Harvard Square Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Harvard Square in 2009
Location:	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates:	42°22′25″N 71°7′8″W / 42.37361°N 71.11889°W / 42.37361; -71.11889Coordinates: 42°22′25″N 71°7′8″W / 42.37361°N 71.11889°W / 42.37361; -71.11889
Architectural style:	Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Other
Governing body:	Private
MPS:	Cambridge MRA
NRHP Reference#:	82001944[1]
Added to NRHP:	April 13, 1982

Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge.^[2] Adjacent to Harvard Yard, the historic heart of Harvard University,^[3] the Square (as it is called locally) functions as a commercial center for Harvard students, as well as residents of western Cambridge and the inner western and northern suburbs of Boston. These residents use the Harvard station, a major MBTA Red Line subway and bus transportation hub.

In an extended sense, the name "Harvard Square" can also refer to the entire neighborhood surrounding this intersection for several blocks in each direction. The nearby Cambridge Common has become a park area with a playground, baseball field, and a number of monuments, several relating to the Revolutionary War.

History[link]

Although today a commercial center, the Square had famous residents in earlier periods, including the colonial poet Anne Bradstreet. The high pedestrian traffic makes it a gathering place for street musicians and buskers; singer-songwriters Tracy Chapman, who attended nearby Tufts University, is known to have played here during her college years;^{[citation needed]} Amanda Palmer performed here as a "living statue".

Until 1984, the Harvard Square stop was the northern terminus of the Red Line, and it still functions as a major transfer station between subway, bus, and trackless trolley. Automobile traffic can be heavy, and parking is difficult. Most of the bus lines serving the area from the north and west run through a tunnel adjacent to the subway tunnel. Originally built for streetcars (which last ran in 1958) and still used by trackless trolleys as well as ordinary buses, the tunnel lessens bus traffic in central Harvard Square, and lets buses cross the Square without encountering automobile traffic. The tunnel also allows safer and covered access between the subway and the buses.

Transformation[link]

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Harvard Square

Discussions of how the Square has changed in recent years usually center on the perceived gentrification of the Harvard Square neighborhood and Cambridge in general.

The Square also used to be a neighborhood shopping center, including a grocery store (Sages) and a Woolworth's five and ten. There does remain a small hardware store (Dickson Hardware), but the Square is now more of a regional shopping center, especially for youths and commuters.

In 1981 and 1987 the Harvard Square Theatre was converted into a multiplex cinema; it is now part of the Loews Cineplex Entertainment chain.^[4] During the late 1990s, some locally run businesses with long-time shopfronts on the Square—including the unusual Tasty Diner, a tiny sandwich shop open long hours, and the Wursthaus, a German restaurant with an extensive beer menu—closed to make way for national chains. Elsie's Lunch has also closed.

The student co-op, the Harvard Coop, is now managed by Barnes & Noble. Schoenhof's Foreign Books is owned by the French Éditions Gallimard. Paperback Booksmith and Reading International closed by the end of the 1990s.^[5] The independent WordsWorth Books closed in 2004, after a tenure of 29 years as a fixture in the Square.^[6] In the same year, it was announced that the famous Grolier Poetry Bookshop would be sold (although it ended up surviving under different, independent management). Globe Corner Bookstore transitioned to an online business, serving its last bricks-and-mortar customer on July 4, 2011.

Following national trends, the local Harvard Trust Company bank has been absorbed into the national Bank of America through a series of mergers. The iconic Out of Town News is owned by the UK-based Hudson Group. Still, a few establishments, such as Leavitt & Pierce tobacconists (est. 1883), Laflamme Barber Shop (est. 1898), Harvard Book Store (est. 1932), Cardullo's Gourmet Shoppe (est. 1950), Charlie's Kitchen (est. 1951), the Brattle Theater (est. 1953), the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant (est. 1954), Club Passim (est. 1958), Café Pamplona (est. 1959), Bartley's Burger Cottage (est. 1960), Algiers Coffee House (est. 1970), and Grendel's Den (est. 1971) remain as longstanding, locally-run businesses with unique styles.

Other features[link]

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Chess players in Harvard Square

At the center of the Square is the old Harvard Square Subway Kiosk, now a newsstand, Out of Town News, stocking newspapers and magazines from around the world. A video of it appears in transitional clips used on CNN. A public motion art installation, Lumen Eclipse, has been introduced at the Tourist Information Booth showing monthly exhibitions of local, national and international artists.

