Memories of the Huron Village
By Susan S. Poverman, April 2007
My family moved to Fayerweather Street in 1937 and, having no garage, arranged to keep our car in the Fayerweather Garage, which was on the property that became the Fayerweather Street School and is now the home of the Lander family. Someone picked up our car every evening and returned it in the morning. The large utilitarian garage was a rather dank building due to a stream running beneath it that one could see through the floorboards. The garage had two driveways––one from Fayerweather Street and one from Huron Avenue, generally running along the present pathways to the Lander house.
Both sides of Huron Avenue between Fayerweather Street and Lake View Avenue––known in recent years as Huron Village––were as active in the 1940s and 1950s as they are today. Heading west from Fayerweather Street were three barber shops and three markets–– Duquette’s Meat Market, the A&P, and the only remaining one, Fresh Pond Market. There were two drugstores on opposite corners of Gurney Street––Sam Martorano’s Cambridge Pharmacy with its soda fountain and Dorfman’s or Huron Drug, which is now the location of one of the newest stores on the avenue, Marimekko.
On the south side of the street was a 5 & 10 with comic books and candy. Next door was a convenience store, an appliance store, and for a while the Eustaces’ ski shop. An artist had a shop in which he sold his mosaics. Next to him, newspapers were assembled. Farther along were Colonial Heating Company, a veterinarian, and Coolidge Cleaners. In addition, there was a Chinese laundry (Henry’s) and an upholstery shop owned by Jesse Simas, who taught my mother how to rebuild and upholster chairs. Other establishments included a Laundromat, beauty parlor, and Emma’s Pizza.
Along the north side of Huron Avenue was (and is) Easy Chairs Antiques,
Lexington Driving School, and the Sundrop Flower Shop. Archie’s Spa, selling newspapers and some foods, was a neighborhood gathering place on the corner where Henry Bear’s Park is now. Mr. and Mrs. Fine ran the Black and White Cleaner. There was a cobbler/shoe repair shop, the Howell Sisters bakery, and Bea’s launderette, where you left your laundry and picked it up clean and folded. Erna Sporer ran an exercise studio for women at 357 Huron Avenue, which is now an exercise and dance studio run by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. A hardware store and a gas station completed the commercial district.*
My friends and I felt very smug when the snow forced city and school closures because we could sled or ski down Gurney Street to Huron Avenue for all our needs. It was also wonderful to live near the Huron bus, which took us to the Square for a nickel!
*Thanks to Peggy, Mark, and Crosby Najarian for helping me recall some of
these stores.
SUSAN S. POVERMAN (née Steinert) was born and raised in Cambridge. The
United Way of Northern Westchester, New York, board allowed her to discover Westchester County and to become eligible to be elected to the Ossining, New York, Town Council for eight years, serving as deputy supervisor. Returning to Cambridge several years ago after a twenty-eight-year absence, she has become involved with the Guidance Center, Inc., the United Way, the Cambridge Historical Society, and many, many grandchildren.
