Pangloss Bookstore Hit

A man claiming to possess a gun robbed the Pangloss Bookstore at 65 Mt. Auburn St. Tuesday, threatening two female employees and making off with the store's cash box, the store owner said yesterday.

The robber also punched the owner, Herb R. Hillman, who came to the front counter at an employee's request. Hillman was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head by the suspect, a police report said.

"I put my hand on him to direct him to leave," said Hillman, who suffered a severe concussion and was hospitalized overnight. The thief fled with the cash box, which contained $500, according to the police report.

The suspect, described as a 20- to 30-year-old Black male, was spotted the previous day in the black room of the used and rare bookstore by a clerk. The book clerk, Anne H. Britton, said the man claimed he did not know he was in a restricted area.

Several small stores around Harvard Square have reported robberies recently, according to Hillman, prompting concern among business owners.

Accessories Plus, a computer store adjacent to Pangloss, was robbed in March, said owner Chris Novosielski. Bryant L. Durrell '92, an employee of the store, said that robber also claimed to have a gun under his jacket, but Durrell doubted the robbers were the same man.

Earlier this fall, burglars broke open safes in Nini's Corner and the neighboring Greenhouse Coffee Shop, stealing $10,000 in overnight breakins. Since late September, armed robbers have struck CVS Pharmacy on Mass Ave., The Jewelry Gallery in the Galleria, Harvard Square Dry Cleaning and Laundry on Eliot St. and Serendipity, a Mass Ave. women's clothing store.

"This has been a pattern in the last six months in the Square: people in small businesses are being assaulted and robbed late in the day," Hillman said. He said the police were not doing enough to patrol the area.

Dining Services Says Charges Up 6 Percent

For connoisseurs of chickwiches and venerable vegetables, sampling Harvard's cuisine is becoming more and more expensive.

Because of unexpected increases in the cost of food and labor and the inefficiency created by using several separate dining halls, board charges at the College rose 6 percent from last year, according to a Harvard Dining Services report issued yesterday.

The $130 hike, which is about twice as much as the increase in past years, brings the total board fee for the 1989-90 academic year to $2275, the report said.

Dining Services Director Frank J. Weissbecker attributed the increase to "a combination of inflation and cost efficiencies."

"Inflation has been flatter in the past few years but now is rising," he said. Weissbacker added that the Dining Services could not improve its efficiency enough this year to completely offset the increased costs.