Local author memorializes Lowell’s Little Canada, its destruction through memoir

‘LEGENDS OF LITTLE CANADA’

‘It was an amazing community’

Local author memorializes Lowell’s Little Canada, its destruction through memoir

The Little Canada neighborhood of Lowell, as seen from the High Bridge on Pawtucket Street, overlooks the Northern Canal, circa 1964. This photograph was taken the same year the neighborhood was demolished for the city’s urban renewal project. IMAGE COURTESY CENTER FOR LOWELL HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL

By Cameron Morsberger [email protected]

LOWELL >> When his father left in March 1963, Charlie Gargiulo’s life shifted. His universe soon revolved around comic books at Harvey’s Bookland, visits to his Aunt Rose’s apartment and the typical mayhem of a pre-adolescent boy.

That small world, rested against the Northern Canal, no longer exists. Lowell’s Little Canada was completely demolished just three years after Gargiulo arrived, displacing its thousands of residents and ending a century’s worth of history.

But Gargiulo’s memories of his former neighborhood persist, nearly six decades later. Now 71, Gargiulo penned a memoir chronicling his adventures, the character of the French enclave and the trauma of witnessing that destruction in “Legends of Little Canada.” The book, published by Loom Press, is set to launch Sept. 30.

In writing his story, Gargiulo said he hopes readers form the same familial relationships with characters that he did to their real-life counterparts, and in that way, similarly feel the loss of the neighborhood and all that went with it.

“I always wanted to make sure that the people that I loved were never forgotten, that that community was never forgotten,” Gargiulo, of Pepperell, said, “because it was an amazing community… When you can literally have your home taken from you and you have no say over it, it’s a sense of powerlessness that is very, very hard to overcome.”

At 11 years old, Gargiulo moved to an apartment on Austin Street with his mother, Pauline, in the summer of 1963, observing the last three years of Little Canada’s existence. Without a car, Gargiulo spent his days in and around his second-story apartment. The book includes a map, created by Mark Van Der Hyde, that highlights features of the neighborhood, including St. Jean Baptiste Church and the Holiday Diner.

Alongside brighter moments — including befriending a homeless man nicknamed Captain Jack — Gargiulo details struggles with bullies, alcoholism, near-death experiences and losing loved ones and the neighborhood. Reliving some portions of the book evoked strong emotions, Gargiulo said.

Those foundational memories continue to stick with him. Gargiulo is still able to recall the starting lineup for the Minnesota Twins from 1965 but has trouble remembering who played for the Boston Red Sox from the last two years. By tying his personal narrative to “historical linchpins” — such as the assassination of JFK and the Beatles coming to America — Gargiulo said he could share his life with those who may not have the same nostalgia.

“There was something about being a kid,” he said. “I guess that’s why they call it the formative years.”

His experience in Little Canada lit a fire in him. Determined to protect other neighborhoods from a similar fate, Gargiulo helped mobilize organizing efforts that formed the Coalition for a Better Acre, which effectively saved the Acre Triangle. Through the process, he said he learned and proved “you didn’t have to throw people out” to improve a community, but rather provide appropriate resources and support.

From there, Gargiulo advocated for the preservation of the North Canal Apartments in the late 1980s. Now, the CBA carries on Gargiulo’s legacy by developing affordable housing, providing support networks and tools for residents, increasing residents’ civic engagement and more.

Urban renewal is not a unique one to Lowell’s French Canadians, the city or the past — as he grew older, Gargiulo recognized this issue is much more widespread, as communities across the country are destroyed for highway systems and become car-dependent. He also finds that those who are threatened with such displacement often don’t have a say.

“It’s always the marginalized people who basically get moved,” Gargiulo said. “Everybody always pretends that it’s being done for your benefit, and that’s what really irritated me because it was clearly not being done for the people who live there.”

His career and the memoir itself are dedicated to his Aunt Rose, who Gargiulo considers the true founder of the CBA.

“That was the legacy of Little Canada,” Gargiulo said. “I think it was more like never forgetting what happened there, because I love the people in my community so much that I didn’t want that to ever happen again.”

Yun-Ju Choi, CEO of the CBA, said the nonprofit continues to advocate for low-income families and those in need, just as Gargiulo set out to do. In “Legends of Little Canada,” Gargiulo references the Royal Theatre, a building that may soon be redeveloped, per a conversation Choi had earlier this week. That signifies, for Choi, the joining of past and future and connects with Gargiulo’s message.

She said she considers Gargiulo a guiding light.

“His story is just so inspirational,” Choi said. “This is the first part of CBA’s start, but we talked about maybe creating a book… (on) what we have done in the last 40 years and the next 40 years to come.”

The CBA will host a book signing with Gargiulo Oct. 14 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of 517 Moody St. Gargiulo will be joined by fellow author Michael Patrick MacDonald, who wrote about his childhood in South Boston in 2007’s “All Souls: A Family Story from Southie.”

The Pollard Memorial Library has also recently selected “Legends of Little Canada” as this year’s Lowell Reads book and will host a book discussion group sometime this fall, as will Lowell’s Lala Books.

Loom Press Founder Paul Marion traces his own roots back to Little Canada. His father’s and mother’s ancestors immigrated to Lowell from Canada in the 1880s, and his father lived in the neighborhood briefly.

The memoir also wouldn’t exist without other Lowell voices: Western Avenue Studios resident Gary Destramp designed the book’s cover art, former UMass Lowell political science professor John Wooding helped refine the manuscript and Marion’s Loom Press primarily prints works, fiction and nonfiction, that have a connection to Greater Lowell.

Readers have drawn comparisons to “The Catcher in the Rye” and “Huckleberry Finn,” Marion said, which also follow a boy’s first-person coming-of-age adventure story. In some respects, Marion considers the book “an expose.”

“It’s a real lesson in blowback,” Marion said. “Here was this kid who was powerless and lost his home with his family, his neighbors and his friends. And then he comes around and he challenges the authorities when it looks like they’re trying to do the same thing in another part of the city.”

Gargiulo said he hopes the book not only serves as a look into the end of Little Canada but also emphasizes that there is strength in numbers.

“I think we need more compassion in the world and I think more unity,” he said. “There’s something unifying about these stories. Where there’s so much divisiveness now, this shows you the strength of unity, that unity is not a weak thing, it’s actually a powerful thing. It’s a strong thing.”

Local author memorializes Lowell’s Little Canada, its destruction through memoir (lowellsun.com)