The rise and fall

RE "AT kiosk, dire news: Plan to shutter newsstand pierces heart of Harvard Sq." (Page A1, Nov. 20): I felt the tremor from the news of the possible closing of Out of Town News all the way here in Hollywood. In addition to the luminaries and ordinary folks you make reference to who visited this Harvard Square institution, I recall two specific occasions when New Kids on the Block visited the newsstand. The first time they were unknowns, and my wife, Tanya Hart, was doing their first television story with WBZ-TV. Tanya had the five kids at Out of Town News leafing through a Billboard magazine acting as if they had a hit on the charts. People knew who Tanya was, but not the New Kids, and they pushed the New Kids out of the way to get to Tanya.

Once the New Kids hit it big, Harvey Comics was doing a NKOTB comic book, and hired Tanya to produce a video press release. She decided to take the group back to Out of Town News to re-create that first moment of innocence. By this time the New Kids were a worldwide phenomenon, and when word leaked out that they would be in the Square, thousands of screaming fans were there to greet them. It was such chaos that the New Kids could not get out of their limos, and the shoot had to be quietly moved elsewhere.

Of course, now NKOTB is back, and Out of Town News may be closing.

Philip S. Hart

Hollywood