IHOP Won’t Open Until Year’s End

This holiday season will bring snowy streets, brightly-colored wrapping paper, and, finally, pancakes to Harvard Square.

The International House of Pancakes (IHOP), which was supposed to have opened in June 2006, will open by New Year's Day 2007, according to the owner of the 16-18 Elliot Street space, Robert Banker ’58.

In March, IHOP bought the location on Eliot Street but its initial summer opening was originally delayed until October because the kitchen-equipment supplier went bankrupt.

By now, all of the equipment has been re-ordered and delivered, though the ribbon-cutting has been pushed back again.

“They are working diligently there now every day,” Banker said. “In the next week or two they will have tests run by the fire department to make sure all the fire equipment is in working order.”

Besides installing equipment, workers have remodeled the entire space.

“If you walk in, it clearly looks like a restaurant now,” said Banker.

It is typical for property owners to give commercial leasers a period of free rent in which they can remodel a space to fit their own tastes. IHOP was given three months of free rent in order to do this, said Banker.

“They have their own image, style and decoration,” Banker said. “They have done an extensive job of remodeling.”

Many residents of Harvard Square have been expectantly anticipating the IHOP’s opening, including members of the Harvard Square Business Association (HSBA).

“We are looking forward to having them here because you might need a 2 a.m. pancake fix,” said Denise A. Jillson, the executive director of the HSBA. “I do know that there are lots of people who are eagerly awating their opening.”

Unlike most IHOP’s, the Cambridge branch will not stay open later than 2 a.m. because they failed to obtain the requisite license from the Cambridge License Association last March.

This failure was due in part to community concerns about late night crowds and rowdiness in the Square.

The Harvard Square Defense Fund said in March they are concerned with preserving the atmosphere in the Square and called a chain-restaurant like IHOP a threat to its ambience.

“We’re all excited,” said Banker. “We are going to have pancakes in Harvard Square and it should be fun.”

V. Nick Cirella ’07 said that there is no comparison to an IHOP in the Square in terms of its food and low prices.

“I can't wait for IHOP. I love it,” he said. “On the walk home from working out on Saturday morning it will be great to get a pancake and an omelette.”

—Staff writer Shifra B. Mincer can be reached at smincer@fas.harvard.edu.