"The Square is beginning to resemble the Burlington Mall," says City Councillor and long-time Cambridge resident Kathleen Leahy Born. "It lacks the character it used to have."

Elsie's famous roast beef sandwiches have given way to the stylized, express croissants of Au Bon Pain.

Specialty bookstores like Pangloss Books are struggling to pay high building rents, while chains such as WordsWorth Books are thriving.

In the past four years alone, Cantabridgianshave witnessed the construction of One BrattleSquare, a complex complete with the national chainstores HMV, Express and Structure, and thetransformation of the Holyoke Arcade into theShops by Harvard Yard.

The net result of all these changes, someresidents say, has been the erosion of thecharacter of the Square.

What was once a quaint town center is now whatCity Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 terms "atrifle of a honkey-tonk atmosphere."

Of course not all Cambridge residents areopposed to the increasing "mallization" of theSquare.

Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, for instance, sayshe has no preference between the ghost of HarvardSquare past and the reality of Harvard Squarepresent.

"I loved that one and I love this one," hesays. "The Square is every bit as exciting as ithas ever been."

The mayor says he enjoys the Square'scontemporary, cafe-style atmosphere.

"I am a consummate people watcher, and backthen I could not sit at Au Bon Pain and watch theworld go by," Reeves says. "That is a newimprovement."

John R. Pitkin, a 25-year resident and thepresident of the Mid-Cambridge NeighborhoodAssociation, says he doesn't think the characterof the Square has been changed "in any fundamentalway" by local growth of national franchises.

And like Reeves, Pitkin says he sees at leastone bright side to the commercialization of recentyears. "The 'Shops by Harvard Yard' sign is gone,"he laughs. "That's an improvement."

But according to Pitkin, the real change in theSquare's character has been "the inundation oftourists."

Trading on the Tourists

Pitkin attributes the increase in the number oftourists to the Central Artery project in Boston,which has forced several tour companies tore-route their sightseers and to add HarvardSquare to their tours' itineraries.