The latest edition of the Mapping Feminist Cambridge walking tour, this time featuring Harvard Square, will launch next week. Sign up to reserve your spot!
The Women’s Commission is thrilled to launch the third and final tour of the Mapping Feminist Cambridge series, Harvard Square 1970s-1990s, with two walking tours July 25, 6-8pm and August 11, 2-4pm. Click below to sign up:
Throughout the 1970s to 1990s, Harvard Square activists organized around labor rights, housing justice, education, lesbian advocacy, music, poetry, and more. Come learn about women’s entrepreneurship in the emerging hospitality sector and how many of the restaurants and inns from this era became long-standing establishments, hear about the vibrant music scene in coffee houses and on street corners, discover feminist art tucked into alley ways, and learn how Cambridge youth were also making their mark. While organizing at Harvard University is included in this tour, the primary focus is on local grassroots activism and organizing.
319th Harvard commencement interrupted by Saundra Graham and activists from the Riverside neighborhood, photographed by Associated Press on June 11, 1970 (via Digital Commonwealth)
Mapping Feminist Cambridge is a series of three historic tours focused on the feminist movement in Cambridge from the 1970s–1990s. From the takeover of 888 Memorial Drive, to the formation of the first domestic violence shelter on the East Coast, to one of the earliest feminist bookstores, to the home of one of the initial women’s studies courses – Mapping Feminist Cambridge is a vibrant account of feminist organizing and politics. Each tour – Inman Square, Central Square, and Harvard Square – spans several organizations and provides context about the movement and its priorities including racial equity, reproductive health care and abortion access, women in film and print, healing for survivors, lesbian and bisexual visibility, political collectives, and so much more.
Welcome to the second and final installment of our series about the evolution of eating oysters and the Cambridge restaurants and eateries that served them in the 19th century.
And now THE BIG QUESTION: Are Oysters an Aphrodisiac?
Jacob Ochtervelt, The Oyster Meal, 1664-65. Private collection.
Eating oysters frequently raises a slight naughty twinkle in one’s eye. Remember Albert Finney in the classic Tom Jones movie? The jury is out on scientific proof about the oyster’s aphrodisiac qualities. These days, it is thought the zinc and amino acids in the bivalve might possibly stimulate sexual desire. So, who knows—the legend might be true. At least Casanova thought so.
OYSTER NEWS Oysters were so popular that items about their origin regularly made the news:
New York: Cambridge Chronicle January 4, 1849
Long Island Sound, New York: Cambridge Chronicle October 15, 1859
Cambridge Chronicle September 19, 1868
Cape Cod: Cambridge Chronicle June 7, 1879
Virginia: Cambridge Chronicle January 1, 1870
Providence River: Cambridge Chronicle March 15, 1879
PRIORITY ON THE MENU
Eduoard Manet, Oysters, 1862. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
“An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life.” M. F. K. Fisher
Oysters became so popular that they were often the first food highlighted in restaurant advertising, ahead of meats, fruits, ice cream, etc. They were also featured various celebrations.
George Teague again:
Cambridge Chronicle December 29, 1855
Cambridge Chronicle May 28, 1859
Cambridge Chronicle November 12, 1864
Cambridge Chronicle December 25, 1880
Cambridge Chronicle October 14, 1875
AND WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE OYSTER SHELLS?
What happened to all those oyster shells, you might well ask? They were added to cement, road beds, railroad beds, ground up for chicken feed for hens (for digestion and calcium for egg shells), compost for vineyards, and cleaning the insides of coal burning stoves. Oysters were not allowed to be dumped just anywhere:
Excerpts: Cambridge Chronicle July 2, 1846
THE DROP IN CONSUMPTION
Susan Koolman, in the “Great Oyster Craze” writes: “Whereas New Yorkers in the 1800s ate an average of 600 oysters per year, today Americans eat an average of less than three oysters per year.” Several factors were in play: over-harvesting native beds led to importing oysters, which brought disease with them, which diminished the supply. There were concerns about the sanitation of oyster processing facilities. These concerns were addressed in 1906’s Pure Food and Drug Act. The new regulations were costly, and many oyster houses went out of business. In addition, the 1924 typhoid outbreak in New York, Washington, and Chicago was associated raw oysters.
