Many of the old-timers order orange juice instead of beer, say bartenders Nancy and Lou, whose last names seem unnecessary in the informality of the BK Club.

They count some 175 "honorary members" (older than 70) and 250 "social members" (not Belgian or married to a Belgian) at the club built in 1937.

"This is still the home of the Belgian immigrants in Mishawaka," Nancy says. "A lot of the children and grandchildren are still raising their families here. We need the young generation to continue the traditions so we can continue our heritage.

"The world out there is not predominantly Belgian

anymore. There are still a number of Belgian families that enjoy sitting on the porch, enjoying the summer."

The deep tradition survives and somehow radiates into the neighborhood of tidy, close-set homes with an air of old-world values.

That's what attracted Sean Norris, who moved to Mishawaka 12 years ago and is bringing up two children, ages 7 and 5.

"We were just out looking for houses," he says. "It was the older style and seemed like a decent neighborhood. There's a lot of other people around the neighborhood our ages or a little older. They feel the old ways are the better ways. It's kind of refreshing.

"I was brought up to know wrong from right. It may be old, but it still works. Our parents taught us there are certain ways you do things ... whether the fear of Mom and Dad gets you or the fear of the Lord."

Generations of immigrant families in the West End, both Belgians and Italians, grew up that way. Their bank and hardware have closed, but the funeral home, bakery, florist and some taverns remain, along with the churches -- St. Bavo's for the Belgians, St. Joseph's with a mix of Belgians and Italians.

"You had the Italians on the north side and the Italians on the south side," says Richard Negri Sr., 66, who lived on 13th Street when it was the city limit with mostly cornfields to the south. "The Belgians were here but they had their own little area."

Close relationships guaranteed a stable community.

"There was a tavern on every corner," Nancy recalls. "There was never any rowdiness or drunken brawls or anything. We never locked the door."

Negri still enjoys picnicking in Rose Park, where in his childhood the Belgians had bicycle races, the Italians played bocce ball and the children flooded the tennis courts for ice skating in the wintertime.

"This is a great park, he says, pointing out the wooded hill crowned with a Franciscan convent nearby and singling out the older houses on the perimeter. "This was all cornfields out behind these houses here.

"You've still got the old people from 7th Street this way and from West to Taylor. This is a very quiet area."

But changes in the past decade or so threaten the tranquillity.

"The older people are dying off," Nancy says. "We've lost a lot of our area to rentals. The houses are not fancy, but they're clean and well taken care of."

"A lot of the problems are the rental properties," agrees Norris, who wants absentee landlords to care about the neighborhood and residents to recover older values.

"It's slowly gone a little downhill. It's safe enough for now. We don't have the kids playing in front unsupervised."

Residents are trying to head off smaller problems, such as teenagers who wreck carefully tended lawns by riding bicycles over them, before the issues escalate.

"I love Mishawaka," says Virginia Weiss, a Neighborhood Watch captain who moved to town 23 years ago and has grandchildren nearby. "The neighborhood is good. It's really good. Everybody keeps their yard up. Everybody works in their yard. Everybody helps each other.

"So far, God willing, we don't have drive-by shootings and on the whole not too much problem with teenagers. We're trying very, very hard to get this neighborhood pulled up."

Dan Mattimore, who moved his young family to the neighborhood 10 years ago, says he sees continuity along with change.

"When I moved here, St. Bavo's was going through a transition from basically an ethnic parish into a more culturally diverse parish," he says. "There were new families coming in, younger kids and not necessarily either Belgian or Italian."

He enjoys the older neighbors: "They're very generous people. They watch out for my kids."

One neighbor is Alice Van Poppel, who was born in 1916 in the house her father built in 1910. She's never lived anywhere else, but like others she's concerned about the growing number of rentals as older residents die.

"They don't care about the property," she says, although she's grateful for the homeowning newcomers. "The other neighbors are just great."

One hopeful sign, Nancy and Lou say, is the number of younger people who come to Belgian bolling's (or bowling) wintertime Friday night league. The sport involves rolling a disc toward a peg across the watered and raked courts.

"We do have a lot of young people coming down to do the Belgian bolling in the Friday night league," Lou says, adding that VanHoecke keeps the area in shape. "He comes down every day and takes care of the Belgian bolling courts."