Rats and snobs: The changing West Roxbury/Roslindale rivalry

Never mind the dwindling differences between old and new Southie: Those between Roslindale and West Roxbury, rivals long facing each other across a class divide, are dwindling, too. And, yup, real estate is to blame.

The Globe's Billy Baker breaks the neighborhoods' traditional delineation down thus, wielding a golf tourney as his hook:

In the long history of inter-neighborhood rivalries in Boston, the friction between West Roxbury and Roslindale — neighbors in the city's southwest corner who have shared the Parkway youth sports program for generations — can be simplified to this: Roslindale natives tend to view West Roxbury as full of "rich" snobs in single-family homes who believe they're better than them, while West Roxbury long treated Roslindale like its gritty younger brother, a neighborhood full of three-deckers and "Rozzie rats."

Thing is, though, the Roslindale market, like just about every market in Boston, has picked up steam in recent years, muddying things. From 2005 to 2013, the median sales price of a single-family home in Roslindale increased 9 percent, while it dropped almost 10 percent in West Roxbury. The median price is now $20K higher in Roslindale now. It's no long, then, a matter of a Rozzie resident moving to West Roxbury when he or she "makes it," as Baker points out.

Still, one big difference remains: the neighborhoods' physical makeups. West Roxbury's a leafy superb of standalone homes, Roslindale more of a smorgasbord of housing. Give it time, though, give it time.
· Maintaining a Friendly Roslindale-West Roxbury Rivalry [Globe]
· On Southie Becoming South Boston [Curbed Boston]
· Average Downtown Boston Condo Price Nears $1M [Curbed Boston]
· Our Boundary Issues archive [Curbed Boston]