Taken Away - Urban Renewal and Boston's West End
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2024
- "Taken Away" is the debut film by urban historian Christopher Brown, about the demolition of Boston's historic and culturally diverse West End neighborhood during "urban renewal" of the 1950s. This project was created as a Master's degree Capstone project and is currently on exhibit in a shortened form at Boston's West End Museum.
"Taken Away" received the Best First Time Director award from the Berlin Indie Film Festival in 2024.
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I can’t believe this doesn’t have more views. This was excellent.
@@mattm.7955 Thank you so much for the kind words! I appreciate you taking the time to watch and leave a comment.
This documentary is absolutely wonderful. This is the real history that our country needs right now to help understand our current struggles. James was a brilliant and beautiful human being. How we treat our fellow man regardless of class or financial stature in life will directly lead to either our species survival or its own destruction.
@@redjupiter2 Totally agree! Thanks so much for watching and for your feedback.
I'll say one more thing. One way to provide affordable housing is to not tear down the affordable housing and replacing it with ugly fancy apartment buildings for the rich. They've done this all over Boston and the neighboring cities like Quincy and Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Waltham. All over.
Wow so profound lol
Public TV WGBH interviewed Leonard Nimoy who was from the West End. His story tells the history of the neighborhood. And Leonard Nimoy was a skilled raconteur.
@JamesBond-uz2dm Yes, Nimoy has has shared some wonderful memories and insights about the old neighborhood! I was lucky enough to meet his son, Adam, and watch him speak about his father at the West End Museum not long ago.
I don't identify hom specifically but there's an old group photo of Nimoy and his buddies in the West End featured in this film.
Excellent, and of course sad.
i went to high school (Don Bosco) on the edge of the west end in the mid 60's. The west end was almost gutted by then as was some of the south end. In my senior year we were encouraged to help some of the remaining tenement dwellers by servicing old fans, radios and TV's. The people in these old buildings were mostly old and very poor. I fixed a old fan and radio for an old couple who lived on the 5th floor and they were incredibly thankful for the help. These people had nothing but a very small SS check to live on the the buildings were in poor shape because the owners did nothing but collect rents.
Leonard Nemoy grew up in the west end and WGBH did a very good documentary about him growing up there in the 40's and 50's. He said it was a very tight knit neighborhood where people knew and cared about their neighborhood,
Thanks for sharing your memories! Speaking of Leonard Nimoy, I recently attended an interesting event at the West End Museum where his son, Adam Nimoy, spoke about memories of his father and he shared some interesting stories about his dad growing up in the neighborhood.
Very good documentary and a story definitely that needs to be told. Got goosebumps while watching this. Very similar and for different reasons of what happened to West Oakland in the 50s and 60s.
When James said "... when you move you die." It's true. I knew of an elderly woman who lived through that era. She told me that West Oakland had gorgeous Victorian houses, and they were destroyed because of "urban renewal." Unbeknownst to me, was that she had a mental health issue. I honestly believe that this causes psychological stress when communities are purposely destroyed, and is felt for generations.
@Boundaries-u8r I think you're absolutely right about the significant and lasting trauma caused by this type of experience. And yes - sadly, this story could be told about innumerable neighborhoods in cities around the country!
This is a Fantastic Documentary, It it is not only a great piece of filmmaking, but a film with a message. Thanks for capturing the truth Chris !!!
@@joeledoux67 Thanks so much!
This needs more views and attention. Very well made documentary
@@tuckeradams2329 I really appreciate that - thank you so much.
The balance between preservation and progress, something that my hometown of Worcester continues to struggle with. I enjoyed your documentary, well done!
Thanks very much for watching and for your comment! Yes - that balance is a difficult one and something that SO many communities struggle with. I think Worcester is a fascinating city, particular it's industrial history and structures. They've done a good job repurposing a lot of those factories and mills, which is great to see; those structures are amazing, and built to last! Union Station is a beauty as well.
what they did in my opinion was pure evil. we must remember this as bay staters.
