"I don't think it's a very rewarding experienceto see a Starbucks on every corner. If HarvardSquare fills up with the same shops, why comehere?" she says.

Gifford sees Harvard Square as an institutionthat needs to be protected from the rampantexcesses of pre-millennial commercialism, a trendthat she noted even on vacation in England whereshe visited Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace ofboth William Shakespeare and John Harvard'smother.

Gifford was appalled to see an American-stylestrip mall lining the main street of the quaintlittle village, complete with McDonald's, BurgerKing and Pizza Hut.

Yet, for the Cahalys, Harvard Square, like therest of the world, has always been changing, andif paying consumers are willing to support acoffee shop, even a mass-market chain likeStarbucks, then it has a place in the Square.

"We thought Starbucks would be a welcomeaddition in Harvard Square. What could be betterthan to drink coffee and work on a laptop?" Cahalysays. "This country was built on entrepreneurship.That's how the country works."

And for him, the opposition brought forward bythe HSDF is not only vindictive, but also goesagainst the historical grain of the Church Streetproperty--whose character has been shaped by itsmany incarnations over the past century.

Cahaly has called Cambridge a second home hisentire life. He grew up at the counter of hisfather's grocery store, at the current site ofChristy's, helping his relatives run the storealong-side his many cousins.

While walking the streets of Cambridge, Cahalypoints out many of the improvements that the pasthalf-century have brought: a streetcar parking lothas become a placid park next to the statelyKennedy School of Government; an old warehousestood where the bustling Harvard Coop now resides.

"I don't know what I would do if I couldn't getdressed in the morning and come into the Square,"he says.

The HSDF is preventing progress, Cahaly argues.

"They have used the fast food ordinance as ahatchet to stop whoever they want to stop. Whyshould Harvard Square be immune from what's goingon in the rest of the world?" he said.

But while the HSDF and the Cahalys remain atodds even three years after the initial hearing,both agree that upholding the original integrityof the building is a major concern. Yet, for theCahalys, maintaining the past and embracing thepresent are not mutually exclusive ideals.

"Everybody wants to have coffee, but thatdoesn't mean you have to tear down the building,"Janet Cahaly says. "You can't stop change, but youcan guide it along, like children. You can't tellthe children to stop growing."

Janet, who grew up in Cambridge, has fondmemories of riding the rickety wooden escalatorsup from the subway station to visit HarvardSquare.

Yet, for her, the Square was always about itsintense array of people and cultures, notnecessarily its buildings.