Save Tommy's

Over the past year, several Cambridge residents have complained that Tommy’s House of Pizza is staying open past its 2 a.m. city-mandated closing time. The Cambridge Licensing Commission has threatened that if Tommy’s is again found to have stayed open too late, its license will most likely be curtailed to midnight, or may even be revoked completely.

These complaints are manifestly unreasonable; Cambridge has been a college town for longer than any of Tommy’s neighbors have been alive. Tommy’s pies have been served for as long as anybody can remember—they are as important to Harvard life as Diet Coke-filled vending machines and John Harvard’s Monday nights. More people probably eat slices at Tommy’s every week than read books at Widener. There will be no compromise. If Cambridge denizens cannot cope with students running to Tommy’s to get their after-party pizza fix, they have one option: Move out.

At the last licensing commission meeting only Tommy’s owner, Gurcharan S. Gill, was there to plead his case. We call for all students, from the Quad to the River, from seniors to first-years, to flood the next licensing meeting and agitate for later hours. It would be unconscionable for Harvard students to sit by in silence while such an integral late-night watering hole is defiled by cranky old-timers who forget to put in their earplugs when they go to bed.

If, for any reason, Tommy’s does lose its licence, we hope it will be bought by Pinocchio’s. Then we won’t have to trek all the way out to JFK Street to get great pizzas. But if tragedy does strike, at least there will still be a chance to get Real Tacos until 2 a.m. to satisfy those midnight munchies.