Leonard Nimoy's Childhood Neighborhood - West End Museum - Boston, MA - Star Trek on Waymarking.com

In Boston's West End neighborhood is the West End Museum, which is where a photograph showing Leonard Nimoy, "Spock," with friends on a field.

The West End Museum is located at 150 Stanniford Street, but the entrance is on Lomasney Way. The building is a brick structure with a large archway at the corner. From this position, turn right and walk around the building until you reach the entrance almost at the end of the building. There is a sign over the door, and at the time of the visit, there was a sign board out, as well.

The photo is located in the permanent exhibit area on a wall with other photos. It shows a scene where Leonard Nimoy, in the back row on the right, is with friends at a field. Brick buildings are in the background. The caption to the right of the photo states:

"West End House track meet
Team members pose after a track meet at the Charlesbank playground. West-End bred actor Leonard Nimoy is at back right.

1948
Photograph
Reproduction: Courtesy Robert H. Levine"

Unfortunately, there is little of the neighborhood that survives today that Nimoy would have seen as a child. In the 40s and 50s, a LARGE part of the West End neighborhood was literally scraped from the face of the city and the earth to make room for development that was meant to 'revitalize' Boston. This is a fascinating story and a main reason for the existence of the museum, but it is beyond the scope of this waymark. Among the casualties of this was the birthplace of Leonard Nimoy - not even the road exists. What is there now is a residetial tower. Neither is the Parkman House, which was where he first learned acting.

There exists a documentary that was aired on WGBX Channel 44, a local PBS station, that was about Leonard's and his son's visit of the neighborhood. The half-hour documentary shows Leonard relating stories to his son about the locations that they visit. A few places do exist, such as the Esplanade where he folded chairs for Boston Pops concerts, and a building where he stayed as an adult for a couple years. They also visited the West End Museum, where he continued to talk about his life.

The museum's web site has a listing for the same picture on their 'Important People' page. Also look on the site for hours and exhibits going on at that time. The people were very friendly and freely gave their experiences (and opinions) of the neighborhood.

Though there is no admission charge, a donation of $5 is appreciated to keep the lights on.

Sources:

West End Museum:
(visit link)

Boston Public Radio (Interview with Leonard Nimoy - Transcript):
(visit link)

WGBH - Page about the documentary:
(visit link)

Which Series or Movie?: All involving the original crew of the Enterprise (classic Star Trek) Is there an admission charge?: No

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