Down Cambridge Street, past the kids in Starter jackets smoking in front of Roxbury Latin, past blocks of dilapidated Victorian houses, lies Inman Square.

Here, where Cambridge, Prospect and Hampshire Streets collide to create what one resident calls "a screwed-up intersection," Portuguese, Chinese and Filippino are heard as often as English.

"It's a real funky area," says the owner of Jae's Cafe, a constantly crowded California-style Korean restaurant in the square. "On this block alone, you can find Indian, Korean and Portuguese restaurants, plus Southern barbecue and a Jewish deli."

At the same time, residents agree, Inman Square remains a quiet, weather-beaten neighborhood, worlds away from the heady rents and upscale beat of Harvard Square.

"Inman Square has a unique personality, a strong sense of community and of older long-standing families" says Gerry Wolf, owner of 1369, a local coffee shop.

Strong ethnic flavor and warm community cooperation make Inman Square an urban anachronism, a reminder of an era when stickball ruled the streets and store owners spoke to customers in their native tongues.

Ethnicity

"Inman Square is a real melting pot. You can tell just by the restaurants," says the bartender at the Shamrock Bar, who identifies herself only as Diane.

"Here [at the bar], we get mostly second-generation neighborhood people. Their fathers or grandfathers came in when they were youngsters--I guess if something was good for your parents, you'll probably like it too," she says.

Men with mustaches and calloused hands fill the bar at midday. They are hard-swearing and careful to open the door for the occasional entering woman. Colored Christmas lights deck the smoky ceiling of the bar, and someone has carved "Free Ireland" into the wooden counter.

Diane says her bar is no longer frequented solely by Irish residents of Inman Square. Now, "we get a real mixture of Black, white and Hispanic," she says.

A diverse racial and ethnic mixture is not new to Inman. Until a decade ago, it was mostly European immigrants who populated the area.

"When I was growing up here, there was a bigger Polish, Italian, Jewish and Irish clientele," says Bob Wheeler, owner of 75 year-old S&S Restaurant and Deli Catering. "Now you don't see any Polish names on the doors. The Polish sausage maker stopped making sausage, because he just got too old and there wasn't enough demand."

Now, the older ethnic groups are increasingly supplemented by Haitian, Brazilian and Portuguese communities.

"When Brazil won the World Cup, Inman went crazy," recalls Sandy Ruben, owner of yuppie toy store Sandy and Son's. "People were all over the streets, everybody was applauding and parading. The police were everywhere, but it was in a positive way. For weeks afterwards, every Sunday there would be parades of cars honking and people would wave Brazilian flags. It was really terrific."

The constant influx of different cultures makes Inman an extremely tolerant community--one which champions diversity.

"Change is good," says Norman E. Moniz, proprietor of family owned University Upholstery. "There used to be a lot more racism than there is now. I'm Portuguese and I got picked on a lot when I was a kid."

"The Portuguese population has really increased," he continues. "You'll see their houses are now all renovated; the Portuguese have really rejuvenated the area, not that anyone gave us credit for it."

Inman Square has a unique personality, a strong sense of community and of older, long-standing families.  --Gerry Wolf, coffee shop owner

Families Depart

University Upholstery is right off Inman Street, next to an overgrown empty lot fenced in with chicken wire. Light sneaks in between the bolts of cloth that block the windows. The piles of batting, cushions and dust make the store a child's dream and an allergist's nightmare.

"I've run this shop for 44 years, and lived here longer," Moniz says proudly. "There aren't many of us around anymore."

Moniz and other residents say fewer families now live in the square, making room for a younger crowd.

"We had families years ago, but now there are a lot of new people, a lot of single people" Moniz muses. "A few families stayed around for a long time, but now people are more mobile, more transient." He sighs, looking down at his splitting knuckles.

Diane agrees.

"The Shamrock used to be an Irish family place. Now it's basically singles here," says the Shamrock bartender.

"There used to be a theater and a bowling alley here," she adds. "A lot of the things kids did disappeared--we used to have youth groups, like the Catholic Youth Organization, bean suppers, outings."

Now, the arrival of younger professionals is beginning to transform the originally blue-collar family-oriented community.

"Inman Square for a good number of years was strictly a family area, a workman's area," says Wheeler. "The area is changing. There are more, for sake of another word, yuppies who come in to eat."

"The older people pass away, the younger have moved out...now there's a more diverse clientele that's filled the gap," Wheeler says.

"There are a lot less working class type stores, a lot less 5 and Dime stores, or shoe stores catering to working class people," agrees Ruth A. Murray, a cashier at Jimmaize Cafe.

Residents say newer stores and restaurants are responsible for drawing a thirtysomething crowd. Almost everyone agrees that restaurants like Jae's Cafe, the East Coast Grill and The Druid, an Irish pub, attract young professionals.

"More people are moving in from outside Cambridge and even Boston. It used to be a real local kind of place and now it's more desirable for young people." Murray says.