Madera Tribune (California) December 11, 1924
Then along came Prohibition, closing a lot of the saloons and taverns that specialized in oysters. All in all, these factors put the “kaybash” on consumption. Later in the 20th century, evolving expectations about environmentally correct and ethical oyster farming have elevated the cost of raising oysters once again.
FOR FUN
More on the love of oysters is best demonstrated by following samples of ads and commentaries over the years. Have you ever considered that thunder might kill oysters? An opposite theory is that thunder inspires oysters to spawn…
Cambridge Chronicle June 4, 1870
“Never serve oysters in a month that has no paycheck in it.” – P. J. O’Rourke, political satirist and journalist
“A good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who eats it live forever though a bad one can make him dead forever.” – Rebecca West, author
“Give me oysters and beer, for dinner every day of the year, and I’ll be fine.” – Jimmy Buffett
“All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.” – Federico Fellini, Italian film director
“Oysters are the most tender and delicate of all seafoods. They stay in bed all day and night. They never work or take exercise, are stupendous drinkers, and wait for their meals to come to them.” – Hector Bolitho ‘The Glorious Oyster’ (1960)
“Animal rights, taken to their logical conclusion, mean votes for oysters.” – Bertrand Russell, polymath
“You ought to try eating raw oysters in a restaurant with every eye focused upon you – it makes you feel as if the creatures were whales, your fork a derrick and your mouth Mammoth Cave.” – Lillian Russell, actress
“I prefer my oysters fried; That way I know my oysters died.” – Roy Blount, Jr., writer
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox
The Great Oyster Craze: Why 19th century Americans Loved Oysters. MSU Campus Archaeology Program. (2019, January 17). http://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=4962.
Wilde is referring to the saying “the world’s mine oyster,” from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. In the story, the character Falstaff is haggling with another man over money. After Falstaff refuses to give him a single penny, the man replies “Why, then, the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open.” His meaning: I’ll get anything I want any way I can—i.e. stabbing with a sharp instrument as in shucking oysters to find the pearl. Over time, the phrase morphed to mean “You are in a position to take the opportunities that life has to offer.” (Oxford English Dictionary)
“An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful before all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive.” (Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Even when induced to pry open the shell however, the creature inside was somewhat intimidating. As Jonathan Swift said, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.”
No kidding! Just look at them:
Image: bbcgoodfood.com
Though it’s a little hard for some of us to see how anyone found them tempting, LOTS of people did. Oysters have been eaten for eons, but at the beginning of the 19th century in America only the wealthy could afford them. This changed by mid-century when improved harvesting techniques, canning, refrigeration, and railroad express delivery brought the price down substantially. The oyster craze swept the country; eventually even the ordinary working family could afford oysters. Oysters became cheaper than meat, fish, and poultry as a source of protein. By 1885, oysters cost $0.03 each (equivalent to $0.73 today) and dropped to $0.01 (equivalent to $0.25 today) each by 1889.
The oldest restaurant in Boston—the famous Union Oyster House—opened its doors in 1826 under the name Atwood & Bacon’s Oyster House on Union St. in Boston’s Haymarket. It is reputed that Daniel Webster ate there regularly, consuming six plates of oysters at a single sitting. Over the years it became known simply as the Union Oyster House:
Union Oyster House or Capen House, Union St. Built ca. 1714, became oyster house in 1826. Photo: 1855. From Boston Pictorial Archive via Digital Commonwealth
Atwood was “Hawes” Atwood. Originally from Wellfleet, Mass., the Atwoods were active in the oyster business for generations and it is likely that S. C. Atwood in the Cambridge advertisement below was related in some way to Hawes. S. C. mentions his catering experience in Boston. Hawes’ son, Benjamin F. Atwood, also had an oyster house in Boston, and there is a David Atwood appearing in the Cambridge City Directory from 1872 as an oyster dealer living on Seaver Place, with his business at Fanueil Hall Sq.
