'Garage' Is Coming, But No MacDonald's

"The Garage" is coming to Harvard Square, even if Ronald MacDonald isn't. But there will be a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, and when everything else closes, Hazens will still be open-24 hours a day.

The area between Bow Street and Plympton Street will soon be the site of a 12-store shopping arcade to be called "The Garage." Construction of the arcade will begin as soon as real estate agent Robert W. Matthews obtains a lease from the Coop, which owns the property.

But No Ronald

Coop negotiator Fred Fox said yesterday that the lease should be completed by the end of this month.

"The Garage" will include a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, a quick-lunch restaurant, and a few boutiques. It will be a two-story structure.

Construction is also in the wind for the building on 9 Mt. Auburn St., which now houses the El Diablo restaurant. But despite hopeful rumors of a MacDonald's Hamburg shop, both owner Max Wasserman and a spokesman for MacDonald's have denied any plans to bring Ronald MacDonald to the Square.

Hazens Round the Clock

Wasserman is, however, definitely planning to tear the El Diablo building down as soon as the present tenants leave. "We will not own any unsafe buildings," Wasserman said yesterday. "I was in there the other day, and there are uncovered wires on the floor."

But in the midst of new arcades and the destruction of old buildings, one institution from the past has returned for the benefit of those who truly remember. For, in keeping with a tradition stemming back through "the Bick" at its best, Hazens will now be open 24 hours a day.