Cambridge Reel Ride

This special ride will take you past the locations of Cambridge’s lost theaters and sites immortalized on the big screens of Hollywood.

Please note that this is an excerpt of a 14-mile circuit conceived and mapped by the Cambridge Bicycle Committee. See the full ride, including locations of well-known movie sites, and follow this interactive map if you'd like to see them all for yourself. There are Bluebikes stations at many points along the route, so you can hop on and off, or start or end anywhere you like.

For our shorter 5-mile loop, grab a bike at the Cambridge Main Library at Broadway / Trowbridge St Blue Bikes station.

  • Head west (left if you're facing the library) on Broadway
  • Turn left on Quincy; as you approach Harvard Street, you'll pass the Harvard Film Archive on your left
  • Take a right on Harvard St and a quick left on Bow St
  • Cross Mass Ave and continue on Bow Street; on your right, you'll see the Dunkin' Donuts where Matt Damon's character on Good Will Hunting asks, "How do you like them apples?" and next door the former site of the Bow & Arrow Pub, where he meets Minnie Driver's character
  • Continue on Bow until you get to Mount Auburn Street
  • Turn left on Mount Auburn and ride a few blocks until you reach Trowbridge Street
  • Turn left on Trowbridge, then right on Harvard St; as you pass Lee Street, look to your right and you'll see The People's Republik, a Cambridge institution and site of scenes from the movie 21
  • Continue on Harvard St and take a right on Norfolk St
  • When you reach Mass Ave, across the street you'll see Cheapo Records, where a scene from 1977's Between the Lines, starring John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Jeff Goldblum, Bruno Kirby, Michael J. Pollard, and Marilu Henner, was filmed
  • Turn right on Mass Ave and take a quick left on Pearl Street, then a quick right on Green St
  • Take a gentle left onto Western Ave to experience one of the nicest separated cycle tracks in the country
  • Take the Western Ave cycle track all the way to Putnam Ave, and take a left
  • Turn right on Pleasant St, then left on Florence Street; on your left, you'll pass the Florence Street Rooming House, where scenes were filmed for Boston Strangler, starring Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, and George Kennedy
  • If you're having fun and want to continue along the full Reel Ride, take a left at Magazine Street and follow this interactive ride map; or to finish our shorter 5-mile loop, take a right on Magazine toward Memorial Drive and the Charles River, cross the pedestrian bridge into Magazine Beach Park, and take a right along the Paul Dudley White Bike Path along the Charles River
  • When you get to John F. Kennedy St, take a right to cross back into Harvard Square and dock your bike at the Harvard Square at Mass Ave/ Dunster station to enjoy an afternoon shopping, eating, or watching street performers

See more rides by the Cambridge Bicycle Committee.