Liberal Place: Cambridge, MA

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I was just in Cambridge for a short visit. I didn't find it remarkably progressive. Most of the area around Harvard Square looks and smells of money. There are a lot of chain stores and restaurants in evidence. The bookstores were rather typical, and there was not much sign of liberal activism. There were some interesting street performers.

One trend that seems to be present here and elsewhere is the replacement of "liberal haunts" such as a bars, low-dollar coffeehouses and bookstores that never turn a profit by spiffy upscale chain joints (Au Bon Pain, Borders and Barnes and Noble) and "formula" outfits (most breweries). I think that this has the effect of removing the common ground of political activism and destroying the "charm of the left".

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In defense of the charm of Cambridge, while the presence of chains has indeed grown, there is still an amazing abundance of small coffeehouses, bookstores, and ethnic eateries to be found, eventually if one ventures a bit off the well-beaten track of the tourists (ask a student.)

However, as the topic is that of "liberal-friendly" cities, perhaps the increased mallification of the city has indeed made it moreso. I would wager a bet that your average Starbucks devotee is more liberal than the average Joe or Jane, and Harvard Square now has three such establishments within a stone's throw.

Trifling matters aside, Cambridge (or, as it is oft called, "The People's Republic of Cambridge" or "Moscow on the Charles") is obviously an extremely liberal-friendly city.

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Cambridge has a huge liberal contingent associated with Harvard, Wellsley and (to a lesser extent) MIT. A lot of the real Cambridge locals though, are disdainful and even hostile to these academic "intruders" and have a strong conservative/reactionary streak. Once you start to move away from Harvard Square, I don't think Cambridge is a particularly liberal town.

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Don't think that the liberal atmosphere of Cambridge is limited to the universities! Although the Harvard community certainly has a "brie and chablis" liberal atmosphere, much of the rest of the city is equally or more liberal. Neighborhoods like Cambridgeport, Area 4, and Riverside, are socially, economically, and ethnically diverse, and full of liberals, albeit liberals who put economic, rather than social justice at the top of their lists of concerns.

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I've been living in Cambridge, MA, for almost 3 years now. I'm puzzled by the comments of the pseudo-liberalism of Harvard Square. Not that I disagree, it's just that they're missing the real center of liberal Cambridge : it's Central Square, not Harvard Square). Great independent coffee shops (although Starbucks invaded this year), bookstores, record shops, Harvest co-op market, the Middle East (arguably ground zero in the Boston music scene), along with a cast of street freaks that aren't just tolerated, but have become lauded institutions (such as a police uniform shirt wearing street person known as "the mayor of Central Square"). Plenty of pro-gay, pro-choice, and pro-animal forces. Also, truly diverse : blacks and whites, working class and middle class, all raising their kids on the same blocks. Most liberal place I've ever lived (I grew up in NY, and have lived in Boulder and Seattle).

Of course, a luxury building is about to go up in the middle of Central Square, so this all may change. Davis Square/Somerville, anybody?