But a number of new small businesses have arrived recently, too, including the Redhouse Restaurant near the House of Blues and Crazy Dough Pizza in the Garage—and as they opened their doors, they opened accounts with Dickson Brothers.
Upstairs at the Pudding had been a major client until Harvard ousted it from the third floor of the Hasty Pudding building. Last fall, the upscale restaurant reopened as Upstairs on the Square near the intersection of Winthrop and JFK Streets.
“We’re happy for them,” Santamaria says. “They are a very good customer of ours.”
The continued ability of Dickson Brothers to find locally owned businesses as clients points to a continued place for a variety of businesses in the Square.
“Even though people feel that the Square has lost much of its individualistic feeling there still is a lot there,” Nathans says. “You just have to look a little harder for it.”
And DiGiovanni says that landlords do give consideration to what kind of businesses are best for the Square. He says that his agency gave Real Taco the space formerly occupied by Breugger’s Bagels in the Garage last year, instead of cell phone vendor Nextel, which offered a higher bid for the location.
He says Real Taco got an edge because it provided another affordable, late-night dining venue for students, many of which had disappeared in recent years.
“It’s the property owner’s decision,” DiGiovanni says.
Charles M. Sullivan, director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, adds that the city of Cambridge has also sought to preserve the physical character of the Square, which was made into a conservation district in December 2000. All new construction and major alterations must be approved by the commission.
“We’re not trying to prevent change,” Sullivan says. “We’re trying to make sure that change isn’t destructive to the character of the Square.”
And Robin Lapidus, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, says that while changes do happen, they help contribute to the Square’s constantly evolving character.
“There’s this mythological character to Harvard Square that it’s not supposed to change,” Lapidus says. “But the world continues to change, and Harvard Square is part of the world.”
—Staff writer Imtiyaz H. Delawala can be reached at delawala@post.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Andrew S. Holbrook can be reached at aholbrook@post.harvard.edu.