Posts Tagged ‘North Cambridge’
Joyce Chen Restaurant
Compiled by Deb Mandel, 2022 Locations 617 Concord Ave, 1958-1971 The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place (1967-1988) 302 Massachusetts Avenue Joyce Chen Restaurant (1969-1974) 500 Memorial Drive Website: https://joycechenfoods.com/legacy/ History Joyce Chen was Boston’s first real celebrity restaurateur and holds indisputable importance in American culinary history. In the same era Julia Child was changing America’s…
Read MoreFrank’s Steak House
Compiled by Deb Mandel, 2022. Above photo by Marion Severynse, 2023. Years 1938 – present Location 2310 Mass Ave., North Cambridge Website: http://www.frankssteakhouse.com/ History Frank’s is Boston’s oldest established steak house. In 1938, it operated across the street, then put down roots in 1940 in its current spot. What’s amusing is that no one’s really…
Read MoreChanging Tides in Cambridge Industry
By the early 20th century, Cambridge was an industrial center with a broad array of factories. People from all over the country and the world came to work here. Why?
Read MoreWhat is in a name? The origins of Cambridge Public Elementary Schools’ Nomenclature
The Cambridge Public Schools website lists four early childhood education programs, twelve elementary schools, five upper schools, and three high schools. Each of these schools has its own rich history of how it came to be what and where it is today. Below, we will explore the origins of the names of Cambridge’s twelve elementary schools.
Read MoreSelf-Guided Tour: Gold Star Memorials in North Cambridge
By Marion Severynse, 2021 Veterans Day is an appropriate time to pay homage to the role that North Cambridge and its residents have played in the military history of Massachuestts and the United States. There are nine Memorial Pole and Dedication Markers commemorating Gold Star service members in the area bounded by Rindge Avenue, Massachusetts…
Read More1986 Neighborhood Trivia Hunt
Cambridge has certainly changed over time, and our 1986 trivia hunt shows just how true that is. It serves as a kind of time capsule of our city. Take a trip back in time with this self-guided tour to see how many of these sites are still around. Which ones do you recognize? Which ones…
Read MoreSavoring the Legacy of Joyce Chen
Chef. Restaurateur. Entrepreneur. by Stephen Chen, president of Joyce Chen Foods Reproduced from joycechenfoods.com with permission Born in Beijing in 1917, my mother Joyce Chen came to this country with my dad, sister and brother in 1949. We moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where friends of the family had settled, and where I was born. Surrounded…
Read MoreSelf-Guided Bike Tour: Pedaling the People’s Republic, A History of Political Activism in Cambridge
The city played a central role in the American Revolution and the abolitionist movement before being named “The People’s Republic” for its role in the anti-war, civil rights, tenant’s rights, gay rights, sustainable development, and environmental movements. Pedaling the People’s Republic will take participants on a tour of past political activity from the Revolution to the grass roots movements of the 20th century.
Read MoreThe Downside of Progress
By Doug Brown, 2017 Cambridge has made a lot of things over the centuries, not all of them valuable. Our manufacturing history has its dirty, dangerous downside, and dealing with the hazards and by-products of production has always been a challenge in this jam-packed, 7.1-square-mile city. By the end of the 19th century, the technological…
Read MoreThe Romance of Brick
by G. Burton Long, 1971 Brick is something that has been with us for centuries. There is an old maxim which says, “Familiarity breeds contempt,” and this might well be applied to brick, because it has been used as a building material throughout the ages, and we are prone to accept it without regard to…
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