Holy crap. Out Of Town News to close?

As if my career path over the last few years hasn't made it clear just how screwed the ink-on-paper industry is, now comes word that the iconic Out of Town News kiosk in the middle of Harvard Square is going to close because of a "major downturn" in sales. My dad's a Cambridge native, and for six months in high school he was one of the kids making change for the steady stream of customers who passed through for newspapers and magazines from around the world.

Dad's a social worker, and he emailed this anecdote: "At one point I had a French patient, from Grenoble, while I was at MGH - he'd fought in the Maquis - the French underground during WWll - so his English was good  but, as a favor to me - we had our sessions in French. I'd also pick up newspapers for him at that newsstand - and Gaulois cigarettes in the Square as well."

Out Of Town News was second only to Harvard in securing the Square's reputation as an international crossroads of learning and weirdness. You could get anything there, and it was a great relief to many that the newsstand survived the various "improvements" to the Square over the years. It maintained an eclectic clientele even as most of the Square's once-eccentric businesses gave way to the toxic blandness of chain retailing. Now it will probably turn into a f*ing Starbucks. This is heinous news. At least Charlie's Kitchen still serves a cheap martini.

Thursday update: The Globe put the story on P. 1 today.

Photograph courtesy Philip Greenspun

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