By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
CAMBRIDGE – It is always sad to see an old familiar face leave, be it a family member, close friend, or even a neighborhood institution like Harvard Square’s Out of Town News newsstand. Such kiosks served as communal hubs that sold teen magazines to youngsters and newspapers to adults on the way to work for decades. However, they were more than that and represented a special era involving the wonderful world of print before ushering in the digital age.
Founded in 1950s
Out of Town News was founded by Sheldon Cohen in 1955 following the death of his father who used to hawk newspapers with him outside the square’s T station when he was 11 years old. Cohen would go on to earn the title “Unofficial Mayor of Harvard Square” thanks to his beloved business which is now listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Former beleaguered senator and Cambridge mayor Anthony D. Galluccio was once an employee.
Photo/Courtesy of Cambridge Historical Commission
In May 1998, the city dedicated the Out of Town News kiosk area “Sheldon Cohen Island” after the longtime civic leader and philanthropist who began selling papers there in 1944.
Out of Town News was known for its wide selection of several thousand local, national, international newspapers, lesser-known journals, and hobby periodicals. During its prime, the 500-square foot newsstand sold approximately 600 London papers on Sundays and 1,500 Irish papers a week. Long-time patrons bought hard-to-find magazines on photography, guitars, and computers. Former customers took time to reflect on Facebook.
Amy McGrath Huges wrote:
“I purchased SO many tickets there. Squeezing into the small area…magical days.”
Nekita Lamour added:
“I missed the kiosk. I used to buy foreign papers there. Was in Harvard Square the other day and saw the change.”
Kevin Duffy wrote:
“Many memories. Trying to sneak peaks at the skin mags with my friends, back in middle school. Getting kicked out, then slithering across the street to Nini’s Corner and doing the same thing. Later on, paying $3.00 for week-old Dutch newspapers, for my homesick wife.”
Yoga teacher Diana Feik paid regular visits to Out of Town News since she became a U.S. citizen. In 2019, Feik told WBUR, “Well, I come usually for my German magazines. I’m from Germany. But there’s none left because they’re closing, right? So, I get the Halloween magazines for my kids.”
Famous customers
Before closing its doors and synergy in 2019, the business could depend on regular celebrity clientele like Julia Child who browsed for German and Italian cooking magazines, poet Robert Frost and Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. In 1975, a 21-year-old Allen was a programmer at Honeywell. One day, he stopped by the kiosk and purchased a Popular Electronics magazine, whose cover featured a photo of the “World’s First Minicomputer Kit,” showed it to his friend Bill Gates and the rest is history.
Somerville resident Cara J. Giaimo admitted Out of Town News was the first place she would go to buy a physical newspaper, stating that, “I always think of it as a very communal space. When you go inside, you can get so many things from so many different places.”
While digital news formats are convenient, there is no substituting for the community feel newsstands like the iconic Out of Town News provided especially to academics. It was a place to peruse through pages of material from around the globe and buy souvenirs. It was a central beacon where people gathered. Now practically extinct, there were a countless number of newsstands across America but only one Out of Town News.
Founder Sheldon Cohen, who sold the newsstand in 1994 and once pondered taking it back to bring some life back to the square, passed away in 2023 at the age of 92.
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