This was VERY well made, thank you! (Love before and after shots, the interviews, all so well put together!) I had just rudimentary knowledge of the West End and what had happened, and my blood was boiling by the end of this. Have you ever been to Fort Stanwix in New York? They tore down basically the *entire old downtown* of Rome, NY to make this reproduction Fort for the bicentennial. HUGE parking lot, totally empty. I was one of like 5 tourists there when I went (in summer, not off-season) and now it's surrounded by Dollar stores, liquor stores, people pushing carts around, etc. The part of the exhibit about how the town got torn down (just a tiny corner I almost missed) I found more interesting than the AmRev history. This reminds me of that. Friggin' "urban renewal"! It's urban and community destruction!
@tjprice587 Thanks so much for watching and for your positive feedback! I'm not familiar with Fort Stanwix but it sounds like a travesty and reminiscent of urban renewal but in an interesting context where they tried to create a historic site by tearing down actual history! How ironic....
I'll look into it! Thanks for your comment!
This is an amazing documentary. My Grandparents, Mom and Aunt were West Enders. My Grandmother went to her grave despising the Rappaports. My Grandparents lived about 4 doors down from the Nimoys. My Grandaddy was a stage manager at the old Scollay Square Theatre.
@DC3railroadman How interesting! Thanks so much for sharing - it's always nice to hear from people with a personal/family connection to the old neighborhood. And thank you for the kind words!
The new buidiings in the West End are just plain ugly. The old buildings had so much character. I remember back then. It was a crime what they did to that area, to Scolley Square.
@charlotteburns7143 Yes, I can only imagine what the West End would look like if the original buildings had been restored and maintained, like the South End is today. I would certainly prefer that to its current state.
Thank you for this film. It's compelling and well done - an excellent job of storytelling about a particularly shameful and tragic period in recent history, when the fad known as "Urban Renewal" spread all over the world, truly like a cancer. I have always felt that the Urban Renewal-ers should in some way be held accountable for their actions. Crimes against communities and against irreplaceable pieces of art and history - these beautiful urban buildings and squares. To think they wanted to do the same thing to downtown Newburyport of all places. Would ANYONE visit that stunning, historic seaport now if it all looked like Government Center, Charles River Park or god forbid, Boston City Hall?? Answer? Hell no!
Saying these people were short sighted gives them credit they don't deserve. They knew what they were doing, as is shown in your film. Manufacturing "evidence" that these neighborhoods were irreparable, crumbling dens of disease and juvenile delinquency, all in service of the development dollar. It's the same mentality that resulted in the needless demolition of astoundingly beautiful Penn Station in NYC and countless buildings and neighborhoods all over the world. Thank the gods for the Jane Jacobs' of the world that we finally, mostly came to our senses.
Well said, and thank you for your positive feedback about the film! Interesting that you mention Newburyport - I spent a few days there several years ago and loved exploring the beautiful, historic downtown. I was surprised to learn from a coworker who grew up there that when he was a child, the area was quite deteriorated. Hard to imagine (akin to imagining the current South End as a deteriorated neighborhood) but it's a good example of what "urban renewal" should be, in my opinion. I also agree with your thoughts on the demolition of Penn Station. Thank you for watching!
Don't relax about development in Newburyport, Karp is waiting for his chance!
Thank you for this documentary.
@@jrvegaboston Thank you for watching!
Thank you so much for making this content and sharing the history, let’s hope Boston and our country as a whole do not continue to make the same mistakes
@@coolkidstalking119 Agreed - let's hope! Thank you for watching and for your comment.
It didn’t stop with just the West End in Boston. Federal subsidies and influence caused urban renewal in Boston suburbs too, in places like East Dedham Sq on the Hyde Park line. But at least in that case they did build affordable housing.
Absolutely right. The West End was just the beginning.
right in line with the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir
The irony is that the new West End absolutely sucks
Thanks, great video!
Two books that may be of interest:
a) Martin Anderson's 'The Federal Bulldozer', all about the horrors of urban renewal, and
b) William Tucker's 'The Excluded Americans', which is all about the anti-free-market causes of homelessness (one indirect cause being urban renewal destroying affordable housing).
