• Around Cambridge

    Ode to Café Pamplona

    Sometimes the Shuttering of a Café is More Than Just a Business Closing by Joseph Levendusky The endearing little red building on Bow Street Each succeeding generation of Harvard Square roustabouts claims to have known the real, authentic Square.  It begins, if you peruse Mo Lotman’s excellent Harvard Square: An Illustrated History, with John Updike musing about his Square in 1950. In 1972, the Harvard Crimson lamented, “While the Square is no longer unique, it still remains unusual, if only because it orients itself towards a young, semi-intellectual audience.” But such ritual whinging may no longer be a mere generational gripe.  If you haven’t heard the news: Harvard Square ain’t what it used to be.  The Square has been,…

  • Scrapbook

    Josefina Yanguas

    Josefina Yanguas (1916-2007) was the founder and proprietor of Café Pamplona in Harvard Square. Café Pamplona was in business from 1959-2020. Josefina with her brother soon after entering the United States in 1949 (Courtesy Carol Fippin) With the Alonso family. Josefina was their au pair. (Courtesy Carol Fippin) Portrait of Josefina by Patsy Hoffman (Courtesy Carol Fippin) Josefina at Café Pamplona with her signature geraniums (Courtesy Carol Fippin) Josefina at Carol Fippin’s House for Thanksgiving Josefina at her 90th Birthday Celebration at Café Pamplona (Courtesy Carol Fippin)