In the southwest area of the Square neighborhood, on Mount Auburn St, stands the Igor Fokin Memorial.^[7] This memorial, created by sculptor Konstantin Simun, pays tribute not only to the late "beloved puppeteer," but to all street performers that are an integral part of the square, especially during summer months.

The offices of Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe, home of the radio show Car Talk

The office of NPR's Car Talk radio show faces the square, with a stencil in the window that reads "Dewey, Cheetham & Howe," the fictional law firm often referenced on the show. The popular show references this by asking its viewers to send in answers to the "Puzzler" to "Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Harvard Square, Cambridge (our fair city), MA 02138".

The sunken region next to the newsstand and the subway entrance is called "The Pit." Its arena-like appearance attracts skateboarders and, more generally, young, high-school aged people from surrounding neighborhoods who are associated with countercultural movements such as the punk, hardcore, straight edge, and goth subcultures. The contrast between these congregants and the often older and more conservatively dressed people associated with nearby Harvard University and the businesses in the Square occasionally leads to tension. Harvard sports teams and clubs, including the track teams and all-male social clubs, are known to make use of this contrast through encouraging or sometimes forcing their newest members to engage in humorous or humiliating performances in "The Pit" as part of these members' initiations into the group. Across the street to the east of the pit, an outdoor cafe features always-busy tables for chess players, including Murray Turnbull, with his ever-present "Play the Chessmaster" sign.

A number of other public squares dot the surrounding streets, notably Brattle Square and Winthrop Square,^{[note 1]} with a wide variety of street performers throughout the year. Brattle Street itself is home to the Brattle Theater (a non-profit arthouse theater) and the American Repertory Theater. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, one block further down JFK Street, is on the bank of the Charles River. Cambridge Common is two blocks north.

The square often attracts activists for the Communist Party USA, Lyndon LaRouche and other non-mainstream political factions. It is also known for its large number of panhandlers; Tom Magliozzi has called it "the bum capital of the world".^{[citation needed]}

"The Garage" is a small, multi-story shopping mall, named thus because it was formerly a parking garage. The original car ramp has been preserved, and is a central feature of this adaptive reuse project. One of the main attractions in The Garage is a Newbury Comics store.

In film[link]

Various parts of the 1997 film Good Will Hunting were filmed in and around Harvard Square, most notably at the former Tasty Sandwich Shop and the outdoor seating area of the square's largest Au Bon Pain café.

The 1973 film The Paper Chase features Harvard Square landmarks of its era, including the old Out of Town Newsstand, the old MBTA Harvard station kiosk, with its "8 Minutes to Park Street" sign, and the now-defunct Kupersmith's Florists.

The 1977 film Between the Lines features similar Harvard Square footage as well as aerial footage of Back Bay.

The 1994 film With Honors has a scene filmed in Harvard Square. The Out of Town Newsstand is featured in it. The scene is when Monty approaches Simon as he (Simon) is attempting to sell newspapers he took out of a vending machine.

The 2005 film Touching History; Harvard Square, the Bank, and The Tasty Diner chronicles the changing face of the square through the eyes of a small diner serving its last burger and closing its doors to make way for a large surface retail space.^[8]

Ben Affleck shot portions of his film The Town (2010) in Grendel's Den on Winthrop Street.^[9]

The 2010 film The Social Network featured aerial footage of the area near Holyoke Center.

See also[link]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Orson Welles Cinema
• William Brattle House

Gallery[link]

• 

  Harvard Square in 1869

• 

  Harvard Square, May 2004

• 

  Harvard Square on a rainy day

• 

  Harvard Book Store at dusk

• 

  Loews Movie Theatre, Church Street

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Lotman, Mo (2009). Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950. Stewart, Tabori & Chang. http://www.harvardsquarebook.com/. 
• Sullivan, Charles M., "Harvard Square History and Development", Cambridge Historical Commission

External links[link]

Media related to Harvard Square at Wikimedia Commons

• Harvard Square History and Development

David Guetta
David Guetta at the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards
Background information
Birth name	Pierre David Guetta
Born	(1967-11-07) 7 November 1967 (age 44) Paris, France
Genres	House, electro house, hip house
Occupations	DJ, record producer, songwriter
Years active	1984–present
Labels	EMI Music France, Virgin, Positiva, Astralwerks, Jack Back Records
Website	DavidGuetta.com

