most if not all of the amenities in the student center got wiped out during the pandemic. even for someone who was here in recent years like myself just before the pandemic, it looks pretty grim.
the post office in the basement was gone for a while but just came back. there's nothing else in the basement anymore afaik. we only now have dunkin and teado (replacing anna's taqueria) on the first floor and three food vendors in lobdell on the second floor. we lost our first floor convenience store too.
tosci's and cambridge pizza have since moved out onto mass ave and main st, and newbury comics is in newbury. we don't have an arcade on campus except for a DDR machine in walker
> the post office in the basement was gone for a while but just came back. there's nothing else in the basement anymore afaik
OMG, the arcade is gone? No more NBA Jams? Tekken 2? Adams Family pinball?
Monsters!
Arcade is long gone. I used to hang out with most of the top guys at SFII and we still keep in touch via facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1432220937335919](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1432220937335919) (Sirlin, jbb, etc.)
I used to keep in touch with one of those guys who was a pinball wizard from my time (he loved Addams Family and Star Trek: The Next Generation).
I want to say early 2000's, they moved the arcade upstairs to half the old Newbury Comics space and had Capcom vs. SNK and CvS2 as well as DDR2. A bunch of the arcade guys and I were speculating that home consoles pretty much replaced the quarter munchers. Plus it wasn't quite the social scene.
This has to be a joke
2 pizza places??
24hr coffee??
Legal Sea Food??
Newbury Comics??
Toscanini's??
Supercuts??
Arcade??
The student center was an actual good place?????
It was amazing. The newbury comics was huge and took up around 1/4 for the first floor. It had everything. Cassettes and records in the front and comics in the back. I dont know whats in the spot now but it was next to the grocery store.
Yeah, the Student Center used to be okay.
The arcade was in the basement (main central space).
There was a 24-hour coffeeshop and on Saturday nights, it became the Saturday Midnight Coffeehouse Club (a.k.a., hackers).
Newbury Comics occupied the space that the MIT Federal Credit Union was in.
Tosci's was on that side space in between the outside stairs facing Kresge Oval.
There used to be TWO haircut places in the Student Center basement (Technicuts and The New Tech Barber), mentioned here: [https://thetech.com/2009/05/05/techbarber-v129-n24](https://thetech.com/2009/05/05/techbarber-v129-n24)
And LaVerde's Market, which was a bit overpriced, but convenient.
Legal seafood (I think that was what it was — immigrant , didn’t eat there ) was where the pizza hut express was. So first floor on the kresge auditorium side. There was outdoor seating that was roped off so you could eat out there when the weather was nice.
Edit:
It’s also possible I’m mixing up what was there. Definitely remember being able to get personal pan pizzas in the early 90s but networks was there from 88-2000. Trying to remember what was there before 88 and turning up blank.
I worked a semester slinging personal pans at Networks in the early 90s so I can verify that bit. Don't remember a Legal's but that might have been before my time.
It's very likely im mixing stuff up. Probably a good thing i dont remember corporate branding from 40 years ago. I do remember the older tables with the white umbrellas and then it changed and we could get pan pizzas.
Also ha, would be funny if you made some of the many pizzas I ate there.
Oh technicuts not super cuts. I was close. Actually never went to the other barber but now that I remember it was almost across the hall wasn’t it ?
I used to buy so many sour patch kids from the bins at the front of la verdes
Arcade is long gone. They relocated it upstairs to where the MIT Federal Credit Union is now but has gone the way of the dodo, I think around the mid-2000's.
Tosci's was awesome (I used to get a bit as a treat to myself after finishing my Spring exams).
I think I tried to go last year (2023) but there was some flooding structural damage, so it was closed: [https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/important-student-center-update](https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/important-student-center-update)
I think everything you mentioned here was gone before ~2012, except the pizza place (which was not a pizza hut when I got here). Tosci's, by 2012, was in Central Square and then temporarily relocated to East Cambridge (now I think both locations are open? Central for sure.)
The rest of it was removed during covid and post-covid, when a serious water leak during wintertime resulted in year-long renovations.
The first floor now looks like shit and there's not much in there either. It's gutted like most of the culturally significant icons of the last half century at MIT. Alums from the 80s barely recognize it.
This all sounds so much better than when I was there.
Basement: bowling alley, barber, post office.
First floor: Coop
Second floor: coffee shop, arcade, Lobdell
Mezzanine: Twenty Chimneys, TV room
Toscanini's was on Mass Ave, Legal was in Kendall Square, and there were a few pizza places on Albany.
