CAMBRIDGE - I enjoy spending time with family. But not too much time.
That's why it's oh-so-convenient that the spare bedroom in my house has been turned into a study, which means that visiting relatives must find somewhere else to stay. This arrangement keeps the Pfeiffer clan at a harmonious distance.
Hong Liu, who has owned the Friendly Inn - formally called A Friendly Inn at Harvard Square - with her husband for 17 years, understands these delicate family dynamics.
Her urban bed-and-breakfast gets lots of business from friends and relatives of students and faculty at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But it's also a handy resource for neighborhood folks who need lodging for visiting family members. Whether they're relatives in town for a bar mitzvah, in-laws who've come to see a newborn grandchild, or extended families gathering for a wedding, the Friendly Inn is frequently where they stay. Its location is phenomenal (it's a short walk from Harvard Square) and its prices are tough to beat (as low as about $90 in the off-season).
Its clapboard siding painted rich red, the inn is a former two-family house that reminds me, in a nostalgic way, of the decade I spent living in rented two- and three-deckers in Cambridge and Boston with an ever-changing array of housemates. The inn is considerably nicer than a dorm, but it has a communal atmosphere that transported me back to my 20s.
Built in 1892, the Queen Anne-style house has 17 guest rooms. It has five floors, four stairways, and doors in every direction you look, so wandering its hallways feels like navigating a maze. Inside and out, it's tidy and well maintained, and the place struck me as efficiently managed. It's not the sort of inn where you will chitchat with the owners over a glass of wine in the evening. Instead, it's run more like a motel, with a first-floor office where a staff member is available any time of day.
Throughout the house, furnishings are simple and sometimes a touch worn. The furniture reminded me of my cozy but low-budget apartments from years ago. Our carpeted third-floor room contained a hodgepodge: a small desk, two chairs, two end tables, a small television with five stations, and no-frills linens. The white walls were bare except for two framed pictures.
``Nothing is fancy, but everything is comfortable," said Liu, a teacher in Medford who also owns a second inn near Porter Square called A Cambridge House Bed &#amp Breakfast.
We agree. And despite the simplicity, we had all the amenities we needed: a phone, an alarm clock, an air conditioner, a queen bed, a recently retiled private bathroom, and an eight-car parking lot in back.