Sad. I have fond memories of the place through grad school, Viaweb, and the beginnings of Y Combinator.
It was notable for unreliable service. About 70% of the things you ordered would actually arrive at your table. But the atmos was great, and the ibrik coffee was strong.
While I've never lived in Boston Cambrigde, my friends would take me here every time I visited them at Harvard. It was a place with an unique atmosphere. Sad to see it go. Woodside bakery and cafe is now gone after 40+ years (landlords wouldn't even give them the chance to renew). It's sad to lose community gathering spots.
I used to skip class in high school to go drink turkish coffee, chain-smoke, and discuss life, poetry, code, and philosophy at Cafe Algiers. I think I learned more there than I did in class. Sad to see it go, kicking myself for not dropping in last time I was in Boston, but all things must pass.
Farewell, Algiers, thanks for all the memories and conversations.
Is it my skewed perception or have cafes stopped being places to drink coffee and have great discussions. They now seem to be mainly filled with people on laptops or on their cel phones.
Your comment brings memories. When I landed in US, fresh off the boat, this is what I implicitly expected of a café. So it was a significant culture shock to run into the typical Starbucks'ish café.
Thankfully Austin, TX had pretty good ones too. Metro on the drag was quite awesome, not particularly good coffee (but that's missing the point).
I had a very awkward date there once; at least I thought it was a date -- she brought a friend.
That and what I remember to be uncomfortable cafe chairs and super sweet Turkish coffee, (and possibly egregiously large mediocre hummus plates) will live on in my memory for a bit longer apparently. Makes me so nostalgic!
This also reminds me of the watch store by the Harvard Square T main exit closing suddenly -- the owners were reportedly spotted on planes to another country with large suitcases of watches.. So in the canon of Harvard Square shop closings, Algiers is probably not in the top 10. Still, an institution.
Even back in the late 90s / early 2000s, my friends and I felt like Harvard Square was becoming progressively less interesting -- favorite bars and cafes making way for cell phone stores and banks. Seems like a trend -- extrapolating backwards, Harvard Square must've been a nonstop party back in the mid 1600s....
My ancestor's neighbor attended then (one of about 20 or so students in the Harvard class of 1655 of whom about 2/3rds droppped out in protest over a 4th year being added to the formerly 3-yr bachelor's degree) and ran up a pretty large bar tab across the river in Boston but not in Cambridge itself, which wasn't much of a party town, apparently. (And I'm not kidding about any of this.)
Damn it, I remember the days when one could sit there inside until 2am in the morning smoking and drinking coffee until closing then driving to Boston sea port watch the airplanes land at night. Good times. The place well be missed :(
One of the most memorable coffee shops I've visited. The architecture, culture, and Turkish coffee were fantastic.
I went on a first date with someone who turned out to become a close longtime friend. I worked with my cofounder for 8-hour blocks at a time wired on Turkish coffee (he preferred the mint tea) as we built our first product (DNA Nutrition) and raised our first angel money.
It's an amazing coincidence that my cofounder and I found ourselves in Algiers for what was the first time in many months just 2 days before they shut the doors for good.
Happy to see this make the front page. This closure stings.
This place is an excellent example of an institution that thrives because of its patrons: people hung out here for no reason other than to shoot the shit and drink tea. The food was definitely nothing to write home about.
I maintain a small list of places friends should visit when they are in Boston. Algiers was on that list. The Curious George Store and Out of Town News are on that list, but they'll soon be gone too. My recommended Harvard Square places are now Club Passim, Harvard Book Store, and Grolier Poetry Bookshop. It's a bummer.
If you are going for Hsq institutions Grendel's Den should really be on that list, they've been around more than 40 years and even won a case that went to the supreme court.
I am curious about why you include Out of Town News. I know it is of historical interest under its original owner but I looked in the other day and it didn't seem especially interesting: as much Harvard gear, sodas, and candy as magazines and those don't seem so significant anymore.
I used to hang out there all the time in the '80s. My most memorable moment would have to be the time I complained to the waitress about the cockroaches that scurried from beneath my plate. Her answer?
"What do you expect from a restaurant that's in the f*cking basement?"
Strangely, that experience didn't stop me from returning to Algiers…
As a grad student and later denizen of the area, I loved to hang out at Cafe Algiers. I have fond memories of a young waitress dumping a scalding hot pot of coffee onto my lap, then barely saying "sorry". At least they didn't charge me for the coffee.
Really one of the few unique places left in the square, the other ones being Passim and Pamplona I guess. And the bookstores.
I heard that it got sold, and the new owner isn't into that. Bah. I hope it's not yet another samey gastropub that replaces it. Or at least I hope they keep the interior.
I can't say I'm a particular fan of the whole Grafton Street look and menu. It's one of those things that there's nothing exactly wrong about the setting or the look. But there's a certain uninspired sameness that's sort of meh.
