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Jim Campano's West End Story Reprinted from the Wall Street Journal, August,23, 2000

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Jim Campano's West End Story Reprinted from the Wall Street Journal, August,23, 2000 Printed in the Spirit of the Mid-Town Journal and the Phll Oddo ·School of Journalism: If You Can't Say Something Bad About Somebody -Lie! (This was supposed to be the original legend in 1984, but Raymond was scared Phil would beat us up.) VOLUME 16 NO. 3 .SEPTEMBER 2000 James Campano, Editor/Publisher •:• Email: [email protected] •:• . (6i7) 628-2479 Jim Campano's West End Story Reprinted from The Wall Street Journal, August,23, 2000 was parked in Haskell's Garag~ at and to a headstrong slog to reclaim hom~es were old. Maybe I wouldn't left to the weeds. On it, the city of 'By Barry Newman Chambers and Barton. Jimbo and some comer of his old furf. But have lived there all my life, but I Boston decided to build a mixed­ Staff Reporter of his buddies jumped the fence, after 42 years, Mr. Campano still could still have walked the streets, income apartment house. The The Wall Street Journal hacked off the exhaust pipe, broke su}?sists in what might be called a bought a slush on the corner. building would house a newspa­ the gear levers and poured plaster state of psychic homelessness. Maybe I. wanted to leave, but I pe!-office and a West End museum. BOSTON-The West End was into the gas tank. Two weeks later, 'The whole West End-you could· wanted to come back, too." . And some West Enders thrown out a neighborhood of five-floor walk­ t h e walk it in five minutes," he says Vocationally, Mr. Campano sells decades before would get a chance ups that was bulldozed off the map crane now. "But there was so much newspapers from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. to go home. ' of Boston between the summers of was in packed into it. It seemed like it every morning down in the Bos­ It was a gesture of redress that 1958 and 1960. The city evicted t h e went on forever." ton subway. Avocationally, he is made Mr. Campano and his bud­ 7,000 people, mostly Italians, Jews street at He sits on the recliner in his liv­ ward captain, television personal­ dies feel copacetic. Many people and Poles-working-class immi­ night, ing room. The air conditioner is on. ity, newspaper editor and keeper of expect redress for many things, grants and their children-without t w 0 the curtains drawn. "Getting the archives in the old West End, a lately, and some deserve it. They offering them other plac~s to live. cops on plucked out and put somewhere neighborhood of the mind. And that call it closure now. But this was a It sold the land to a builder who guard. else, a young person, you get all was all he could imaginably have long way back, and Mr. put up a private enclave of luxury Jimbo shook up," he says. "A _piece of been, until an opportunity arose Campano's redress is yet to come. ' hit it you ps, aies: It's like-a hole in almost 15 years ago tojump the His expectations for yesterday's with a your memory." fence between the ephemeral and West Enders have tangled with the End was called slum clearance at Molotov He pushes _the cat off the coffee the real. entitlements of today's poor. Old first, then urban renewal, and then cocktail. Jim Campano table. '' Not everybody thought Real as in real estate. Of the old wrongs against his class have had a crime. In an era when city plan­ " Lit the West End was heaven. West End's 52 acres, one lot mea­ to share a small cup of closure with ning meant demolition, few other up the whole street," he says. Maybe they got piCked on. The suring 70,000 square feet had been West End Story, P'!-ge 8 American neighborpoods were so "Have you ever heard the sound a ruthlessly erased. Boston's maps Molotov cocktail makes? It goes, today show a blank along the woomph!" Father Groden's Glass House Charles River between Beacon The millenia! Jimbo still has To tilL' hlit(lJ: Hill and the North End where the some hair, minus the grease. He \1: ll~lllll' i\ RIL'ilie· :\e·dd. I alll a hhd; I]LIIl ~lild a I()J'Jlle'J' \\e· ... t 1-.ndc'J. West End streets used to run. wears shorts, sneakers and polo \lte'lle';ldille' tilL' 'tm: ~lhClllt Jim Cllll]1~11Hl I' tile· \\all Stre'L't .l(liJJ'JUI. l_\_\j~J!