A Guided Tour of Boston With Eli Reed

Next stop of the Dew Tour is in the historic city of Boston, which if you care at all about history was one of the first American colonies founded in 1630. It was also home to the Boston Tea Party and the site for the beginning of the escalation, which resulted in the American Revolution. The weekend of July 24-26 might be a slightly less bloody battle, but you can bet there will be some serious skate warfare going down nonetheless.

Eli Reed switch back lipslide (Photo: Sean Cronan)

To better get to know this misunderstood town we called Eli Reed, recent Manny Mania winner and Boston native (now living in NYC) to get the lay of the land. Unfortunately he won’t be busting the course at the Dew Tour because Reed’s out then on a trip to Spain for one of his sponsors (yeah, we feel really sorry for him), but he was happy to share his knowledge. Right off we were warned that while Boston is an awesome town, the skate scene has been struggling for years. But that hasn’t stopped pros like PJ Ladd, Vinnie Ponte, Robbie Gangemi, Ryan Gallant from rising in the ranks. “You know if someone comes from Boston they are a pretty hearty skater because they’ve weathered the cold in the winter, the heat in the summer and the uptight policing the rest of the year,” says Reed.

Not that he’s knocking on Boston because it’s a great city. I mean after all Good Will Hunting was filmed there and it’s home to Harvard, but it can be a challenging spot for a street skater trying to get a piece of concrete.

Getting Around
Boston is the ultimate little big city. With 4.5 million people it’s the 10th largest city in the US, but in terms of square footage the city is compact. It also has an excellent public transportation system, which makes it easy for skaters to get around. “Driving is retarded because it’s just a bunch of one ways streets,” says Reed.

Where to Skate
“It’s pretty tight to skate in Boston. They have been talking about a skate park for years and it still hasn’t happened. The town needs it. That is part of the reason why I moved out of there.” Realistically there is no place for the skaters to go other then hitting the streets. Reed says there are tons of good skate spots, but you will get kicked out by security or cops, so skate in off hours. “That’s the reality of Boston. Maybe people in power will see this article and realize they need to get on getting this skate park going because they have been talking about it for ten years!”

Shopping for new Gear?
Concepts 
Eli says: Recently they redid the whole thing. It used to be this little skate shop behind a crazy boutique. Some random guy owned it who just knew a lot about good shoes and skateboards. He was selling in the back of this store but eventually he got his own store.

True East
Eli says: Total locals shop. Before I moved out of I would hang there a lot. It’s centrally located and easy to get to. In the summer they host barbecues and in the Fall they host an annual Skatejam.

Thirsty? Hungry?
“My favorite place is Pinocchio’s in Harvard Square. It’s on a backstreet by Harvard University, the best pizza in Boston. If you want good seafood, calamari, crab and lobster check out the The Barking Crab.” Want something quick? Eli says head to Quincy's Market. And he’s claiming the North End has all of the best Italian food so you can’t go wrong if you wander around there.

Drink
The Phoenix in the Central Square is one of the spots people head to at night. Lands Down is the party street for the college kids. You also have Mission Hill, which is another big college party place to hang.

See you in Boston!