A new age comes to the old neighborhood

On a mild spring night, the smell of Italian cooking still fills the air in Boston's North End. But the old neighborhood is changing. Lured by the neighborhood's charm and accessibility to downtown, young professionals and students are rapidly replacing the old Italian families who have lived here for more than a century.

In 1920, 90 percent of North End residents were of Italian descent. Today the Italian population of the North End is estimated to have dropped to just below 30 percent.

Soaring rent prices, averaging $1,850 for a two-bedroom apartment, make it difficult for the older Italian residents to afford the homes they have lived in for years.

"The only lifelong residents left are the ones who own buildings," said Janine Coppola, neighborhood coordinator to the mayor's office.

Coppola's family has made its home in the North End since the 1920s and now owns a building on Hanover Street. She says even with all the changes, the older residents do not have negative feelings about their new neighbors, but are somewhat wary.

Coffee and Pastry on Hanover Street

"When my 80-year-old father was a young man he knew everyone and everyone knew him," she said. "Now he says he could pass someone who just moved here from Kentucky, or his best friend's grandchild, and not know the difference."

Joe Lombardi, a resident of Hull Street for two years and a New England School of Law student, said he sees two different faces of the North End.

"In the morning walking through the neighborhood I feel the Italian presence, men speaking Italian in Café Graffiti," he said. "But not at night with all the crowds in the restaurants. It feels like an upscale trendy place.

"The neighborhood is definitely changing to a more yuppie atmosphere," he added. "The older Italian generation is dying out; however, you still feel their presence."

Lombardi said he feels as though he lives in a unique close-knit community. After living in the North End two years, he says, he recognizes many people in the neighborhood and greets them on the street.

"What really made me realize how Italian this neighborhood still is, is when I showed up for the 10 o'clock Mass on Easter Sunday and the whole thing was in Italian," he said. But he added, "My entire building of apartments contains students or people with their first jobs out of college, not any Italians."

St. Leonard's Church - Italian mass still held here

Tonilynn Imperiale, a young, first-generation Italian studying law, lives on Prince Street and enjoys living in the North End. The neighborhood reminds her of home in Newark, N.J. Imperiale enjoys her Italian neighbors but feels that her Italian background may influence her neighbors' social behavior. "I think the older Italian residents are friendly only when they think you are Italian," she said.

Imperiale said she plans return to New Jersey next May when she is finished with school. "I will relish my experiences in the North End for years to come but I am getting married," she said.

The Rev. Stephen Ayers preaches at The Old North Church most Sundays and keeps a close eye on the historic church and the historic neighborhood.

"Managing change is the biggest problem facing this neighborhood right now. The Italian community is much smaller now and primarily an older community," he said. "The North End must learn how to integrate the newcomers into the community." He also added that the second biggest problem of the neighborhood is parking.

Old North Church

Parking problems continue to increase in the North End partly because of the area's demographic change. "Everyone has to have a car now," Coppola said.

And residents with cars must compete with the tourists, who flock to the North End at one of the dozens of restaurants.

Italian restaurants are the North End's biggest tourist draw, yet both older and newer residents agree that there are too many of them and not enough other kinds of businesses a community needs. Coppola notes that many businesses over the years have been converted over the years from small "mom and pop" stores to restaurants. "We are oversaturated with restaurants and coffee shops," she said.

"When I first moved here I ate out all the time at the restaurants, which are great, but now I just wish there was a cheaper grocery store here," Imperiale said. "The restaurants are for the tourists. I can't afford to eat out every night."

Open air dining on Hanover

To older restaurants, more than nature of the shops has changed. So has the fabric of the community. Many feel the neighborhood will never be the same. "Everybody feels that way," Coppola said. "But that is not necessarily a bad thing." She added that as long as the neighborhood still has old world charm for people, the North End will be fine.

"We just have to avoid the neighborhood becoming like an Epcot Center exhibit. They can make it feel as Italian as they want it to," she said.

Coppola said that the "Epcot" phenomenon has not completely taken over. She gave an example from a trip she took with her sister to Italy two years ago. Her sister also grew up in the North End and was surprised how many aspects of the North End were similar to cities like Rome and Florence. "She said it was just like home and that we could easily be drinking coffee on Hanover Street."

Even in 1976, in her book "Boston's First Neighborhood: The North End," author Paula Todesco suggested that changes might soon be coming to the North End. "Perhaps the Italian community will one day leave the North End. Perhaps the next 10 years will see a new breed of North Enders. And perhaps the two groups will able to work together to provide a bright future for the North End."

The new breed of North Enders is here. But much of the old world Italian charm remains. The challenge ahead is to see whether this blend provides the bright future for which Todesco hoped.

EMILY BERG