Ethnic neighborhood and Dr. Spock

Our journalese dictionary definition of ethnic: “Any person who might speak something other than English and who isn’t a WASP.” Ethnics are never used in the singular, such as “Pedro is an ethnic.” An ethnic neighborhood is a euphemism for a poor neighborhood. An example was in a story about a PBS documentary, in The Boston Globe, May 4, 2017: “Leonard Nymoy grew up in Boston’s old West End, before urban renewal razed much of the once-ethnic neighborhood.”

Nothing wrong in that. But Star Trekkies would be interested to know that “Spock’s” West End was an amazing multi-ethnic neighborhood of immigrants from just about every country you could imagine: Italians, Jews, Poles, Armenians, Greeks, Irish, Russians, Swedes, you name it. In addition to Nymoy, the local amateur theater group produced a number of Hollywood performers, including actress Ruth Roman, and Jerry Colonna, comedian-singer and Bob Hope show character.

Before wiping out the West End tenements in the late 1950s, to make way for modern high-rises — the city of Boston promised the 10,000 displaced residents new, modern housing. Naturally, the promise was never kept. However, the West Enders, wherever dispersed, have maintained strong bonds, and have their own “local” newspaper, The West Ender. Leonard Nymoy was an early sponsor the paper. Go to: http://thewestendmuseum.org/news-publications/the-west-ender/. A West End museum was founded several years ago, and provides terrific programs and exhibits devoted to the old neighborhood: http://thewestendmuseum.org.

An excellent description of the old West End — and what its errors should have taught city planners — was in the Boston Globe Jan. 8, 2012, by architecture critic, Robert Campbell:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/01/08/feeling-home-even-now-boston-old-west-end/zyTbjMYD5mclBn2NNp7IwN/story.html.