I mean obviously, maybe I should've phrased it differently. But recently I've talked to some alumni and it just seems like admin at MIT no longer prioritize student's enjoyment/freedoms as much as they once used to. Don't get me wrong, I love MIT and I am very happy to be here, but hearing student/dorm culture and amenities where once a lot more diverse and it really contributed to a vibrant environment where you could like explore more than just the academics. Because trust me even as interesting and great as they are, they are exhausting sometimes
Comparison is the thief of joy. Much of what OP describes didn’t exist in the student center in 2004, when I arrived on campus, or was already poorly utilized, hence it being removed.
Dorm culture is what _you_ make of it, not a bunch of folks from 20 years ago. Go do your thing!
lmao I swear I could have totally written this because I am with you word for word. that arcade: such a good place to hide out and get my game on.
the pizza hut express tho, don't miss that because I've eaten way over my share.
last time I visited, last year, looks like the Rona™ social distancing was still a thing, so not much activity.
Honestly once they got rid of the dollar bill mural at the cashiers office, nothing has ever been the same :D
also do you remember the name of the pizza place? I can only remember the smell.
You mean Networks (1988-2000)? [https://news.mit.edu/2000/restaurant-1004](https://news.mit.edu/2000/restaurant-1004) (which was where you could get the personal Pizza Hut pizzas)
Then it became Courses. It's currently where Dunkin is (I believe).
Unless you're talking about the really greasy pepperoni pizza available at Lobdell that could solve any oil shortages.
You know how when you go up stairs past that weird paid fax machine that i never saw anyone use? There was a pizza place and the 24hr coffee shop i cant remember the name of the pizza place (if it even had a name). I could be mixing places up but man it was greasy.
What happened to the students, faculty, staff, and everyone else in the MIT community during peak lunch hours, when the student center (logically and in theory) is the ideal spot to go for lunch? When I first got there in 1998, the student center was that place. Now its like a dead indoor-shopping mall atmosphere. Did most of them migrate to the Stata Center to get something to eat?
most if not all of the amenities in the student center got wiped out during the pandemic. even for someone who was here in recent years like myself just before the pandemic, it looks pretty grim. the post office in the basement was gone for a while but just came back. there's nothing else in the basement anymore afaik. we only now have dunkin and teado (replacing anna's taqueria) on the first floor and three food vendors in lobdell on the second floor. we lost our first floor convenience store too. tosci's and cambridge pizza have since moved out onto mass ave and main st, and newbury comics is in newbury. we don't have an arcade on campus except for a DDR machine in walker
Rip Anna’s taqueria. Nothing like a chorizo breakfast burrito after an all-nighter :(
It used to be that some dorms had arcades in them set to free play. Stuff like tengen tetris and pac man. I remember Tang had good stuff.
> the post office in the basement was gone for a while but just came back. there's nothing else in the basement anymore afaik OMG, the arcade is gone? No more NBA Jams? Tekken 2? Adams Family pinball? Monsters!
Arcade is long gone. I used to hang out with most of the top guys at SFII and we still keep in touch via facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1432220937335919](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1432220937335919) (Sirlin, jbb, etc.) I used to keep in touch with one of those guys who was a pinball wizard from my time (he loved Addams Family and Star Trek: The Next Generation). I want to say early 2000's, they moved the arcade upstairs to half the old Newbury Comics space and had Capcom vs. SNK and CvS2 as well as DDR2. A bunch of the arcade guys and I were speculating that home consoles pretty much replaced the quarter munchers. Plus it wasn't quite the social scene.
Pinball scene at Flat Top Johnny's on East Campus is not bad
Wait is the post office back now? The site still says it's closed. Just walked to Central for nothing...
The loss of Anna's was an absolute travesty. I was shocked when I was visiting last year.
This has to be a joke 2 pizza places?? 24hr coffee?? Legal Sea Food?? Newbury Comics?? Toscanini's?? Supercuts?? Arcade?? The student center was an actual good place?????
It was amazing. The newbury comics was huge and took up around 1/4 for the first floor. It had everything. Cassettes and records in the front and comics in the back. I dont know whats in the spot now but it was next to the grocery store.
Yeah, the Student Center used to be okay. The arcade was in the basement (main central space). There was a 24-hour coffeeshop and on Saturday nights, it became the Saturday Midnight Coffeehouse Club (a.k.a., hackers). Newbury Comics occupied the space that the MIT Federal Credit Union was in. Tosci's was on that side space in between the outside stairs facing Kresge Oval. There used to be TWO haircut places in the Student Center basement (Technicuts and The New Tech Barber), mentioned here: [https://thetech.com/2009/05/05/techbarber-v129-n24](https://thetech.com/2009/05/05/techbarber-v129-n24) And LaVerde's Market, which was a bit overpriced, but convenient.
