Strawberry Hill Forever

Residents take leisurely walks around a large freshwater reserve. Parkland and open space are abundant. Two beautiful cemeteries encircle its borders. And an old-fashioned family farm is just a few blocks down the road.

This idyllic vision of suburban life sounds like the Berkshires of western Massachusetts--yet it is only a 10-minute bus ride away.

Strawberry Hill, a neighborhood of about 2,700 residents on Cambridge's western border, is perhaps the city's least known enclave. Few Cambridge residents, let alone Harvard students, have heard of it. And the days of wild strawberry fields on the hill are long gone, as only the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) refer to the area by its official name.

But hidden in what is called the "Mt. Auburn" neighborhood is an enviable mixture of family life, quiet streets and the city's only golf course, residents say. And though the neighborhood has its share of common problems, they would not want to live anywhere else.

Old Timers

As he watches his daughter Emma frolic on the Strawberry Hill playground next to the Haggerty School, neighborhood resident Ted N. Goble '50 says he is content.

He has lived in Tel Aviv, New Hampshire, New York and other places around the world, but Strawberry Hill is what he likes best.

"I'm very happy right here," Goble says.

And Goble is not alone--many of the neighborhood's residents, most who lived in the area for decades, would not trade its slow-paced style for any of the more cosmopolitan Cambridge districts.

Ruth F. Arone, who lives on Vineyard Street, has lived in Strawberry Hill for 68 years, and speaks glowingly of the neighborhood.

"I moved in here in 1932 and I'm still here," Arone says. "I would just die if I had to live away from here."

And according to the CPD, Strawberry Hill is "one of the safest areas in the city." It had the lowest amount of auto theft and malicious destruction during the period from 1991 to 1998, and ranked near the bottom in housebreaks and street robbery.

"It's very family-oriented, you know," Arone says. "It's quite a safe place. We don't have little, if any, crime around here."

And she is proud of the way the neighborhood has pulled together at times during her seven-decade stay.

At one point, she says, the city's plows stopped serving the neighborhood.

"Years ago, we were almost forgotten," Arone says. "Vineyard Street? Where's that?" she says, imitating a city worker. "We were very indignant about it."

In 1997, the neighborhood came together in an effort to keep its popular postman, Stephen T. Johnson, from having his route changed by the post office.

"We fought like blazes for Steve," Arone says. "He's just like family. He knows everybody by first name."

Johnson's route was ultimately changed from the area east of Cushing Street and the Haggerty School to an area including Corcoran Park and Thingvalla Avenue in the western section of the neighborhood, but he still serves Strawberry Hill residents.

Johnson says he gets very close to the residents he serves.

"You're almost part of their family," Johnson says. "We take care of their pride and joy. If they don't get their mail, they get upset."

Neighborhood spirit is most prominent during a four-day street carnival on Labor Day weekend filled with music and food sponsored by the Santa Lucia Chapel on Cushing Street.

"It's a long tradition within the neighborhood," Haggerty School Principal Joe Petner says. "Many people who have moved out of the neighborhood still want to come back to the festival."

Feeling the House Heat

But as idyllic as the neighborhood may seem, Strawberry Hill has its problems just like anywhere else.

Most prominent is the turmoil caused by a housing market that has become increasingly expensive since Cambridge's rent control system was voted out by a statewide referendum in 1994.

"My rent went up from $568...to $1,250 this month," says neighborhood resident Brian Baker. "In five years, it's more than doubled."

More generally, increased prices have led to an influx of students and young wealthy families, neighborhood residents say.

Chamberlain says that along with an increase in condominiums, people are selling off "old family homesteads" due to "persistent increases in the value of real estate."

"Everything changes as the housing market dictates," she says.

Petner, who has been the Haggerty's principal for 11 years, says Strawberry Hill--a "typically blue-collar neighborhood"--has seen an influx of more affluent residents in recent years, but emphasizes its traditional character still endures.

"The old families are still around, [and are] very much a part of the neighborhood," Petner says.

Guinness To Canoli

But today, the old families, predominantly Italian, are slowly disappearing as the neighborhood's ethnic makeup is altered.

It was a much different story 100 years ago. The area was predominantly Irish, but since the end of World War II, the Irish were slowly replaced by a large Italian population.

And while the Italian population is graying, it still plays a central role in the ethnic makeup of the neighborhood.

