Square Seeks A Later Bedtime

It’s 12:06 a.m. on a Monday morning, six minutes after closing time, and a Felipe’s Taqueria employee locks the front door of the Mount Auburn Street eatery from the inside, leaving 10 customers stuck outside in the rain.

In doing so, the employee unintentionally detains some customers inside the restaurant.

Each time the employee lets a few of the trapped customers leave, a few more people push their way in.

After a few minutes, the employee cracks down and refuses to allow anyone else inside the restaurant, leaving groups of friends deliberating amongst themselves outside.

Some decide to go elsewhere, while others decide to go home.

This happens nearly every day, and it makes some students wonder why, in the face of such demand, Harvard Square restaurants close before their bedtimes.

The owners of Felipe’s are actively seeking to extend their license—with the support of the Undergraduate Council (UC)’s liaison to the city—even as they face possible disciplinary action for not adhering to the hours their license allows.

But other restaurant owners say they are satisfied with their current hours. While students may blame Cambridge regulations for curtailing businesses’ hours, these owners say that there are other factors at work.

LICENSE TO OPEN

In order for any restaurant to open in Cambridge, it first has to apply for a Common Victual license from the Cambridge License Commission (CLC).

CLC Executive Officer Elizabeth Y. Lint says that as long as the CLC finds there is a need for a certain type of restaurant and approves its hours of operation, as well as the manager, a license is granted.

Lint says there is no city law that prohibits restaurants from staying open past a certain hour and that the CLC rarely declines owners’ requests for Common Victual licenses.

Anthony S. Ackil ’99, the co-owner of b.good on Dunster Street, which opened two weeks ago, says his experience with the CLC was “really good, really cooperative.”

And Pinocchio’s owner Rico DiCenso says the hours of operation at his Winthrop Street pizzeria are “absolutely not” influenced by the CLC.

b.good is open until 11 p.m. throughout the week and Pinocchio’s is open until 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday and until 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

FOOD ON THE RUN

Still, many students have a perception that the city of Cambridge does make it hard for Square restaurateurs to stay open late.

“The Square needs to change the rules on how late you can be open,” says Conor S. Tochilin ’06 upon leaving Felipe’s as it closed on a recent weekday. “Cambridge is the one with the rules that need to change.”

Other students focus on the fact that—no matter what the reason—restaurant hours are incompatible with student schedules.

For a student, 12 a.m. on a weeknight might not be bedtime, but rather the heart of a working schedule.

Mariesa L. Ricks ’08 says early closing times are inconvenient to her work schedule.

“Now I have to go get food in the middle of my work,” she says.

And on weekends, since parties and other gatherings often end at 2 a.m., students can be left without a place to go afterwards.

DISHING OUT THE BLAME

Ackil, the co-owner of b.good, admits that when he was an undergraduate at Harvard, he also thought the City was to blame for early closing times.

“I thought it was Cambridge’s fault when I was here,” he says, but adds that when he opened his restaurant, he found that working with the CLC was “really the easiest thing in the world.”

Restaurant owners say closing times often result from their own preferences.

DiCenso says he takes into account student health and employee well-being when he closes Pinocchio’s at 2:30 a.m. on weekends.

“I think there is a time of day to be eating,” DiCenso says. “I don’t believe you should be eating at two and three in the morning. It’s not healthy.”

DiCenso offers another holistic reason for the early closing at Pinocchio’s: his employees’ welfare.

“My perspective isn’t just the final line,” DiCenso says. “I look at the employees getting to bed at the same time as other people. You need to consider the whole picture.”

But for Ackil, whose restaurant focuses on providing customers with healthy food options, it is only a matter of time before b.good extends its hours until 2 or 3 a.m. on weekends. His Common Victual license allows him to stay open until roughly then.

“I want to stay open later and I’m going to do it as soon as I can,” he says. “I just physically can’t do that yet.”

LATE(R) NIGHT FOOD

However, Felipe’s—which currently closes at 12 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday—is facing an uphill battle in its efforts to stay open until 4 a.m.

The CLC is considering disciplinary action against the taqueria for violating the hours on its current license.

On Monday, the CLC will issue a decision on the license violations. Commissioners said at a hearing on Tuesday that they were less inclined to support Felipe’s pending application for later hours since the restaurant has not abided by its current license.

Felipe’s co-owner Tom Brush says he believes the chances of the CLC extending his restaurant’s hours are slim.

Felipe’s has accrued widespread student support for its application. Last year, 2,600 students signed a petition calling for longer hours. Jeffrey Kwong ’09, the UC’s liaison to the City of Cambridge, has met with members of the CLC and sent letters in support of his cause.

However, after Felipe’s’ disciplinary hearing this week, Kwong says that his efforts have shifted from getting Felipe’s’ hours extended to making sure that the license is not suspended or revoked.

“The main difficulty is just getting to the CLC the message that the Harvard community will be devastated if they close down Felipe’s for a few days or a week as a disciplinary measure,” Kwong says.

The Harvard Square Defense Fund, a residents’ organization, opposes Felipe’s’ bid for extended hours and testified at Felipe’s’ disciplinary hearing against them.

“We’re not Puritans, we’re people who just want to respect the Square 24 hours a day,” Fund President Jinny Nathans says.

She says that residents are concerned about preserving the “liveability” of the Square, as well as preventing the need for increased police presence and the subsequent burden on taxpayers.

However, Nathans believes that the Defense Fund can be convinced to support a bid for extended hours, if the reason is good enough.

“I’m not saying [a reason is] un-findable, but it’s their job to come up with it,” she says.

Brush says he is “frustrated” by the prospect of having Felipe’s’ application denied and by the lengthy process that he has gone through.

Despite being only in the second year of a 10-year lease in the Garage, Brush and fellow co-owner Felipe Herrera say they are actively looking for a new Square spot where a landlord would support their application for later hours.

“We have contacted landlords in the Square to consider alternative places for our business,” Brush said.

BRAIN FOOD

The College, itself, will soon enter the late-night food business as well, if only on a limited basis.

The new Lamont Café is projected to open—and stay open, along with the library—24 hours a day next year. However, this may only provide minimal relief to hungry students.

While the Lamont Café will provide a place for students to buy food at all hours of the night, Director of Communications for the Harvard College Library Beth Brainard says the College does not envision the Café being the same as a fully-functional restaurant.

“The Café is being opened as an enhancement to the library,” she says. “It is not being opened with the thought of it being another area of food service.”