New Haven Oral History Project

“All the bricks — all the tears — were accounted for right then and there…”

Ken Lassen on rebuilding Louis' Lunch

Louis’ Lunch proprietor Ken Lassen, Sr is the grandson of Louis Lassen, who invented the hamburger sandwich in New Haven in 1900. Ken describes having to move his family’s restaurant during urban renewal — and how he rebuilt part of the lunchroom from the discarded bricks of demolished New Haven businesses.

Click here to read NHOHP Director Andy Horowitz’s Op-Ed in the New York Times about Louis’ Lunch.

Read the full transcript of this interview...

Interviewed in front of an audience in New Haven in June, 2005

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Visit the "Life in the Model City" Exhibit Online

www.modelcity.org

In New Haven, Connecticut, from 1954 to 1969, some 25,000 people were relocated from their homes. Neighborhoods were transformed. One was totally eliminated. New Haven, residents were told, would be the “model city.” What was life like in the midst of such massive changes? How did neighborhoods and families react?

A major interviewing project and subsequent exhibition at the New Haven Colony Historical Society used oral history interviews with community residents to understand the lingering effects of urban renewal. This project was made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

What is the New Haven Oral History Project?

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Preservation, Education, Community Building

The New Haven Oral History Project documents the oral history of New Haven, Connecticut. The NHOHP pursues three interrelated goals: preservation, education, and community building. Preservation involves building the New Haven Oral History Collection, a publicly-accessible archive of oral history about the city at the Yale University Library. We educate by teaching students to conduct the interviews, and bringing interviews into the classroom. Community building means putting our history to work in in public forums in our community, creating a common understanding of the past as the basis for a shared vision of the future.