Communal Community: The Eastie Hood Crawl

Eastie takes the traditional pub crawl to a new level

By Brooklynne Kelly Peters

4/30/10

Many a college student is familiar with the term "pub crawl." A traditional crawl involves individuals skipping from bar to bar in a single night until that skipping becomes swaying and the swaying becomes stumbling. The advantages of a crawl include not only a night of carefree inebriation and fun but also the chance to socialize and get to know new people.

But how does a young person or couple get to know their neighbor and their city when their city doesn't boast any bars? This was the conundrum that Rob and Juliet Pyles found themselves in. 
The Pyles' moved to East Boston from Malibu, California in 2005. Newly married and fresh out of college, they were eager to start their lives together on the right foot.

"I just felt for the first time, like, really invested in a place," said Rob. "Not just financially, but emotionally and from a life phase standpoint. We were starting our life together, and man, I had a lot of energy."

The Pyles made a concerted effort to get to know their neighbors immediately. "I feel like neighbors are the forgotten support network in our society," said Rob. He and Juliet began to approach people on the street, introducing themselves and starting conversations.

"People were awesome," said Rob. "People were really stoked to meet a new young person who is moving to the neighborhood."

Juliet said she began compiling the email addresses of the people they met onto a list. The list grew into an online community seeking social activites.   Since the very residential East Boston has few bars, cafes and restaurants,  socializing became a in-house activity.

"The lack of night life forced us to open up our houses to each other," Rob said.

As the "Eastie" community grew, the Pyles searched out a way to get everybody together all at once. Rob, who is a fan of the old-fashioned pub crawl, suggested an altered version to his friends - what he would call a "hood crawl" - in which the group would crawl from host house to host house in one evening.

The idea was a hit. The first hood crawl boasted a list of 50 people. They started at 7:30 in the evening and visited to a total of five houses, the hosts of which provide beer and wine from different countries. The group stays at each house for an hour, and at the close of the hour, the hosts blows a whistle, signaling that it's time to move on.

"We all go on this massive parade," Rob said. The last host is always the bravest, he noted. "It's supposed to end at 11:30, but it'll end around one, two, three...four, something like that."

There have been five hood crawls so far, and the next one is scheduled for May 15.