This is the first in a periodic series of articles on Cambridge's neighborhoods.

Jimmy Romano has lived at 29 Gore St. for 32 of his 65 years. Born only five houses away from that address, his wife has never moved from the street. Their only daughter, Lucille, bought a house five blocks away and lives there with her husband and sons.

Jimmy Romano's world is with ten minutes of the doorstep of his two-story house. Until his recent retirement, he worked at the Middlesex County Courthouse a few blocks away on Thorndike St. To buy groceries, to get a haircut, to pray at his parish church, to socialize evenings, all Jimmy Romano does is take a short stroll to Cambridge St.

His lifestyle is typical for residents of East Cambridge, the neighborhood where European immigrants have settled since the nineteenth century. And it is this Old World way of life, of ethnic values and strong family ties that "Easties" are fighting to preserve from threatening contemporary changes.

From the congestion of the Square, the 69 Lechmere bus rolls east on Cambridge St. As the bus passes Inman Square, the scenery begins to change. The four and five-family dwellings and office fronts that characterize the tenant-dominated mid-Cambridge district disappear. In their place are small shops lining both sides of the street. Store fronts carry names like Ciampa, Santoro or Lupardo. A turn to the right or left on an intersecting road leads to blocks of single-family homes, many with extra space for a relative's family on the second floor. This is East Cambridge.

More than one hundred years ago, the Yankee women of Boston, concerned by overcrowding in the Italian and Irish ghettos, proposed a housing development for East Cambridge. Since then, the neighborhood has been a haven for immigrants. And this ethnic heritage, this link across the Atlantic residents say, is what makes East Cambridge different from any other section of the city.

The neighborhood has little of the transience found in sections of Cambridge dominated by apartment dwellers and students. Many residents, like Romano have lived in the same house or

on the same street for most of their lives "Some people have been living here 40 or 50 years," says another Gore St resident, "and some families have been here since the parents came across [from Europe]"

Because of the stability in the neighborhood population, most residents use words like "friendly" and "close-knit" to describe East Cambridge. "For years, everybody around here knows everybody," says 25-year-old Anthony DeSilva, an auto mechanic who has lived in the area all his life. Steve Christo, who graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin last month, agrees "What I like about the neighborhood is that everybody knows each other. I don't worry about being robbed or anything."

Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci, a life long resident of East Cambridge, attributes the open, personal nature of the neighborhood to "the European culture instilled in the children generation after generation," a large part of which he says is religion Sal DiDomenico, an East Cambridge florist, adds that "99.0 percent [of the residents] go to church all the time."

The friendliness and unity of the area came out last week when Clara Vecchiarella closed Gus's Meat Market after 70 years in business. Residents and merchants gathered at her shop, bringing food, music and gifts. The event's highlight came when Vellucci delivered a nostalgic oration, reminiscing about how he bought food at the shop when he was a young boy.

Vellucci's appearance at the party typifies the personalized brand of politics the neighborhood breeds. As the most vocal member of the Cambridge City Council, he has represented East Cambridge for more than three decades, repeatedly saying that the people's welfare concerns him more than general issues. He brags that the neighborhood is the only section of the city with a swimming pool, a skating rink and three playgrounds.

The state representative from East Cambridge is Michael J. Lombardi, an 18-year incumbent currently involved in a heated re-election campaign against Peter J. Vellucci, the mayor's son Lobardi's opponents point out that he has never chaired a major committee and charge that he never sponsored a major piece of legislation. But Al LaRosa, the representative's aide, says that "he's not a legislative legislator. Mike's concern has been the individual rather than the philosophical aspects of society."

One result of these strong bonds is that the city wide housing shortage seems more acute in East Cambridge Young adults, torn between the desire to start a home of their own and to continue to live in the neighborhood, usually remain in the family lodging until a vacancy develops. "people aren't moving unless it's a necessity," says the Gore St resident, "and you can count [the number of vacant houses] on your hand."

Despite the apparent stability outside forces have been at work for the last 30 years eating away at the neighborhood's foundations. Other say that some of the tradition is now only a memory and that the future may be even bleaker.