Tucked along the stretch between Harvard and Central Squares, The Plough and Stars—named after the 1926 play by Irish playwright Sean O’Casey—aptly offers a rich literary history. The bar opened in 1969 at the height of Cambridge counterculture; over the years the likes of Philip Roth, Seamus Heaney, David Mamet and Lawrence Ferlinghetti have all knocked a few back here. Ownership has since changed hands, but that spirit remains. Stop in for a pint to listen to live music and rub elbows with a mix of devoted regulars, new school literati, local singer-songwriters and Harvard PhDs.