it has ceased. And that is a problem both for the community and the business.

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 10:17am.

I wouldn't say they care only about money.

They wanted to put up a TV, so they did. They they decided they didn't want the TV, so they took it down.

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 10:37am.

Cardullo's has been in the Square for longer than the two years you've been here. It's been around for almost as long as TV has been in existence. It's survived riots, gentrification, endless construction, and the wholesale elimination of locally-owned bookstores and restaurants. If and when it goes, it won't be for lack of a television facing the street.

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 1:26pm.

Nicely put.

By Sarcastic Sam on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 1:16pm.

You might be overthinking this just a teeny bit. It's a damn TV, that's all. It became a nuisance, so they removed it. It's not a grasshopper atop a centuries-old building. It's not a neon sign paying homage to a Venezuelan dictator. It's a television for Pete's sake.

I hope the store survives; it's a unique place, TV or no TV.

By eeka on Tue, 09/07/2010 - 7:56am.

It's not a neon sign paying homage to a Venezuelan dictator.

You win the internet.

By Boris on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 4:48pm.

Yes Comrade Jon Birch! Those Capatilist Pigs will regret the day they decided to take away the People's TV!

By anon on Tue, 09/07/2010 - 4:49am.

Yes, Libtard, they should pay thousands in rent and utilities so that you can sit on your ass and watch the game on the sidewalk.

And if not, they're greedy pigs.

By mfinnigan on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 9:57am.

Without commenting on this specific action : Businesses are part of the community too, particularly when they do something like this.

By Rachel on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 10:42am.

Maybe the "Chair Club" could start going to one of the many restaurants and bars in the area to watch the game. They would still be meeting and still watching the game, only now they would be giving back to the local businesses and maybe help them stay around longer.

By anon on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 12:18pm.

Somehow, I think the "slap in the face" guy is just going to join the Tea Party instead.

By anon on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 12:58am.

I have no problem with Cardullo's handling a TV any way they want. I will just note that I, and a large group of others, watched the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 on a (the?) TV in that window while Cardullo's served free hot dogs and other snacks in a spirit of communal goodwill. Cardullo's itself has made quite a big deal out of that TV. But if the communal goodwill is no longer there, it may well make sense for it to go.