In East Boston, Diversity Is The Attraction

"Like others who have moved back to East Boston, [Linda] Fitzgerald returned to a neighborhood that, despite some dramatic changes, remains very much the same. In the local markets, for example, mothers still yell at their kids in their native tongues. But the language today is often Spanish, not Italian.

On the squares, Salvadoran and Brazilian restaurants mingle with old-school Italian eateries and specialty grocery stores that are part bodega, part salumeria.

On the streets, the triple-deckers remain, but some are now luxury condominiums.

Fitzgerald may be in an early wave of former East Boston residents who are returning home, whether to downsize from a larger place, invest in a hot real estate market, or simply return to a city life they've missed."