Pierre David Guetta (7 November 1967), known professionally as David Guetta (French pronunciation: [daˌvid ɡɛˈta]), is a French house music producer and DJ.^[1] Originally a DJ at nightclubs during the 1980s and 1990s, he co-founded Gum Productions and released his first album, Just a Little More Love, in 2002. Later, he released Guetta Blaster (2004) and Pop Life (2007). His 2009 album One Love included the hit singles "When Love Takes Over" (featuring Kelly Rowland), "Gettin' Over You" (featuring Chris Willis, Fergie & LMFAO) and "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon), the last becoming a top five hit in the United States and all three reaching #1 in the United Kingdom, as well as another internationally known single called "Memories" featuring Kid Cudi which became a top five hit in many countries. Guetta has sold over three million albums and 15 million singles worldwide.^[2] He is currently one of the most sought-after music producers.^[3] As at 2012 David Guetta is the world's most popular DJ, claiming the #1 poll position of the DJ Mag 100 popularity poll.^[4]

Biography[link]

1984–2000: Early life and career[link]

At age 17, Guetta began DJing at the Broad Club in Paris.^[5] He first played popular songs, and he discovered house music when he heard a Farley master Funk track on French radio in 1987. The next year, he began hosting his own club nights.^[6] In 1990, he released "Nation Rap", a hip-hop collaboration with French rapper Sidney Duteil.^[7]

In the mid 1990s Guetta played in clubs including Le Centrale, the Rex, Le Boy, and Folies Pigalle.^[5][8] Released in 1994^[7] Guetta's second single, a collaboration with American house vocalist Robert Owens titled "Up & Away", was a minor club hit.^[6] In 1994, David Guetta became the manager of Le Palace nightclub and he continued to organise parties there and in other clubs, such as the "Scream" parties in Les Bains Douches.^[9]

[edit] 2001–2006: Just a Little More Love and Guetta Blaster

In 2001, David Guetta along with Joachim Garraud founded Gum Productions, and in the same year Guetta's first hit single, "Just a Little More Love", featuring American singer Chris Willis was released. Willis was vacationing in France when he met Guetta.^[6] Guetta's debut album Just a Little More Love was released in 2002 on Virgin Records and sold over 300,000 copies. The follow-up singles, ("Love Don't Let Me Go", "People Come People Go" and "Give Me Something"), were released in 2002. Guetta released a compilation, Fuck Me I'm Famous, in 2003, named after his party in Ibiza. It included "Just for One Day (Heroes)", a remix of David Bowie's song "Heroes".^[6] Later in his career, Guetta continued recording compilations under that title.

Guetta's second album, Guetta Blaster, was released in 2004. It released four singles: "Money" and "Stay" featuring Chris Willis and "The World Is Mine" and "In Love With Myself" featuring JD Davis. In 2006 the Just a Little More Love single "Love Don't Let Me Go" was re-released as a mash-up with the Tocadisco remix of "Walking Away" by The Egg. The mash-up single entitled "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)" was charted higher than the original release of the song.

[edit] 2007–2008: Pop Life

Guetta performing, May 2007

In 2007, Guetta's third album Pop Life was released. The album was successful in the UK and Ireland as well as in mainland Europe. According to EMI in 2010, the album has sold a total of 530,000 copies worldwide. The lead single "Love Is Gone" reached Number 1 on the American Dance Chart and charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

He played in many countries around the world to promote the album. He played in Mauritius in January 2008, accompanied by French rapper JoeyStarr. In the same year, he and his wife Cathy also planned a new event which took place in the Stade de France on 5 July 2008. The event was called "UNIGHTED", he performed with Tiësto, Carl Cox, Joachim Garraud and Martin Solveig in front of a crowd of 40,000.^[10]

In 2009, he was placed third in the "Top 100 DJs" poll by DJ Magazine,^[11] and was elected "Best House DJ" by DJ Awards in 2008. Since April 2009, Guetta had his own radio show on the internet radio station RauteMusik on Saturday evening. The show was afterwards moved into Radio 538, being aired every Friday evening after Tiësto's Club Life. Its name is DJ Mix. Guetta performs a one-hour set of house music, presenting mainly new talents inside.

