STOP EIGHT: T.T. THE BEAR’S PLACE

1984 - 2015

10 Brookline St, Cambridge, MA

NEXT STOP: THE UNDERGROUND (1110 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA)

Years: 1984 - 2015
Opener: The Neighborhoods
Headliner: The Rock and Roll Rumble

Named after a pet hamster, T.T.’s was a rock club that opened and created a small area of venues, including a few other clubs like The Middle East and Manray (both of which still exist). T.T. is another venue that closed due to high rents. It was small and originally opened as a restaurant for many years but became a music venue after the owner removed a few tables and chairs to allow for the stage.

Legend has it that the owners also tried to soundproof the stage by tearing it up and filling the bottom with wheelbarrows of sand. They discovered that sand does not work. (1)

It came as a surprise to many fans when the place closed. But it had a good run, showcasing all kinds of music, local and national bands alike. It also hosted the ‘BCN Rock and Roll Rumble for a few years. This kind of venue - a restaurant with music - is more of what you see today than a small dedicated space.

The Story

There are very few cities where a place with a name so fuzzy-wuzzy cuddly that it sounded like a children’s stuffed-animal boutique in an upscale suburb could in fact be a creative nexus for some of the most ass-kicking bands in the known universe. Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of those cities and T.T. the Bear’s Place proved it.

Known as “T.T. the Bear’s” or just “TT’s” by locals, for 31 years it fit the description above to a tee. And while TT’s was a rock club to its core, it was eclectic in the truest sense of the word in that it was impossible to pin down as “this kind” or “that kind” of rock club. Unlike more narrowly focused venues, TT’s was unique in its equal-opportunity approach to booking acts across the spectrum of rock’s sub-genres from mainstream, punk, roots and funk to indie, alternative, ska, pop and electronica.

TT’s origin story is a thoroughly refreshing and inspiring tale of entrepreneurship and resilience. Although the venue itself opened in 1984, its seeds were planted between 1973 and 1978 when Bonney Bouley, a New Hampshire native, and her partner Miles Cares opened and operated what she readily, laughingly, almost proudly admits was a “dive bar” at the corner of Pearl and Green Streets in Cambridge, right around the corner from TT’s future location, 10 Brookline Street, Central Square, where she and Cares opened a restaurant in 1981. Buried in back taxes, however, Bouley filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982 and it took two years to dig herself out of debt.

In early 1984, with no dive bar, no restaurant, and one bankruptcy on her record, Bouley said she and Cares were at a loss about what their future held until Cares’ daughter, who was dating Boston-based rock quartet The Outlets’ drummer, Walter Gustafson, suggested they open a rock club. Having no experience in the music business, as reconnaissance for their newest venture Cares and his daughter went to the Channel, the Rathskeller and Bunratty’s to inspect the layouts so that Cares could redesign the restaurant accordingly. As Bouley recalled in a 2015 interview on WBUR, after Cares had reviewed the other clubs’ designs she asked him what they had to do in terms of major renovations and he replied “Nothin’. I’m just going to build a stage over there and take the tables and chairs out.”

Next, the new club needed a name. Wanting something unlike any other music spot, they discarded “Miles’ & Bonney’s” immediately as too pedestrian and chose to name their latest venture after their pet hamster, Tough Teddy, who they both thought looked like a teddy bear. That decided, T.T. the Bear’s Place opened in 1984 to become a staple of Boston’s music scene and a defining feature in the Central Square landscape along with two competing clubs, The Middle East and Manray, both within shouting distance of TT’s.

As cozy as its adorable name suggested with a capacity of just 300, TT’s held about 250 shows per year on average and between 2011 and 2015 it hosted the Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble, a “battle of the bands” which began in 1979 and has been held at a variety of other Boston venues including the Orpheum, the Paradise Rock Club and Harper’s Ferry. TT’s held two long-running dance nights, the goth- and industrial-centered Xmortis and the new wave-themed Heroes, and the Girls Rock Campaign Boston, which ran rock-music workshops for girls and young women, hosted several events at the venue. In 2008, Boston magazine awarded TT’s its Best Live Music Venue (small) Award, and in 2009 its Best Music Venue (small) Award.

Source:
Monahan, D.S. "T.T. The Bear's Place." Music Museum of New England. October 18, 2022. https://doi.org/https://www.mmone.org/t-t-the-bears-place/.

Continue on to the next stop on the tour: The Underground. This is about a 14 minute walk. (½ mile) 

1. Mason, Amelia. "‘I Really Liked To Take Chances’—An Oral History Of T.T. The Bear’S." WBUR. July 10, 2015. https://doi.org/https://www.wbur.org/news/2015/07/22/t-t-the-bears.

2. "T.T. The Bear's Place." Boston's Hidden Restaurants. July 10, 2015. https://doi.org/https://www.hiddenboston.com/blogentries/tt-the-bears-0715.html.

Performers (partial list)

Headband
The Push Kings
Pixies
Plain Jane Automobile
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Jane's Addiction
Morphine
Lemonheads
Dropkick Murphys
Tommy Stinson of The Replacements
Mike Watt
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Arcade Fire
Sloan
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Bettie Serveert
Chuckelhead
Dinosaur Jr.
Scruffy the Cat
Blake Babies
Mission of Burma
The Shins
Letters To Cleo
Gregory and the Hawk
Til Tuesday

"Prime Movers Perform Live at T.T. The Bears Place on Brookline Ave in Cambridge, MA USA. Recorded in 1986." James Berkowitz. May 11, 2010. Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwYvMEmRKUo&t=3s.