The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131182   Message #3721754
Posted By: GUEST,Tom Horth
07-Jul-15 - 04:36 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: Old Joe Clark co-op, commune, collective
Subject: RE: Folklore: Old Joe Clark co-op, commune, collective
Old Joe Clark on Fayette St. in Cambridge was in existence before 1957. People I knew who lived there in the '50s included Jerry Wencker, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Keppel (I think). Most were students at MIT. They often cooked communal meals. And they were all into folk music. They were listed in the Boston phone book under "Clark, Old Joe."

At the time there there were monthly songfests at MIT, sponsored by the MIT Outing Club (called Hootenanys), and at the International House on Garden St. in Cambridge near Harvard. Peggy Seeger, a student at Radcliffe at the time, sometimes led the International House songfests. I remember one night when Peggy, Mike and Penny Seeger were all there. Remember, this was shortly before Joan Baez came to the area. I think Club 47 was in existence at its first location, but I never went there