Sunday, December 21, 2003  
WXPort
Feedback
 Clubs TonightHot TixBand GuideMP3sBest Music PollSki GuideThe Best '03 
Music
Movies
Theater
Food & Drink
Books
Dance
Art
Comedy
Events
Home
Listings
Editors' Picks
New This Week
News and Features

Art
Astrology
Books
Dance
Food & Drink
Movies
Music
Television
Theater

Archives
Letters

Classifieds
Personals
Adult
Stuff at Night
The Providence Phoenix
The Portland Phoenix
FNX Radio Network

   
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend

Globetrotting gifts
A stretch of Mass Ave brings the world — and its worldly goods — to Cambridge
BY NINA MACLAUGHLIN
Where to find it

• Atholl Brose, 1902 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 661-5899.

• Irish Imports Ltd., 1737 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 354-2511.

• Little Tibet, 1174 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 868-1030.

• Moroccan Bazaar, 2302 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 661-0644.

• Nomad, 1741 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 497-6677.

— Nina Maclaughlin

In days of YORE, getting around the world in 80 days was pushing it. Circumnavigating the earth by ship, train, carriage, hot-air balloon, or on your own two legs was no easy feat. Bumps in the road — cruising into an iceberg, breaking a wagon wheel, spraining an ankle — could throw off your itinerary for weeks. But modern modes of travel, namely airplanes, give us access to any area of the globe in a matter of hours. If you were really hauling — and were so inclined — you could make it around the world in less than half a week. But that globetrot-turned-globe-gallop surely wouldn’t allow much time for lingering at the Eiffel Tower, climbing Mayan ruins, photographing a herd of yaks at the base of Mount Everest, or cooing at Antarctic penguins. And it certainly wouldn’t allow any time for browsing in foreign shops. Upon your return, when friends and family met you at the airport with open arms and cries of "Welcome home. What’d you get me?", you’d have to hang your head and hold out empty hands.

Ah, but don’t lose hope. Not only do you not have to update your passport, it’s possible to find gifts from around the world without even leaving Mass Ave.

For the kilt-wearing, whiskey-slugging, bagpipe-playing, Loch Ness Monster–loving Scot in your life, there’s Atholl Brose, a Scottish import store perched on the second floor of a building in Porter Square. Inside, you’ll find tartans for every clan, like the weathered MacDonald tartan kilt ($136) with its grays and reds, or Lochcarron ties ($18–$22) in a variety of plaids like Borthwick and Carmichael. The green Lovat Argyll jacket ($350), a beautifully tailored coat, is the color of the Scottish Highlands, a mix of blues and greens and grays, evoking moss and mist and moors. You can pick up a copy of, or get a gift subscription to, Scottish Life magazine ($4.95/single issue; $17.50/subscription), and read about 16 great Glasgow museums, or "The Manly Garb of the Highlander." There’s a selection of silver Orkney jewelry, including a pin of Scotland’s national flower, the thistle ($28). Loads of other Scottish knickknacks and souvenirs line the shelves, like a little stuffed Loch Ness Monster ($8.50), whimsical mugs with Scottish puns ($13), and a book of Scottish country recipes ($4.50) that includes much more than haggis. For the musician, Atholl Brose sells both sheet music and books of songs, like the New Atholl Collection of Scottish Fiddle Music and Dances ($3.50). And for those who fret over what to wear to a month’s worth of holiday parties, the shop also offers kilt rentals.

Also touting gifts and goods from the misty British Isles is Irish Imports Ltd. The store brims with woolen throws and tweedy duds. You’ll certainly find the off-white wool of the trademark Aran sweaters, but the blankets, scarves, jackets, shawls, and glassware boast every color in the spectrum. A pumpkin-and-pomegranate-colored blanket from Donegal Designs ($145), for example, begs to be wrapped around your shoulders. Hand-woven scarves ($125) from Annayalla, Ireland, blend rows of rich shades. To keep your noggin warm on strolls along the Liffey (or the Charles), Irish Imports offers a huge selection of caps and hats. The Millars Clifden Connemara cap ($45) is made of pure virgin wool, and breathes a distinctly Irish air. Browse through the collection of Irish music and jewelry, and pick up a miniature bottle of Guinness ($3), which stands about three inches high. (Personally, we prefer the pint-size, drinkable version.) And anyone who’s taken a country walk in Ireland, over verdant hills, past bogs and sheep and tiny red-doored cottages, will recognize the smell of peat, a sweet and sodden scent that comes from the chimneys. Peat bricks are burned instead of logs in fireplaces, giving off hours of warmth and an unforgettable smell, which you can recreate with packs of three peat bricks ($9) for your own holiday hearth.

