I was wrong about the dates. Here’s a more accurate history of Emma’s:
Phase I: Emma and Gregory (19??–196?; 196?–199?):
“It was moved here to town by Emma and her husband, Gregory, from Revere Beach in the mid 60’s. The shop occupied a modest space on Huron Avenue in West Cambridge”
Phase II: Wendy and David (1995--2000; 2000--2004):
“Wendy Saver and David Rockwood were customers of Emma’s, and like me and, I bet, all of Emma’s customers, they patronized her because she sold dependably good, thin-crust pizza, and was herself dependably grouchy, if not disagreeable, a piece of work, a phenomenon. Occasionally, unaccountably, and even more remarkably she would smile and say something pleasant. Wendy and David missed her pizzas. Wendy was doing marketing for a theater, and David was working for a caterer. For a lark, they asked Emma to sell them her business.”
(The full article at the link above provides a fascinating glimpse of what it was considered OK to say in the mid 1990s – not that long ago, and an attitude to which we might, sadly, well be returning.)
Phase III: Jeff Weingast (2004--2016; 2016--????):
“Emma’s has been a Cambridge staple since it first opened in 1962. It relocated to the 40 Hampshire St. spot in 2000, and Weingast has owned the restaurant since 2004, as previously reported.”
