Booking the Red Line

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Boston is served by an excellent subway system known as the MBTA, or "T" for short.  The various routes are identified by color.  The Red Line subway runs from Alewife Station at the Cambridge/Arlington Line, through Somerville and Cambridge and into downtown Boston.  The Alewife Station is at the junction of Routes 2 and 16, and has a large parking garage.  If you end your day at Alewife Station you can also walk across the street to a very good seafood restaurant, the Summer Shack (open year 'round, the "shack" seats about 1500).

From Alewife get on the train and go Inbound (the only direction you can go from that station) 1 stop to Davis Square, Somerville...

Davis Square

David Square is home to McIntyre and Moore Booksellers (617) 629-4840, who moved out of their longtime Harvard Square digs a few years ago to much more spacious quarters at 255 Elm Street, a block from the T station.   M&M has a great selection of both general old and used books as well as scholarly remainders -it's a huge store and the stock is priced to sell.

Food & Parking: If you get hungry in Davis Square, McIntyre & Moore is right across the street from Joshua Tree, a cozy yuppie-style pub, and around the corner from Redbones (real Southern ribs and seafood -but expect a line Friday or Saturday nights).  Johhny D's, right across the street from the T stop, is a great local club / restaurant whose bookings include everything from garage bands to swing and zydeco.  On street parking is available in Davis Square, and there are several open air lots in the area.

Once you're done in Davis Square get back on the T and go Inbound 2 stops to Harvard Square...

Harvard Square
 

Harvard Square has a long established reputation for being the book center of Cambridge, and although steep rents have forced many bookstores to move elsewhere, you should still plan to spend a while here.  The venerable Harvard Coop is right in the center of the Square, with all the new books you could ever want.  If you're looking for obscure newspapers or magazines the Out of Town Newstand is in the geographical center of the Square.  Just down the street, the Globe Corner Bookstore , and their superb selection of new travel books, have found a new home at 90 Mount Auburn Street. 

If you head up Massachusetts Avenue back toward Somerville and Arlington a five minute walk will find you at 1640 Mass. Ave. and the store of Robin Bledsoe and Harvey Mendelsohn (617) 576-3634.  This densly-packed basement store features a vast selection of old and rare equestrian and art books (Bledsoe) and architecture & European art books (Mendelsohn). 

Now turn around and head back to the center of the Square.  At 5 JFK Street you will find the stores of Karakorum Books, Ahab Books, Atherton & Wolfe, and the Harvard Book and Bindery (fans of NPR's "Car Talk" will be pleased to note that this is near the 2nd-floor corner offices of "Dewey, Cheatham & Howe, Attorneys").  If you head down Massachusetts Avenue, toward Boston, on your left you will pass Harvard University and the Widener Library, and on your right you'll see the Harvard Book Store at 1256 Mass. Ave (mostly new books).  A blovk or so further down Mass. Ave., Arrow Street comes in sharply on your right, and you'll find Lame Duck Books at 12 Arrow.  Their distinctive shop features early printed books of the 16th and 17th centuries (617) 868-0752.

At this point Mass. Avenue is running roughly parallel to Green Street -Green is on your right, and at 488 Green Street you'll find Schoenhof's Foreign Books (new books). (617) 547-8855.

Food & Parking: Parking is possible in the Square -there are several open air and indoor lots, and there is also on street parking... but please don't confuse parking is "possible" with parking is "easy".  The best place to find on-street parking is up and down Mass. Avenue on the Somerville side (e.g.- in the vicinity of Robin Bledsoe/Harvey Mendelsohn at 1640).  Food- where do I begin?  There are probably half a billion restaurants in Harvard Square, so I'll just mention a few personal favorites.  The Bombay Club (57 John F. Kennedy Street) is a wonderful Indian restaurant which is on the 2nd floor (over Staples) looking down on the hustle and bustle of JFK Street.  Club Passim is tucked away right underneath the Globe Corner Bookstore (down the alley separating the two halves of the Coop) and is world-famous as an intimate folk-venue, and a little less famous for it's food (which is good nonetheless).  Harvest, at 44 Brattle Street, is a great place for an elegant (but not overly formal) dinner with fantastic food (but not inexpensive).   For a great burger and fries and a cold beer try Charlie's Kitchen, around the corner at the intersection of Elliot and Bennett Streets.

Done in Harvard Square?  Well, hop back on the Red Line and go one stop Inbound to Central Square...

Central Square

We finally have our own old bookstore in Central Square, and it's a good one!  Rodney's Book Store at 698 Massachusetts Avenue is run by the same owner who ran Rodney's in Hyannis (Shaw closed that store, but has opened a new branch in Coolidge Corner).  It's a large store with a great selection of used and o.p. titles, new (good) remainders and scarcer and rarer books behind the counter. In the Winter of 2004-5 they doubled their floor space by expanding to the second floor as well.  