Travel a little way down Mass Ave, from Porter Square to Harvard, and you’ll pass from the rolling hillocks of Ireland to the mystical, majestic, jagged peaks of Tibetan Everest. Little Tibet, with its incense-scented air and ethereal Tibetan pipe music, is filled with prayer flags and beautiful jewelry, figurines, and richly colored wall hangings. Learn the language with a Fluent Tibetan CD ($22.99), and announce your politics with a free tibet sticker ($2.50). For the spiritually inclined, Buddha figurines ($1.99–$20) come in every shape and size. On a more decorative note, printed silk scarves ($12) come in delicate flower patterns or plain bright colors, while ornate wall tapestries ($40) with embroidered patterns, tiny mirrors, and dangling beads complement any wall. You can bring a mysterious, haunting sound to someone’s garden with a beaded wind chime ($14.99), or choose from a huge selection of bold necklaces, silver bracelets, and chunky rings. The ones with lapis ($25) are especially enchanting.

Down the street, Moroccan Bazaar takes you from Tibetan climes to saffron-spiced North Africa. Morocco, with its magic-carpet mythology, enjoys a mystique enshrouded in hashish smoke. And cities like Marrakesh, Tangier, and Casablanca evoke images of snake charmers, outdoor markets, casbahs, mint tea, and couscous. This store teems with intricately patterned furniture, lamps, lanterns, mirrors, and rugs, presided over by a shopkeeper willing to answer any of your queries. A selection of handmade hassocks ($135), huge cushion seats that suggest Moroccan exoticism, lines the floor. There’s an array of mirrors with hand-painted (prices vary) or brass frames ($225), which serve more as decorations than as mere tools of reflection. Rolls of rugs and tapestries ($925) in deep burgundies with sparkling tassels lean high against the wall.

Give the gift of food-making with a traditional tagine ($25–$45), a ceramic vessel used for cooking the Moroccan stew of the same name. Tables (prices vary) in various sizes and shapes all have tiled tops, mosaics of colors and patterns in light blues and sea greens or deep reds and oranges. Lanterns hang from the rafters, some squat and simple; others, like one in ornate brass ($225), are lavish and glamorous.

Finally, a trip across Mass Ave takes you from Morocco to Mexico at Nomad. This inviting shop has treasures from around the world — India, Africa, South America, Southeast Asia — but Mexico is its specialty, and the store swirls with the colors of clothing, masks, traditional art, housewares, and artifacts of whimsy and warmth. Brightly painted Oaxacan wood carvings make a cheery addition to any shelf. A merman and mermaid ($125) are surrounded by sea creatures swimming around their scaled tails, and a little midnight-blue armadillo ($24) with pink and purple armor weighs no more than a couple of quarters. Embellish your table with Mexican talavera, ceramic dinnerware made with translucent, jewel-like glazes. A flowered talavera platter ($110) with bold yellows, greens, and blues feels festive and sturdy. Folk art in the form of Ex-votos ($80–$1200), paintings usually done on tin, thank saints for prayers answered: someone who’s gotten out of trouble, for example, or survived an operation. Milagros ($6 and up), little silver charms, also have a votive thrust. Milagros, which means "miracles," are prayer offerings with a talismanic quality. Give a lung to someone trying to quit smoking, a lower torso to a pregnant woman hoping for a healthy pregnancy, a shovel to a gardener, a fish to a fisherman, and so on. The charms, most about the size of a penny and cast in sterling silver, come in a huge assortment of shapes.

Just by trotting up and down a handful of Mass Ave blocks, you can travel thousands of miles and pick up gifts that speak of distant lands. No need to board a plane; just jump on the Red Line. Shop by shop, gift by gift, circle the globe and savor the allure of the exotic all on one familiar strip of street.

Nina MacLaughlin can be reached at nmaclaughlin[a]phx.com .


Issue Date: December 12 - 18, 2003
Back to the News & Features table of contents
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend







about the phoenix |  find the phoenix |  advertising info |  privacy policy |  the masthead |  feedback |  work for us

 © 2000 - 2003 Phoenix Media Communications Group