@@scarletpimpernel230 Thanks so much for the recommendations!
Beautifully and sensitively made. This is a story that is important to be told, and I am gratified that it has been told so well. The music enhances the wonderful historic footage. Interviews, input and information from so many different sources gives a very complete understanding of this topic. I felt the sadness and poignancy of the loss of this neighborhood, especially in the manner that the destruction was accomplished. It's important that we connect with the complex feelings illustrated and evoked in this documentary. Well done.
Thank you so much for your comment!
Wow, great work. Had no clue about any of this.
Excellent, succinct and fascinating...well done!
Thanks so much!
What a great movie! I learned a lot!
Thank you for this. As a Bostonian I find it fascinating!!!! Appreciate all the hard work this took ❤
@@tommytv1331 Thanks so much! I appreciate the kind words. A heartfelt thank you for watching!
Another factor is getting rid of the "riff riff" and replacing them with the more well heeled. Only where are ordinary people supposed to go? The $200/mo apartment I lived in the Fenway in the early 70's is now an expensive condo. Where do people like I was when I was 21 years old and just starting out go? I drove a cab, and most of us cab drivers lived near the cab garages in that neighborhood, old drivers and young. I don't know if I'd make it now. Where do you live when you're young and staring out? How do you afford college now which was practically free when I was young? I could afford the rent and the college tuition. I couldn't now. They've price ordinary people out. I guess that's why so many are living out of cars and under bridges.
the answer for me was western mass and 4 roommates; still struggle but we get by esp because healthcare and my college tuition is free. if not for that, we'd be in trouble
That's one of the saddest things I've ever seen. I'm a MASS resident born in the 80's and have often wondered why this part of the city is so devoid of life vibrancy,,,, people. That area is just a shrine to capitalism, for example there is a huge Home Depot and Target in a prime area for housing closest to the subway and other public transit, less than a mile away in Everett, MA is another huge shopping center with a Target and Home Depot, causing both of these HUGE shopping ares to struggle and leaving a void where there should be a Neighborhood. If you stand on the roof of either Home Depot you can easily see the other less than a mile away, I doubt it's like that anywhere else in the country.
Beautiful documentary, amazing job!
@theosw6961 Thanks so much for watching and for your positive feedback!
An excellent synopsis of the insanity that gripped Urban Renewal..in this case Boston was lucky ..they did it right and people and businesses stayed in their beautiful city
To this day I take anyone that is new to Boston on a tour of Back Bay and maybe Comm Ave to show how beautiful these rehabs are ..
Just because its old doesnt mean it needs to be torn down
@@martingainty9623 Thanks for watching! I appreciate the positive feedback. Agreed - Back Bay, especially Comm Ave, as well as the South End, are some of my favorite areas to take visitors. The preservation in those neighborhoods, and in others, is quite exemplary.
Thanks buddy this is an amazing collection and amazingly contextual info
Thank you!
Well done!
I am a West Ender. I will never say "former" West Ender. None of us who are still alive will. My mother was born in 1929 at #10 Billerica St. That's the street shown in Area 6 on the map at 14:47. My grandparents lived there until 1968. This street was spared until 1983. I was born in 1953 at the Navy Hospital and lived at #49 S. Margin St. until we moved out in 1962. Our second-floor apartment was a cold water flat with an unheated toilet in the hallway. It had a den, one bedroom, a kitchen and a large cupboard which was me and my brothers bunk bedded bedroom. We often played on the rusty old fire-escape. S. Margin St. was spared for a while, as you can see from the map shown at 14:47 because it was not in the original project plan. #49 was almost at the corner of Staniford St. directly across from what is shown as a large building. That building was the Boston School Book Depository which was a warehouse building. On the corner of Staniford and S. Margin was the original Pennacchio Funeral Home. They relocated to Hyde Park. I attended the Winchell School for kindergarten and then went up to the Peter Fanuel School on Joy St. up on Beacon Hill (the poor side) for grades 1-3. Joy St. is off of Cambridge St. From K-3 I walked through lots of broken lots to get to school. St. Joseph's was the family's church. My mother was married there, I was baptized there and celebrated First Communion there. My mother was a secretary at the West End House and my brother, and I often went there after school. When we were there, we had the run of the place. In 1964 on a visit to my grandparents, still living on Billerica St., my brother and I along with our cousin entered the abandoned building at #49 S. Margin and went up to the second floor. The door to the apartment was ajar. Upon entering we smelled whiskey and quickly noticed a drunk and probably homeless guy lying on the kitchen counter. Man, did we get out of there fast. Well ... that's my story. If any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Thank you so much for sharing your story! It's fascinating and wonderful to hear the memories and rich personal histories of West Enders. Thank you for watching!