Cambridge Chronicle November 3, 1866
The earliest reference to oysters in the Cambridge newspapers that have been digitized is the advertisement below for Benjamin Seaver’s Temperance Oyster Saloon. The influence of the Temperance Movement of the 1820’s and ‘30’s was increasing, and Seaver may have thought that providing a “dry” place to eat might lure more customers:
Cambridge Chronicle July 16, 1846
On the other hand, by a few months later, Seaver may have had a change of heart. His ads no longer mention the temperance angle.
Cambridge Chronicle December 3, 1846
Cambridge Chronicle December 10, 1846
George M. Teague, who owned several different eating establishments in Cambridge, did not mention temperance in the advert below, but the following article of the same date about the restaurant did:
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1851. #418 Main St, corner Magazine.
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1851
Poor George Teague: his first wife died, and 12 years later in 1890 he married his second wife. Three years later (and four years before his own death) the notice below suggests that it was not a good match:
Cambridge Chronicle September 2, 1893
Teague had assumed ownership of the eatery from D. Stone, who in 1847 advertised “City Lunch,” at the same location, under Joseph A. Holmes Co. on Main St. This was in the same building as the Cambridge Chronicle.
Cambridge Chronicle April 8, 1847
Also, in 1851 Charles H. Foster advertises his Oyster Saloon under Lyceum Hall (built 1841) in Harvard Square. The Harvard Coop demolished the Hall in 1924, but the columns of the current façade are reminiscent of the original. Note the sign for “Restaurant” in the lower right. Over the years there were several iterations of restaurant at the location, including one run by Charles F. Belcher, who also briefly ran the concession at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Reception House.
Cambridge Chronicle September 27, 1851
Lyceum Hall ca. 1860. Image: Southwest Harbor Public Library.
Close by, in at least 1848, John Goodridge had an “Oyster Saloon” on Brattle Street in Harvard Square several years before this advert below appeared in 1852 (Brighton St. was the current JFK Street):
Cambridge Chronicle February 21, 1852
HOW TO EAT OYSTERS
Oysters are an excellent source of vitamin B12 and are also rich in minerals, including selenium, zinc, and iron. The best way to get all of their nutritional benefit is to eat them raw. It was once thought that one should eat oysters only in months whose name contains an “R,” which excludes May, June, July and August. The theory was that one might avoid oysters during this time as there are bacteria levels in “red tides” in the summer months, or to give oysters a break while they spawn. Some claimed that summer oysters had a bad taste.
Cambridge Chronicle May 10, 1873
Cambridge Chronicle October 29, 1853
These days, oyster farming is highly regulated and these conventions no longer apply.
Oysters were eaten in pies, pickled, escalloped, stewed, fried, raw, or in soups. According to an article in the Salem Register in 1850 (March 11), “Stewed oysters and boiled eggs are digested in three hours and a half—an hour more than is required by the same articles raw.” Mmm…
Fried: Cambridge Tribune April 21, 1888
Pickled: Cambridge Chronicle October 7, 1847
Stewed: Cambridge Chronicle March 28, 1868
Oysters were sold by the quart or gallon:
Cambridge Chronicle March 22, 1856
(Maybe this was the problem that befell this Maine lady after eating four quarts)
Cambridge Chronicle December 13, 1873
And eaten with style
Cambridge Chronicle December 27, 1873 (excerpt from article on the American Restaurant)
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox. Check back soon to read part two!
Just off the corner of Mass Ave on Shepard Street, two consecutive French restaurants, Chez Jean and later Chez Henri, flourished for over fifty years.
View of Chez Jean in the 1970s (CHC Collection)
In 1958, Jean-Baptiste Lagouarde, who had been a chef in France, opened his restaurant, Chez Jean, with his wife Madeline. A local newspaper article described the cuisine as “classic French, emphasizing meat and bearnaise sauce,” and the restaurant’s atmosphere as “anything but pretentious. The mix of rough stucco walls and country style paneling, and the long red vinyl benches give the place an air of a bistro in the countryside.” The article went on to praise the duck special consisting of moist slices of duck layered over a bed of stuffing with the sauce made from duck livers on top.