"We get a lot of regulars, mostly twentyish to fortyish," adds Ken E. Goodman, manager of the East Coast Grill. "We've got a board in the kitchen with the name of the regulars on it--our star list. We send them free food, we know where they sit, who they are. [Cambridge mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72] is a regular customer--he digs the collard greens. We always send him a free dessert or something just to acknowledge his presence. It's such a small restaurant that I can see everybody from the kitchen."

The changing character of the neighborhood is apparent from the community bulletin board: "We're looking for a creative, community-minded person who values good communication" says one notice for a roommate. Pastel papers proclaim the merits of Meditation Week activities and Seventh Heaven's Therapeutic Body-work.

The older people pass away, the younger have moved out...now there's a more diverse clientele that's filled the gap.  --Bob Wheeler, restaurant owner

Community Spirit

While diversification and commercialization prove fatal to some neighborhoods, this is not the case at Inman. Here, local businesses often encourage, rather than hinder, community cooperation.

"There was a big fire down the street two weeks ago, and 15 or 16 businesses got together and provided a relief fund and had a big potluck dinner," Wolf says.

"We raised $10,000 in cash, plus clothing and food--neighbor after neighbor after neighbor came by 1369 to ask if they could help. When people want to help, they come here to find out how," he adds.

Residents are quick to say that everyone gets along. "We all really support each other," Wolf says.

Looking out of the window, this seems true. Two teens with elaborate hairdos and gum-cracking grins joke in Spanish with a Black man. An Asian man and woman disappear into Ryles' Jazz Bar. A lesbian couple chats with the local cop.

And people stop in at House of Sarah Books to see Emily, the warm grey cat, as much as they come in to buy books, according to salesperson Everett B. Rand.

Competition for customers hasn't damaged cooperation among Inman entrepreneurs at all. House of Sarah Books enthusiastically endorses New Words, a feminist bookstore, to shoppers, and everyone seems to recommend stopping at 1369 for latte.

"When Jae's moved in a year ago, it hurt our business a little but there's no animosity at all," Goodman says. "There's a sign up on the door of Jae's which says 'Eat at Jae's and live forever,' so we put up our own sign, 'Eat BBQ and die happy,' as a joke. We borrow plastic wrap from each other."

The genuine camaraderie among businesses makes the well-worn square a pleasant and convenient place to live, residents say.

"I have everything I need right here," says Goodman, who lives two floors above the Grill.

"I go down to the Druid for a beer after work. I go to Studio Pizza for lunch in case I get sick of eating barbecue. If I run out of watermelon, Sandy's [a Portuguese grocery store] has it," Goodman explains. "There's just so much here readily available for you, If I want to get my car fixed I just send some barbecue to the shop across the street and they cut me a deal on my brakes."

Parking Spats

The neighborhood's few clashes are sparked by the area's traffic and limited parking space residents say.

Tangles of traffic are further complicated by double-parked cars and the emergency vehicles which scream through the streets. With two hospitals and a fire station in a four block range, driving isn't easy.

"There have been some attempts to buy buildings to tear down and build parking," Wolf says. "The neighbors don't really want that."

The growth of small-scale businesses has also provoked some complaints, a few entrepreneurs say.

"The only conflict I'm aware of concerns the mid-Cambridge neighborhood association sometimes getting riled in response to business expansion," Ruben says.

Little Changes Here

Despite the shifting demographics, residents and shopkeepers agree that Inman's old-time neighborhood feel hasn't been altered.

"Inman's character hasn't changed too much," Moniz declares.

Some venture to say this is because new-comers and the square easily adapt to each other.

"It's a smaller square, so it can take on the personality of its residents," Wolf says. "It's not on a T-stop and not there's not a lot of parking, so there's a physical limitation on how many people can come in--it prevents major changes in the neighborhood area."

"Inman Square is self-defined," agrees Laura Zimmerman, owner of New Words. "It hasn't been gentrified, hasn't been renovated. The stores fit themselves into the neighborhood rather than creating a neighborhood."

Looking back, much has remained the same over the last forty years in Inman Square. The physical area hasn't changed drastically. Many of the buildings immediately adjacent to the square have been designated as historical preservation sites, and a few of the stores in the area have been around for half a century.

The initials and hearts in the sidewalks, so carefully drawn by long-grown children, are cracking where tree roots have heaved the cement upwards. The wide porches of side-street houses are strewn with Christmas decorations. On Inman Street, decaying doors frame gleaming new doorknobs.

Inman's small, traditionally close-knit atmosphere also serves to smother crime which could potentially spill from nearby Central Square, residents say.

"You never hear about shooting in Inman Square, never hear about incidents or bad things happening here," Goodman says. "Here, people still look out for each other. I was shocked when I came here at how many people walk down the streets at night."

"It's safe, not like down Dorchester St." resident Melissa M. Leal, age 12, confirms knowingly.

As the local mail deliverer says: "It's a friendly place. Not much has changed here."Crimson File Photo