West End Museum Walking Tours Mark Global Jane's Walk Weekend, Involve New York Streets Exhibit: Highlight Urban Renewal in Boston's West End and South End

Boston, MA—The West End Museum will host two walking tours in May. The first will focus on what happened to the West End under urban renewal and coincides with the Jane’s Walk ‘global festival’ of citizen-led walking tours inspired by urbanist and activist Jane Jacobs. The second will concentrate on Boston’s first urban renewal project, which took place in an area of the South End known as the New York Streets. Historian and West End resident Duane Lucia will lead both walking tours. Gloria Ganno, a former resident of the New York Streets, will assist Lucia for the second walk.

Jane’s Walk West End Tour
Saturday, May 6; 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Starts at The West End Museum (entrance on Lomasney Way, Boston)
Cost: FREE; Pre-registration required here

This event begins with a Museum tour of the exhibit titled, Boston’s First Urban Renewal: The New York Streets. That will be followed by a walking tour through the West End urban renewal project area, including Charles River Park, the outskirts of Government Center, North Station and the North slope of Beacon Hill. In the late 1950s an early 60s, thousands of West Enders were driven from their tenement homes to make way for gleaming, high-rise apartments rented at a premium.

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) is renowned for her theories and writings advocating a fresh, community-based approach to urban development and for organizing grassroots campaigns to save neighborhoods like the West End and New York Streets from urban renewal. After her passing, a group of Jacobs’ friends and colleagues founded Jane’s Walk to honor her ideas and legacy. (Media note: Download photo of West End urban renewal here, ©1962 Charles Frani; Download photo of Jacobs here.)

A Walking Tour of the New York Streets
Saturday, May 20; 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Starts in front of J.J. Foley’s on East Berkeley Street, Boston
Cost: $7 Museum Members/$15 Non-members; Pre-registration required here

This tour will survey the area of Boston’s South End once known as the New York Streets, including the Ink Block, Washington Street and Harrison Avenue. Encompassing 24 acres of land comprising 12+ city blocks, the old New York Streets neighborhood—like the West End—was a vibrant, multi-ethnic neighborhood of tenement houses and momand-pop shops that fell victim to redevelopment in the City. (Media note: Download NY Streets urban renewal photo here.)

About the West End Museum:
The West End Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation and interpretation of the history and culture of the West End  neighborhood. The Museum’s permanent exhibit, “The Last Tenement,” highlights the immigrant history of the neighborhood through its decimation under Urban Renewal in 1959; two additional galleries feature rotating exhibits. The Museum is located  near North Station at 150 Staniford St. Suite 7. Hours: Tuesday – Friday 12:00pm – 5:00pm; Saturday 11:00am – 4:00pm. Admission is free.