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| 24th Street from L to N with Town Square. |
Come On Down
When I was in graduate school, I had occasion to take a foreign student to lunch one day. He was from France, so I took him to a place in the Old Market that has a particularly European ambiance.
As he peered into the deli case full of cheeses, his eyes widened and he gestured excitedly, pointing to one cheese, then another, saying, “That is 25 kilometers from where I live, that is 50 kilometers from where I live!”
Suddenly, far from home, he had spotted something familiar, and it clearly felt good. Who among us, with any spirit of adventure, hasn’t experienced going too far or being gone too long and yearning for that little bit of home?
I sometimes wonder what it must be like to pick up everything and leave home for good as our ancestors almost all did. What would I do to remind myself of home?
In Omaha in the 1880s, immigrants created communities like the "Praha" (Prague) or "Bohemian Town" enclave along 13th where many Czechs settled. Walking down the street in those days, you would have passed Martin Svacina’s Grocery, John Svacina’s Saloon, the Stepanek Dance Hall, the Kubovec Bakery, Joseph Pallk's Hotel, and St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church and School. The music, smells, decorations and even the beer would have been a heady cocktail of the old country shaken with the land of opportunity. The street scene must have served as an attraction to new immigrants, inviting them to settle down here in Omaha.
Because Omaha by Design works to make our city more connected, smart, significant, sparkling and fun, it’s a worthy exercise to ask ourselves once in awhile - connected, smart, significant, sparkling and fun for whom?
This is important because we should never forget that Omaha’s track record for rolling out the welcome mat has been a bit mixed.
Jazz saxophonist Preston Love told me that the word was frequently spread among musicians that Omaha was not a friendly stop if you were African American. On a Sunday afternoon in February 1909, a thousand men formed a mob and stormed a South Omaha enclave known as “Greek Town,” where they looted and burned buildings. The mayor requested no troops, instead assembled the police, ordering them to remain in the station house. The local newspapers of the time fanned the fires of hatred, not unlike the television talking heads do today.
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| A comfortable corner to encourage street life. |
Now, a project in South Omaha is coming to fruition that can help prevent such nonsense by recognizing Omaha’s immigrant past and hope for the future. The project to revitalize 24th Street, designed by RDG Planning and Design, provides something newcomers would recognize. One of the design concepts was “Communicating a distinctive Latino flavor while respecting and celebrating a multi-ethnic heritage.”
From the 1980s onward, South Omaha has experienced a commercial renaissance, propelled by the growth of the area’s Latino community. Just as in “Bohemian Town” and “Greek Town” of old, new shops and restaurants have once again made the district one of the city’s liveliest spots. Street life in the business district is reminiscent of what 16th Street in downtown used to be, bustling with activity.
So why is this important, besides this humble scribbler’s love of a cerveza and a few Tacos al Pastor? Because all great American cities are immigrant cities. They always have been. When you put out the welcome mat like a streetscape, public plaza or town square that looks like home to newcomers, you are creating a vital economy. You are saying open a new business, fill a vacant job, move into and rehabilitate a declining neighborhood, sell goods and services to other immigrants, and, once you succeed, sell them to all the rest of us.
I, for one, applaud our city’s efforts to make public spaces familiar and welcoming to newcomers. And, it’s just good business.
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