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A Community Within a Community By Charna Mamlok Do you remember when the Ithaca Airport was where the Hangar Theater now stands? Or before the Octopus was tangled, and then detangled? Do the names Clock Works and the Salty Dog Bar ring a bell? What about the West Side House and the Beebe Mission? All of these establishments thrived in the West End and were part of its community 30, 40, even 60 years ago. But for other residents, the West End story is merely another page in a history textbook. People saw many West End businesses come and go over the past few decades, while others have remained staples in the community down there. The Lehigh Valley House and the Signworks building have been a part of the West End for more than 100 years. Similarly, The Station, which is now a restaurant, is about 100 years old. Wallace Steel and Supply, Cayuga Lumber, Ithaca Paint and Decorating, Joe's Restaurant and Pete's Grocery are all establishments that have been a part of the West End community since the 1950s and before. But driving through the streets of the West End today, you see traffic, rundown warehouses and property for sale. People from the City Planning and Development Board and Common Council representatives are even trying to clean the area up with their West End Urban Design Plan. They hope to create a new and improved, visually pleasing West End, so that Ithacans can spend their free time shopping, walking, biking, even conducting business in a safe, walkable, confined area. Officials hope the plan will bring Ithaca residents (and their spending money) to this new vision of the West End. They want to boost Ithaca's economy with retail stores, businesses and residential homes. Officials want to see the West End community come to life. But the West End already has a community--and a tight-knit one at that. The Untold Story The history of Ithaca's West End and its community dates back to the 1930s. The country had just witnessed an economic boom followed by the Stock Market Crash and Depression. In Ithaca, people who lived in the West End looked forward to the coming and going of the Black Diamond Train, which brought outsiders to and from Ithaca. "Oh, the Black Diamond Train was everything," said Ithaca resident Marilyn Fleming. "I can remember going down and getting on the Black Diamond at 11 o'clock at night and arrive in New York in the morning." Ithaca locals also looked forward to the Tompkins County Fair, which used to be held on South Meadow Street, where Tops and Wegmans are now located. You always knew when the Fair was coming to town, because the elephants would parade down the road on their way to the campgrounds. Another exciting place to visit in the West End was the Ithaca Airport, since planes and flying were so new. "Down where the Hangar Theater is, [that's] where I took my first plane ride," said Fleming. "It was very exciting when they built that hangar. I actually went up in an airplane when I was a freshman in college, which was 1941 or 1942," she said. Susan Nash, whose family has lived in Ithaca since the early part of this century, explained that when her father was growing up in the West End, he and his friends would stop on their way home from school to pick up dinner. But stopping for dinner usually meant taking produce out of a neighbor's garden. David Fogel, an Ithaca resident who once made a scale model of the West End as it appeared in 1950, explained that the old West End was known as the poor side of town. Fleming also agreed. "It was not a fancy place at all," she said. While West Enders had little money, they were also strong-willed. The West End used to be called the "Silent City" because its residents would keep quiet when the police came to interrogate them--someone from the West End was always getting into trouble. Kids and teens played together at the West Side house, a community center known for its arts and crafts activities, as well as dances. Fleming remembers playing with other kids at Stewart Park, especially during WWII, when people had to ration their resources. "Stewart Park was a great spot to come and play," she said. "It was the focus for a number of activities that you could do." Despite the good memories that residents have of the West End, things slowly began to change after 1935. That summer, Ithaca witnessed a terrible storm, flooding the entire city and destroying properties in the West End. Little did the community realize, but that flood shaped the way the West End would develop for years to come. The Next Stage Shortly after the flood, City Officials discussed the need for some kind of flood control. But 20 years later, there was still no sign of any improvements. It wasn't until 1960 that Ithaca was included in the Federal Flood Control Act. Fogel explained that the progress to clean up the West End might have been slowed down since the money came from the state. "It was state funded. I guess the wheels turn slowly," he said. But Fogel also said that the economics of the West End played a part in its delayed plan. "If rich people lived there, then maybe something would have been done. But then again, would the rich people live in the flood plains in the first place?" he said. Work to clean up the West End began in November of 1964, when the City of Ithaca bought 35 properties in that area. Its way of dealing with the mess that the 1935 flood had created was to burn the "unwanted" houses down. "It was devastating," said Fogel. "In effect, it destroyed a neighborhood." The thought behind this destruction was that the City would rebuild area. But Fogel noted otherwise. "The rest of the city was glad to see them go," he said. So where did they go? Although many West End residents were evicted from their homes, some stayed around the area and their kin still live in town. Some even still hang out in the West End. The Community Today To the unsuspecting eye, the community in the West End seems non-existent. It seems to lack community togetherness since the area is more commercial than residential. But Nash explained that there is a sense of togetherness. And you can find it in the local hangouts. "I think in general [the West End] is always going to be a bar area part of town. It always has been. I think it always will be," she said. "Collegetown is known for their watering holes up there. And it's the same thing in the West End. It's camaraderie down here." Nash conceded that these bars stop families with young children from coming down to the West End. "Who wants to take their kids Downtown to go shopping and have all these drunks hanging off the front porches, swearing and screaming obscenities?" she said. On the other hand, these bars keep the West End alive. But what will happen to them (and the community) once the Planning and Economic Board's West End Urban Design Plan begins to take effect? Will the local hangouts be driven out of business? "[West End residents] don't want to see any of this disappear," Nash said. "This is where they go. This is what they do. And when [the City] starts trying to change a lot of things, well, [residents] aren't going to be happy." Could this be another case of the City destroying the neighborhood? "Any residential [plans] will be for the best, although I'm sure it will be an upscale, upper-middle class situation," said Fogel. Upper-middle class situation? But that's not the West End. "A lot of [West Enders] are just hard working--factory workers, construction workers, plumbers," Nash said. "They share something in common--they're not businessmen." These are the people that live and hang out in the West End. They have been there for years and Nash believes that they will stay there for many years to come. But they are also the ones who will have to deal with the effects, whether positive or negative, of the West End Urban Design Plan. "I like [the West End] just the way it is. It's where my friends hang out and my family always has," she said. "This is just the way it's always been. "Sometimes change isn't good." Charna Mamlok is a senior journalism major at Ithaca College. |