Getting ready for Chez Henri (Lisa O’Connell)
Lagouarde passed away in 1991, and his family continued the restaurant until 1994. Paul O’Connell bought the space and opened Chez Henri, a French restaurant with a Cuban flair. Alongside classic French dishes such as frogs’ legs, menu items included grilled steak with sofrito bordelaise and roasted chicken with lime, achiote, and yuca frita. The “Chez Henri Cuban Sandwich” became a customer favorite. The interior was reworked with brightly colored light fixtures in a crimson and olive dining room. Chez Henri won acclaim over the years, often cited as one of the area’s best restaurants.
View of Chez Henri at night (Lisa O’Connell)
Menu from Chez Henri (CHC Collection)
Chez Henri appeared in one of Robert B. Parker’s popular Spenser mysteries (Lisa O’Connell)
In 2013, O’Connell closed the restaurant. The space reopened in 2015 as Shepard, but closed a couple years later. The space is now occupied by a restaurant called Luce.
Sources
Cambridge Chronicle, January 7, 1960; April 7, 1988; July 25, 1996.
Joyce Chen (1917-1994) was born on September 12, 1917 in Beijing, China. Born into a wealthy family, she discovered her passion for cooking at a very early age. Her father, a railroad administrator and city executive, hired a family chef that cooked all of their meals. Chen learned about Chinese cuisine simply by watching their chef and other family members cook in their home kitchen. During the Chinese Communist Revolution, Chen and her family moved to the United States. Along with her husband Thomas Chen and their two children Henry and Helen, the family left Shanghai, China in 1949 and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Joyce Chen, image courtesy of Joycechenfoods.com.
While living near Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she frequently met Chinese students that missed the food they’d grown up with. Chen’s children attended Buckingham School and she would often cook food to be served at school events. Her meals quickly became popular among college students and the families at the Buckingham School. This inspired Chen to open her first restaurant in 1958, called “Joyce Chen Restaurant.” At this restaurant, she served both Chinese and American dishes to encourage customers to try new foods. She often served “buffet-style” meals, to allow customers to try samples of everything. She created a menu with both Chinese and English translations of her food and numbered the menu items for easier communication in her restaurants. This made it easier for customers who spoke different languages to order at her restaurant.
Joyce Chen, image courtesy of Joycechenfoods.com
Joyce Chen’s first restaurant at 617 Concord Avenue in Cambridge. Courtesy of Joycechenfoods.com
In 1967, Chen opened her second restaurant called “The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place.” That same year, Chen starred in Joyce Chen Cooks, her own cooking show on PBS that aired worldwide. This twenty-six-episode broadcast was filmed in the same studio as famous chef Julia Child’s show, and the two became good friends. Her business empire expanded, and two larger restaurants were built in the Boston area with an architecturally unique restaurant at 390 Rindge Avenue.
Circa 1974 image of Joyce Chen’s Restaurant. Photo from CHC Collections.
The restaurant, believed to have been designed by Allan Ahaknian, was built in 1974 and employed architecture not typical for Cambridge. Partially hidden behind a tall wooden fence to screen noise from the heavily trafficked Rindge Avenue, the structure featured minimal fenestration on the sides but employed large skylights to flood the interior with natural light. The Contemporary/Shed style restaurant was a common stomping ground for residents of Cambridge and beyond. The restaurant was purchased by Just-A-Start and was converted to a child-care facility in 1999. The remainder of the lot was filled with townhomes for moderate-income, first-time homebuyers. In 2005, the structure was demolished for eight additional units of affordable condominium units. As it was not yet 50+ years old, it did not qualify for protection under the Demolition Delay Ordinance.
Circa 1984 image of Joyce Chen’s Restaurant at 390 Rindge Avenue. Image from CHC Collections.
1978 Aerial Image of 390 Rindge Ave.
2018 Aerial image of 390 Rindge Ave. Note: the building has been demolished and replaced with housing.
While her restaurants are all now closed, the impressions of Joyce Chen’s legacy can be seen in almost every Chinese-American restaurant in the country today and in the enduring popularity of “Peking ravioli.” Also, her cookbooks and branded cooking utensils can be found in kitchens all over the world.
Images and some information on Joyce Chen courtesy of joycechenfoods.com
