The main attraction of Huron Village is its proximity to Fresh Pond, a great place to take a relaxing walk around. Birdwatchers like it all year because of its popularity with migrating waterfowl. Since the pond is one of Cambridge's principal sources of drinking water, human recreational use of it is prohibited and the ducks geese etc like that just fine. There's also a public golf course flanking the pond along part of one side.
One of my favorite spots for "yuppie pizza," Emma's, outgrew its longtime location on Huron Ave and is now in larger quarters near Kendall Square. So I don't eat around Huron Village much now: two successors weren't as good, and one has since gone out of business. Fans of "cozy neighborhood Italian bistros" do have good things to say about this area's version, situated just north of the Concord/Huron intersection on Huron. And Lucky Garden is OK when you're in a major bind for take-out food and don't mind mediocre "Chinese" cuisine without having to go to Changsho. Full Moon generally gets good marks too, but bouncing shrieking small children are only cute when they're yours!
There tends to be a sameness about the community that some people use as a caricature of Cambridge in general: lots of multiple-degreed individuals, some married and some "partnered," with natural graying taking place on the majority of the women and beards occurring on most of the men. Walk into Full Moon on a crowded Saturday, yell "Zachary! Abigail!," and watch confusion reign as nearly all the kids look up from their games to figure out who's calling them. LOL!!! Few and far between are folks aged under 35 or much over 55, and who are not of the Caucasian persuasion or of liberal/progressive ideology. It's also the norm thereabouts to have been raised and educated elsewhere than Massachusetts. "Not that there's anything wrong with that," since I fit squarely into that demographic except for the beard part. But "diverse," any way you slice it, is not a label that can be attached to Huron Village.
By and large, though, it's a neat part of town with easy access via its own trackless-trolley line to Harvard Square. You're also "right down the street" from one strip mall with a Staples and a Whole Foods and another with a Shaw's and one of my favorite independent hardware stores (Tags.) Like in any urban area, the neighborliness of those living close by is affected a lot by whether you have pets or young children (natural conversation starters, along with windshield stickers from your alma mater or alma maters.) But zealously minding one's own business and taking months to learn the name of your upstairs or next-door abutter is an urban and New England tradition upheld in lots of places besides this one. Aside from all that, there's a street fair along Huron Ave each year which is well attended (if only for its uproarious dog/owner lookalike contest), something that's one of the many agreeable aspects of urban living. For a quiet yet convenient neighborhood you can't do much better.
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Huron Village, Cambridge
Huron Village is Great
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