_lJj!fu__!!llended Bostonians under 40 hardly know shirts, and lives with his wife in a ill- FatlwL(; roclt·u·, -.;tatt·mt'IJb that__\ \'e-.;t E1Hh·•·-.;_\\_l~B'-Til<,:i~h. it existed. Jim Campano still can't frame house in the inner suburb of believe it's gone. .Somerville. They have two grown As a carpL'lllL'r h: tr;lde·. I 11a' tile· \1111.' hl.1cJ... llLIIl (lJl the· joh ~It \\L''l Lnd I'I;IL"l'. I \\;1 ... h1re·d In April 1958, when the wreck­ children. Many old West Enders alll'r Jilll C~llll]1~11l(l hrou~IJt llll' t(l tile• de'\c'l()pc·(.., ;ltlc'llti()Jl th~lt ~~.., ;1 hi~1CJ... 111;111 ;IJllli<lJ'Jlle'l \\e·..,t ers moved in, he was 17 years old: have died and many others who El1de'J'. I should he· 11 mJ...in_C' on tilL' j()h. Greased hair, motorcycle jacket, were forced to move out have I\\;[\ kt _C'(l .li'te'l' \llli.' tilre·e· \\L'e'b ()Jl the· J\lh. k;l\ Ill~ an ,dl ... c'lll'l' (ll \llll- . \Jll~Tic";IJl\ (lJl the· engineer's boots. He hung out on moved on. Ji'rri Campano hasn't. ]11'0Je'Ct at \\L'>t End PlaCl.'. the comer of Brighton and Cham­ His adolescent fury led to years of Frnlll 1 iL'\\ as a hlacJ... lll:lll. tilL' on I: LIL"i>h a\>OL'I~Ill'd 11 Jtil \\.l·..,t Lnd I'Lil'l' 11 l'le' tile· de'\ L'l\1 •- bers. His street name was Jimbo. emotional drift, to the charice dis- · One of the wrecking cranes co very of a way to vent his anger, -RICIIIL :\FDD If you haven't renewed your subscription to The West. Ender,. nOw's the time-$' 10 Per.. Year <(l[qe ~est ~n~er P. 0. BOX 413 SOMERVILLE, MA 02144 (617) 628-2479 . .. .;:· ~ .. ,' ' ~· ...-... ...:. .• . "' -.. PAGEl SEPTEMBER 2000 m4t ~tsf ~n~tr P.O. BOX 413 SOMERVILLE, MA021~ TEL. (617) 628-2479 Staff: Editor.....•.................••••.•.•.••.•. .JAMES CAMPANO Co-Founder.••••••••••••••• ! ...........RAYMOND J. PAPA All letters, articles, and photos submitted to this publication become the property of The West Ender. Jim Campano is the only person authorized to accept memorabilia for The West Ender <H dSigns Remember, the West Ender is·a one man operation; mistakes will be made, but call or write and they will be co"ected. Announcements St. Joseph's. Mass for The West Ender Vuieo Newsletter, Jim Campano (I) Host and Joe Fortunato, Director, discuss the making of the Video Newsletter on a recent shoot. Deceased West Enders St. Joseph's Mass For deceased West Enders will be held on Remebering the Roaring Twenties Oct.29 at 11 :30 a.m. for more information call the rectory at I noticed from reading our West Ender that th.ere are one or two of us nonagenarians still around. 617-523-4342. After the Mass a reception is held downstairs Amazing! We have lived so long and .seen so much. There may have been notable decades, but the in the hall and everybody has a good time. one that impressed me was the "Roaring Twenties." · A lot happened during that time: The grim WWI had ended; People were relieved; Our boys were back home: Sadly, a lot didn't make it. - ' ' English High's 50th The girls were called Flappers. We bobbed our hair, rolled our stockings and danced the Charles­ ton. We were considered very bold and daring. Irv!ng Berlin wrote a beautiful song for his bride called "Always." It was played at most weddings for the bride and groom's first waltz. ·It was · A volunteer committee from the 1950 graduating class of the nation's played at my sister Lucy's wedding. The Hon. Joe Russo conducting and choreographing. oldest public high school, The English High School, Boston, is looking The Lone Eagle was the first solo flight across the Atlantic with just his cat and a sandwich. Big for 530 classmates for a Golden Anniversary Reunion on September celebrations were had when he landed in France. Also, in New York a big ticker-tape parade was 28, 2000, at Lantana's in Randolph, Mass. If you have any information held. In Boston, people were standing in line waiting to shake his hand -my friend and I included. about present addresses and phone numbers or even possible where­ What a thrill! He was tall and slim and a little on the shy side. abouts, please contact: He was nothing at all like the movie with James Stewart, "The Spirit of St. Louis." The "Sheik of ·Santo J. Aurelio Araby" left a lot of brokenhearted females when he entered the pearly gates. The movies began to 436 Mystic Street talk then with a tearjerker called "The Jazz Singer" with AI Jolson. He popularized two songs: Arlington, MA 02474 "Mammf' and "Sonny Boy". The latter song was so touching that most mothers nicknamed their (781) 643-7777 *Fax (781) 643-3993 *Email: [email protected].
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