What was Boston like in the [recent] past?

[fattony]

If the West End were less renewed, I'd imagine it would end up like the core of the lower east side in NYC - some Jewish institutions remaining with more until rather recently and the rest becoming an immigrant neighborhood.

Really, an immigrant community adjacent to downtown Boston? Maybe through the 80's or so, but no longer by now.

I think it would be just like the cheaper end of Beacon Hill and most of the North End: lots of young professionals that don't mind small apartments in exchange for living downtown, a few students, and just a smattering of the old-guard who never left. It would have a handful of epic dives, but mostly near-invisible pizza joints and ho-hum pubs like the Red Hat.