@@FollowingFootprintsMedia You're most welcome. You put together a very good documentary.
@@knightwatchman Thanks so much
So much was lost. This country throws away so much history and culture. For what?
Totally agree!
Money. Also known as Mammon. 😠😡🤬
I just tried to share this documentary on Facebook and got a message that it was private and not shareable. 😢
Thanks for letting me know! It's set to Public so it should be shareable and I know some people have done it. Maybe try sharing it via this link?
th-cam.com/video/IAIn62BQOYU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3ZYm0jr75JNe6cOR
Thank you for spreading the word!
If only the new boys didn't have to destroy the West End all the way to Scollay Square in order to rescue Boston financially, only to stab the previous residents in the back with that housing project for the rich, Charles River Park. This town would have a much more solid English feel and connection with its history if these areas were left alone and allowed to improve on their own. And it'd probably be just as prosperous if not more so.
After all, as the interviewee said, the South End was in even worse shape with buildings collapsing due to the neighborhood's foundation on fill yet that area is a rich neighborhood today, with tenements back to being rowhouses or converted to condominiums.
All in all a very well done documentary and retrospective!
Totally agree. Thanks for watching and for sharing your feedback!
This is a case of taking away from the have nots and giving it to the haves. That's rich man politics.
They really made a mess of Boston....😢
A similar transformation is happening on Cape Cod today, most glaringly in Hyannis and along Route 28 into Yarmouth and Dennis.
The sand under our feet is being paved over in the name of AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
@45kayak I wasn't aware of that happening on the Cape but sadly, I'm not surprised. It's a challenge that will continue to be faced.
Thank you for posting your West End video. I think it's great that you follow and respond to the comments.
My father's family was displaced from the West End in the late 1950s. It was a community in the truest sense.
I've been coming to or living on the Cape since childhood. Everyday another small and unique business, cottage colony, motel, restaurant, or old home disappears and is replaced by a trophy home, dollar store, or "unaffordable housing". Cape Cod lawns have been replaced by suburban sprawl and manicured lawns.
Today the only charm you'll find on Cape Cod is in a jewelry store.
@45kayak That's so disappointing to hear. The Cape has its own longstanding culture, architectural style, and sense of community, and all the towns there are unique. It's sad to think of that being lost. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this!
Why hasn't everyone living in Boston and surrounding towns watched this? I have lived in the area for 30 years and only knew a very small part of this story mainly focused on the town hall monstrosity.
Thank you! I agree that it's a story that should be more widely known, which is one of the reasons I made this. Thanks for watching!
i'm not sure if destroying the west end helped boston, but looking at the the city today, it could've been like the south or north end and not some lifeless government/health campus
I knew Jerry Rappaport who built Charles River Park
@@rumplestilskin5776 Interesting! What was he like?
Great documentary! Very interesting and informative.
@@trustthescience2260 Thank you for watching!
Read E. Michael Jones’ “Slaughter of Cities”.
@@charlesmaximus9161 Thanks for the recommendation!
Government center too, Boston in the 20th century could not make a good decision to save their life.
@dg321_ Yes! I did touch on the Government Center /Scollay Square project on this film but it really warrants its own story.
24:15 The same is happening in Philadelphia, glass buildings causing reflections and ruining aesthetic
@@Roadtripmik I hear you! I'm sure a lot of cities have faced that same problem.
