The Square in 1949 was far from being a major center of activity, Wallach recalls.

"There was one miserable dress shop not even any good for emergencies, and the news-stand at the corner was a meeting place, as well," Wallach says. "The best place was St. Clair's, an ice cream parlor where all the literary and drama people sat all day over their one cup of coffee."

"The Coop was a big attraction for its bookstore, but you had to go up Mass. Ave. to do real book shopping," she adds.

Nathaniel C. Webb '49 described the Harvard Square scene as being very different than it is today. He says that although the Coop had not moved into its extended Palmer Street location, it was still a strong influence in the Square, much more than the Coop today.

"It played a unique role in supplying green book bags, wooden 'Coop boxes' for storage, and cloth bags in which laundry was picked up by the Coop from entryways," Webb recalls.

When it comes to purveyors of food and drink, however, although the particular restaurants have turned over the atmosphere has remained collegiate.

"Admittedly, most of the store names have changed...but the feel is very much the same. I used to go to Cronin's and King's Tavern and the best hot dogs were at the Tasty," says James S. Smith '49.

Cronin's, a large bar that once occupied the site that now houses the Holyoke Center, loomed large in the memories of many '49ers. The bar was especially popular after football games, when fans would crowd the Square's watering holes.

Snook also remembers Cronin's, saying that it was a place that many students learned to drink for the first time.

"This was a bar of Irish provenance, but made accommodation for many a callow Protestant student, and that was one of the good places to get experience in that perennial unofficial part of the curriculum," he says.

Even students forced to commute by the housing shortage that afflicted the College as returning veterans swelled postwar registration enjoyed the character of the Square.

Paul E. O'Connell '49, who entered Harvard just after World War II as part of the GI Bill with his two brothers, lived with his family near Central Square.

O'Connell says that the Leavitt and Pierce tobacco store, still located on Mass. Ave., used to have a coffee counter inside that he remembers fondly.

"I would go there and have a cup of coffee and read The New York Times every morning before my 9 o'clock class," he says.

A less classy alternative was Bickford's, Rogers remembers.