Joie de Vivre was located at 1792 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge, a fifteen minute walk to Harvard Square. The subway hadn't come to Porter Square yet, rent control was in place and the area housed an eclectic mix of long time Cantabrigians, artists, students and academics. When we opened in 1984, the neighborhood was packed with small businesses — on our block there was a plant/flower shop, a jeweler, a vintage clothing store, a woman's clothing store, an Indian restaurant and a basket store. A block or two away, there were more restaurants, real estate, hair salons, a fabric store, two small pharmacies, a toy store, two "natural foods" stores (as they used to call them then) more clothing and gift stores — there was lots going on. We had a beat cop who patrolled our neighborhood on foot! Our own block had its changes over the years; a gypsy clothing store, a crystal shop, a frame store, a stationer, an Italian pottery shop, and many other businesses came and went. Amazingly though, until recently there were four of us on the block who had been there for over 36 years. With our departure, that number is three, but we left a little piece of us behind — if you look closely at the little garden in front of the store, you'll see a brick that says "Joie de Vivre."