What makes it slightly worse are the odds that the space will sit unused for an arbitrary length of time. Down the street from there is a big "space available" sign that three-odd years ago was a decent movie theater; how much money someone has lost from that extended vacancy is a staggering thought. Similarly, over in Central, TT the Bear's closed last year because the property owners raised the rent; it's also now an empty space in one of the highest-value areas of town.
Cambridge is becoming more and more expensive, but at the same time becoming worse managed.
So sad to see what the square is turning into. I'm sure Leavitt & Peirce isn't long for this world, either :(
I didn't spend much time in Cafe Algiers when I was there, but I did spend a ton of time (and money) at Casablanca, which is also gone :( I'm glad I got to take my wife there at least once before it closed.
I dunno. Harvard Square's always been changing. I was walking through there yesterday and nothing a number of new restaurants and cafes--most of which weren't any sort of chain. You note Casablanca and I hadn't been there for years before it closed; IMO it turned from a sort of funky place to another sleek midpriced restaurant/bar probably a couple decades ago.
My impression is actually that it's the Kendall Square to Central Square to Harvard Square corridor where there are new shops, restaurants, etc. going in these days. For a time, the center of activity seemed to have shifted to Inman Square but I don't sense that's so much the case any longer.
Sad. Algiers was a good place with a nice atmosphere to sit and read for a few minutes. I'm not too worried about the Square loosing it's feel though - new places will pop up and develop their own lore.
[+] [-] tlb|9 years ago|reply
It was notable for unreliable service. About 70% of the things you ordered would actually arrive at your table. But the atmos was great, and the ibrik coffee was strong.
[+] [-] chrisrhoden|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hkmurakami|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peterross|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vonkow|9 years ago|reply
Farewell, Algiers, thanks for all the memories and conversations.
[+] [-] ajmurmann|9 years ago|reply
I also miss European cafes with waiters...
[+] [-] srean|9 years ago|reply
Thankfully Austin, TX had pretty good ones too. Metro on the drag was quite awesome, not particularly good coffee (but that's missing the point).
[+] [-] vessenes|9 years ago|reply
That and what I remember to be uncomfortable cafe chairs and super sweet Turkish coffee, (and possibly egregiously large mediocre hummus plates) will live on in my memory for a bit longer apparently. Makes me so nostalgic!
This also reminds me of the watch store by the Harvard Square T main exit closing suddenly -- the owners were reportedly spotted on planes to another country with large suitcases of watches.. So in the canon of Harvard Square shop closings, Algiers is probably not in the top 10. Still, an institution.
EDIT: The Handa family story is pretty interesting. Boston Globe had an update in 2012: https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2012/04/21/return-alpha...
[+] [-] ryandamm|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SiVal|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sopooneo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chiefalchemist|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] readhn|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weisser|9 years ago|reply
I went on a first date with someone who turned out to become a close longtime friend. I worked with my cofounder for 8-hour blocks at a time wired on Turkish coffee (he preferred the mint tea) as we built our first product (DNA Nutrition) and raised our first angel money.
It's an amazing coincidence that my cofounder and I found ourselves in Algiers for what was the first time in many months just 2 days before they shut the doors for good.
Happy to see this make the front page. This closure stings.
[+] [-] kchoudhu|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blisterpeanuts|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Q6T46nT668w6i3m|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djb_hackernews|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] athanasius|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cypherpunks01|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gardano|9 years ago|reply
"What do you expect from a restaurant that's in the f*cking basement?"
Strangely, that experience didn't stop me from returning to Algiers…
[+] [-] blisterpeanuts|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sethbannon|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makmanalp|9 years ago|reply
I heard that it got sold, and the new owner isn't into that. Bah. I hope it's not yet another samey gastropub that replaces it. Or at least I hope they keep the interior.
[+] [-] ghaff|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kensai|9 years ago|reply
Jude Law as Pius XIII in the new series "The Young Pope" coming in a screen near you. :p
[+] [-] maxander|9 years ago|reply
Cambridge is becoming more and more expensive, but at the same time becoming worse managed.
[+] [-] jonstokes|9 years ago|reply
I didn't spend much time in Cafe Algiers when I was there, but I did spend a ton of time (and money) at Casablanca, which is also gone :( I'm glad I got to take my wife there at least once before it closed.
[+] [-] ghaff|9 years ago|reply
My impression is actually that it's the Kendall Square to Central Square to Harvard Square corridor where there are new shops, restaurants, etc. going in these days. For a time, the center of activity seemed to have shifted to Inman Square but I don't sense that's so much the case any longer.
[+] [-] NickHoff|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arprocter|9 years ago|reply
The last time I went to Alden & Harlow mentioned in the piece it was excellent
[+] [-] fiatpandas|9 years ago|reply