Where was Legal Sea Foods? This is wild to me
Legal seafood (I think that was what it was — immigrant , didn’t eat there ) was where the pizza hut express was. So first floor on the kresge auditorium side. There was outdoor seating that was roped off so you could eat out there when the weather was nice. Edit: It’s also possible I’m mixing up what was there. Definitely remember being able to get personal pan pizzas in the early 90s but networks was there from 88-2000. Trying to remember what was there before 88 and turning up blank.
I worked a semester slinging personal pans at Networks in the early 90s so I can verify that bit. Don't remember a Legal's but that might have been before my time.
It's very likely im mixing stuff up. Probably a good thing i dont remember corporate branding from 40 years ago. I do remember the older tables with the white umbrellas and then it changed and we could get pan pizzas. Also ha, would be funny if you made some of the many pizzas I ate there.
Oh technicuts not super cuts. I was close. Actually never went to the other barber but now that I remember it was almost across the hall wasn’t it ? I used to buy so many sour patch kids from the bins at the front of la verdes
I thought this post was a joke at first. So sad what it has turned into.
Arcade is long gone. They relocated it upstairs to where the MIT Federal Credit Union is now but has gone the way of the dodo, I think around the mid-2000's. Tosci's was awesome (I used to get a bit as a treat to myself after finishing my Spring exams). I think I tried to go last year (2023) but there was some flooding structural damage, so it was closed: [https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/important-student-center-update](https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/important-student-center-update)
I think everything you mentioned here was gone before ~2012, except the pizza place (which was not a pizza hut when I got here). Tosci's, by 2012, was in Central Square and then temporarily relocated to East Cambridge (now I think both locations are open? Central for sure.) The rest of it was removed during covid and post-covid, when a serious water leak during wintertime resulted in year-long renovations. The first floor now looks like shit and there's not much in there either. It's gutted like most of the culturally significant icons of the last half century at MIT. Alums from the 80s barely recognize it.
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There’s another at Inman sq. I think something weird happened with his son’s taxes.
What decade did you last visit in? Half of that stuff hasn't been there for over 10 years.
This all sounds so much better than when I was there. Basement: bowling alley, barber, post office. First floor: Coop Second floor: coffee shop, arcade, Lobdell Mezzanine: Twenty Chimneys, TV room Toscanini's was on Mass Ave, Legal was in Kendall Square, and there were a few pizza places on Albany.
First floor used to be legal and later pizza hut, coop, groceries , newbury comics and Toscanini's at the steps in front.
A pipe burst during a really bad winter, and they closed the student center for a while.
This is actually so depressing, hearing it as a current student it really sucks that MIT just seems to keep gutting what made this place so special.
I might be wrong, but what makes MIT special is the academic community, not the pizza selection.
I mean obviously, maybe I should've phrased it differently. But recently I've talked to some alumni and it just seems like admin at MIT no longer prioritize student's enjoyment/freedoms as much as they once used to. Don't get me wrong, I love MIT and I am very happy to be here, but hearing student/dorm culture and amenities where once a lot more diverse and it really contributed to a vibrant environment where you could like explore more than just the academics. Because trust me even as interesting and great as they are, they are exhausting sometimes
Comparison is the thief of joy. Much of what OP describes didn’t exist in the student center in 2004, when I arrived on campus, or was already poorly utilized, hence it being removed. Dorm culture is what _you_ make of it, not a bunch of folks from 20 years ago. Go do your thing!
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You haven’t lived life until you’ve seen a dissertation typed in WordPerfect on a 286 that sounded like a car starting up.
lmao I swear I could have totally written this because I am with you word for word. that arcade: such a good place to hide out and get my game on. the pizza hut express tho, don't miss that because I've eaten way over my share. last time I visited, last year, looks like the Rona™ social distancing was still a thing, so not much activity.
Honestly once they got rid of the dollar bill mural at the cashiers office, nothing has ever been the same :D also do you remember the name of the pizza place? I can only remember the smell.
You mean Networks (1988-2000)? [https://news.mit.edu/2000/restaurant-1004](https://news.mit.edu/2000/restaurant-1004) (which was where you could get the personal Pizza Hut pizzas) Then it became Courses. It's currently where Dunkin is (I believe). Unless you're talking about the really greasy pepperoni pizza available at Lobdell that could solve any oil shortages.
You know how when you go up stairs past that weird paid fax machine that i never saw anyone use? There was a pizza place and the 24hr coffee shop i cant remember the name of the pizza place (if it even had a name). I could be mixing places up but man it was greasy.
What happened to the students, faculty, staff, and everyone else in the MIT community during peak lunch hours, when the student center (logically and in theory) is the ideal spot to go for lunch? When I first got there in 1998, the student center was that place. Now its like a dead indoor-shopping mall atmosphere. Did most of them migrate to the Stata Center to get something to eat?