I don't want to argue about the fate of West End. I simply don't know enough about it. However, I just want to note two things. Where would you rather live in Boston of the 1950s or in Boston of 2020s? I think the answer is self evident. And secondly, the author suggests that the urban study that was done on the West End was 'prejudice'. Care to provide some evidence? Usually studies like this simply state facts such as the percentage of condemned buildings, percentage of overpopulated dwellings, etc. These are usually just mathematical facts and math does not lie!
Thanks for your comment! Fair points all around. No question that I would prefer to live in modern Boston than the 1950s and I think the city has dramatically improved in the past 50 years, though this improvement has presented its own challenges (such as gentrification, exorbitant housing prices, etc.)
I should note that in undertaking this project, while I focused on the tragedy of the demolition, I wanted to explore WHY the city took these drastic steps and I do think there are good reasons. The film gets into this. I think it's clear that Boston (and other US cities) was struggling at the time due to suburbanization and other factors. Ironically, as I touched on, Major Curley (who was a major defender of working-class ethnic areas like the West End) actually was a major contributor to the city's overall deterioration, leading to the neighborhood's destruction. So while I don't debate that changes were needed, my point is more that they were badly handled, as is evidenced here.
Also, the film questions whether the destruction of the West End actually achieved the intended result of improving the city. No question that the city has improved, but it took decades for the population loss to reverse and for the bond rating to go from junk level in the 50s to the AAA rating it holds now. Did the demolition of the West End and other renewal efforts cause that shift? Possibly and I don't have an answer but I don't think there is a clear tie and I think it's an interesting topic to debate. Would Boston have turned around due to the increased interest in urban living from the generations raised in the suburbs of the 1950s, as began in the 80s-today? The South End, for example, was going to suffer the same fate as the West End but was largely spared and turned from a blighted neighborhood to an extremely high-end one, WITHOUT mass demolition. I don't think there is a clear cut answer and this is something I wanted to explore with this project.
Finally, re: the studies... as I indicated in the film, the research of Joe Lee brought a lot of discrepancies to light and these papers, as well as the health studies, are available in the Boston Athanaeum where I viewed them. Yes, the numbers themselves are not invalid, but it was the way they were collected and the debatable arguments, a few of which the film highlights, that are at issue - the study indicated that the West End had higher rates of disease than other neighborhoods, for example, but they used data from areas OUTSIDE the project area to justify destroying it. In fact, other parts of the city which remained untouched had equal or even worse rates. They claimed the neighborhood was a "slum" in part because buildings were dense and lacked natural light. But the same conditions apply to nearby Beacon Hill or the North End (and even in many apartments built in the new development, ironically). The city announced plans for demolition years in advance and encouraged people not to bother fixing up their homes and stopped the street cleaning, but then conducted some studies while the neighborhood was in this falsely deteriorated state. Among other things. Newspapers did spread propaganda influenced by prejudices about the ethnic and low-income aspects of the area, leading to a skewed impression of the community and garnering support for "slum clearance". Ironically, by the 60s, many of these same newspapers changed course and considered it a tragedy, withdrawing their prior support, but too little too late.
Anyway - I appreciate your thoughts... it's an interesting and complex subject, one worthy of discussion. Thanks for watching.
@@FollowingFootprintsMedia Ok. Sounds like a promising beginning of a long conversation on a larger variety of topics related to urbanism in general. Thank you for your reply!
@@mikhailiakoubovski It's a complex and interesting topic, to be sure! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
Then Newton Corner was destroyed
@sageoasis It sure was. I live in that area and was shocked to see old photos of how beautiful downtown Newton Corner used to be and just how much was destroyed to put in the Pike. It feels to me like affluent areas affected by urban renewal, highway projects, etc, like Newton, tend to get less attention and sympathy but they are a similarly tragic loss of community and historic structures.
So infuriating; they could have improved instead of bulldozing
@sharon-o7v I agree. If they had renovated and preserved the neighborhood, I think it would be architecturally (and perhaps culturally, given that the West End was predominantly Italian at the time of demolition) similar to the North End today. The property value would probably be sky high too. Look at the current South End (one of my favorite neighborhoods) which was in rough shape for decades.
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