Rodney's is open from 10-10 seven days a week. 

 

We also have a New Age bookstore called the Seven Star Bookstore, right across Mass. Ave. from Rodney's.

Food & Parking: On-street parking is possible in Central Square, and there are several open air lots, as well as a municipal garage just down Mass. Ave. on Pearl Street.  Food- again, what can I say?  Central Square is one of the best places to eat this side of San Francisco.  You will find Indian, Tunisian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Italian, American, ... and on and on and on.  A few personal favorites-  across from Rodney's is Asmara, an Ethiopian restaurant where the food is served on a wicker tray with flat bread and you eat with your fingers.  Be sure to try the honey wine.  Central Kitchen (hip & trendy) is at 567 Mass. Ave.  Pearl Street is on your right a block down Mass Avenue from the center of the Square.  It features the Korea Garden, and Rangzen (Tibetan), and a few blocks further is Cafe Baraka at 80 Pearl Street, featuring a unique Tuinisian / French Colonial cuisine -it seats about 15 diners, there is one waiter and the chef pops out to chat -great fun (but be warned, they don't take credit cards).

Architecture: Central Square has one of the few surviving intact White Castle Hamburger buildings, now a Falafel Palace.  Click here to see it.

If you continue down Mass. Ave. toward the river (at this point you can see the John Hancock building in Copley Square, Boston, looming up on the skyline) you will pass the famous Middle East restaurant/club, and then you'll see the fire station and then Sidney Street on your right, home of Sidney's (a block down), a semi-formal restaurant that is original and sometimes surprising (but not inexpensive).  A block further up Mass. Ave. and Main Street branches off to the left, and near the corner is Toscanini's, with the best ice cream in America. A block or so on up Mass. Ave is the MIT-student hangout Miracle of Science bar/retaurant. If an Irish bar is more your style, the Asgaard is on Mass. Ave. near Sidney Street, or go back to Central Square and then up Mass. Ave. toward Harvard Square a few more blocks to get to the Plough & Stars, a 35-year old Cambridge institution which features live music. A few doors down you'll find another Cantabridgian bar hangout, The People's Republic.

Done in Cambridge?  OK, let's go into the Big City!

Get back on the Red Line and go Inbound.   You'll pass by Kendall Square (home of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and then break out into the fresh air as the train crosses over the Charles River.   Downriver (to your left) you can see the Museum of Science and upriver the buildings of Copley Square and the Back Bay...

Go past the Massachusetts General Hospital stop and you go back underground, one stop to go...

Boston

You are going to get off at Park Street Station, at the corner of the Boston Common.  The golden dome of the Massachusetts State House is just up the street to your left.  Cross Tremont Street and turn right, walking a block or two to Temple Place.  Here are the digs of Peter Stern at 55 Temple Place, (617) 542-2376.

Peter Stern deals in rare English & American literature, detective fiction, cinema material and autographs & manuscripts; Lame Duck has a fine selection of rare American & European literary first editions, Latin American literature, and rare philosophy and related books. 

  Another block down Tremont Street you will find Brattle Bookshop at 9 West Street, (617) 542-0210.   Brattle is probably Boston's most famous old bookshop, and with good reason.  It is three floors stuffed with books, from the rare books on the 3rd floor to general old and o.p. stock on floors One and Two.  Plan to spend at least several hours making your way through this wonderful store.

Continue down Tremont and at the corner of Boylston street turn right and go half a block down to 134 Boylston and Commonwealth Books, (617) 338-6328.

  This store is well organized and stuffed full of fine and rare books with specialties in art, history, literature, and many other categories.

Food & Parking: Parking is possible in downtown Boston.  There is a large garage underneath the Boston Common, and several open-air lots on Washington street, which runs parallel to Tremont Street (to your left as you walk or drive down Tremont with the Common on your right).  There is a very small lot right next to the Brattle Bookshop.

There are many good restaurants of many types in downtown Boston.   If you don't want to go very far, there are the West Street Grille and Fajitas & Ritas, on West Street within feet of Brattle Bookshop.  As long as you're in the area, why not take a stroll across the Boston Common to the Public Gardens -you can see the little bronze ducks commemorating "Make Way for Ducklings".  Have tea at the Ritz, or take a Swan Boat ride.  Boston's Theatre District is just another block down Tremont Street.

The Park Street T Station is also the place you can transfer to the Green Line, which has booking opportunities of it's own, which we will be exploring shortly...

To be continued.

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