[edit] 2009–2010: One Love and international breakthrough

David Guetta's fourth studio album, One Love, was released in August 2009. Its first single "When Love Takes Over", which featured Kelly Rowland, peaked at #1 on the UK Singles Chart and topped many other countries worldwide. His second single from the album, "Sexy Bitch" featuring Akon, became his second #1 in the UK. "One Love" featuring Estelle, "Memories" featuring Kid Cudi and "Gettin' Over You" featuring Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO followed. As of May 2011 the album had sold three million copies worldwide.^[12] Guetta's fourth studio album One Love was nominated as "Best Electronic/Dance Album" at the 52nd Grammy Awards.^[13] His song "When Love Takes Over" featuring American R&B singer Kelly Rowland received two nominations; Best Dance Recording and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical, and won the latter. After conflicts over whether or not an album re-issue should go ahead, One More Love was released on 29 November 2010. First single, titled "Who's That Chick?" featuring Rihanna was released a few weeks prior.^[14]

On 16 June 2009, The Black Eyed Peas released the David Guetta-produced "I Gotta Feeling" as their second single from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D.. It became a worldwide hit topping the charts in seventeen countries. It became the most downloaded song of all-time in the United States with almost 7.5 million downloads and in the United Kingdom selling more than 1 million copies.^[15][16] He was nominated twice for his work with The Black Eyed Peas at the 52nd Grammy Awards; in the category Record of the Year for "I Gotta Feeling" and Album of the Year for their album The E.N.D.. In 2010, David Guetta co-wrote and produced Kelly Rowland's "Commander" from her third album Here I Am. It peaked at number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the United States, and reached top ten positions in Belgium and the United Kingdom. Guetta has also co-produced "Forever and a Day", which was Kelly's next UK single from that album.^[17][18] Guetta also produced the singles "Acapella" and "Scream" for American singer-songwriter Kelis's fifth studio album, Flesh Tone, released on 14 May 2010. "Acapella" was released as the lead single on 23 February 2010 and topped the dance charts in the United Kingdom and United States. On 28 June 2010 American rapper Flo Rida released the single "Club Can't Handle Me" featuring David Guetta. The song is included on the soundtrack album to the American 3D dance film Step Up 3D.

Guetta on the One Love Tour, January 2010.

[edit] 2011–present: Nothing But the Beat

Guetta's fifth studio album, Nothing But the Beat was released on August 30, 2011. It was released as a double-disc album; one disc being vocal and the other being electronic.^[19] The French DJ was inspired by rock bands such as Kings of Leon and Coldplay to add rock influences to his dance productions.^[20] "Where Them Girls At" featuring Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida, the first single off the album, was released worldwide on May 2, 2011.^[21][22] "Little Bad Girl" featuring Ludacris and Taio Cruz, was released as the second single on June 28, 2011.^[19][23] The third single "Without You" featuring Usher was released on September 27, 2011. Guetta also released three promotional singles for Nothing But the Beat, "Titanium" featuring Sia, "Lunar" with Afrojack and "Night of Your Life" featuring Jennifer Hudson. The album also features the hit single "Sweat" with Snoop Dogg.

Guetta is also scheduled to perform alongside Nicky Romero and Nervo at London's Alexandra Palace on June 1, 2012.^[24]

Personal life[link]

Guetta and his wife Cathy in January 2012 at the NRJ Music Awards ceremony.

His father was a restaurateur of Moroccan Jewish descent,^[25] and his mother is of Belgian descent.^[26][27][28] He is married to socialite and night club manager Cathy Guetta; they have two children, Tim Elvis Eric (born 2004) and Angie (born 2007).^[29]

Discography[link]

• Just a Little More Love (2002)
• Guetta Blaster (2004)
• Pop Life (2007)
• One Love (2009)
• Nothing but the Beat (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• David Guetta on Myspace
• David Guetta on Twitter
• David Guetta's channel on YouTube
• David Guetta at the Internet Movie Database
• David Guetta official store
• David Guetta information at Ultra Records
• Review of 'Memories' on the Daily Music Guide
• David Jeffries. "David Guetta biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p572357. Retrieved 2008-09-22. 
• David Guetta in PACHA NEWS
• David Guetta at Billboard.com
• Review of 'Gettin Over you' on the Daily Music Guide