DAVIS SQUARE

'Davis Square' is a square in Somerville, Massachusetts, located around the intersection of Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue, but is often more broadly used to refer to the neighborhood which centers on the square. It is located within walking distance of Tufts University and parts of Harvard University. The Davis Square T station is one of the stops on the Red Line of the MBTA. The Somerville Community Path runs right through the middle of the square on a former rail line, leading to the popular Minuteman Bikeway. The cobblestone square now attracts families in the summer who congregate outside the ice cream parlor, JP Licks listening to musicians and people watching. The Somerville Arts Council's popular ArtBeat festival takes place here every year on the third weekend of July. The historic Somerville Theatre is located in the Square.
In 1997, Davis Square was listed by the Utne Reader as one of the fifteen "hippest places to live" in the United States.^[1]
The 1984 extension of the Red Line to Alewife Station via Davis, already a college-oriented neighborhood, brought on a series of rapid changes that are still resented by many longtime Somerville residents. In 2005, ''The Boston Globe'' reported the first million dollar condo sale in Davis Square, which represented a major psychological change for a neighborhood known for being budget friendly.^[2]

Today, Davis Square is a mix of the old and the new. Restaurants, coffee shops, and stores catering to students and young urban professionals coexist with working class diners and tailors that predate Davis Square's trendy period.
The Public Radio International show, ''Living on Earth'' is recorded in its studios in Davis Square.
Davis Square gets its name from Person Davis (1819-1894), whose 10 acre estate contained the present-day Davis Square.^[3]

Contents

References

External links

References

1. Hip Hot Spots
2. New neighborhoods gaining m cachet
3. Rebekah Gewirtz E-Newsletter: December 2006

External links

★ ArtBeat festival Annual art festival in Davis Square

★ New Neighborhoods Gaining 1M Cachet

★ Davis Square: A Transit-Oriented Development Case Study