"It thinks of itself as a sizable Italian-American neighborhood," says Pam R. Chamberlain, a lifelong Cantabrigian who has lived in the area since 1993.

She adds that Strawberry Hill's old Italian families tend to forget the era when they were not the most numerous segment of the population. A 1903 map in her home shows most of the neighborhood's residents had Irish names, Chamberlain says.

"Like most neighborhoods, this one has changed over time in terms of its ethnicity," she says.

And the Corcoran Park housing project renovation, completed last year, has brought in a diverse array of new residents, including many transplanted Haitians.

John J. Conlon, a co-owner of Canina's Deli and Catering, says people of "all races" live in the neighborhood, including Italian, Irish and Cuban Americans.

"Even though it's diverse, it's still tight-knit," Conlon says.

How It Was

Strawberry Hill traces its roots back to the 1840s, when expanded transportation service opened up the area to suburban residents, according to the Cambridge Historical Commission's 1977 Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge.

In 1845, regular omnibus service was established from Harvard Square to Mount Auburn Cemetery. The opening of a Watertown Branch Railroad depot at the corner of Mt. Auburn and Belmont Streets the next year further spurred development.

"Strawberry Hill was the name of the first subdivision plan of the area, which was drawn in 1857," writes Charles M. Sullivan, executive director of the Historical Commission, in an e-mail message. "Some residents have told me that wild strawberries have been found in the area until recent times, so this may have been the traditional name of the area."

And Chamberlain, who says strawberries were grown here in the 1800s, also says the community still feels separated from the city.

"If you don't live here, it feels like it's really so far away," she says, leaning over her garden fence. "It felt so far away, like it's out in the boondocks."

The Truman Show?

Strawberry Hill has parks, a corner store and an abundance of families and children, but there are some conspicuous absences.

The neighborhood holds a Star Market, a public library, a liquor store, a hair salon and Groomingdale's Pet Salon within its borders, but is home to only two food establishments where people can eat out--the Panda House and Guido's Cafe.

"It's pretty residential," says one mother. There isn't a cafe shop or a restaurant where people would actually go to hang out."

And on Saturday afternoon, as water bubbled up through the brick sidewalk at the corner of Huron Avenue and Cushing Street--the two main thoroughfares of the neighborhood--Strawberry Hill seemed eerily empty.

Canina's, the Haggerty and the West Cambridge Youth Center, which is housed in the school, were all closed. As birds chirped on Cushing Street, only a few residents could be seen outside their homes.

In Corcoran Park, the sunny streets surrounding picturesque townhouses straight from The Truman Show were empty.

And then, just like in the movie, the streets suddenly filled up.

"In the summer, we go to the sprinklers in the park," says Dweny Pierre-Louis, 12, hanging out with friends Ednickleda Augeste, Katia Barthelemy and Kassan Geermian in front of one townhouse.

"Even in the winter, we throw water balloons at each other," Auguste, 11, chimes in.

All four kids have neighborhood pride, as they flash the "West Side" hand-sign.

Most kids hang out at the West Cambridge Youth Center at the Haggerty, they say.

But when the Haggerty is closed, the soccer, baseball, tennis and basketball facilities by Fresh Pond serve as an alternative neighborhood hangout.

"It's mad safe," says Cambridge Rindge and Latin School student Eddy W. Auguste, playing pickup basketball with other teenagers on Saturday.

Auguste, 15, says there is tension between youth and the elderly in the neighborhood, especially when it comes to noise.

"Every little thing we do they complain," he says as rap music plays out of a boombox by the court.

Rage Against the Dying of the Light

But the elderly population Auguste speaks of is quickly fading.

On Saturday afternoon, local VFW Post 8818 on Huron Avenue was nearly empty.

WWII veteran and VFW member John R. Donoghue says out of 350 club members, only 10 or so show up each day.

"We're mostly dying off," Donoghue, 76, says. "We have to go to the younger generation when we get older," he says, referring to his friend Paul M. Donaghy, 55, also relaxing in the VFW's basement bar.

Donoghue still shows a strong sense of humor, even though the days when he and his friends used to sneak into the Adams House swimming pool are long gone.

"[The Italians] integrated, they married the Irish," he jokes. "This was an Italian neighborhood," he continues. "[But] there's only a few left that come up here."