Harvard Square is the most famous corner of Cambridge — the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Brattle and JFK Streets, surrounded by bookshops, cafes, and the gates of Harvard Yard. It has grown more commercial and touristy over the decades, and some of the independent shops that once defined it have been displaced by chains. But the bones are still good: the Out of Town News kiosk (now a T stop entrance), the brick squares and performance buskers, and the warren of streets leading off into quieter residential Cambridge.
The best of the Square lies around the edges. Brattle Street heading west toward Longfellow House is lined with Victorian mansions. The streets behind the Yard — Dunster, Plympton, Holyoke — have old Cambridge's residential character. And the Harvard Book Store (not affiliated with the university, despite the name) on Massachusetts Avenue is one of the best independent bookshops in New England, with a large used-book section in the basement.